FAR075 -- GP: Worldwide Activity Report -- August 1998

Copyright 1998 by The Family

         "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone, everywhere," Jesus told His followers. Every day, in nearly 85 countries, Family missionaries share Jesus' message of hope and love with many thousands. Following are some highlights of their recent activities.

[Caption to go with photo: mexico.PCX:]

The real thing. Family members Cindy and Jon distribute food, clothing and a message of Jesus' love to children in El Tapatio, one of the worst slums in Guadalajara, Mexico. "Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18).

What if?
From Joy, Mexico
         Looking back, it is hard to imagine what would have happened if we hadn't done what we felt the Lord was telling us to do with our Saturday afternoon. What if we had decided that it was too hot or too late in the day to go witnessing? What if we had decided that there weren't enough people in the park to make it worth our time to pass out tracts? What if we had decided to leave before talking to that one last woman? But there she was, in front of us.
         "That lady sure looks like she needs Jesus," I said to 10-year-old Angie as I gave her a nudge.
         Angie introduced herself to Maria, and the two talked for a few minutes. Then Angie offered to pray with Maria for her to receive Jesus. Maria accepted and began to repeat a salvation prayer after Angie, but when they got to, "forgive me for my sins," Maria broke down weeping. She pulled herself together and eventually made it to the end of the prayer. But then she began crying again.
         "I don't think it is good to try to talk to God when I'm crying," she said.
         "Oh, that's not true!" Angie assured her. "The Bible says that God loves a broken and contrite heart. There are so many verses in the Bible about Jesus loving us and listening to us when our hearts are broken. He loves you and He'll always answer your prayers."
         Upon hearing that, Maria was barely able to talk. "I have so many problems," she finally said, "that I don't know if God can solve them all. For one thing, I have a son who is in the hospital."
         "I know for a fact that God answers prayer," Angie answered, and followed that with an example of how He had healed her baby brother when he had had problems at birth.
         When it was time for us to leave, Maria and Angie exchanged hugs, and we gave Maria our phone number and urged her to call whenever she needed to talk.
         The next morning Maria phoned. Her son, Adrian, was in a drug rehabilitation center, it turned out, after five years of cocaine addiction that had nearly killed him.
         We later met Adrian and his wife, and they both prayed to receive the Lord with us. They were also very encouraged and moved by the Word we shared with them.
         Adrian has made remarkable progress since then. Now he wants to help other young people who are hooked on drugs. And when Maria passed out The Family's "Alguien te Ama" ("Somebody Loves You") tracts at the rehab center, the doctor in charge was impressed by the message and the effect it had on the patients. He wanted to know more about our work, and asked us to help counsel other recovering addicts at the clinic.
         The day before Maria, Adrian and his wife all returned to their home town, we met Maria's husband and their daughters. They all thanked us warmly for our part in bringing a miracle to their family.
         Well, another Saturday is fast approaching, and we are eagerly looking forward to going to the park again and finding out what chain reaction of witnessing opportunities the Lord has in store for us this week. It may be a little hot, it may be a little late, and the park may look empty, but if we can be there for that one person that the Lord has placed in our path, we just never know where the first step will lead or how many lives may be touched with the Lord's love.

A meeting arranged in Heaven
From Joanna, 14, Philippines
         One day my dad and I stopped for lunch at a fast food restaurant, and a young lady sat down at the table right next to ours. A few minutes later she was joined by a young Korean man who my dad and mom had met about a week earlier on a jeepney (Philippine mini-bus) in another part of Manila. The young man had asked my dad and mom to help him find the place he was going, as it was his first time in that part of town, and he didn't speak Tagalog or much English. They had helped him on his way and mapped out his return route to his boarding house, for which he was very thankful.
         The woman with him the second time we met was his English tutor. When she realized that Dad was one of the two missionaries her student had told her about, she became quite excited.
         "It's no accident that we should meet here," she said. "Surely God arranged this! I am also a Christian, and I have been praying that this man would come to know Jesus. Can you help me explain that to him?"
         So there in the restaurant, with the help of an English-Korean dictionary and some Family posters, we three explained the plan of salvation to our Korean friend and he received Jesus as his personal Savior. His tutor shed tears of joy at the sight of her prayers for this man being answered.
         They had planned to eat in a different restaurant, she explained, but had changed their mind on the spur of the moment as they passed this one. She had looked for a seat while he ordered their lunch, and the table next to ours was the first one available. Had they sat on the other side of the restaurant, we probably wouldn't have seen each other and missed this very special meeting.

God's Word--the key to faith and other blessings
From Catherine, Brazil
         Our volunteer work and aid program in one of So Paulo's worst slums continues to go well. We're especially happy to see many of the people there getting interested in studying the Bible, as learning to claim God's promises and put His love into action in practical ways will be keys to long-term solutions to their problems.
         Each week about 20 people come to our Bible classes. Since a lot of them don't know how to read, we have to read the Word to them and be very simple in our explanations of the Scriptures.
         The president of the local association says the spirit of the neighborhood has changed a lot since we started working there; it's more peaceful and neighbors behave like neighbors should. The Word really works, because it works in people's hearts.
         One of the women also says that there is a lot less sickness there now, not only because of our regular donations of food and cleaning supplies, but because of our prayers for their health and general well-being. At last week's Bible study, I was asked to pray for a little girl who had had diarrhea for three weeks. I prayed with her mother and a few others, and anointed the girl with oil as a demonstration of our faith in the Lord's ability to heal. (See James 5:14,15.) After the Lord answered our prayers, four more mothers brought their children to me for prayer.
         Even without a lot of material resources, it's amazing how much people's lives can be bettered!

Signs of the times
From Patrick, Christina, and Joanna, USA
         On May 21, a 15-year-old boy opened fire on his fellow students in a high school cafeteria in Springfield, Oregon, not far from where we live. Two students were killed, and 23 others were wounded. It was the seventh such fatal attack by students on their classmates in US schools this year.
         Several weeks earlier, on what would seem a totally unrelated topic, TIME magazine (April 27) included a feature article entitled "The Big Bank Theory," all about the Smart Card and "E-cash." The most chilling development reported in that article was that of a new computer chip that could be implanted under the skin to store the individual's personal bank records and other pertinent information.
         In light of these and other recent news, many of the people we talk to ask what the world is coming to. Cold-heartedness and moral decline--what Jesus was talking about when He said "the love of many shall grow cold" (Matthew 24:12)--are clearly on the rise. School shootings are just one of the most shocking examples. And the computer chip implant certainly sounds like a giant step in the direction of the Mark of the Beast and the cashless society that the Bible speaks of (see Revelation 13). These and other signs of the Endtime (the years immediately preceding Jesus' Second Coming) seem to be everywhere these days.
         In the course of our outreach activities, we find that more and more people seem to be waking up to the fact that we really are living in the Endtime, and we often get into long conversations with people who want to know more about what's ahead and how to prepare for it. The text on the back of The Family's "The Lion, the Dragon and the Beast" poster is great for answering those questions. Sometimes we run into people we've met before or who have read that poster, who want to talk with us about how events they've just read about or seen in the news fit into the big picture. Thank the Lord, He's promised to help His children understand and be prepared and protected as things get worse.
         (If you would like a copy of "The Lion, the Dragon, and the Beast" poster or The Future Foretold, a booklet which gives a fuller explanation of signs of the End, please write to one of the addresses at the end of this publication.)

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         The Family is a nonprofit, volunteer organization. Each of the activities you have just read about was made possible through donations from businesses, associations and concerned individuals. If you would like more information about The Family, or if you would like to help sponsor Family volunteers or projects, including any of those mentioned in this issue, please contact us at one of the addresses below:

Web: http://www.thefamily.org/thefamily
E-mail: family@thefamily.org


Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family