A Note from our partners in Turkey

This is why we continue to do short-term missions... grateful for amazing teams & phenomenal partnerships around the globe.  God is good.

My name is Hanspeter Tiefenbach, I am Swiss and live for many years with my wife in this land. During Ramazan's absence I am  the interims pastor for the Turkish church. 

 

I write you today in order to thank you and the Impact team for the great ministry that has been done during their stay here in town. I was not very much envolved with the team but saw them regularly in the church garden or one of our meetings. They have been humble and so much willing to do whatever they were asked for and I saw them being involved with local people in praying for them, encouraging with a word of love and a bright smile or sharing the gospel with people who came to the language practies which the team offerd. We heard them give testamonies at church and saw them do practical work in houses or the meeting place. They have been so generous as well with a great financel gift they gave to the church. I know that they have contributed to the different houses they have been staying at, which helped this families in their personal financial struggles. I know that they could have had a relaxed time with air conditioner and pool in a hotel but they wanted to share their lives with local belivers and be of support to them instead. GOD bless them all. I know that HE is going to "repay" them in HIS own ways. Thank you so much for the organisation of this outreach and all the churches for making it possible for this people to come and help us. If you have an opertunity please let them and their churches know our love and gratitude. 

 

With best regards and blessings,

Hanspeter Tiefenbach    

I like it

There's a great conversation about short-term missions that's happening here.  My prayer is that IMPACT will always go to serve and never to be served, that our ministry will always be first about Christ and second about those we go to serve, that we will be welcomed back with open arms because we were about those two things.  I am constantly on the look-out for better ways to do STM trips and more effective ways to serve our friends in-country.  I love a good conversation about all this... let's keep it going, let's keep learning, let's keep changing so that we may change others for His glory.

P.S. - We still have 3 teams out... continue to pray for them - that God is wrecking them and making them more like his son.

Teachers Wanted... in Haiti

• Here's the details. Our missionary friends & partners in Haiti (Kerry & Joy Reeves) called me this afternoon & said that there's a "situation."
  
  The school their 4 kids were scheduled to attend in the fall is threatening to close its doors due to the need for 2 more teachers. We are sending one teacher there for the school year, but they need 2 more total to keep the school running. It has been running for 15 years and is on YWAM's property. They are the managers of the school, Liberty Academy
  
  It is an all English-speaking school with about 26 kids total. Kerry & Joy's 4 will go there in the Fall. He is concerned about the closing of the school for a few reasons:
  
  1) He wants that consistency in education for his own kids.
  2) The Haitian kids that attend are Haiti's future leaders. They are the ones that are educated and speak English and if this school closes, many of those kids will either be sent to boarding schools or they will be sent to the normal schools with sub-par education.
  
  We trust the Lord and believe that we can get 2 more teachers for them. They pay is non-existent, but food, housing and transportation are fully covered for the entire school year and we're working on a travel stipend right now.
  
  IMPACT is running an intern program and already sending 4-6 people in their 20's and 30's over to Haiti for 9 months, so we would likely run the teachers through that program.
  
  Our partners there are INCREDIBLE. Visit newvisionhaiti.blogspot.com for more on them. And we just believe that God is going to provide.
  
  Qualifications from the school:
  - a Bachelor's degree in something - anything
  - a heart for kids
  - a heart for missions
  - a love for Jesus
  
  That's it. So if you know someone who meets those areas, then let's talk! :) Would LOVE to hear from you.
  
  And besides... you can get some new dance moves from the kiddos... check it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5-tKbuAgWg
  
  Let me know what other questions you have! 
  email: impact.sbp@gmail.com

Prayer Request from Romania

Yesterday I was going to send you an altogether different newsletter.  The below trumps any concerns or issues I could have mentioned.   Ilie asked me to to share this situation as a prayer request with you, our praying family:

 

(sent yesterday evening to some friends by email)
Dear friends and family of the New Horizons Foundation in Lupeni,

A serious accident has befallen one of our most beloved team member's family. Ilie Popescu's - our Viata Program director's - 7 year old son Adonis fell from their 5-story balcony today.  Miraculously he landed on a bit of rain-softened grass, rather than cement, but his little body is quite injured.  After time at the hospital in Petrosani, he is being transported by ambulance to Timisoara (4 hours away) where there is a pediatric hospital. 

Dana, who was at the Petrosani hospital, writes this: 

Hi all,

A little update.  While at first everyone was fearing for the worst, in the light of those fears the initial news was good.

But Adonis did break his spine-the good news is that he can move his feet; he also broke his skull and it is hard to know how bad that is, but the good news here is that Adonis was talking; he also injured one of his lungs pretty severely.  From what I could pick up from conversations, and what was told me, he is still in serious condition.  

He landed on grass and somewhat soft soil, which softened the impact.

Keep praying.  Ilie and Robi are headed to Timisoara; Tina is with Adonis in the ambulance, hopefully on the way by now.

Dana 

That was yesterday.  News just received is that Adonis was complaining of being bored in the hospital.  This is very good news indeed if one knows Adonis!   However after one night in the hospital he is being prepped for surgery for internal bleeding.  The doctors assessment as of now seems to be that the head and the spine will heal, but they are concerned with the internal bleeding. 

You may be receiving this e-mail as someone who knows and loves Ilie and even Adonis, or as a dear friend and partner in our ministry. If you are part of a missions committee, please would you ask your committees and even church families to be praying?

Please join us in prayer for Adonis' body, and for Ilie and Tina.  If you'd like to contact Ilie, please do so via e-mail (not by phone) either to his address or reply to us and we will send it on.

Thankful for the prayerful Family of God, especially in times such as these.

the Bates' on behalf of Adonis, Ilie and Tina

Simply Complicated

I’m learning that Peru, Spain & Mexico have alot in common: es simplemente complicado 

• las cucarachas (look it up) - they’re in the shower usually, awesome. 
• internet - here & in every other developing country, inconsistent & at times no bueno (but don’t get me wrong, i’m crazy grateful for wifi)
• nothing is easy - it took us 3 hours to run two errands - traffic was horrendous, parking was an issue, we got pretty darned lost, we almost got in an accident (or three) and the people here drive like they didn’t to drivers ed & don’t have driver’s licenses... oh wait, many of them don’t... notice the painted lane lines?  they totes don't matter.

• clean - the term “clean” is relative in places like this.  blowing your nose & having it be straight dirt AFTER your shower is totally clean, right?
• on time - means about 20-30 minutes late.  i mean, what’s the big deal... everybody’s doing it.  

But I’m also learning alot about what it would look like to simplify my life... to live the way most people in the world do.  To stop “needing” so much of what we’ve thought we were entitled to and to start living more simply in order to be able to provide more for those who only dream of things like hot water, internet, a mattress and a washing machine.  

I did some laundry here in Peru tonight and there’s a sweatshirt I never dry when I wash it - you know, one of those “it fits perfect & if I dried it I know it wouldn’t” sweatshirts? That one requested special permission not to be dried so I decided to hang it out on the clothes line.  As I was clipping the little clothespins, I had a glimpse of simple.  I turned around and went back into the little kitchen with no dishwasher and no garbage disposal and thought, “This actually is the life.  This is the better way to live.” 

You see, I think sometimes we think we have it good because we have every modern convenience and everything we could want easily accessible and readily available, but I actually think it harms us.  I think hanging up my sweatshirt, drying my dishes, losing my internet connection and showering with cucarachas has brought more life to me in the last week than my hot shower, my automatic coffee maker, my super speedy wireless distraction tool internet and my strip malls have done for me in the last 10 years.

I think less is more... stay tuned to hear why.  

His ways are higher

A blogpost from our Haiti partners, Kerry & Joy Reeves about our God, about expectations, about how much we don't understand.  Click the link above...

Easter in Peru

Holidays are hard in another country.  I don't care who you are or how tough you think you are or how long you've lived in a different place than your family - holidays are when it hits you that this is not home.  Yesterday I got a glimpse of what it's like to spend Easter in another country.  I can't say I've ever done that before.  I've spent many Easters away from my family, but never spent one this far away from everything I know... except for these people who I truly consider family.

We woke up and had cereal for breakfast, per usual... except the 3 older kids had a little surprise on top of their cereal - a peep, I know, disgusting but I couldn't resist :)  We then headed to Peruvian church for Easter service.  There was something about worshipping in Spanish that took me back to how and where I grew up and it made my heart glad.

As much as I missed ROCKHARBOR's Easter service, baptisms & craziness at the amphitheater, it was amazing to see how easy it was to have a full heart despite missing what I think makes me happy on Easter.  I was sitting in church with the people I've spent the past 5 Easters with, worshipping the same risen God on what might be my favorite day of the year.  He is still risen.  He is still alive and active.  He is still in control.

We came home, had PBJ's for lunch - you know, your standard Easter feast and we hid some eggs in the yard for the kiddos, making our best attempt at keeping Easter as normal as possible for the 4 little people in the house.  All 3 of us adults called our parents & wished them Happy Easter, I know at least one of us felt a teensy bit triste that I wasn't celebrating on the lake with my family.

But we sucked it up - we played games, jumped on the trampoline, died laughing watching Blake & Sarah's wedding video, I got bit by something & my thumb swelled up and went numb, we treated ourselves to the only Mexican joint in Lima and we had a great conversation about missions - about Jesus being worth the sacrifices, about how stinkin' hard it can be at times, about transition and trust.    These people have been family to me for the last 7 years and on any day of the year, that is enough.  And we went to bed glad to be together.

Easter was still Easter and He is still risen.  Yesterday's grew my appreciation for my friends all over the world who have sacrificed much and spent a ridiculous amount of holidays away from family because Jesus is worth it.  I have a feeling this may just be the beginning of the holidays-on-another-continent journey for me.  And my first year, I think I'll be TOTALLY open to amigos joining me - come one come all... wherever it is that He's gonna have me.

Happy Easter from Peru to you.