Peterson's Prayer Guide - December 2008

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be His royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

As usual, we had many more events than were scheduled when we wrote the last prayer guide. Overall it was another great month, but I (Gary) confess there were some groups that I felt I just didn’t/couldn’t connect with. One group showed up with less than 24 hours notice. Though I spent a couple of hours with them, I just felt there was no interest. It was discouraging, but I have to leave it with God.

Election Day! We had over 1950 people come to our center to vote. There were many opportunities to talk about what we do, and even to share the gospel with a few. It was fun hearing some of the voters in line accurately telling others all about us. Some of these new friends in the neighborhood have come back to volunteer at the center in various roles. Praise God!

I had a gentleman come up to the Discovery desk with his new bride by his side. She said, “He’s been anxious to see this place for 6 years and we are so excited to finally be here!” He had been one of the workers who put the Discovery Center together. That was just 6 weeks after his first wife died and he was struggling. Assembling it and reading much of the material he was putting up was a big part of his healing through that loss.

Our trip to Columbia International University in South Carolina was a fabulous experience. We hadn’t expected a program for us as parents, but they provided that concurrently with the potential student events. We were very impressed with the college, the lovely setting and the caliber of the staff and students they’re producing. Josiah is leaning strongly towards it, but we are still waiting to hear what scholarships he will receive.

The Last Languages Campaign Celebration on the 21st and 22nd went great – at least from my vantage point. We had lots of visitors from around the world on Friday, and from around central Florida on Saturday. We’ll tell you more about it in our newsletter. We are getting ready to produce that now, so be looking for it in the next few weeks. Pray that we’ll do a good job of communicating and inspiring the recipients.

December Schedule

1st I will be hosting in Wycliffe’s Discovery Center as well as giving the morning tour. Pray for divine appointments. Robyn will be driving Esther back to college after her Thanksgiving break with us (5 hour round trip).

2nd Robyn is having arthroscopic knee surgery. Pray that it will be successful and she’ll recover quickly.

3rd I will be speaking to a large group of Hispanic middle-schoolers (junior high) at Inglesia de Palabra Viva (Living Word Church). They support a colleague of mine who is heading off to serve in Cameroon, Africa.

5th 150-200 soccer players in Orlando for the National Christian College Athletic Association Soccer Tournament will be visiting our center. Pray we’ll be able to really connect with and challenge them. We are told that 10% of these players will not be Christians. We also have 90 elementary age kids and their parents here for an A-Z program at the same time.

6th Gary’s Mother leaves early in the morning to fly back home to California. It has been an honor, privilege and fun to have her here – except that she beat me in most of the games we played. Surely my mother wouldn’t cheat would she? That same morning I will attempt to complete the Orlando half marathon (13.1 miles or 21 kilometers). I haven’t run that far for 7 years! Robyn is taking part in a special fund-raising tea to support AIDS ministry. Pray that God will inspire her as she gives the opening prayer.

11th Mission Encounter for 20 middle school students and two adults from Otis Memorial Academy.

12th Mission Encounter for 70 8th graders from Orangewood Christian School. Pray I will get some extra staff to help me as we are short staffed at the moment.

16th and 24th. Face to Face – I will be the Mission Speaker for our 1pm public presentation to any visitors.

25th Happy Christmas to you all! Thank God for those who now have the Christmas story in their language for the first time.

26th – January 2nd Family staycation – holiday at home. Plenty of work projects to catch up on as well as getting ready for a busy new year.