May 16-22
"Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the LORD, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it." (Psalm 22:30-31).

Excerpt from Prayers of the People, a free yearlong guide to prayer for CBF missions and ministries. Order the Prayers of the People prayer calendar as a way of remembering CBF missions and ministries throughout the year.

Prayer Requests from the CBF family

• Please pray for Bekah's work at CONIN (Chilean home for abandoned and abused children), that it continues going well and develops into something meaningful for the local church.
• Pray that the new Center for Biblical Formation gets off to a good start. Classes begin May 7th. 
• Please pray that the Jovenes (young adults) ministry will continue growing at the Centro Misionero Bautista. We are currently meeting with the young people from another church to learn how they run their ministry.
• Please pray that we have safe travels as we go to the Chilean interior. 
• Pray also that we will have wisdom as we start our ministries with the local churches here in Arica.
• Praise God, our altitude test trip to Putre, Chile, went very well. We're hoping to make a trip to visit the smaller villages next week.

• Pray for Nathanael, our youngest son, who has final exams this week and next. Pray that he will recall all that he has learned and that his anxiety would be low.
• Pray for patience and faith as we continue to wait for decisions about acceptance to future schools where Nathanael has applied. We know God has wonderful plans for Nathanael and that the Lord's timing is perfect. Sometimes our hearts have such difficult time waiting.
• Pray for our friend, Eve, who has had complication with her dental work. She is traveling to Hong Kong to hopefully get some help to repair the damage. Pray for her frustrated heart to be filled with God’s love and peace.
• Please continue to pray for Larry's PhD work. He needs to find more concentrated time to process everything. Pray for clarity and wisdom as he learns, researches, processes and writes.
• The other day I (Sarah) was talking with a friend who really needs the healing touch of the Lord to transform her life. As I listened and shared about how the Lord Jesus has helped my life and how he can also help hers, my friend's face was again blank, her eyes were empty, her heart was closed. My heart aches for her to know the love of God. This kind of experience happens all the time in our relationships here. Keep praying for our many friends that don't yet believe. Pray for us to not be disheartened as we continue to share in word and deed.

• Please pray for the ministry of the “Future of the Family” Kindergarten as it transitions this summer. Jeff and Alicia Lee will join us in June and will be assuming responsibility for the school this next school year.
• Pray for us as we prepare to leave Macedonia at the end of September to begin our last Off-Field Assignment in the States before retirement in October 2013. It will be very difficult to say good-bye to our friends and colleagues in Macedonia after 15 years.

• Please pray for our kids’ schooling here in southern Spain – Megan has a substitute teacher for the rest of this year. Please pray that all three children will get good teachers next year; that they will not have too much homework, and we can continue with homeschool.
• Pray for us as we learn more about each people group from Africa that we are working with here in southern Spain and the great opportunities that we have to share with these people. Pray for our friends from the following people groups. Some of them have no Bible in their language and have few if any known Christians among them.
• People group name, country name, (friend’s name)
  • Fula from Senegal (Umi, Roogiatu, Cherno) 
  • Serer from Senegal (Ami, Fatu, Ndeye, Mamadou, Fabak, Usman, Sidou)
  • Mandinka from Senegal (Ami, Mariama, Ansu)
  • Jahanke from Senegal (Maisatta)
  • Wolof from Senegal (Nguy, Sojna, Aliw, Adama)
  • Mandinka from Mali (Nassida)
  • Bambara from Mali (Adama)
  • Maninka from Ginea (Awa)
  • Jahanke from Ginea (Mairiamma, Fatu, Dembo, Fatu, Fode, Mamadou)
  • Susu Baga from Ginea (Jari, Augustina, Devis)
  • Susu (Malinke) from Ginea (Sona)

• Pray for four teens from Eastern Kentucky that will be attending Passport Camp at Wingate University in late June, thanks to scholarships from CBF and other private gifts. Pray that their lives will forever be changed!
• Pray for the Nada Mountain Heritage Festival June 8-10, in Nada, Kentucky. Pray that volunteers from Central Baptist Church, Bearden, Knoxville and other volunteers will have a chance to witness to hundreds that will be coming to this national ecological area.

• Thank God for the various events we hosted around Easter. Ask God to use baskets distributed to refugees to remind them that God cares for them and is watching over them.
• Pray for those who received a Jesus Film. Ask God to use the power in the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection to call those viewing the film to himself.
• We were able to share several faith conversations with various friends. Ask God to continue speaking by the Spirit to these seekers.
• We are preparing to receive a group from North Carolina during the month of May. Ask God to use their time here as an encouragement to those they will be in contact with and as a witness to the love, care, and faithfulness of God. Ask for God to guide us as we plan. Pray for a desire in each participant to understand Internationals and reach out in love and compassion. Pray that God’s Spirit will plant in each individual a vision of being missional in a globalized world.

• The international/refugee community garden is in. Praise God for the relationships built and pray for a good harvest and continued opportunities to share Christ’s love.
• Pray for the development of a family literacy program with the Karen church scheduled to begin this fall. Pray for Christian women to help lead/mentor these families. 
• Pray for churches to be willing to minister to the refugee children and youth this summer.
• Pray for Emily, our daughter, as she is working on starting her own business this summer as a "business as mission" model.
• Pray for Sarah, our daughter, as she will be closing out her apartment and putting everything in storage the first of June to do her midwifery internships this summer in Minnesota and in Germany this fall. Pray for her to be able to have peace that it will all work out and that God would send helpers in her time of need.

• This is one of the most beautiful times of the year here in Canada’s national capital city, Ottawa. The Canadian Tulip Festival paints the parks along the Rideau Canal with amazing displays of brightly colored and exotic tulips from around the world. This is the 60th festival which commemorates the friendship between Canada and the Netherlands. In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, in the Second World War. Canada has a long and glorious history of goodwill toward refugees; they symbolize peace and friendship with a flower. Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragements. We love you. 
• Please pray for Mr. A., who announced to us recently that God had healed his leg. He attributed it to his having been the guest of Matthew House when he arrived late last year and spent a couple of months with us before moving on. God is doing something wonderful in our Muslim friend’s life. Please pray for him and especially that he find a good job soon. 
• Bill C-31 ccrweb.ca/en/refugee-reform is currently being considered by Canadian lawmakers. This bill, if passed, will make it very difficult for refugee claimants seeking asylum. Please pray for the Canadian Parliament as they seek to make wise decisions regarding immigration. 
• Hewot and Solomon were married recently during a sweet intimate ceremony held at Miss Lillian and Miss Pat’s home. You will recall Hewot was the first resident of Matthew House Ottawa back in September 2010. The happy Ethiopian couple has asked Marc and me to lead them through marital counseling. When we suggested several pastors who would be pleased to do this for them, they simply said, "We want you and Marc because we know you and know that you love each other." Humbling to say the least, we have agreed to enter the waters with them. Pray for us all. 
• Mrs. Y., a Japanese student who attends the Adult High School, continues to seek council and prayer. Please remember her. 
• The Above Ground Railroad: The Story of the Matthew House Movement in Canada will be released any day now. This story follows the lives of both ministry leaders and refugees whose lives have intersected at one of the five Matthew House Ministries in Ontario and Quebec. The book will be featured during the upcoming CBF General Assembly in Ft. Worth, Texas, June 20 – 23 with author, Joey Clifton, signing books. To date, over 800 copies have been pre-ordered. Want in? Write us at wyatt@thefellowship.info for details. 
• Our daughter Rebecca will be doing a special internship this summer through Meredith University gathering research around how organizations are helping refugees become independent and self-sustaining in Canadian society. Please pray for her as she begins this 12-week internship.

Anna and LaCount Anderson, ministry to homeless; Scotland Neck, NC 

• We are in need of help financially at the Union Mission in Roanoke Rapids, NC. This mission serves as a shelter for homeless men as well as distributes some 9000 boxes of food annually. The large demand for food has stressed the staff and finances greatly. There is just not enough money to meet payroll as well as other obligations. Please pray for our work here in northeastern NC.

• Rev. Dr. Greg DeLoach, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Augusta, and Milton Martin, an attorney from Augusta, were with me on a mission trip to India and Nepal from February 20-29, 2012. We conducted an evangelists’/church planters’ seminar in Katmandu; visited five homes where 250 girls who have been rescued from human trafficking or brothels live; Greg preached in Katmandu International Christian Church (KICC) where 350-400 missionaries serving Christ in Nepal gather for Sunday worship; we visited and shared God's Word in a school with 250 boys and girls. Thank God for the work that was done on this trip. 
• Pray for several new congregations: On February 10 I had the unique privilege of speaking at a newly dedicated church with about 700-1000 in present. On February 12, I preached in a church that was dedicated a year ago and this time dedicated/ started new sewing center training. On February 16, I dedicated a brand new church. 
• In February, I also visited my partner in Banaras (Varanasi, Hindu holy place, and the Ganges River). It is depressing and discouraging to see the conditions and challenges to the gospel along the river. Pray for the dozen missionaries at Varanasi who are trying their best to share God's love through practical and meaningful ways. 
• Pray for the efforts of evangelism and church planting in India. Through training nationals, we have already built more than a dozen churches among the most neglected and least reached people groups in India. Praise the Lord.

• Please continue to pray that Keith will be able to finish the recording of the Sinti Romani New Testament by the end of May. Pray that five Sinti men and one woman will be found to finish the last 3% of the recording process. Pray also for the impact of this recording on those who will listen to it.
• Praise God for an outreach in England to Romany immigrants/refugees from Romania. Pray for Keith as he works with the local pastor to produce Scripture media materials in their heart language. Pray also for the impact of this ministry.
• Praise God that three to four Romany from the village of Vulcanesti, Moldova, have viable business ideas. Pray that when they return from working abroad (Russia), they will be able to put those ideas into profitable practice. Pray also for the development of a community center/business center in the nearby town of Nisporeni.
• Praise God for volunteers who will be leading women’s, girls’, and children’s programs in the Romany village of Vulcanesti, Moldova, this June and July. Pray for unity among the volunteer teams, involvement of local believers, and that many will commit to following Jesus.

• In mid-April, an 8.6 strike-slip undersea earthquake near Aceh, Indonesia, occurred. An earthquake of this magnitude is so rare, it should occur only every 2000 years. It was the largest strike-slip earthquake ever recorded. This 8.6 earthquake has increased the pressure on the fault-line making a megathrust earthquake for Aceh more likely. Our family is now in Penang, Malaysia, not living over a fault-line as we were in Indonesia. Penang will only get the aftereffects of any tsunami created. We do not expect it to affect us physically, personally. But because we care about the Indonesian people and we have many friends who are still living there, tragedy in Indonesia is personal to us. Eddy's younger brother and family still live there. Even though the earthquakes I experienced there do not begin to compare with the 9.1 earthquake and tsunami Aceh experienced in 2004, I know the feeling of fear rising up inside of you when the earthquakes start back again in an area where a massive earthquake has been predicted. This last earthquake caused very little damage physically, but emotionally, it was traumatic for a people who have lost family and friends, their homes, their livelihoods, had their entire infrastructure washed away. It pains me to see them suffer any more, emotionally or physically. Pray for the people of Aceh, Indonesia.

• Please pray for the visa process for our family to receive the paperwork necessary to live in Greece. Pray that it will be a smooth process.
• During May, we will be completing the packing up of our personal items, the kids will finish school and we will move out of our house. Please pray that we will get everything completed with as little stress as possible and that we will have meaningful time with friends in Georgia before we move.
• Join us in offering thanksgiving for many wonderful opportunities to share of God’s work among the Albanians in Athens. We rejoice at the addition of several new partners in this ministry effort.

• We are still in need of a six-person short-term team for Vacation Bible School at Second Greek Evangelical Church in June 2012. Pray that God would provide.
• Pray also as we need to recruit a new EFL teacher for Fall 2012, to replace an upper-level teacher who is returning to the U.S.
• Pray for our city-wide Albanian worship service this month.
• Pray for the Greeks and Albanians facing despair related to the financial crisis in Greece, and the increased poverty and homelessness in Athens.
• Pray for the spring and summer programs at PORTA – the Albania House in Athens. Pray also for the PORTA: Tomorrow! Campaign.
• Please pray for the Greek visa application for Matt and Michelle Norman’s family, CBF colleagues at PORTA.

• Please keep Lena Bandura and Michael Glushenko in your prayers as they no longer work in the Village of Hope and seek new places of ministry. We thank them for blessing us, our teams and the children in the Village of Hope. We will miss them!
• We have four teams from CBF churches coming to serve the children and people of Kiev, Ukraine, this summer. Please pray for safety in their travels, strength while they serve and wisdom as they share the gospel of God through their words and deeds.
• Please pray for the marriage retreat we will lead and the young couples that will be attending.
• Kiev Christian Academy, the school our children attend, will be saying goodbye to several of their teachers, including the headmaster’s family. It will be a time of transition and grief. Please keep the school’s families in your prayers. Also pray that the Lord will send other missionaries to serve the children of our missionary community.
• Our son, Bogdan, will be competing in a track meet May 25-26. It is his first competition and he is nervous. Please pray that he may glorify God by doing his best with the gift of running the Lord has bestowed upon him.
• Thank you for your faithfulness in lifting us, our family and our ministries in your prayers. We are forever indebted with you!

• Join us in praise for individuals and churches that have partnered with us making it possible for us to leave for Macedonia on June 3rd!
• Continue to pray for our transition to the field, especially our three-year-old son, Ethan.
• Please pray for our family and friends as we say “see you later” in the coming weeks.