Encouragement

Dobriy Dyen (Good Afternoon)
Well almost!

I just want to send a word of encouragement to you all! We are children
of the King of Kings! He loves each of us more than we can ever  understand.
He has chosen us for a special calling in this time in history.  We may not
understand all of it but we don't need to understand- just OBEY! Remember
Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him!

This has always been a difficult lesson for me! Being the quiet, meek, passive,  and
self sacrificing lady that I am, (not) :) I love for God to work on me my way!  I have
had some hard lessons to learn along the way. God is already showing me that this
trip is a lesson too!

I would like to share a quick story. 10 years ago I had the chance to go on my 1st
overseas trip. I wanted to go to China- period. When our church adopted the Buyi
people group. I had made loaves of bread- cinnamon bread, Ezekiel bread,
regular whole wheat bread. I made over 100 loaves of bread. And guys, I grind my
own wheat!  My kids and I sold the loaves at church, at the ball park, and in the
neighborhood so that we could make a good donation to the Buyi fund. We did
it all in one week. By the time I got to the 40-50 loaf of bread I was getting very tired.
What kept me going was that as I made another loaf and shaped it I told myself it
was 1 more Buyi soul that might come to know Christ. So when it was time for short-term
missions trips I knew my calling! However, God had a different plan. After weeks of
arguing with Ken Whaley - our missions pastor, I finally agreed to go to Spain and
Morocco. I can still remember turning to my daughter Rachel and in exasperation saying,
"Rachel for some reason God wants us to go to Spain and Morocco."I have still not
gone to China.  :( I look back on how much God has used that trip in my life and with
my current ministry with refugees and immigrants I am astonished.
God knew that He was preparing me with an understanding for Muslim people. He knew
that one day I would be living 3 miles from a Muslim school and a mosque. What blessings
I would have missed if I had refused His plan for me. What fun I have saying- A sa lama lakum
to the Muslims I pass in the stores. Sometimes it leads to conversations other times to
astonishment on their part.

Sunday I had the idea to talk Andrew out of changing our trip. (I had known since last
Thursday that he had decided to send us elsewhere.) After we got there and began
listening to Andrew, hearing his heart, and me surrendering my wants I knew that this
was going to be one of those lessons.

I am reminded what the Bible says in Isaiah :

     "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. And my ways are
      beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher
      than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher
      than your thoughts."    Isaiah 55:8-9  New Living Translation

GOD is at work! He is in the midst of our team and our trip to Belarus. He has a plan
that we may not see right now but He knows what He is doing!!
I am so excited because I see this challenge as a direct confirmation that God is
up to something bigger than us and we are going to be allowed to participate if
we are willing to let go and let God!! Lets all continue in fervent prayer which is the
absolutely most important thing we can do in preparation for this trip.

I hope you are encouraged!
Love,
Cathy

Team Update

Good Afternoon Team,

I trust that all of you are having a wonderful week. It is cold but
very beautiful today. God is giving us a little sunshine to brighten
our day!!

We had a great and informative meeting with Andrew. I am so
excited about all that God is preparing for us to do in Belarus.

The Good News is that many people will have the chance to hear
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Andrew has had many requests for
people to come and work in different places this summer in Belarus.
As part of this great news we have agreed to be flexible and take
a new assignment. Let me try and explain.
  -  The team from Calvary Russian Church of Atlanta will be working
     at the orphanage in Bobruisk. Inna will be working with them. It is
     a huge undertaking but some of them have been there previously
     so it makes sense for them to be at this camp.

 -   We will be traveling to a smaller town of Luninets to lead a VBS
     at a brand new church. This should help the church at Luninets
     reach out to their town and grow.  There is great opportunity for
     evangelism. We will be staying in Luninets most of the time. VBS
     will be approx. 4 hrs each day from 10-2 then we will have lunch.
     After lunch we will do home visits and in the evening there will be
     evening worship services. There is an orphanage in Luninets so
     the children from the orphanage will be brought to the church for
     VBS (some will be handicapped children.) Andrew will
     be with our group the whole trip. We will also have 2 other translators.

 -   After we do VBS at Luninets for 3-4 days we will be traveling to
     another town each day to repeat what we did for another small church.
     I forgot to get the name of this town/village but Andrew said it is about
    1 hour east of Luninets. Both of these towns are in southern Belarus
     near the Ukrainian border.

 -  We are now totally responsible for everything!

**What do we need to do? 1)Raise support - this is crucial as we must buy the
   airline tickets by April 20th.Apparently there are limited flights that go to Belarus
   and Andrew is afraid if we wait to buy the tickets that we will not get seats or we
   will have to travel on different flights. 2) I need you to bring your passports to the next
   meeting so I can make copies for tickets, visa application, and for Fred.
   Remember your Passport has to be signed and you must have at least 2
   blank pages- no stamps, and at least 6 months left before expiration date so since
   we are flying in July it can't expire until Jan. 2014. 3) I need for each of you
   to pray and ask God if He has a specific plan for you for the trip and I need to
   know your preferences for what what you might enjoy doing. That doesn't mean
   I can fulfill everyone's desire but it gives a better understanding and something
   to go on. Remember Flexibility!!

 So far I have determined that we will have these things at VBS
1) Bible Lessons
2) Crafts
3) Games/Sports
4) Music/English

All will participate in afternoon visitation and evening worship.

I will send you another email in a few days about some things that I need
from you. I don't want to overwhelm you and I realize that each of you may have
many questions still. We will get to all the answers.

Love you All!! I am VERY EXCITED! :)
Cathy

Be His Heart His Hand His Voice

This is our team's adopted song for our trip! Listen and enjoy!

Team Prep and Prayer

Please pray for the team as we recruit prayer partners
and financial donors. Our cut off date for the 1st $1500
which covers our airline tickets is April 15th. Since Belarus
is a small country tickets are more limited so if we can't
purchase the tickets early we may not find available seats
on the flights.

Tammy is recovering nicely from her knee surgery. Thanks
be to God. Janis may be facing some reconstructive surgery
before we leave. Several members of our team are facing
physical challenges. Pray that God will strengthen each of
us and equip us to do the work that is set before us!

Restful Week

Out team has had 2 meetings. Sunday we had a great meeting
discussing our role in Belarus, team unity, and having a time of prayer.
Each week we will be having more things to do in preparation.
We have 10 people on the team. Let me introduce you to them.
     Angela Carano
     Atly Davis
     Tammy Dudley
     Deborah Lareau
     Dave Mikesell
     Eve Nimkar
     Kathleen Summers
     Janice Weaver
     Cathy Wilson
     Mark Wilson
I believe that God has brought together the perfect team to
accomplish His will in Belarus. Please pray for each of us.
Tammy had surgery on her knee on Tuesday and is recovering
Kathleen had a medical procedure last week and is waiting
for results. Praying that all have a restful off week!