Peterson's Prayer Guide - September 2008

“God chooses to operate in response to our prayers. He is perfectly capable of hallowing His name, advancing His kingdom, and enforcing His will without our asking Him to do so. But He wants us to ask for these things. That makes our prayers tremendously important!”
(Quote from “Love to Pray” by Alvin VanderGriend)

Some of you will be aware that we experienced tropical storm Fay that caused a lot of destruction due to the incredible amount of rain it dumped on this state recently. We are happy to say that although things are rather soggy around here, we were unscathed by it. However, many on the coast are still under water and will feel the impact for a long time to come. A nasty hurricane (Gustav) is in the Gulf right now but is only affecting us with extra rain. We’re more concerned about Hanna, the next storm, which is in the Atlantic and may be affecting us in some way later this week, so we would appreciate your ongoing prayers for safety and wisdom in our responses to whatever future storms come this way during hurricane season (through November).

Esther arrived home safely from her 2 months in Australia. We’re so grateful to all who made her time there so enjoyable and worthwhile. The family went beyond the call of duty to look after her well! It was great to have some time off to catch up with her, see her photos, and have some fun together when she returned. We were given free entrance to a Disney park one day during our vacation, so that was a lot of fun. :) Our time up the coast was very relaxing. Although we spent a good part of two days painting the place to pay for our stay, it was fun to do a project together like that. That area was hit hard by the storm last week, so we are very grateful that our vacation was the week before!

We enjoyed hosting a number of out of town guests in August, too. Please let us know if you’re ever coming this direction. We’d love to see you and catch up face to face.

We took Esther back to her Bible College on Friday. She’s been helping with new student orientation these past few days and her classes begin today (Aug. 27). Some have been wondering what she is studying there. She is doing a “General Studies” major, preparing for ministry of some kind. This semester her subjects include: the book of Hebrews, Introduction to Counseling, Introduction to Preaching, New Testament Greek, Systematic Theology I and Apologetics. She has 2 years to go and hopes to get a job after she graduates, and continue to study at night school to get a teaching qualification. She has the same dorm room and roommate as last year, and will continue working in the Admissions office of the college part time. Thank you for your prayers for her! It was truly a delight to have her around for a bit!

Josiah has begun his senior year and is happy with his teachers and subjects. On the days he rides the bus, he leaves the house at 6AM, so it’s an early start! He has started helping with the video recording at church on Sundays, and enjoys that. We have a new family pastor who is bringing a different focus, and the AWANA program is being discontinued. Pray for wisdom as Josiah makes his commitments for this year. Soccer refereeing starts up again on the weekend, so that will provide employment for him on Saturdays during the season.

I, (Robyn) made some good progress on cleaning out office files and throwing out obsolete paper during the summer, but I’ve still got more to do. I will keep plenty busy with e-mail (I’m still way behind), prayer ministry, and involvement at church as we move into the fall. I want to keep being intentional in my relationships in the neighborhood, too. Pray that I’ll make good use of my time and be able to prioritize according to God’s desires.

Our church here is preparing for its first real missions conference in October. We are both on teams to help with making this happen. Gary has been asked to give the sermon on September 21st as part of the lead up to the conference. He would appreciate your prayers for God to guide his preparation and use his message to really impact this part of the Body.

Here’s Gary’s schedule for the month as he knows it right now:

4th–5th WordSpring Education retreat
11th A-Z Adventure, Masters Academy (96 people)
18th A-Z Adventure (40 students) and Mission Encounter (24 students)
21st Preach on missions at Cornerstone
25th Hope Home School Group A-Z Adventure

Thanks again for your partnership in all of this!