PL2009-34, 26-Aug-09
Wednesday, 26th August 2009 | No: PL2009-34 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 'Day' and 'Country' designations below refer to the respective right-hand page(s) in the 2009 edition of the Points for Prayer Handbook, which contains useful background information to these prayer requests.
Click on these links for further information on Countries, Partners and People.
Day 2 – BRAZIL
Naomi Keefe is still in the process of obtaining a permanent visa.
- That Naomi may soon be granted the visa she needs.
- For continued wisdom and guidance for Naomi in all aspects of her work with the Christian Centre of Help to the Family, and especially as she works with the leadership of Casa Caiada congregation to resolve some difficult issues.
Day 3 – JAMAICA
Rev Samuel Smellie, who served as General Secretary of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands (1978-90), has passed away. Rev Smellie was well-known by PCI personnel who served in Jamaica, and will be remember by those who studied with him in the year he spent at Union Theological College, and during his time as Assistant Minister in Great Victoria Street Presbyterian Church (1967-68) in Belfast.
- Give thanks for the faithful service of Rev Smellie to the Church in Jamaica over many years.
- Pray for his family, friends and former colleagues at this difficult time.
Days 12 to 14 – KENYA
Thomas Leremore is travelling to Molo today (26th), to facilitate a two day intercommunity dialogue peace meeting for local church and community leaders. Molo is in the Rift Valley Province and is an area which has been experiencing ethnic conflict since 1992.
Prayer Points –·
- That the 40 participants may know God’s peace and that they will put the interests of their communities before their own interests.
- For Thomas and the two other facilitators – Rev Eric Muchina and Francis Nguli.
- For safe travel for all those travelling to and from this event.
It has been a busy time for Naomi Leremore recently as she has been training pre-school teachers for the past three weeks.
Prayer Points –·
- For the first year students who begin teaching practice in September.
- For the second year students who will be doing their final teaching practice this term.
Days 16 to 19 – MALAWI
Robin Quinn sends the following prayer points from the College of Theology at Ekwendeni -
- Give thanks that the 23 new first year students at the College of Theology at Ekwendeni have settled in well to life at the College.
- Pray that the new students will establish good habits of study and benefit much from the worship and fellowship, as well as the lectures.
- Pray for the staff, two of whom are new to teaching and for one part-time lecturer who has had to drop out.
- Pray too for Robin, who has taken on more responsibilities at the College, in addition to his work at the Lay Training Centre.
Victoria Chihana and Helen Quinn are visiting all the congregations in Karonga Presbytery today (26th) and tomorrow (27th) to meet with a group of women in each congregation, collecting loans and issuing new ones.
Prayer Points –
- For safe travel on roads that have many hazards.
- That the women will meet on time, thus giving opportunity for good interaction and encouragement
Day 22 – ASIANS in the UK
Christopher and Nivedita Benjamin have been holding monthly Gujarati Fellowship meetings in their home. This Sunday, they are meeting in the Wembley Park URC in the afternoon.
Prayer Points –
- For Christopher and Nivedita’s Hindu friends and Gujarati Christians, who will come to the meeting.
- For their Hindu friends who sometimes face opposition within their family because of their interest in Christian religion.
- For the Wembley Park United Reformed congregation, as their minister, Rev Viv Randles has been unwell recently and one of their elders has also been suffering from a serious illness. Pray for healing and comfort.
NOTE: For various family reasons relating to their affairs 'back home' in India, in July 2009 Christopher and Nivedita changed their surname by deed poll, from Macwan to Benjamin.
Day 24 – NEPAL
Nepal is thankful to God for the continued steady monsoon these past few weeks. Some mountain roads are blocked by landslides and sadly there have been some 30 deaths through flooding, but this is a great improvement over the last three years. Since the rains came late, there will not be as good a harvest as is needed, and the UN-backed World Food Programme will again be relied upon to feed the many thousands of people in remote hill and mountain regions.
Over the next few weeks, UMN will be recruiting additional Nepali staff to fill various vacancies mainly in the cluster areas.
On Saturday coming 29th August Janet Campbell will be facilitating a quiet day of prayer and Bible Study for ten expatriate staff in UMN.
Patricia Drummond, a member of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church in Belfast, is spending a year in Nepal as tutor in the Physiotherapy degree course in Dhulikhel Hospital about one hour from Kathmandu. Patricia spent some months in Nepal earlier this year and has returned to share her considerable expertise in Physio. Later this week, having completed some language and orientation in Kathmandu, she will move to her small flat in Dhulikhel.
The Nepali political visit to Dublin and Belfast is slowly taking shape. Four senior politicians lead by the Minister of Peace and Reconstruction, together with three senior civil servants will be in Ireland from the 12th – 20th September. Further programme plans need to be made in both venues and some issues remain to be resolved in Kathmandu.
Prayer Points –
- Give thanks for the steady monsoon these past weeks and pray for a good harvest, especially for small subsistence farmers in hill and mountain regions.
- For Patricia Drummond as she takes up her duties in the hospital teaching programme. Pray that God will help her to make friends in the community and she will quickly get to know her colleagues and students.
- For wisdom in the recruitment of Nepal staff. Like so many, they will be required to live away from family and friends in remote locations. Pray that the right people will be chosen and that God will bless them as they serve the Nepali people.
- For the day of prayer and Bible study taking place this Saturday, that God will touch the lives of all who attend.
- For the Nepali politicians, especially those who plan to come to Ireland. Pray that nothing will stand in their way and that political differences will be put aside in the work of peace-building for all the people of Nepal.
Day 25 – MYANMAR
The country of Myanmar (or Burma) was once the richest nation in South East Asia, but is now the poorest with an economy ravaged by over four decades of mismanagement and civil unrest. The global economic downtown has worsened conditions further. Prices for basic goods have sky-rocketed and some people have been forced to live below the poverty line and are struggling to survive.
Unfortunately, the country is also suffering from a rat plague, which hits the Chin State in the northwest of the country every 50 years, when rats, (along with insects and birds), feed on the seeds of several varieties of bamboo which only flowers and produce seeds every 50 years. The number of rats in particular, increases astronomically! It is thought the seeds might have a special vitamin or chemical content which encourages breeding. When the bamboo seeds are exhausted, the rats then feed on locals’ crops. Twenty acres of rice field can be destroyed in a single night due to rats. Some of the local people already exist on less than a dollar a day, and destruction of their crops is disastrous. Around 50,000 people could face starvation if they are not helped.
Due to the economic downturn, and rat plague destroying crops, the work of the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar(PCM) is suffering from a lack of funds, as its members are unable to give as they used to. A number of important church projects are suffering, including PCM’s empowerment of women and youth in ministry programme, its community development and social services programmes (this includes providing water pipes and setting up schools in small villages in Chin Stat), promoting lay theology studies and its ministry to sick through its Agape clinic.
- Pray for those affected by the rat plague, and that those facing starvation will receive adequate food aid quickly.
- For PCM’s work, including its relief efforts for those affected by the rat plagues. Pray that sources of funding can be found to allow these important ministries to be funded.
Day 26 – MISSION INVOLVEMENT
Final preparations are being made for the launch on 1st September of the Board of Mission Overseas’ (BMO) new web site. Its primary purpose is to be a place where members of our church can find out about the nature and scope of our involvement in Mission Overseas; a key resource that will help enthuse, envision and equip individuals of all ages, as well as groups, congregations and presbyteries, for active engagement in God's mission to the world. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and not a lot of time in which to do it, with ‘Go Live’ next Tuesday (1st)!
Prayer Points –
- For Nigel Eves, who is leading the project, and everyone working with him to complete the task; whether copy writing, uploading information to the site, tweaking the programming, or testing for errors. Pray for the strength needed and for wisdom too, as decisions are made on what can, or cannot, be ‘finished’ in time for the launch.
- That the new web site will indeed fulfil its purpose and become a really useful resource for our members, wherever they are. Pray that enthusiasts will quickly ‘spread the word’, encouraging others to ‘take a look’ and become regular visitors to the site.
- For wisdom and guidance as plans are made to very soon implement Phase II Developments, which are aimed at further enhancing the usefulness of the web site.
Days 27 to 29 – INDONESIA
Mervyn and Raing McCullagh are back in Sumba for a few weeks for the funeral of Raing’s father who died in April 2008. In Sumbanese culture things are done very differently from what we are used to in the West, with burials taking place quite some time after the person dies. Last Thursday (20th), there was a meeting of clan leaders to make the final preparations for the funeral of Raing’s father who was King of East Sumba and to discus how the funeral can be organised in a way that is truly Christian and yet true to the traditions of the East Sumba. Historically this has been a contentious issue, yet finding a way for the gospel to be translated into the local culture is vital.
Thankfully, the meeting went smoothly and a solid agreement was reached between church and traditional leaders. The funeral procession is set to follow the traditional pattern, but with God being clearly proclaimed at the centre. This is the first time in East Sumba that such an agreement has been reached and, if deemed successful, it will serve as the basis for many more future agreements. Much is still to be done in preparation for the funeral which reaches its climax this Saturday, 29th August. It is anticipated that over 10,000 people will attend.
Prayer Points –
- Praise God that last week's clan meeting went smoothly.
- Praise God also that Raing and Mervyn are full of a sense of God's leading and peace through all they do.
- For Raing, Mervyn and her whole family as they prepare for the funeral on Saturday and for a sense of future direction and purpose when it's all over.
- For Rev Yuliana Ata Ambu as she prepares and leads the funeral liturgy appropriate to the traditional context.
- That God's hope and resurrecting power will be clearly known by all who attend.
OVERSEAS TEAMS
A number of teams are overseas over the next week. We would encourage you to remember them in prayer.
MALAWI– A team of 11 people from First Magherafelt Prebyterian, led by Maureen Stevenson, are in Malawiwhere they are involved in practical work, children's work and medical work for two weeks at the David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia.
UKRAINE – A team of 13 adults from the PCI congregations of First Islandmagee, Ballyclare, First Larne, Second Islandmagee, Whitehead and Woodlands, and Ballyclabber Reformed Presbyterian, are due home tomorrow (Thursday 27th) having spent two weeks helping to run a Summer Camp at Nagybereg School in the Transcarpathia region, teaching English to 14 - 18 year olds.
Prayer Points for these teams –
- Good health, safety, strength and energy for all the team members and those they are working with.
- The work that each of the teams will be involved in.
- For the Word of God to be explained clearly and for spiritual fruit in the lives of those the teams are going to help or work alongside.
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