Here it is almost year end, and we have so many things to catch up on for the year! We are still collecting for Christmas gifts for the children at the Leland House – names are still available and there are many openings for the $20.00 gift cards. In addition, we are still making blankets for the mothers of these children.

We would like to have all our Christmas gift preparations done by the Giving Thanks Dinner at church on November 15. Then we would like to have a Gift Wrap Workday at church on the following Sunday, November 22.

I thank all of you for your participation and interest in these many projects -- it takes a lot of us to get these things done, and I thank you in advance for you’re, caring and sharing. Please remember Women Ministries in your daily prayers.

-- Barbara Agnello, Chairperson

Mark your calendars! On Saturday, November 21 from 7:00 to 9:00pm our Missions and Evangelism Committee will host a Café Eutychus Coffeehouse Benefit for Steve and Rebecca Hoden.

Gino Garza and friends, featuring Gino’s band and other musical guests from our congregation, will provide the music. Delicious baked goods, flavored coffees and other drinks will warm and sweeten the evening’s experience. It’s a great opportunity to invite others to join you for a delightful night out and all for a good cause! All the money raised will be given to support Steve and Rebecca Hoden’s two-year missionary call to Spain with the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Your monetary donations for the event and any refreshments will be much appreciated. We also need volunteers to bake cookies, brownies or other items for the event. (If you can help with that, please contact Bunny Hughes at 847.696.4211.)

So grab some friends, enjoy a great time and help support a most worthy endeavor at Café Eutychus on Saturday, November 21!

We have prize-winning photographers in our midst! On their vacation to Turkey, Tom and Judy Whipple snapped lots of photos. Two were so nice that they won a vacation photo contest held by Fodor’s – the company that publishes those wonderful guidebooks! In fact, TWO of their photos won, and will be included in the new 2009 Fodor’s Turkey Guide Book! Their prize: a copy of the new book!

Congratulations, Tom and Judy! Now we know who to ask for vacation photo taking tips!

The rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the rock stood firm.

The rains finally entered our house on Oct 13…Kevin and Ramona Dutton were over to help and after finally clearing all the water out and putting on fans that evening, we woke up on Oct. 14th to our house flooded again after the night rains. As of Oct. 16th all is dry on the home front. We leave Monday Oct. 19th for the northeast!

Showers of blessing…Naomi is engaged to Ryan! Ryan surprised Naomi in San Luis Obispo with a kite flying activity that ended with him down on his knees, the ring at the end of the string and a proposal that brought shouts of joy and elation from our daughter…We are rejoicing!

The juxtaposition of showers that bring delight and joy and the showers that bring flooding and damage—this is life, on this side of heaven. We journey together with you in wading through the inconsistencies of our journeys. We know that the house on the rock is the life firmly founded on God and the truth of His Word lived out in our lives. We know that both the showers of bounty and the floods of destruction can reveal the deep things of our hearts. So we pray that God would keep working in us and that we would acknowledge His presence in both good times and bad. Please pray with us:

Showers of blessing

Floods that overwhelm

Our “ALC Summer” started on October 12 with Kevin and Ramona leading the ESL program…due to the floods, they could not get out to ALC on day 2, but bravely went through the waters by bus on day 3. We thank God for these two faithful ones who have loved our ALC community in word and deed.

God’s peace to you,
Carl, Karen, Daniel, Naomi and Bethany Groot

Hello my friends.

Though life has been pretty slow lately, many changes have taken place. Another Ramadan and birthday have come and gone. That makes for three of each since being here!

Ramadan is always a special time here. As a non-Muslim, Ramadan can be a very looooong month. Since everyone is fasting from sunup to sundown, no one is allowed to eat or drink in public places regardless of beliefs. All restaurants and many stores are closed during the day. On the bus, no matter how hot the August sun is beating down on you, no water (but also no smoking!).

Living in a Muslim village during Ramadan gives one a unique opportunity to see a community come together. The entire village was collectively tired, hungry, and exhausted, so when it came time to eat, the air of excitement was infectious. Dinner was usually laid out about 5 to 10 minutes before the Call to Prayer went off and then we would sit on the ground around the food just watching our watches. When “Allah al-Akbar” (God is the Greatest) was heard from the mosque’s loud speaker a quick “BismAllah” (In the Name of God) and a prayer was said, then everyone ate a date or two and drank a glass of water. After that it was chow time! Apart from all the wonderful meals I had with friends and neighbors, my favorite Iftar was actually shared with a fellow volunteer. We were both in the capital for a night so we decided to hit up one of the American chains because they all have Ramadan specials. We chose McDonalds. For about $6 we got a Big Mac, a chicken sandwich, lentil soup, fries, a coke and a bottle of water each. That’s globalization doing it’s best to be culturally sensitive.

Directly following Ramadan, I packed up all my stuff and moved to a new city, Mafraq, to begin preparing for the incoming group of volunteers that I will be working with. I thought the moving process would be much more emotional than it actually was. After all, I had lived in that apartment longer than any other house in the past 10 years. And these people, my new family, had welcomed me into their homes from the very first day I arrived as one of their own and treated me with the utmost kindness and generosity for two years. I am very grateful for the time I spent there and all the people gave me, but I know it was time to leave. At the time of my departure, I had been done working for weeks and was just kind of killing time until my new responsibilities began.

So what now? Well, I now live in the desert. The landscape probably looks a lot more like what most of you picture the Middle East to be: sand, camels and Bedouins. I am no longer in the mountains surrounded by olive trees, or any trees for that matter.

On Saturday we start two weeks of training for the local staff who will be our language and cultural facilitators. On the 24th a fresh new group of 42 volunteers arrive and we will begin two intensive months of preparing them for their service. Thankfully, this will keep me preoccupied for the approximately 75 more days I have here. Thinking ahead is a bit overwhelming at times because it feels like it has been so long since I left and I know a lot of things have changed. Obama is now president. The economy has tanked. And twitter, what the heck is that anyway? On a more personal level, there have been weddings, babies, deaths, career changes and moves; many moments of joy and grief that I have not been around to share. I know many of you aren’t where you were when I left, literally and figuratively. Besides my impending acceptance to grad school, I am not really sure where or what I am returning to. BUT, I am very much looking forward to many things. Among them: seeing familiar faces and places, chowing down on a Chicago hot dog, going out in public in short sleeves with men, leaving my house after dark, WINE, being feminine, and having conversations I can fully understand and participate in.

Until then… Bobbie Rose

“Not to us oh Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”
Psalm 115:1

Dear brothers and sisters!

Today was a very special day. It was an answer to years of prayer. In the morning, we initiated the interviewing process for the role of director of the Foundation (FDF). As you may know, this role has been played by the missionaries as we worked in the identification, mentoring, and training of Mexican Christian leaders with a call to serve the Lord through the FDF.

We have been blessed with a group of four strong candidates; all committed Christians very involved in our ministry. All of them have been interviewed. Our team and the board of directors are very excited for this time in the history of the ministry of the FDF. May the Lord continue guiding us in this process and may we make the decision according to His will.

Our activities continued during this summer without interruption. Although we follow the school calendar, we had special activities with youth group. In August we had our second VBS which was a total success. About 50 children participated with great enthusiasm under the guidance of a fabulous team of volunteers, half of which consisted of a group of sisters from Community Covenant in Alaska and the other half a team of faithful Mexicans who, through the years, have served in the FDF. Without them, the VBS would have been not possible. You can not imagine the satisfaction on the faces of the moms of our participating children and the many words of affirmation that the team has received! These are the mothers who are now part of the Bible study as well as part of the family development courses, English, handy-crafts, and tailoring classes. All the groups are growing and flourishing amazingly.

On the other hand, we continue receiving about 3 to 4 new families in Project Down every month. We rejoice in that and feel a profound commitment to serve them with love and excellence. Recently, we received some funds designated to provide scholarships for therapies and education. Happily, the scholarships committee, composed of parents and a representative of the FDF, was able to grant 14 scholarships. In the words of a mom: “without this scholarship, I would have not have resources for 6 months of therapy for my son”. The scholarship project, an initiative of a group of parents, is an example of what empowerment does. They are constantly acting and mobilizing themselves, to support each other in many different ways.

At a personal level, we feel so much blessed in witnessing what the Lord is doing with the children, youth, and women we serve. Through the relationships we have developed and nurture with many of them, we have experienced great joy.

At home, we have had to re-structure many things in order to dedicate ourselves to ministry without affecting our family life. Samuel Julian is growing (ouch, we do not want it so fast!). He has a beautiful character, is very social and joyful. Every morning he happily goes to his daycare and he is in love with his teachers. The three of us have enjoyed good health since our coming back from home assignment. Now, we are getting ready for the cold weather. Please pray for that; as you know Lisandro and Samuel are very sensitive to cold.

As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, our consecration (in July) has meant not only the re-affirmation of our commitment to serve the Lord and to those He has given to us for that purpose, but also, a beautiful reminder of the privilege and blessing of not being alone in our mission, but with the care of all of you. It is our desire to continue serving with humbleness, love, and excellence. We are aware of the financial challenging times for many of you for, which, we very much appreciate your faithful support. Also for the many other expressions of love and support to us, thank you very, very much. God bless you all!

Lisandro, Patty, and Samuel Julian
Please note our new e-mail address: patricia.restrepo@covchurch.org

This ministry update could also be headed “God’s timing is not our own!” When economic hardships, along with funds and people already committed to other mission trips, made it difficult to engage a team from the US to get here to Belgium, we still kept those days dedicated to ministry among asylum seekers. I really sensed that something good was going to happen during those first 10 days of October, and it was more than good! It was a perfect blending of Covenant talents and resources working together with talents and resources here at AIPC (Antwerp International Protestant Church). Covenant missionary colleague Ken Satterberg, working in Marseille, France among North Africans, was here with us to present two seminars on “Muslims and Christians, but where is Jesus?” We talked about common beliefs between Christians and Muslims, what bridges can be further built upon in reaching out to those in Islam. There was a quiz about the Qur’an (Koran) and a mutual sharing of experiences among Muslims. We all walked away from the time studying together feeling like we had learned something new. (For the record, I didn’t get 100% on the quiz!)

And then there was the Saturday evening fun that was had in our home on October 2nd. It didn’t end up being the outreach event at one of the centers that we had hoped for (more on that later). But it was an evening of sharing hospitality, laughter, good food and tender words from Psalm 121 about how God cares for our every need. Read more about it on Jared and Hannah Baker’s blogsite, www.thebakersroll.blogspot.com.

We offer praise….

There is a right time for everything!

Will you cover us in prayer…

When you’re waking up in MN or Chicago, we’re at the center touching the lives of 48 kids and their families. Pray that we would be the sweet presence of Jesus to these dear friends, that amidst all the excitement and fun for the kids, they would sense that we really care for them and love them because of God’s great love for us!

Truly I am thankful for God’s perfect sense of timing, even when, and especially when, it interferes with my own sense of timing. Thanks for being a part of this missionary journey with me. May you sense God’s timing in all that matters to you in life.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1: For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

Barb Swanson
Serving with Covenant World Mission and the Mosaics Project, Belgium