Weekly Update 05/24/05

May 24, 2005

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Like the weather in Central Illinois, this week has "blown" by. On Saturday, we headed to Assumption, IL to stay with our missionary cheerleaders: Verne and Janet Tankersley. (Verne is Doug's Dad's cousin) We worshipped with them at Fame Evangelical Church in Moweaqua. This church opened their doors and hearts to us.

During the Sunday School hour, Cindy spoke with the younger ones about her salvation and the power of prayer. Doug spoke to the older ones about his salvation, the Lord's path for his life and His perfect timing. We both spoke during the worship hour about the Lord's call on our lives, his mighty work this past year in our lives and the ministry He has made available to us in Ecuador. We concluded our time together with a potluck. We were greatly blessed and encouraged.

AMAZINGLY ~ There were so many connections with this church:

1. Generations of Tankersleys have attended this little country church ~ yet, it was our first time.
2. They are huge supporters of our mission board - OMS International, many OMS missionaries and missionaries that our church in Gibson City supports. (Dick & Lou Hohulin and Kent Eller)
3. They had a group from their church that teamed with a group from our church for a short term mission trip to Haiti two years ago.
4. We met Paul Jones, who was an integral part of a Penetration '79 church in Quito, Ecuador. Doug and I attended a church service there in March. If you remember our very first update ~ it was the church where we were greatly blessed. The Church of Bethal with a congregation of 100+. Praise the Lord for Paul Jones and the others that went before us to lay a foundation in Christ Jesus. Much fruit is evident in this church.

Our prayer requests this week are on behalf of these precious saints in Central Illinois. Join us as we pray for:
1. Holly as she is expecting and cramping at 30 weeks.
2. Bill P. as his heart has hardened due to the loss of his wife.
3. Chuck as he goes to the doctor on Thurs.
4. Brady B - a 6 year old diagnosed with leukemia.
5. Teresa - mother of 3, soon to be 4 and found she has a torn esophagus.
6. Pastor Tom as he is at a pastor's conference all week.
7. Candy has tests on Tuesday.
8. Bill's mom is still in hospital.
9. VBS planning
10. Fame Evangelical Church - that God will continue to use them in a mighty way.

These are all God's children who have asked us to pray. Thank you for standing in prayer with us.

Have a great week.
Blessings to you,
Doug and Cindy

Weekly Update 05/17/05

May 17, 2005

Dear Prayer Warriors,
Can you hear us singing? Okay ~ maybe it does sound a little more like shouting. None the less ~ we are praising the Lord!! So much goodness and grace has been showered upon us and we praise the Lord but we also thank you. God hears prayers!! God answers prayers!! We thank you for praying for us!!

Our praises begin:

1. A beautiful Mother's Day ~ both our mother's joined us for worship. What a blessing they are! A great weekend with Cindy's mom and a wonderful afternoon with Doug's mom.
2. We heard of a small upstairs apartment for rent. We went to check it out… 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room and kitchen. It's partially furnished (appliances, couch, chair, table, lamp and breakfast table) The rent is reasonable and there is no lease. The boys loved it!! They will learn much, living above someone else in town. We're sure it will prove to be a good transition to city life with 2.5 million people. Hee/hee!
3. All last week was spent preparing for the City-Wide Garage Sale on Saturday. We opened our house to church family and work friends on Monday and by Friday all the large items were gone. Saturday was another blessing as we had many buyers that lightened our load tremendously.
4. David ran in the State track meet on Saturday and placed 4th in the State in the 4x200m. (800 meter) relay. Hurray for David!!
5. We are now the parents of a teenager (maybe this should be on the prayer request) David turned 13 on May 16th. We are so thankful for him! He loves the Lord and seeks to honor him.
6. Our local FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) had a competition last week at the high school. The challenge was to all 8th hour classes: See who could raise the most money for the Tankersley's ministry in Ecuador. They made flyers with our prayer card and put them up all around school. One of the high schoolers met with Cindy to get information about the ministry in order to help their class obtain a substantial donation. In 4 days, the 8th hour classes at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley High School raised $740.00 for our ministry. Cindy went over on Friday and spoke with a few of the 8th hour classes to thank them for their support and share about our ministry. It's truly AMAZING that all of this could be done in a public school. Cindy has also been invited to share at the last FCA meeting tomorrow morning.
   

The beginning of last week, satan tried to attack. We got some discouraging information from headquarters on our financials, as well as a call saying that we were unable to participate in the July cross training that we were planning to attend. We know God is in control and all of our faith is in HIM! If we weren't suppose to attend training in July ~ then we have to trust in God's perfect timing.

1. OMS called today and they have made special arrangements for us to attend the training in July. There wasn't enough room for us to stay in guest housing but a couple that have served 15 years in Ecuador offered for us to stay with them in their home on the OMS campus. God works through His people!
2. We had to have several tests in order to sell our house. Septic, being the one that was concerning to us as our house is 26 years old. IT PASSED!!

We have so much to be thankful for, including prayer warriors that stand in prayer for us.

This week we are preparing to speak at Fame Evangelical Church in Moweaqua on Sunday. Please pray that the Lord would prepare our hearts and go before us as we share of His call on our lives and the support we need in order to go to Ecuador. Cindy is also wrapping up another school year and would like to finish well.

As you pray for us, we are praying for you! Have a great week!

Blessings to you,
Doug and Cindy

Weekly Update (05/06/05) & MFMI Prayer Initiative in ECUADOR

May 9, 2004

Dear Prayer Warriors~

Below is an email that arrived on Saturday night. After we read it, we received another confirmation of our call to Ecuador. The confirmation turned to blessing as we were so thankful that God is allowing us to be a part of His work. The blessing was humbling as we can't believe that God would call us to be a part of His mighty work in Ecuador. We hold to the scripture found in Ephesians 2:10, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ to do His work that He planned beforehand that we should do." This email has also challenged us to accept the invitations that Jerry gives to us in his email below.

Invitation #1 - Prayer Manual
Remember, when we were praising the Lord for our ABF Bible study on Prayer ~ guess what? We began invitation #1 four weeks ago.

Invitation #2 - adopting a church
Doug will be working with the central district churches. There are 13 churches in the central district. We met and prayed for five of them while we were in Quito. It's amazing to see God orchestrating events right before our very eyes.

Invitation #3 - District Prayer Leader
Our ABF prayed for a leader to rise up from the GCBC.

We can't explain it ~ but we are assured that it's GOD! May you be blessed and challenged as we were!

Blessings to You!
Doug & Cindy

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Mattocks
Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2005 9:27 AM
To: "Undisclosed-Recipient
Subject: The MFMI Prayer Initiative in ECUADOR

The MFMI Prayer Initiative in ECUADOR

Assisting those who DO pray for Ecuador
Enlisting those who WILL pray for Ecuador.

Operation Saturation in Haiti has been MFMI’s main project over the last five years. In addition to saturating Haiti with the Gospel through fixed-tuned, solar powered radios, Haiti has also been saturated with Tactical and Strategic prayer. God is moving in powerful ways in Haiti through the prayers of His people.

MFMI believes that God is asking us to implement the principles of tactical/strategic spiritual warfare prayer learned in Haiti in all the OMS countries. The plan for 2005 is to continue the prayer initiative in Haiti and target four additional countries. Ecuador is one of those four targeted countries. (The others are, Japan, Mozambique and Spain).

In April I accompanied an intercessory prayer team to Saraguro. As we visited and prayed with missionaries and national leaders from Guayaquil to Saraguro, I was encouraged and challenged by the universal acceptance and hunger for prayer support. I believe that only as we prevail against Satan’s strongholds in Ecuador, can the Gospel message be clearly heard and understood.

You have been receiving the Prayer Digest and faithfully praying for Ecuador and its needs. I THANK YOU!!! Keep Praying for Ecuador and remember that God is Sovereign, Satan is limited and God answers prayer! As the Ecuador prayer champion, I’d like to extend three invitations for you to become more involved in the Prayer Initiative. Please ask God how he would direct you to respond.

INVITATION #1: READ THE "LAYMAN’S GUIDE FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE"

1. This manual documents the Prayer Strategy that was formulated by experience in Haiti and is being applied in Ecuador and beyond. Personally, It has challenged me to become more intentional in my own prayer life.
2. Available from MFMI Greenwood, contact: Dick McLeish, MFMI Prayer Director at: 317-881-6752

INVITATION #2: ADOPT A CHURCH

1. The AIEE (Associacion de Iglesias Evangelicas Ecuatorianas) has 91 member churches in five districts throughout Ecuador. These Evangelical churches are the fruit of OMS and ECC ministries, and many of the pastors are graduates of the OMS Seminaries in Guayaquil and Cuenca. The vision for the Ecuador Prayer Initiative includes enrolling prayer partners* for each of the Association churches. Partners* will "adopt" a church, and commit to pray for its pastor, congregation and ministry. Partners* can be a Church, MFM Council, cell group, Sunday School Class, family or etc.
2. (*Partner is minimum of three persons -. I.e. Moses, Aaron & Hur in Exodus 17 and prayer manual p. 1-14 )
3. Is God calling you to adopt an Ecuadorian Church and partner with them in prayer? Contact me for information so you can begin immediately.

INVITATION #3: Become a DISTRICT PRAYER LEADER

• The AIEE has five administrative districts that cover the entire country.

1. North Coastal – Costa Norte
2. South Coastal – Costa Sur
3. Central - Central
4. Southern - Austral
5. Eastern - Oriental

• To facilitate information flow, the Ecuador Prayer Initiative needs a DISTRICT PRAYER LEADER for each of these districts who will:

1. Visit Ecuador, survey their district and claim it for Christ.
2. Recruit intercessors and organize them into cells to pray for specific needs in each district.
3. Communicate warfare prayer information received from Ecuador to the prayer cells.

• If you feel God might be challenging you to be involved as a District Prayer Leader, please contact me for more information.
  
  THE THREE INVITATIONS ABOVE ARE BEING SENT TO EVERYONE, ARE THEY MEANT FOR YOU?

Please talk to God about it and respond according to His will.
Thanks for praying for Ecuador
Jerry Mattocks ,
Ecuador Prayer Champion

Weekly Update 05/02/05

May 2, 2005

Dear Prayer Warriors,
Amazing ~ This word has been repeated over and over again this week in our lives. God is AMAZING!! This week, we've been amazed at how God has spoken to people before we have. It's amazing to see His people being obedient on our behalves ~ but what's more amazing is that it isn't about us at all!! It's all about HIM!! His purposes in Gibson City and the world. We thank each of you for your participation in what God has led you to do ~ we are blessed by your obedience!!

Our praises begin as we thank the Lord for:

1. Konstruction Kids and their excitement for missions. Their financial giving to Guatemala this year was $1,002.00. Their prayer support continues.
2. Our opportunity to share with Restoration Christian Church in Bloomington. IT WAS AMAZING! We also had a dear Christian Brother attend with us.
3. The two adults that accepted Christ at Restoration Christian Church on Sunday night.
4. Friends in Christ who encourage us and care about us.
5. 20% of our required funds have been received, and are ready for ministry.

Our prayers begin as we ask the Lord to:

1. Encourage these new believers at Restoration Christian and their congregation. Bring people into their lives to disciple them.
2. Restore our health as Doug has been fighting a cold and fatigue, and Cindy is suffering from headaches.
3. Continue to go before us and open doors for us to share about His AMAZING grace.
4. Bless our mothers.
5. We have so much to do, it can be very overwhelming. But the Lord has been speaking to us through this passage: Isa. 41:13 ~ "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, "Fear not, I will help you."

Have a joyful week. As you pray for us, we are praying for you!

Blessings to you!
Doug and Cindy