Dearest Friends,
Puppet Show in the Park
My new team and I planned to do a puppet show at a park in Summerville, Georgia. However, God planned a thunderstorm which made us change our location. As always, it all worked out for the best! It was incredibly hot at our new location, but the children never seemed to notice. They just listened and loved the puppets. Best of all, we had children ask Jesus to rescue them!
It has been wisely said that the first rule of ministry is to pray about everything. The second rule of ministry is “be flexible”. This is also the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth as well as every other rule of ministry. I had shared this to the young people, and they had a unique opportunity to practice this that Friday night. First of all, we did not set up where we had planned to be. Second, we had serious problems with our sound system. One of the fathers ended up holding a hand-held mic while I drew pictures and told the story. The children loved the talking mic stand! None of what we thought were problems, bothered the children at all. I was reminded that I need to look at things with the eyes of a child.
Above there is a picture of the new puppet team. They are the youngest team I have almost since the beginning of the ministry, 32 years ago! This reality makes me smile. Please pray for John James, Ellie, Janna, and Danielle (in order from left to right) as they seek to do their very best for the children they are serving. I am honored to be working with these exceptional young people and blessed to call them my friends!
Burma
The following is a letter that I received from a young man that I trained in children’s ministry from Myanmar. He had written me to say that he was praying for my trip to Italy. Only when I pressed him, did he tell me how difficult things are for him and our other friends in Myanmar at the moment. Please read what he has written and pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ as they are facing unimaginable hardships. Here is his letter:
“My dear Madam,
My place is still fine and we are still safe comparing to other parts of our country where civil wars are taking place. But we are always being warned to get things ready for daily food and to dig hiding places because they say that the army of the people will break a war out soon, not later than August. We hear they are waiting for that time so that farmers may finish their works.
We really don’t know how it will be with coming days. We are in the middle between two parties, hard to respond to anyone. But the only one thing we do is we pray and pray for the safety of our place and for the peace of our country. Please hold us in your prayers. Thanks.
In Christ,
Amen Pongsar”
South Africa
Our puppet directors in South Africa did their last show in March of 2020. Since then they have been very busy with feeding programs, and that has been a true blessing in their lives. Many people in South Africe are hungry right now because unemployment is at 60%. One of their daughters is a doctor at a hospital in Durban. The following prayer request is for the hospital where she works. Here is what she wrote:
“There are no shops, no food, no gas! Hospitals are full with people lying in the passages. The patients got 2 slices of dry bread yesterday. My heart is breaking and it is very hard to stay positive. Please pray for my beautiful country and it`s people, there have been wonderful scenes of people taking to the streets, singing and praising God.”
Please pray for the children of South Africa, and especially for my puppet directors, Blom and Rina.
In Jesus,
Linda and Danielle