I hope you are all doing well this last week of February! We finally have snow in the “great white north.”  It’s been really odd to have a canadian winter with hardly any snow!
 
So here we go for the prayer requests:
This is from Brenda:

Am writing to ask for prayers for a very dear friend and her husband, Kathy and Steve.
 
Steve was diagnosed with prostate cancer about 3 years ago. His cancer had already spread to his bones when he was first diagnosed so he was placed on hormone treatment, No surgery. He had been doing very good until recently. He started having some problems actually the same time Tom was diagnosed. Tom saw Steve at the urologist’s office in late November. Kathy came in my office today and said Steve’s cancer has now spread to nearly every bone in his body. He is having a great deal of pain and knows that his time is fast approaching. Kathy said she never thought she would be a widow at this age!
We are the same age and have worked together for nearly 30 years.

Kathy said she didn’t know whether to ask God to take him quickly so he didn’t have to suffer or what to ask for. I just know she is hurting a great deal also. She asked me to continue to pray for them and I asked if I could ask others to pray for them also. Kathy said Yes- they need all the prayers possible!
 I know their 2 daughters, are hurting a lot too.
Life is Hard sometimes… they have a deep faith in God so Steve’s eternity is not in question, but it is so hard to deal with all the pain in this life at times!
We appreciate your prayers for them. – Thanks Brenda

 
Thanks Brenda – we will definitely keep this family in our prayers.  It’s amazing how quickly cancer can spread before we know what is going on.
 
On the same note, please keep my friend Gloria in your prayers. They found a secondary source of cancer next to her clavicle. We’re not sure if it’s thyroid cancer or something else. The only problem is that they have yet to find the primary source of the cancer. She is an amazing woman of God who is hoping to beat this in time to go with our multi-generational missions experience to Mexico. Pray for healing.
 
Speaking of a servant’s heart… Keep our dear friend Ruth in your prayers. This came in from Marcia this week…
on March 1^st, Ruth is having major surgery. They are removing her gall bladder and also “exploring” so she will be down for the count for quite awhile. She is such a sweetheart in that she planned her surgery with enough recuperation time to be up and ready for three weeks of camp this summer! How’s that for a servant’s heart!!  
 
Pray for doctors’ wisdom as they perform the surgery. Pray for healing post-surgery and that she will be ready to handle the rowdy bunch we call our workcamp crews!
 
For our workcamp focus this week, i want to pray for the hearts of the people who will be participating in camp this year. Last SaturdayI was fortunate enough to go to a youth conference who had Tony Campolo as a speaker. He spoke on power and love. You cannot have both… Christ gave up his power, to become one of us… all to love each and every one of us. Let’s pray that God would be preparing the hearts of our workers and leaders and student to love unconditionally. I can only imagine how many of these people are humiliated due to certain circumstances where others can lord their “power” over them. Let’s pray that we are able to restore humanity to these people by loving them more than they have ever known they could be loved.
 
Let us continue to pray for Haiti… as the days pass on, it seems that the tragedy is getting further and further from the fore-front of the news. As the rainy season approaches, pray for health, clean water, shelter and that those who need the touch of the Lord. This is the time that the people of Haiti will need more help than ever, and it’s as if they have been forgotten already.
 
Well Gang, Let me know if there are any other updates… prayer requests and praises are always welcomed!
 
Love you all!
Mel

Greetings my brothers and sisters! Happy Groundhog Day, too. If you are like us, we’re going to have another 6 weeks of winter. But what are 6 weeks? For the love of all that’s good, we’re in FEBRUARY people! We’ve got a lot to pray about before July, so here we go!
 
Praise:
 
The weekend retreat that Jamie and I took our high school group on (with the help of some awesome leaders) was ah-maze-ing! The speaker was great and worship was so focused on God. The youth were really open and some great conversations happened, along with some wonderful Bible study and devo’s. Thank you, Thank you for your prayers! They were not only heard, but answered in incredible ways.
 
This is a proud moment for me to announce… My husband, Jamie, has officially heard from Fuller Theological Seminary and he is now a Doctor! All the papers are in, graded, reviewed, submitted and the official word has come back that he did amazingly well. This has been a long journey for him and I know that God has been along for the journey leading him and calling him to do more for ministry. We can’t wait to see how God is going to use this now in the years to come. God is so amazing!
 
The patient I told you about last week, Lisa, was in again today. She is doing SOOOOO much better and has now been able to sleep! Before, she was not able to sleep at all because she would go into spasm which is incredibly painful. When she walked in, she looked like a different person because she has been able to sleep for 8-9 hours a night… comfortably! Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray for her…
 
If any of you can give me more updates and praises to pass along, i would love to add them for next week!
 
Prayer requests:
  
Continue to keep Jen (Jess’s sister) in your prayers. They have left for their mission trip to work with those people who have been sold into slavery. Pray for their safety, pray that the traps and tricks Satan is going to try will be demolished before they even get to their destination, or speak with the people that God has set for them. Pray that their conversations would be fruitful. Pray that the people who have the victims trapped in slavery would turn their heart toward Jesus.
 
Please continue to keep our loved ones who are fighting cancer in your prayers. This is a battle that we can’t forget to keep lifted up in prayer… it is a daily battle and we need to support our friends and family who are going through this.
 
This is going to sound odd… but I need prayer for my finger. If you don’t know what I do for a living, I work at an interdisciplinary pain clinic, and we do injections for pain relief and healing. I’ve hurt my finger to the point that my ligaments are unstable. I’ve had some injections done, which are painful to say the least. Pray for quick healing because the ligament that is unstable is what I need to do injections. The injections that were done were my own blood back into the area so my body heals itself, but I should rest it, and with this job, I can’t really do it.
 
Pray for Ed and Kristi as they are going to be traveling through Illinois and Ohio through the month of February. Pray for safety as they travel. Also lift up the appointments they have with the churches and groups who may be hearing about the global slave trade for the first time. Pray that the hearts would be open and that more people would join the fight to stop global slave trade.
 
As time passes, we need to continue to life the Haiti people in our prayers. It seems that the more time passes, the less we are thinking about it. With the prayer for global slave trade to stop, there has been a lot of rumors that slave traders are going in and posing as adoption organizations and taking kids, and no one is the wiser. Please, PLEASE keep this in your prayers. The devastation that those people have gone through is one thing… but to go from one hell to another, is unbearable…
 
This week, for WorkcampNE, I want to focus on the leaders. Not just the people who are on planning teams, but the crew leaders, the up front people, the behind the scenes people, the board of directors and the support that is nothing less than amazing for our leadership… husbands, wives, children. Pray for strength. Pray for discipline and time management. Pray that the time away from their family would be quick to pass, but also that the time they are spending working for WC would be blessed and they would be rejuvenated in the Lord for the work they are doing for Him.
 
Okay family… we have a job to do! Let’s get on this and lift these things up in prayer! As always, update me or add to anything I have here!
Blessings,
Mel

Hello Brothers and Sisters!
　
I hope this e-mail finds you all doing well and basking in the glory of the Lord with all He showers on us! After having a great workcampNE phone call, it was such a blessing to talk with the leaders that God has brought together to use their gifts and talents to share God’s love with people from all over! It was the encouragement I needed to be reminded of why God has brought us together… we are an extended family that I miss greatly and it gets me even more excited for workcampNE… which is happening in just over 6 months!!! We’ll be seeing each other face to face before we know it!
　
One thing　I wanted to add as part of our weekly prayer updates, is encouragement. If you had an amazing God moment this week, or came across scripture that really leapt off the page and you want to encourage us all, PLEASE DO! We would love to have a word of encouragement from THE Word!
　
We had an update on a few of the prayer requests that have been sent out in the past, as well as some new things to keep lifted up in prayer! Here we go…

Jess’ dad, Tom, is doing better. Continue to keep their family in prayer as he continues to　go through the recovery process of cancer.　God is good and the healing process is happening… let’s keep praying!

Our one and only Squeaky’s job was extended –　but please continue to pray that God would place him in the full time　job where he can be a vital part of ministry, and be able to provide for his soon to be bride. Which　brings us to the second half of the　prayer for him. Squeaky and Casey　are preparing for a wedding, and many of us know that can be a stressful time, but it’s also one of the most amazing day’s　of your life!

Keep Marc in your prayers as he is dealing with a sore　back. I personally work in a pain clinic, and　I see day in and day out how back pain effects daily life, and it can have such an impact on the simple things. Pray for quick healing, but also wisdom to know when too much is too much. That’s SOOO hard to do when you’re use to doing anything at anytime. Marc asks for easy transition for his Mason City kids as he and Jess make the move to NH soon. Marc and Jess going to Mexico end of March for mission trip. The Lord can really use them as they talk to others about the love of Christ. Pray for safety as the travel and for their health with going into another country. Pray they can stay healthy to make the most of their trip.

Keep Joanna　in your prayers as she is　updating her resume. She’s looking for teaching position in southern NH and God is good and has been bringing her some work! She’s been　subbing in an elementary school, which put’s her foot in the door! Plus she　has a connection in Londonderry where they will put in a word for her at those schools. God places people in our lives for a reason and it’s all about who you know… who’s connected with the kingdom!

Super Dave wanted us to add Hurst Christian church to our prayers as they are considering coming to WC this summer– pray that they will agree to send students to camp. We have　a lot of churches who are coming back to WC this year and we have many others who are interested… let’s　ask the Lord to send those who will make a positive impact for His kingdom!

Keep　Ed and Kristi　lifted in your　prayers for Love146 as they travel to Illinois in February. There’s also some stops in Ohio as well, and for anyone who has made that drive, it can be very long, not to mention dangerous. Pray for safety as they travel, but that God will put people in their path that can make an impact for the kids that are a part of Love146.

For myself and Jamie our summer looks busy, going to workcampNE and Mexico, Native reserve in Ontario and mini-mission trips all summer. Prayers for it all to come together. Jamie has the gift of organizing and administration, so planning is going well. But we do have our announcement of the summer trips coming up in just a few weeks. Almost all of these trips will be open to all ages, so we also have a great responsibility to decide who can go as many of our trips are limited in the numbers. Pray that the Lord would show us who is to go on the trips, and that it will all go smoothly so we can further the ministries that we are partnering with.

For workcampNE, I really want to focus specifically on the school and all who are involved. This week, lets keep Ken in your prayers as he goes to the Kennebunk (I hope that’s spelled right) to take a look at the school we are going to be staying in. Pray for great communication between the leaders of camp and the school board and staff. We had such a great relationship with last year’s school; we hope to continue that kind of relationship with other churches. Pray that we can not only make an impact on the residents, but also for those that we will be in contact with at the school.

Keep Ken and Marcia in your prayers as they are starting to get their weekends planned to travel to Kennebunk and start the assessments, make the phone calls to the social workers and really get into the nitty-gritty part of workcampNE that many of us never see.

As always, please update us if you have any prayer request, praises or encouragements!

Blessings,
Mel

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in our lives through this year. I was reflecting on the many things that people do as new years resolutions: lose weight, stop smoking, eat healthier, journal, read more… the list could go on and on! I find that i fall into that trap year after year. This year, instead of making a resolution, i’m making a commitment to myself and my family.
 
As a committment to this ministry (Ken and Marcia know this already) i pray when i drive to work (it’s 45 minutes on way) and i pray when i’m running on the treadmill. As i was looking back on the year, i was thinking there was something that i was missing in my relationship with Christ. As i was praying about this, it dawned on me that i don’t know scripture as well as i would like to. Back in my first year of Bible college, we had a guest speaker who was a missionary who was imprisoned. He only had the Word he had memorized and, for whatever reason, that has been coming back to me everytime i step on that treadmill. Soooooo… my commitment to myself is to memorize scripture. That is going to be the added part of my prayer time on the treadmill. It seems like I multi-task for so many other things, why not do this for me, as i’m on the treadmill… for me! I would love to have some of my brothers and sisters join me in this. My goal is to have Galatians memorized by the time we go to WorkCamp! Now that I’ve told you all… i have more than just myself to answer to. But more than that, i feel it’s something that i have been missing for the longest time, and i keep putting it off because “i don’t have time.” now i have no excuses… i would love to have brothers or sisters join me… or make a challenge to the others who are on going to be reading this… let’s encourage each other this year!
 
Lets keep Ed and Kristi in our prayers as they are starting to hit the road with Love146 ministry. Let’s pray that the Lord will keep them safe as they travel. Pray that the people they come in contact with would have an open heart and mind to see what is actually going on in the world with all of the slave trade. Pray that they will come in conact with people who will have a passion to partner with them in this ministry.
 
Please continue to pray for our members who have family memebers and friends who are going through a battle with cancer. If any of you have any updates, we would love to share it with the rest of the group!

This week i want to focus on praying for the groups that will be coming to WCNE this year. Pray for the new groups who will be coming, those who are coming back and the workers. Pray for the youth ministers who are preparing for the new year. This is when the summer starts to loom in the back of our mind, because we all know that it’s going to get here before we know it! Pray that we would all be prepared to get forms, campers, parents, fundraisers and prayer teams organized.
 
If there is anything else that we pray about for you? For your family? For your youth? For your church? Let me know! I’ll get it added to the list. Got an update – we would love to sing praises with you!
 
May the Lord bless you in this new year. I’m praying for health for you all… not just physical, but mental, emotional and spiritual too… we can’t really stay healthy if we’re not healthy in all those areas!
 
Blessings to you all!
Mel

Well, Jamie and I are getting things ready for our trip home for Thanksgiving…. I can’t believe it’s here already! The Lord is really blessing us, and from the e-mails we’ve had so far this year, it seems that He is hearing the prayers of His people and blessing us beyond anything that we can imagine.
 
As of Monday night, there are not any new prayer requests. If you are fasting or praying for our Workcamp team, please see the last couple of prayer request e-mails.
As for praises, my grandma’s appointment went better than expected! It was not my old doctor, but his son… who is a very talented plastic surgeon and very gifted gospel saxophone player… WOW! So that was a great encouragement for grandma and grandpa, as well as my mom. Thanks for all your prayers. And I know I’ll say this time and time again through my life… God answers so many prayers in ways I could NEVER imagine!
 
As I close, my prayer for you all is that you get a time of rest this week. That time with family would truly be cherished and we could recognize the love we have in our families that is a blessing in and of itself. I find that as I have lived away from my family, although we can get on each others nerves, I find myself really looking forward to seeing the people I grew up with just to be with the people i love the most, and who in return show so much love to me.
May the Lord bless your rest, recovery and rejuvenation with Him and with any family and friends you are surrounded by. If you have any prayer requests/praises to update us on, give me a shout! I don’t know how much i’ll have access to the computer, but as soon as i get them, i’ll send them out!
 
Happy Thanksgiving!!!