Monday, April 30, 2007

Peterson's Prayer Guide - May/June 2007

The humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God’s help live in joy. For the Lord hears the cries of His needy ones…Psalm 69:32-33a

We were able to find a place to stay for our little Easter getaway. It was an enjoyable, relaxing time together as a family. We discovered a lovely, little Greek community (Tarpon Springs) near where we stayed, and we really enjoyed exploring it one day. We also spent a day at the beach, although it was unseasonably cold. It still feels like a vacation when you can just be there. The down side was that we lost Gary’s palm pilot at some point; a significant loss to him.

The Corporate Fun Run went well, and Gary beat the time he’d been aiming at for himself, so was quite pleased. There were some changes in the plans for the Mission at the Airport and they didn’t end up needing Gary’s help. He did have some FANTASTIC interactions with various groups and individuals visiting the office. He also felt that the devotions he gave at the Upward soccer outreach went very well. God inspired him with the topic and he was able to stay under the 5 minutes allotted him! Pray, as always, that eternal fruit would be borne through these encounters.

Recently Esther brought 5 of her fellow students to spend the night here and visit the Wycliffe and Campus Crusade headquarters the next day. Gary enjoyed showing them around. Esther has been pushing hard to finish her college semester well. She received excellent grades on some recent assignments, so she’s on the right track. She’ll finish final exams this week and move home on Saturday, May 2nd. Thanks for praying for her summer plans. She has decided to go with us on our road trip to the NW, then hopes to find a job close to home for the 6 remaining weeks before the new college year commences.

Josiah is also on the final push for his 10th grade year. He’s done an excellent job of leading the Truth Project. May 7th will be the last session for us. The blessing of this wonderful curriculum is also continuing in another way. Josiah told a friend from our church about it and ended up paying for her to attend the training with him. She and her husband have now begun their own group with 8 men from a Christian alcohol and drug rehabilitation program. It’s exciting to think of the impact it could have on their lives!

We are putting plans together for our re-roofing. We hope to tear off two layers of shingles this coming Saturday (5th), and put on the new ones the following Saturday (12th). We have a few offers of help but could use more. Please pray as we put the details together, get permits and supplies. Pray for safety as we work and no rain on the work days.

Our van broke down last week, and with its high mileage, we were reluctant to pay for the repair. In God’s providence, we have just been given a much lower mileage Toyota Corolla, but it too is in need of some work. Gary can do most of it, but his time is short at present. Pray for wisdom in all of this, and thank the Lord with us for His provision. We are also very glad that Esther’s car is finally running properly!

On May 9th I will accompany Gary to speak at a missions banquet in Sarasota, FL (3 hrs. away). Pray that God will speak powerfully through Gary’s message at this event.

May 14-15th Gary will give a special tour/talk to a group of seniors at the office then leave for Las Vegas to teach a Perspectives class that evening. He is excited at this opportunity as he loves the curriculum. Pray that God will use him to accomplish His purposes in the students there.

We heard the news just this week that my mother’s bladder cancer has progressed and she is probably going to require chemotherapy. She is to have a CAT scan on May 17th to see if the cancer has spread to other organs. Please pray for us as we consider what God would have us do in response to this.

May 21st is Josiah’s last day at school. On May 22nd we hope to begin our drive out to the Northwest, visiting friends, relatives and supporters along the way. It’s approaching fast, and we still have a lot of details to work out. Due to the timing of things, I decided to make this Prayer Guide to cover June as well. We’d be very grateful for your prayers while we travel. Please pray for our preparations, good timing of our visits in each place so we can see the people we want to see, (It’s been 4 years since our last trip this direction), safety in the many miles of travel, no mechanical problems, good fellowship and refreshment for us as a family, and that we would be a blessing to all along the way. We need to find someone to take care of the house during our absence. There is a good possibility, but it isn’t confirmed yet. Josiah will be attending a National Student Leadership Conference on US Policy and Politics in Washington DC from June 23 – July 2nd. We’ll drop him off there on the way home and he’ll fly home when it’s over. Please pray that God will use this experience as He desires in Josiah’s life.

If you want to contact us while we’re gone, we’ll have Gary’s laptop with us, so you can send e-mail to gary_peterson@wycliffe.org. We hope to be back home by June 25th.

Thanks for standing with us in all of this! - Robyn & Gary Peterson

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Peterson's Prayer Guide - April 2007

“Man looks up, and God looks down: Our eyes meet, and we are, in the twinkling of an eye, made partakers of the divine abundance…the full pours itself into the empty, and the empty receives the full.” Quote by Horatius Bonar, a Scottish pastor in the 1800’s

What a wonderful time of year this is! I love the delightful Spring weather, the new life in the garden, and Easter, with all its depth of meaning for us who believe. May our time of remembering Christ’s ultimate sacrifice be a catalyst for renewal of our love for Him and commitment to His purposes for our lives.

Here’s Gary’s Schedule for April:

4th and 13th – Face to Face Missionary Encounter – sharing with guests at Wordspring.

14th – special tour/share time with a visiting youth group.

18th – New Testament Scripture dedication service.

19th – 5 Kilometer (3.1 miles) Orlando Corporate Fun Run. Gary and 18 other Wycliffe runners will join 5,000 other runners for this race. It’s a great way to let the community know we’re here. Gary is recovering from an injury, so his dream of running a personal best has been replaced with being happy just to be able to run and represent Wycliffe.

20th – Mission At The Airport school field trip day, Clearwater, Florida. School kids from the area are invited to see & hear about Wycliffe’s aviation arm, JAARS, and go for a ride in one of their planes or helicopters. Gary will be sharing with the kids & teachers.

21st – It is being advertised in churches throughout the area and will be open to the general public.

28th – Gary will be giving devotions 5 times throughout the day for Upward Soccer at our church here. This is a sports outreach ministry and many of the families are not regular church attendees.

Esther had a very positive experience in Costa Rica. She sends out her own letters and has a “My Space” web site with photos if any of you are interested in keeping up with her more personally. (http://godslittlerocker19.spaces.live.com). Her car is continuing to have problems, so Gary plans to go over and swap cars with her soon so we can get hers repaired. We’re hoping it won’t be an expensive job! Please pray for Esther as she makes plans for her summer too. She has several ideas, but nothing is very clear yet, and it’s approaching quickly.

Josiah has been particularly busy with school lately. He seems to be dealing with the tyranny of the urgent. Pray that he’ll learn better how to stay on top with steady work instead of last minute rushes. He wrote to our local congressmen last month in hopes of getting financial help for his summer conference, but hasn’t had much response so far.

We really need to replace our roof soon. You may recall that we were talking about it last spring. It can’t be put off any longer. We received a good tax refund, so plan to use that to launch the project. We need to do some research and hope to do the work ourselves (to save $) with the help of friends. At this stage it looks like early May before we’ll have some time. We are planning to set off on a 5 week road trip on May 22nd, though, so this won’t leave us much time to get it done. Please pray for all the details to come together.

We are in need of a break, and have decided to go away for 4 days over Easter (Thurs. – Sunday), since we won’t be having small groups that weekend. We’re still looking for a place to stay (camping or an inexpensive hotel) towards where Esther is in college so she can join us for some of it. We look forward to visiting the church she’s involved with on Easter Sunday.

The “Just Walk Across the Room” campaign our church is doing is really good. We have had a lot of contact with neighbors again lately, and are praying for sensitivity to the Spirit as we relate to them. We want so much to be a light in this community. Members of our small group have some big needs right now, too. We’d be grateful for your prayers for wisdom as we support them.

Thanks again for standing with us. Robyn, for the Petersons