There I was . . .

For years I have told stories to illustrate some point that I may have been trying to make. They have always been the same stories - to the point that whenever I begin one now, Paula will inform me that of their over use. So, there we were (the plural of "There I was") sitting our places in the KGC listening to how we could tell stories that wouldn't just illustrate some vague point about that which really didn't matter anyway, but might actually bring someone a step closer to a right relationship with God. What a thought! Now, what I need to do is figure out how to relate those stories where and when they need to be related.
We are progressing right along toward the completion of orientation. We have finished our fifth week and we are told that the high point is yet to come. Those who have presented material for orienting us toward the mission field have all been top notch. Those among you who know of and understand about Lottie Moon will want to know that she is getting her money's worth. We are also growing deeper into the soil of spiritual knowledge and understanding.
Last night we spent about an hour on the computer SKYPEing with our kids in Korea. It wasn't the first time we had "skyped" but it was a first for them. What a hoot to get to go and wake our grandkids up from the comfort of our accomodations in Virginia ;~{b)

Please joining us in praying God’s Word from Matthew 9:38 and 1Tim 2:2:

Pray for us that the Lord who is in charge of the harvest to send more workers into His fields.

Pray for Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

Stay tuned for another exciting episode, when you may hear our Hero say, "Ya know Ray and Paula, I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives. . ."

Think Thank Thunk - it's not what you Thought

It has been a great week here in Richmond. We are nearly to the halfway point in our Orientation. Our focus this week was upon those in the Body of Christ who are being persucuted for their faith. We spent most of three days learning about that there are not two churches - one that is persecuted and one that is not. We are all the Body of Christ and if one part is persecuted, then we are all persecuted. WE should be so obedient to Christ as are the ones suffering for their faith!
We finished our English as a Second Language training today . . . We even got a certificate. We spent all day on the last two Saturdays doing the workshop that would have cost about $1000 for each of us. We learned a fun way to teach language learners, "THINK, THANKS, THUNK" involving little goldfish crackers and what might be referred to as a "spitting contest." The cool part is that it really works. Thanks to YOUR sacrificial giving to Lottie Moon and the Cooperative Program, we now have one more tool in our toolkit for sharing the Good News around the world.

Please share the following prayer requests, praying God’s Word from Colossians 4:3-6:

Pray for us that God may open a door to us for the message, to speak the mystery of the Messiah;
Pray for us that we may reveal the message as we are required to speak;
Pray for us that we will walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the time;
Pray for us that our speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that we may know how we should answer each person.

We are down to less than 35 days before we fly to Germany. Tune in again soon to learn what's up with Ray and Paula.

Prayer - Don't Leave home without it!

Last week (week #3) was a pretty busy week for us. We continued on our nearly vertical learning curve on Monday and Tuesday with several hours on both days learning about how to figure out the "who are those folks that we are supposed to be reaching with the Good News." The focus of the other three days was how all that we had learned on Monday and Tuesday has actually worked in multiplying churches. I wrote in the email I sent with our newsletter: WE CAN NOT DO THIS WITHOUT PRAYER!!! We have commited to praying everyday for what some might consider an extended time of prayer. We wish that the time we spend did not escape us so quickly. One of our presenters shared an African proverb with us the other day to emphasize our need for your prayer support. "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." We are counting ourselves in the "wanting to go far" group. Here are a couple of specific things from Scripture that you can pray for us:

Pray for us, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about His mysterious plan concerning Christ;
Pray for us that we will proclaim this message as clearly as we should;
Pray for us that we will live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity;
Pray for us that our conversation will be gracious and attractive so that we will have the right response for everyone.

Tune in again soon for our latest update.

Sleep is not a problem

We are in the midst of another FANTASTIC week here. For the first 3 days this week not only did we have Elbert leading us in devotions each morning, but we had Brother Jerry as the "featured speaker" We all sat and soaked up his immense wisdom on the subject of spiritual warfare - and we thought he was going to spend 3 days taking about Ephesians 6:10-18.
We have figured out that we have been pretty lax when it came to our prayer life. For those of you who are married - do you remember when you first fell in love with your spouse? All you wanted to do was spend time with that person. If you could have said, "Well, I do love you more than anything else and I will spend exactly 23 minutes a day either with you or thinking about you and I will only talk to you in the most formal of language, when I do talk to you." Do you suppose your relationship would have flourished?
Well, boys and girls we have come to that place in our relationship with our Lord and we have determined to make a strong and absolute commitment to spend significant time with God and in His Word . . . the first thing every daily. We are getting up at 4:30AM to pray and read before we go for our walk. . . we need you help to keep us faithful. Please don't hesitate to ask us how are we doing. As I see it, this isn't just training for going overseas - NO! This is training for our life before a holy and righteous God who loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to buy us back by dying on a cross. But you know what, God didn't just stop there. He raised Jesus from the dead and broke the power of sin that enslaved us. We are learning to live this out everyday.
Well, I need to finish a couple of little things before we go to bed - sleep will not be a problem!