Sept-Oct 2002 (Year 4, Number 1)
Click on "Read More" to view this issue.
News
Tidbits
1. One of the young communists that we mentioned in our last newsletter is now coming to our home twice a week for English lessons! A couple weeks ago, one of these lessons never got off the ground. Instead, it simply turned into an hour long discussion about his life and spiritual things. It was a God-given opportunity to share with him about true faith and about Christ who transforms our lives. His heart softened as he shared about recent events in his life. At the end, he gratefully accepted an Italian Bible to take home and read. Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to minister to his heart through God’s Word and through these English “lessons.”
2. At 3:22 am on September 6th, we woke up and found our whole bedroom shaking back and forth! It was a strange feeling. The 5.6 richter scale earthquake caused some damage to several buildings in Palermo’s historic downtown. There have been hundreds of minor aftershocks since then. A week ago, Mt. Etna began spewing lava and causing earthquakes in the city of Catania. And, just 2 days ago there was a major earthquake southeast of Rome which killed 29 children and teachers in a school that collapsed. Pray for many here who have been terrified by these dramatic events. Pray that God would also shake their hearts and cause them to seek him!
3. Pastors and leaders from Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain came together in Montpellier, France in October for our Field Prayer Conference. Special times of prayer highlighted the week and our leaders feel confident that God is sending a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit across our nations. We thank God for refilling our spirits for ministry in Palermo.
4. Momentum is building on the Western Mediterranean Field as God is creating a new vision for dynamic youth ministry. The Field Youth Council had their first ever meeting in October during our field conference. They spent time in prayer for each other and for the youth in each nation. They began to organize the council and discussed global NYI, youth leader training, Bible quizzing ministry, and the Field Youth Congress to be held in Madrid, Spain in August 2003.
5. Just a few days ago, Joel was privileged to travel to the south Asian country of Bangladesh. He was part of the Eurasia Regional Youth Council meetings in Dhaka. Then, the council joined over 300 youth in Birgonj for the Bangladesh Youth Congress. Over 70 of the youth responded to God’s call by choosing to consecrate their lives completely to God!
Answers to Prayer
1. We have not yet found the perfect youth center building. For the next 6 months, we feel that God is directing us to continue to develop various ministries through a temporary “youth center,” our very own home! Pray that God will clearly guide us as we make plans to open this youth center once we return from our furlough next summer.
2. As friends and neighbors have re-entered from their summer vacations, many significant opportunities have come up to spend time with people in our home or on an evening outing . Through this continued interaction, we see God at work deepening our relationships and opening people’s hearts to him.
3. Another of our English students has really drawn close to us over the last few months. Her grandfather recently passed away, and we have been able to share quite a bit with her about our faith. She is very open and is asking many questions. Pray that God would continue to call her by name!
4. We are thankful that God has helped us in the process of renewing our residence papers and car insurance. It was a frustrating and difficult process, but everything seems to be in order now.
5. Thank you for praying for our English lessons. This has become a significant means of interaction with young people. We now have 12 students coming regularly into our home!
Prayer Requests
1. God desires to transform the hearts of our neighbors and friends! He has created a deep hunger within them, and they are seeking him. Radical transformation can happen! Will you believe it with us???
2. From Palermo to Paris and from Lisbon to Madrid there is a great need on our field for pastors and leaders. Pray that youth from these countries would sense God’s call to ministry and that they would be willing to consecrate their lives to him no matter the cost!
3. A moral vacuum and a profound spiritual darkness are encompassing Italian society and suffocating the people’s capacity to live out dynamic Christian faith. The ability to determine right from wrong has been lost as people live self-centered lives and seek personal pleasure and gain. Pray that the Holy Spirit would break through hardened hearts to call people to seek God and to submit their lives to his Lordship!
4. Pray for people in Palermo! Choose a couple of these names and place them on your prayer list. English students: Massimo, Noemi, Giusy, Enzo, Marco, Daniele, Andrea, Manlio, Felicia, Silvia, Marta, Roberta. Friends: Natale, Cristina, Alessandro, Antonella, Michele, Beppe, Enza, Salvatore.
5. Pray that God would be present during the Italy North District Assembly on November 12th in Firenze and the Italy South District Assembly on November 30th in Catania.
Miscellaneous Notes
1. Volunteers needed! Palermo is waiting for you! Contact us if you or someone you know would be interested in joining us in ministry here in Palermo for a year or two.
2. Thank you for sending Christian music CDs! So far, over 500 have been donated to youth on our field. As more come in, we will begin sharing them with other countries on the Eurasia region. Keep it up! Contact us for details on shipping your next collection of donated CDs.
3. We were stuck in the Rome airport for 11 hours during a national strike in Italy which grounded all flights. During our wait, we ate at a Mexican restaurant called Me Gusta. It was pretty good, if you’ve never had Mexican food before!
4. “We are talking about a society. . .where people go to church without any real religious feeling and above all without this representing any source of morality or model for ethical behavior.” Quote from “The New Italians” by Charles Richards.
5. Perhaps partaking of pizza or pasta will prompt you to pray for people in Palermo!
May God’s grace embrace you today!
Joel and Sara Mullen
1. One of the young communists that we mentioned in our last newsletter is now coming to our home twice a week for English lessons! A couple weeks ago, one of these lessons never got off the ground. Instead, it simply turned into an hour long discussion about his life and spiritual things. It was a God-given opportunity to share with him about true faith and about Christ who transforms our lives. His heart softened as he shared about recent events in his life. At the end, he gratefully accepted an Italian Bible to take home and read. Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to minister to his heart through God’s Word and through these English “lessons.”
2. At 3:22 am on September 6th, we woke up and found our whole bedroom shaking back and forth! It was a strange feeling. The 5.6 richter scale earthquake caused some damage to several buildings in Palermo’s historic downtown. There have been hundreds of minor aftershocks since then. A week ago, Mt. Etna began spewing lava and causing earthquakes in the city of Catania. And, just 2 days ago there was a major earthquake southeast of Rome which killed 29 children and teachers in a school that collapsed. Pray for many here who have been terrified by these dramatic events. Pray that God would also shake their hearts and cause them to seek him!
3. Pastors and leaders from Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain came together in Montpellier, France in October for our Field Prayer Conference. Special times of prayer highlighted the week and our leaders feel confident that God is sending a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit across our nations. We thank God for refilling our spirits for ministry in Palermo.
4. Momentum is building on the Western Mediterranean Field as God is creating a new vision for dynamic youth ministry. The Field Youth Council had their first ever meeting in October during our field conference. They spent time in prayer for each other and for the youth in each nation. They began to organize the council and discussed global NYI, youth leader training, Bible quizzing ministry, and the Field Youth Congress to be held in Madrid, Spain in August 2003.
5. Just a few days ago, Joel was privileged to travel to the south Asian country of Bangladesh. He was part of the Eurasia Regional Youth Council meetings in Dhaka. Then, the council joined over 300 youth in Birgonj for the Bangladesh Youth Congress. Over 70 of the youth responded to God’s call by choosing to consecrate their lives completely to God!
Answers to Prayer
1. We have not yet found the perfect youth center building. For the next 6 months, we feel that God is directing us to continue to develop various ministries through a temporary “youth center,” our very own home! Pray that God will clearly guide us as we make plans to open this youth center once we return from our furlough next summer.
2. As friends and neighbors have re-entered from their summer vacations, many significant opportunities have come up to spend time with people in our home or on an evening outing . Through this continued interaction, we see God at work deepening our relationships and opening people’s hearts to him.
3. Another of our English students has really drawn close to us over the last few months. Her grandfather recently passed away, and we have been able to share quite a bit with her about our faith. She is very open and is asking many questions. Pray that God would continue to call her by name!
4. We are thankful that God has helped us in the process of renewing our residence papers and car insurance. It was a frustrating and difficult process, but everything seems to be in order now.
5. Thank you for praying for our English lessons. This has become a significant means of interaction with young people. We now have 12 students coming regularly into our home!
Prayer Requests
1. God desires to transform the hearts of our neighbors and friends! He has created a deep hunger within them, and they are seeking him. Radical transformation can happen! Will you believe it with us???
2. From Palermo to Paris and from Lisbon to Madrid there is a great need on our field for pastors and leaders. Pray that youth from these countries would sense God’s call to ministry and that they would be willing to consecrate their lives to him no matter the cost!
3. A moral vacuum and a profound spiritual darkness are encompassing Italian society and suffocating the people’s capacity to live out dynamic Christian faith. The ability to determine right from wrong has been lost as people live self-centered lives and seek personal pleasure and gain. Pray that the Holy Spirit would break through hardened hearts to call people to seek God and to submit their lives to his Lordship!
4. Pray for people in Palermo! Choose a couple of these names and place them on your prayer list. English students: Massimo, Noemi, Giusy, Enzo, Marco, Daniele, Andrea, Manlio, Felicia, Silvia, Marta, Roberta. Friends: Natale, Cristina, Alessandro, Antonella, Michele, Beppe, Enza, Salvatore.
5. Pray that God would be present during the Italy North District Assembly on November 12th in Firenze and the Italy South District Assembly on November 30th in Catania.
Miscellaneous Notes
1. Volunteers needed! Palermo is waiting for you! Contact us if you or someone you know would be interested in joining us in ministry here in Palermo for a year or two.
2. Thank you for sending Christian music CDs! So far, over 500 have been donated to youth on our field. As more come in, we will begin sharing them with other countries on the Eurasia region. Keep it up! Contact us for details on shipping your next collection of donated CDs.
3. We were stuck in the Rome airport for 11 hours during a national strike in Italy which grounded all flights. During our wait, we ate at a Mexican restaurant called Me Gusta. It was pretty good, if you’ve never had Mexican food before!
4. “We are talking about a society. . .where people go to church without any real religious feeling and above all without this representing any source of morality or model for ethical behavior.” Quote from “The New Italians” by Charles Richards.
5. Perhaps partaking of pizza or pasta will prompt you to pray for people in Palermo!
May God’s grace embrace you today!
Joel and Sara Mullen
Posted: Sat - November 2, 2002 at 11:11 PM
Quick Links
Extreme Tracking Web Counter
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jan 09, 2004 05:11 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jan 09, 2004 05:11 PM