Please continue to pray for new work started on our Global Service Program (GSP). This new short term service program will allow people to serve with Wycliffe six months to three years. Please pray for Brad Benson and Hettie Stauffer who are heading up this program and Chuck as he gives leadership to this new program in his department.
Pray for people to apply for the program. We are praying that we will eventually have hundreds of people involved in this program each year.
Pray for the team who helped teachers and their spouses join this spring. Pray that the team who will work on support positions that they will learn enough helping teachers join so that by spring and summer Wycliffe will be able to accpet people into all open positions.
Pray too for Barb as she finsihes up the work of people who went on our GET Globalshort term trip program. She had twenty one people apply of the trip to Papua New Guinea and the Guatemala trips. Pray that each trip would finish well and that the participants will decide to join Wycliffe.
Pray for Chuck as he gives leadership to several partnerships being develop with the Navigators, Focus on the Family and a number of military ministries. One of the Focus on the Family programs we are promoting is their True U program, designed to help college students develop a Biblical worldview.
Pray that our support will increase. With a new support quota, Wycliffe has told us we are running about $ 500 short each month in our support. Since Wycliffe does not give us a salary, we rely on gift from interested people and churches. Pray people will respond to this need.
Pray for our daughter Jenny and her husband Kevin as they just announced that Jenny is now 32 weeks into her pregnency. Pray for a healthy delivery in late August.
Pray for our son Isaac as he continues to plan for his upcoming marriage. He recently announced his engagement to Suzanne Morton, a fellow teacher at Black Forest Academy. Pray for their wedding plans in July and for needed finances for the wedding.
Chuck & Barb Micheals
Please Pray! (September 2009)
Dear Friends and Family,
Please be in prayer for the participants who just finihsed their to Papua New Guinea. Ten young people went on Wycliffe's GET Global short tem trip program that see if Bible translation is for them.
Our trip was from June 19 to July 11, 2009. We first travelled to California and attended with these students our Total Vision program which will helped them see how Bible translation work is done.
Once we finish the week it was off to PNG. We took a small group to Ukarumpa where we lived and served with Wycliffe for 15 years. Another group split up from our group once we arrived in PNG and headed to New Britain Island and visited a translation location.
Our trip was designed to show participants the work and role of support workers.
PRAYER
· Pray for the ten participants that they will make a commitment to get involved in our work and take steps toward becoming Bible translators. Pray that the three college students who have enrolled in the Bible translation applied linguisitics at Moody Bible Insitute as a result of our trip will finish their undergraduate degree.
· Please pray for Barb as she puts the beginning touches on the 2010 GET Global short term trip.
·Pray for our continued need of additional financial support.
Please Pray! (Summer 2008)
Current Chuck is in Dallas, Texas for meetings with his recruitment staff there. He is also attending the 1st National Perspective Conference. If you are not familiar with the US Center for World Mission’s Perspective program, click on this link to learn more: US Center For World Mission's Perspective Web Site. It is a great course to help people understand God’s Global Purpose for Missions and Wycliffe get a large number of people who go through this program join Wycliffe each year after attending the course. That means more Bibleless people will be reached with God’s Word in their own language!
Some of Chuck’s recruitment staff teach and coordinate these courses around the country. Chuck is at the conference to learn more, meet Perspective leaders and to see what Wycliffe can do to grow this program. Recently a new staff person joined Chuck’s team to do just this nationwide.
PRAISE:
Last month Wycliffe had 30 people join Wycliffe. This one of our best recruiting months in many years!!! We give praise to the Lord for this and say thanks to all of you who support us financially, prayer for us and encourage us in other ways. You too are part of this work as you support our work in these ways. Here is how they will serve with Wycliffe.
·1 for Finance
·1 for Community Development
·1 for Counseling
·2 for Sociolinguistic Survey Work – They determine which languages actually need Bible translation work.
·2 for Management (General)
·4 for IT (computers)
·2 for Teachers
·13 for Bible Translation
·4 for support (spouses)
Your Wycliffe Missionaries
Chuck & Barb Micheals
_______________________________________
Please Pray! (February 2008)
PRAYER REQUEST
Next week Tuesday and Wednesday, February 12 & 13 our RM Senior Leadership Team will be meeting in Orlando with Larry Jones (Outgoing Asia Area Director and current Wycliffe, USA Board Member) to develop a framework for future recruitment work for the next three years. Larry has had experience in strategic planning and so will be leading us in developing our new RM ‘Three Year Strategic Plan’.
Our strategic planning framework will be partly based on information you provided us in regional strategic planning that took place in our departments last year. We will use that and also springboard off from progress in other areas that we have made these past three years.
After that strategic framework is developed it will be presented at our Recruitment Ministries National Leadership meetings in Waxhaw in April with all of our National RM Leadership Team. At that meeting, we will gain their input and from there the plan will be rolled it out to all of you for your input and refinement. We hope to have the plan in place by the start of the 2009 fiscal year.
Please be in prayer over these next few months as we begin to develop this strategic plan.
Take 59
·Please pray for Recruitment Ministries Senior Leadership Team Strategic meetings being held Feb. 12-13. Pray for God’s guidance and leading as they set the path for the next several years in Recruitment.
·Pray that Satan would not steal seeds sown in the hearts of recruits and that those who have indicated interest in serving with Wycliffe would not be hindered in their efforts.
After the RM Senior Recruitment team meets for strategic planning we will have a meeting with Marc Fey from Focus On The Family’s ‘The Truth Project” to discuss how our agencies can work together to bring more people into our work. Please pray for that morning meeting on February 14.
Take 59
·Pray for the meeting between Focus on the Family’s “The Truth Project” staff and Recruitment Ministries Senior Leadership Team on Feb. 14 as both organizations seek to find ways to partner together.
Thanks for your prayers for these important meetings.
Chuck & Barb
Please Pray! (January 2008)
Dear Friends and Family,
We’d appreciate your prayers on Monday, January 21, 2008, because both Barb & I are flying. However, we are flying in different directions across the USA! In fact, we’ll probably pass each other in the air somewhere around Iowa!
BARB
Barb is currently in Orlando, FL, but headed to California on Monday to attend our Next Gen annual retreat. Please pray for safe flights, for a good retreat and for good discussions about how to involve a greater number of young people in our work.
Our Next Gen department is our youth and young adult department that seeks to encourage them to consider Bible translation work. Part of Next Gen is the Get Global trips Barb works on. GET (Go Experience Translation) Global is aimed at people aged 15 – 23. This year we have five trips.
Chuck is currently in Portland, OR having just finished board meetings, meeting with his Northwest recruitment staff and involvement with Wycliffe at the big mission festival in Portland, Mission Connexion:
Chuck participated in a workshop and helped meet people at the Wycliffe display. We finished the two days of the festival with over 30 new names of interested people!
Please pray for safe flights for Chuck as he heads to Lancaster, PA on Monday for a week of meetings with his recruitment staff who work in the Northeast. Part of this time will be spend in a half day of prayer for our work plus training in the use of our database we track recruits with. Pray too for success in our recruiting. The last three months have been our lowest recruitment months for new recruits in over two years!
Both Chuck and Barb head back to Orlando on Friday, January 25 where we meet each other again later that evening.
Early January 2008:
The Finishers Project has a goal of recruiting 5000 boomers (people aged 50+) into missions in the next five year and has for over ten years partnered with Wycliffe. We have had dozens of members come from this partnership effort. People over age 50 get online and build a profile about themselves. Then, we have profiles for people and jobs we are looking for and if a match happens online we contact the person and discuss them joining Wycliffe in that particular job. Over 90 mission agencies are a part of The Finishers Project.
The mission conference I’m participating in is a large mission conference in Portland, OR called Mission Connexion. The interesting thing about this mission conference is that it is put on by the churches in the Portland, OR area.
I have a team of 17 recruiters in the Northwest. I plan on having some meetings talking about how we can improve our recruitment in the Pacific Northwest. I also hope to do some training with my team about how to build and work at display tables at mission conferences. As I go around the country I have observed that my recruiters are not always clear about what they are to accomplish when they set up a display. For our work it is two things: 1) collect names of people God is moving in our direction and fifteen to twenty names is a good number to come away with, and 2) to build relationship with those you know in the area.
I’d appreciate prayer for good recruitment and board meetings, prayer for many new contacts that will become personally involved with Wycliffe in the next year as members and prayer for ways our mission agency can work together with The Finishers Project in more substancial ways. I’d also appreciate prayer for safe flights and for Barb while I am away. After this week I head to Lancaster, PA for a week of meetings with my recruitment team in the Northeast. So, Barb and I will be apart for two weeks.
Your Wycliffe Missionaries,
Chuck & Barb Micheals
Please Pray! (December 2007)
__________________
RECRUITS
We praise the Lord that even though our recent recruitment has recently been slow we do currently have 62people in the later stages of their membership application with us plus another 184 people who have recently been sent an application after being prequalified as likely people to be successful in their application with us. That’s over 240 potential new members this year without counting those we pray will still come in the next eight months of our recruitment work this fiscal year.
We have been praying for 250 new members. If that happens, it will be our biggest recruitment year in over 15 years. Pray for success and that we will exceed our 250 number. The Bibleless are still waiting.
Please pray that our upcoming national meetings will result in a better understanding how to be more successful in recruitment. Pray that our recruitment teams will have a better understanding where to serve. We recently purchased the Barna research that details the attitudes and thoughts of Christians in the USA.
Pray we would be given wisdom in which Christian groups we should partner with. Pray to that we would use funds wisely in these partnerships. Pray especially for our new partnership with The Traveling Team (http://www.thetravelingteam.org/).
Pray that young people who attended the Get Global and Discovery short term trips this past summer would respond to the need to become involved in Bible translaiton in some way. Pray for young people who are attending Wycliffe's Vision Camp and Jungle Jump Off programs this summer. Pray for more churches to sign up for Jungle Jump Off this summer.
Pray for the more than 1800 people who have told us they are interested in service with Wycliffe since 2006. Pray that many will follow through to the point of membership. Pray for our recruiters as they work with these people.
Pray for upcoming meeting this fall with mission agencies who are working with the military and mission agencies who would like to work with military people as they leave the military. We had to cancel the meeting before due to low turnout.
Pray for our relationship with Focus On the Family and The Truth Project. Pray that we would be given wisdom as to how to proceed. Pray for a potential partnership with Youth With A Mission at their Kona, Hawaii Discipleship Training School there. (http://www.ywamhonolulu.com/).
Pray for fall mission confernces at many colleges. These are prime times when we engage with youth in college and challenge them with involvement.
Pray for our team as we look for a director to head up our youth recruitment program. Pray for Roger Gilstrap who just began recruitment for managers. Especially pray for our need for teachers. Over 300 teacher positions remain open.
Pray that Chuck & Barb will be given wisdom in their work with Wycliffe.
Please Pray! (March 2007)
Micheals Plan Trip To Puerto Rico in March 2007
Please pray for our upcoming meetings in March 2007 in Puerto Rico. We we be traveling to attend and speak at the opening of Wycliffe's new office in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Last year Chuck traveled there to advance the work and now they are ready to open up their first office. Pray that many new citizens from Puerto Rico will join our work. We praise the Lord that two people have already begun the application process with us.
Pray for our work being done on our new Wycliffe web site. New pages for recruitment will be included. We pray this will be a help to people as they consider service with us. The new web site will launch sometime in January 2007.
Pray for our recruitment team that will be attending Urbana. There will be over 20,000 young people attending Urbana and most are considering mission service. Pray for good contacts and for strength for our team of 34 attending.
Pray for our recuitment team as they implement a new database to track recruits. It has proven much harder to adjust to than anticipated. Pray for someone to come forward who would be willing to head up our recruitment team and do training on the use of this database.
Pray for our new Explore Wycliffe events planned for the spring of 2007. (http://www.wycliffe.org/events/exwy/home.htm) We have over 60 events planned to help people explore service with Wycliffe. This is a new program, so pray that our teams will quickly learn how to conduct the program and that many people will sign up to attend.
Pray that our financial support would increase. We are at a critical stage and need to see an increase soon if we are to continue to stay working here. If our support does not increase soon we will need to consider taking time off from work to do partnership development work full time.
Micheals Speak At Christian Reformed Conference Grounds (June 2006)
Please pray for our upcoming meetings at the Christian Reformed Conference Grounds - CRCG (Grand Haven, MI) in July 2006. We will be speaking in mid June about Wycliffe's work and also hosting another Bible translator to also come and make a presentation. This is the first time that the CRCG has hosted a Wycliffe Bible Translator week. Pray for safe travel for us, opportunities to talk with people at the CRCG about Wycliffe and for a week of rest too.
While we are in Michigan we are looking for opportunities to speak at churches or with any group. We also want to visit our supporters while in the area to say thanks for their support. Pray for good visits.
Please pray for needed financial support. For almost 20 years we have not had to do serious Partnership Development work, but our financial support continues to decline each month while we have been in Orlando and we have reached the point that we need to look for new supporters or supporting churches. We are therefore taking some additional weeks while we are in Michigan to look for new support. Pray new suppoters will be found.
Please Pray!
Important Wycliffe Meetings In Dallas, TX for Chuck & Barb Micheals
Please pray for upcoming meetings that Chuck & Barb will be having in Dallas, Texas on April 3 & 4.These meetings are being hosted by the Wycliffe and the Finisher’s Project (a mission agency that seeks as its sole purpose to connect people aged 50+ to service opportunities with other mission agencies such as Wycliffe).The Finishers web site can be found at:
Over 20 mission agencies and 75 people are participating in these meetings to discuss the formation of a new web partnership with the Finisher’s Project that will do basically the same thing as the Finishers site, but connect with people aged 25 – 45.This new venture is called “Mission Next”.The draft web site can be found at:
Barb has been chosen to head up this project for Wycliffe USA and Chuck’s department oversees all of this kind of work for Wycliffe.
The current “Mission Next” web site, while online, is not designed the way it should be.It is there mainly to secure the web naming rights.Funding and staffing are both needed to move this project forward.This meeting is designed to fully inform mission agencies about this site and to ask for their participation in its design and implementation.
Please pray for good interaction with these mission agencies and people who are attending the meetings.Pray for Chuck as he gives a presentation at these meetings.Pray for Barb as she is learning more about what her job will eventually be.
Want To Read More About This Venture?More information is found below.
The way “Mission Next” is suppose to work is that mission agencies will advertise widely the web address and encourage people aged 25 – 45 who are thinking about missions to get online and fill out a profile about themselves.These profiles when finished will be submitted online to “Mission Next” for processing by mission agencies.
The web site will also be designed to store profiles about the various jobs that mission agencies have and the kinds people needed to fill them.
A computer generated match will be made by the web site and the agencies that have jobs that match the profile of the person who submitted their profile will contact that person.and tell them more about the mission position.The agency will only get matches if the person scores around an 85% match to the job.
The person submitting will also get an email informing them what agencies and what jobs they matched.They too can then pursue these agencies to get more information. If a person does not match any agency, then a letter will be sent from the administrator of “Mission Next” informing them that no match was made at this time and encourages them to come back later and try again.
This process to a lesser degree is happening with the Finishers web site and is one of the top sources of good quality contacts for Wycliffe.Contacts that come off from the Finishers site often result in people joining Wycliffe more so than from the efforts of Wycliffe recruiters who go around to college campuses or other meetings and meet people.
Why is this so?
The computer helps weed out people who are not good matches for Wycliffe and we only work with people who we know already match our profiles very closely in terms of skills, attitudes and spiritual gifts.Some of these people who may be not good matches for Wycliffe often are good matches for other mission agencies and so other agencies follow up with them. This saves the Wycliffe recruiter assigned to work with people coming off the Finishers web site an enormous amount of time that recruiters often have to spend to learn this information.
The Finishers web site has been a win-win for everyone.The person looking to become involved in missions wins because they get to know quickly what mission agency they are best suited for.The mission agency wins because with very little cost they have a good likely candidate to join their agency.
What other benefits might this effort bring?
First, mission agencies work together rather than in competition.Each agency gets the best recruits to work with.
Second, the cost to do recruiting this way for mission agencies is very low.On average Wycliffe spends $ 1200 on recruitment costs for every person who eventually applies.This new process with “Mission Next” will cost mission agencies less than $ 300 for every person who applies since the process initially happens online using the power of computers to make the match and involves no travel for the mission recruiter, nor costs associated with meeting people over coffee, creating events where people become informed about your work, etc.
So, why the meeting?
First, the development of a sophisticated web program like “Mission Next” will take some large upfront costs to develop.Some of these costs could likely be covered by finding people willing to volunteer time and effort to design the profile engines needed to run such a web site.Informing many agencies about these costs will help us find people to produce the web site for as low a cost as possible.First, the mission agencies need to understand why this web site is so important.
The Finishers web site is not nearly as sophisticated as the new “Mission Next” web site will be when it is finally operational (remember the current web link is basically only there to secure the naming rights for the web site and is not what this site will look like once it is developed).
Secondly, the age group between ages 25 – 45 is a hard group for mission agencies to reach.They are usually not in college where you can easily reach them.They usually are sitting in the church pew and are isolated from mission opportunities, yet they represent some of the most qualified candidates for missions.Many are loving the church and active in serving there.Many are living within their means and have little debt.Many are loving their spouses and children or are single and living a godly life.
They also often have well developed skills and are at an age where if they serve they could serve for a long time.
Younger college aged students often have school debt that prevent them from serving.Many are needing to work for a few years to pay off this debt.Some are not ready emotionally or socially for long term mission service.New reports from sociologist tell us that many people between ages 18 – 25 have formed a new class of people known as “Twixters” who are between adolescence and adulthood.These factors have been brought on by the high divorce rate and high debt young people incur.Since career choices are made at the adulthood stage, many young people are not ready socially for the kinds of commitment mission work requires.
Finishers have great potential, but often have limited amounts of time to devote to missions.Age, health and often time the cares of the world have produced seniors with limits on what they can do.It is not unusual to find a person above 50 years old and discover at least one divorce and sometimes more in their lives among other things.This makes for a less than an ideal mission candidate.
We believe that the age group (25 – 45) represents the greatest potential to completion of the Great Commission and is the age group that is the least contacted by mission agencies because of the difficulty in actually meeting them.This web site will be on method where they can make that contact at no cost to them an in an easy way to reach many mission agencies.
Thirdly, not all mission agencies participate in the Finishers Project web site.This meeting will introduce to them the concepts of “Mission Next” and seek their financial support in the design of the web site.The meeting will also seek commitments from these mission agencies to become involved with recruits if they match the mission agency.The more mission agencies that are involved in this “Mission Next” web site, the greater value it brings to the person searching for involvement in missions.They will have more agencies that they possibly can serve with.
Wycliffe has been involved with the Finishers project for over five years.In one three year period, we had over 60 people apply to Wycliffe from this source alone and the Finishers web site is not all that well know.All this was done by one person sitting in a Wycliffe office in Dallas and following up on names that came off the Finishers web site that matched Wycliffe’s needs.
Lastly, to advertise this web site broadly, we will need to have many agencies and churches help get this web address out to the Christian public.Since web sites are not that expensive to maintain, the greater number of people who use this site will bring the cost associated with recruiting people to missions to be just a few dollars verses the large amount of money currently being spent.God has given us a tool that has no boundaries on the web for sharing the vision for missions and Bible translation!We want to harness this for His glory among the nations.
Our goals?
There are over 30,000,000 Christians in the USA coming from over 325,000 evangelical churches.Over 1,000,000 Christians have gone on overseas mission trips, but few ever make the step to longer term mission commitment.One reason for that is often they don’t know what places need their skills and abilities.This one stop web location will allow them to search dozens of mission agencies to find a match!
The goal is to get as many of the 625 mission agencies in the USA to participate in this venture as possible.
Another goal is to get the web site name out to as many of the 30,000,000 Christians in the USA as possible.While not all of these people will be between the ages of 25 – 45, the web site will direct people of other ages to either the Finishers site or other youth ministries.We would like to see 1,000,000 web hits the first three years!
Wycliffe’s goal is to see at least 100 people or more per year join us as members from this effort.To do that we will need to add several more people like Barb who can handle the large volume of web inquiries who hope to receive.
Please pray for a good reception to this web venture by mission agencies and that this project will soon be fully operational.
Our Prayer Needs - January/February 2006
This Week
Please pray for Wycliffe's National Mobilization Convention starting Monday, January 23 and going until Thursday, January 26. Over 140 Wycliffe mobilizers are attending from all over the USA, including Wycliffe Puerto Rico. Workshops and other training events are being scheduled along with special devotional speakers Oli Jacobson (borad chairman for New Tribes Mission) and Dr. Steve Brown from the Refomed Theological Seminary and Key Life Network http://www.keylife.org/.
Chuck's department is planning and hosting this event. Chuck will be one of the main speakers at the convention.
Continuing Needs
Please pray for unity among the staff Chuck works with. Many changes have taken place and more are underway as his department seeks to reorganize itself to recruit 7000 new workers by 2014.
Pray for Chuck & Barb since Chuck does a lot of traveling. Pray that their marriage will remain strong in these periods of travel. Pray for safety in travels and for Barb and Jenny as they have to stay by themselves while Chuck travels.
Pray for continued good financial support. Last year we were at 92% of our support needs. Pray for others to join us in this work by praying and financially supporting our work. Last year we had a church droped our support entirely and this year we had a church lower its support. Several other long term supporters also have dropped out for a variety of reasons.
The longer we serve with Wycliffe the fewer people we know in our home town and this makes it hard to find new supporters. Pray that people will see the value of this work and want to support it.
Pray for our daughter Jenny as she cuts back on her school schedule. She needs to work a semester to pay off school costs and save enough to take another semester. Pray for her as she seeks a part time job while taking one class at the Reformed Theological Seminary.
Pray too for our son Isaac as he continues to seek a full time teaching job in the Holland, MI area. He currently subsitute teaches in the area and also works for AmeriCorp which serves disadvantaged children.
Pray for our daughter Maria and her husand Josh and their two children as they make plans to serve with Wycliffe in Germany in the summer of 2006. Pray they will get a good price for their home they are selling. Pray too for extra financial support they will need to moving costs.
Pray for our daughter Rachel and her husband Chris as they adapt to having a baby in the home. Hannah is just beginning to walk. Pray for Chris as he often travels in his CPA work. Pray for Rachel as she takes up the job of mom!
Our Prayer Needs - October 2005
Dear Family & Friends,
Thanks for your prayers for our work in Orlando at the Wycliffe USA headquarters. Please continue in prayer for staff since it continues to be a challenge with some Wycliffe members having to leave their assignment due to low support. This has caused some important jobs to be left unfilled and other staff members having to do double duty.
Please pray for Chuck's upcoming Church Mobilization Task Force meetings in December 2005. While there are over 325,000 churches in the U.S.A. Wycliffe is only involved with 60,000. That means that many churches have no connection with Bible translation work. The task force will investigate ways we can better connect up with these churches.
Pray for Barb as she begins her work as our Wycliffe representative with Mission Next (http://www.missionnext.org). Mission Next is a web site hosted by the Finishers mission agency that allows people to fill out a profile online about themselves. Then a computer generated match is produced based on profiles that Wycliffe has posted on the sight. Barb will get names of people who have a 85% match of better. She will then make contact with these preselected people to investigate their interest in Wycliffe.
Chuck is also hosting the first National Mobilization Convention in January 2006 at the Lake Yale Baptist Convention Center in Leesburg, FL. Chuck's entire staff of 145 people from all over the U.S.A. will come together for three days of workship, workshops and fellowship. This is the first time his team has ever gotten together.
Our Prayer Needs - May 28, 2005
Dear Family & Friends,
Please continue to pray for us as we begin our work at the Wycliffe USA headquarters. Staffing levels seems to have stabilized here after a number of staff left in the months before and just after we arrived.
New staff members are coming on board in Orlando in July. Barb hopes to begin her work at the office soon. Please pray for the timing of her entry to the office. Until now she has been helping us settle in and in July we will be moving into the house we just purchased.
Please pray for stable financial support now that we purchased our home.
Please pray for needed recruits. So far this year, we have had 350 people apply to Wycliffe. We are praying for 675 to apply by September 30.
Please pray for the completion of Vision 2025 (To see a Bible translation projected started for every language group needing one by 2025.) To accomplish this Wycliffe will need to recruit 809 recruits next year (2006).
Please pray for plans to have a National Mobilization Day of Prayer August 2, 2005 around the USA.
Our Prayer Needs - April 21, 2005
Dear Family & Friends,
Just a note to let you know what has happened with our housing situation.
We praise the Lord that people have responded to our housing needs and we now have enough to make the downpayment and cover the closing costs on our house! God has provided us the opportunity now to move forward.
Currently we are having a mold inspection done since mold was noticed in one area of the house. Electrical problems are also being checked out and hopefully will be addressed soon.
If any more money comes in now it will be used for carpet that needs to be replaced in the house and paint for the inside of the house (which it needs in almost every room). General repairs are need throughout the house. If more money came in we would even be able to replace the aging kitchen cabinets!
The house is everything we were looking for in a home. It has three bedrooms which will be idea for providing a room for Jenny and having a bedroom if any friends or family members come to visit. The house needs some TLC, but we hope that we can provide that. Maybe we could even get a few work groups to help us spruce up the house with needed painting and repairs this summer or early fall?
The house is near the church we are likely to attend (Covenant Presbyterian - http://www.cpconline.net/common/content.asp). We wanted to be near our church because we wanted to get involved in the life of the church. In our previous recruitment work with Wycliffe in Chicago we did so much traveling that it was very difficult to become involved with the church during the week. It is much more likely now. (We will continue to keep our membership at our sending church - Second CRC in Kalamazoo)
We also wanted a house with a big enough living room so we could host Bible studies in our home. This house has that large room, but many houses we looked at had very small living rooms! This house would even have a place for Barb's sewing table that I had made for her last Christmas!
We also wanted a home that was about half way between the Wycliffe office where we will be working and the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary where Jenny will be likely going to school to get her Master's degree in theology. This seminary is also where the church is presently located. This house is a little further away from the Wycliffe office than we originally wanted, but closer to the church and school, which is real good.
So, if anyone wants continue to want to support this house project of ours, please don't hesitate to write or call. We'd also be happy to know if anyone would be willing to help us cut our repair costs by helping us with by helping me do the house repairs. That's not one of my strong suits if you know me at all. We will provide free room and board while anyone is here and wants to help.
Thank you to everyone who has responded.
Chuck & Barb
1-888-876-1056
407-243-5114
Prayer Needs - February 1, 2005
We appreciate your prayers for us and our work as we move to Orlando, FL to take up new work with Wycliffe.
Please pray for:
Safety in travel to Orlando.
Wisdom for Chuck as he takes up new VP responsibilities with Wycliffe.
Wisdom for Barb as she consider what her role will be in Orlando.
Strength for the extra work of packing up our townhouse in Chicago.
Wisdom about buying a home in Orlando, FL. We would like to buy a home there (our first one in over 20 years!)
Funds needed for a downpayment on a house in Orlando near the Wycliffe center.
Continued financial support of our work.
Good opportunities to stay connected to our kids and other family members living in other places.
Prayer Needs - December 23, 2004
Please continue to remember Chuck in your prayers. While the root canal has lessened the sharp facial pain, the pain is still there. We believe that the problem may have been a combination of both a tooth and sinus problem. Now that the root canal is finished, Chuck may need to have sinus surgery early this spring. That will mean he will also have his nose straightened (it is still crooked from when he was beat up in his office in Papua New Guinea in 1999). In fact, that injury may have caused or helped cause his sinus problems. Pray for wisdom in knowing what next steps may be needed to help bring this problem to a close.
Pray for continued work that needs to be done on the recruitment pilot project. Our pilot project team is meeting in Orlando, FL January 13 & 14, 2005 to discuss the project. This is a critical meeting that Chuck is leading. Barb and our entire regional mobilization team will be attending these meetings with Personnel staff in Orlando. Please pray that God will guide these meetings and that His will will be accomplished. Pray for safety in flight and by road and for strength to handle all this.
Our Prayer Requests - November 16, 2004
·Pray for two more couples to join us in our mobilization and recruiting work.Pray for needed mobilization workers in Omaha, NE and Indianapolis, IN.Pray that God wouldsupply the 250 new members needed next year and for the 4000 workers needed in the next 20 years.
·Pray for Tom and Judy Coombs as they have now startedmobilization work as Area Coordinators for Eastern Michigan.Pray for good contacts with individuals and churches in that area.
·Pray for Chuck’s recent medical needs.Several months ago he had hernia surgery and other medical conditions.His facial pain has continued for more than a year now.Pray for healing and finances to cover these needs.Pray for anincrease in our monthly support.
·Pray for Jenny as she considers what to do after graduation.She is considering mission work and a variety of otheroccupations.Pray for clear guidance.
·Pray for our daughters Maria and Rachel who are bothexpecting (Maria in December and Rachel in April).Pray for healthy babies and good deliveries.
Our Prayer Requests - October 29, 2004
PRAYER NEEDS
Mission Conference In Iowa
Dordt College
Please pray for us this next week! Barb and I will be traveling to Iowa to do mobilization work for Wycliffe. We will spend three days (Nov 1 – 3) at Dordt College in Sioux Center, IA. This is the 31st year Dordt College has hosted a Hug-A-Linguist days.
We will be presenting in three classrooms and our team members (Mark & Lynn Onken – Literacy workers from Papua New Guinea and Jim Leamer - Wycliffe Computer or IT Mobilizer) will make seven classroom presentations.
What is special for us this year at Dordt is the fact that Dordt College now offers a minor in Linguistics which will help sow seeds for interest in Bible translation! We understand that one consideration in having this program set up was that students could begin to receive the necessary training for Bible translation work! We praise the Lord that the vision for Bible translation is growing.
After our three days at Dordt College, our team will be traveling to Orange City, IA and spending two days at Northwestern College. We have a special night prepared there to meet with computer students and staff, plus three IT classroom presentations.
This weekend and next weekend we will stay at our daughter Rachel and son-in-law Chris’s house in Omaha, NE. We are looking forward to spending two weekends with them, especially since Rachel is carrying a new grandbaby! She is due in early April.
Grace University
On Monday, November 8 Barb and I head to Grace University in Omaha to set up a display table to meet with students from Grace University. While we don’t have any classroom presentations, we are hoping to meet staff and students.
How Much Interest Is There At these Schools?
In each of these schools we have 15 students interested in some type of involvement in Bible translation. Pray that our contact with these students will bear fruit and that many will move forward in their interest in Bible translation work.
Please also pray for safety in travel and for strength. As some of you know, Chuck had hernia surgery last week. He is doing very well, but he does need to be careful in lifting things when we set up the displays.
Thanks for praying.
Your Wycliffe Missionaries,
Chuck & Barb Micheals
Our Prayer Requests - October 6, 2004
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your continued prayers for our work.
Next week Chuck goes to Moody Bible Institute to attend their mission conference. Moody has an Applied Linguistics program that is training over 80 students in the field of linguistics and Bible translation. Moody has always had a great interest in Bible translation. However, in the recent past only a small handful of these applied linguistics students actually moved on to serve with Wycliffe even though many showed great interest while in school. However, last year we had seven Moody students apply to Wycliffe during their senior year. Pray for a good response from this year's mission conference and that the great interest shown by students when they are in school would continue after they graduate.
Next month, we both go to Dordt College for their annual Hug-A-Linguist days. This school has had a long interest in Bible translation and it continues to grow. This year they even added a set of linguistic classes which will help spark interest in Bible translation among the students. We have had several Dordt students after graduation go on to serve with Wycliffe in the past few years. Pray that the interest in Bible translation would continue to grow at Dordt. Pray also for our safety in travel.
Chuck & Barb Micheals Your Wycliffe Missionaries
Our Prayer Requests - Sept. 7, 2004
Please continue to be in prayer for our recruitment pilot project. Our pilot project team of 14 individuals will meet again from September 13 - 16 to further discuss implementation of the pilot project. Staff from our Wycliffe headquarters in Orlando, FL will be coming to Chicago to meet with our recruitment team to work out more details of how we actually will do our work. Since Chuck was asked to head up this pilot project, he will lead the meetings. Barb will be one of the participants.
Our Prayer Requests - August 24, 2004
Dear Praying Friends,
Would you pray with us this week for important meetings Chuck is leading for Wycliffe?
The Recruitment Acceleration Project (RAP), which will begin October 1, 2004, is being designed and carried out by both Wycliffe North Central (WNC) office in West Chicago, IL and Wycliffe's Personnel Department in Orlando, FL . This pilot project is designed to help increase the number of new people joining Wycliffe as members, increase the speed at which they join, help mobilize new people in a new way while assisting people who are applying using a new more relational method of application.
Please pray for meetings held in Orlando,FL on Wednesday, August 25 and Thursday, August 26 between a subcommittee of mobilizers from the WNC region and a subcommittee of the Personnel Department from Orlando to discuss the pilot project. These meetings are designed to help the two sections (Mobilization and Personnel) work together in new ways to reach these goals. Pray that mutual goals and training needs for the pilot project will be defined and agreed upon. Please pray for wisdom, unity and that common goals would be reached.
Due to changes happening at WNC because of the pilot project, a meeting will be held Friday, August 27 at the WNC office to decide new supervision of WNC's Jungle Jump Off camp, Church Mobilization work and regional ethnic mobilization. Some staff members participating in the meetings in Orlando earlier in the week will be traveling to Chicago Thursday night to participate in this meeting. Pray for clear direction as to who should supervise each of these three sections and for acceptance by all concerned for these changes.
Pray for Chuck Micheals (WNC Mobilization Director) as he leads these two meetings and heads up this project.
Our Prayer Requests - August 7, 2004
Dear Family & Friends,
This summer has been busier than expected with our work with Wycliffe. Chuck has been very busy planning meetings and providing oversight for the pilot project we have been asked to oversee is our region. This project will combine the recruiting functions we currently are doing along with the new role of handling much of the application if a person applies.
Pilot Project
We have a small group of mobilizers (recruiters) from our region who are traveling with Chuck to Orlando, FL to meet with the Wycliffe Personnel people in Orlando, FL from August 24 - 26. These Personnel staff currently handle much of the application process. Please pray for information to be passed along clearly, for unity in direction and for wisdom in knowing what training the recruiters in our region will need. Please also pray for a meeting set for August 27 here in Chicago, IL to decide who will supervise the staff who are not taking part in the pilot project. Currently all mobilization staff in our region report to Chuck. However, because of the pilot program nine staff will need new supervisors and 14 staff will be part of the pilot project.
Chuck & Barb On Staff At Jungle Jump Off
This summer we were also on staff at our Jungle Jump Off camp. We have written about this camp before. It is designed primarily for high school church youth groups to discover what missions is really about. We spent three days at the camp interacting with the young people and their leaders who were from a church in Parma, Ohio. Isaac and Jenny also served on staff one evening as they shared with the church group their experiences as a Missionary Kid (MK).
Pray that God will move some of these 12 young people into missions. Pray that our work of following up with these young people will bear fruit for Christ and His Kingdom. Pray that more groups will sign up for next year. This year we had only five church youth groups come and we can handle 12 groups. You can read about Jungle Jump Off on-line at:
This summer Chuck also visited the Summer Institute Of Linguistic school in North Dakota (SIL - UND). He visited there because 17 of the 80 students there are ones that we have helped recruit. Not all of these college aged students are members of Wycliffe yet, so Chuck visited the school to continue the relationships. Most are interested in some form of cross-cultural ministry work.
He met all 17 students there and had personnel interviews with another 15 individuals. He returned from SIL -UND with two Preliminary Questionnaires, which is the first step toward applying with Wycliffe. Pray for these two young people who have started the application process and that many others Chuck talked to will apply soon. You can read about this SIL school that is training a new generation of Bible translators on-line at:
It has been great having our children visiting us this summer. Isaac as you know is back from Haiti and Jenny is back from South Africa. Isaac is still looking for a teaching job this fall. There is a possibility of a brand new opening in North Carolina for him. Pray that he will find something soon. Jenny is starting her last year at Reformed Bible College (RBC) this fall. Pray for her as she lives in an apartment for the first time with three other RBC students.
This summer we traveled to Dallas, TX to visit our daughter and son-in-law Josh & Maria Mishler and celebrated our grandson's 2nd birthday. Pray that their full support with Wycliffe will come in. Pray for Josh & Maria as they begin Wycliffe's Management Training & Orientation Course (MDOC) on August 16 in Dallas, TX.
We also enjoyed a visit here in Chicago by our other daughter and son-in-law Chris & Rachel Wassenaar. We rejoice that Chris successfully completed his testing portion of the CPA exam and now only has to pass an entrance exam. After this exam and after working for two years, which will be this Dec., he will be certified as a CPA. He will also be examined by his church on Wed. evening for work as a deacon. Please pray for Chris as he takes these next steps.
Want To Know What An MK Is?
To help you understand our kids better, we thought we'd give you a couple of web sites to check out. On these sites you can learn more about what it means to be a "Third Culture Kid" (TCK) or a "Missionary Kid" (MK), take a look at this web site:
A) Pray for the pilot project we have been asked to lead for Wycliffe. It is known as the Recruitment Acceleration Project (RAP). Our pilot project is designed to accelerate the numbers of people joining Wycliffe, speed up the application process and have the application process go even better than what it currently does.
To accomplish these goals, we need your prayers. We are praying for at least 50 more recruits from our region this next year than we had this year. That was a prayer our founder Cameron Townsend had when our organization first started. Since we know that we do not have the power to make this happen:
We are asking that you all join us in prayer for this year and ask God to send us 150 applicants this year (50 more than the 100 this year).
This cannot be accomplished without prayer.
Pray for upcoming meetings Chuck is leading in Orlando, FL with staff from headquarters in August to keep the pilot project moving ahead. The roll out date for the pilot project in our region is October 1, 2004.
B) Praise for a large increase in new people applying and joining Wycliffe! Rejoice! More people are joining Wycliffe USA. At any given time up to 225 people are beginning to take steps toward Wycliffe membership, with 80 to 90 more in the application process.
Pray that each one will have clear discernment of God's will about joining Wycliffe so that no doubt remains.
Pray for someone you know taking steps toward Wycliffe membership.
Ask God to help prospective members complete the detailed application for membership.
Pray for more personnel coordinators to handle applications and work with applicants.
Pray for spiritual protection. Often the enemy of our souls tries to discourage people as soon as they make the final decision to join Wycliffe.
Ask the Lord to provide faithful prayer support teams for those making decisions about joining Wycliffe---even before they become new members.
C) Pray for our Jungle Jump Off camp (which Chuck supervises) which recently had a break in. Praise that on one was there during the robbery. Pray that those responsible will be caught and the stolen material returned. Pray for funds needed to replace the stolen items.
D) Praise that our son-in-law, Chris passed his last part of the CPA exam!
E) Please keep praying for a high school teaching job for Isaac. He is finished with his teaching in Haiti and can receive support for a few more weeks, but he does want to teach in the USA this fall.
F) Please continue to pray that Josh & Maria's full support to come in so they can take up an assignment with Wycliffe. They have enough support to take Wycliffe's Management Development and Orientation Course in Dallas, TX starting in August, but lack full support to take up an assignment afterward. Praise that their new unborn is doing well. They are expecting a baby in December.
G) Praise that Jenny again has a full time job this sumemr at a local medical clinic. They have provided this work for Jenny each school break and summer!
Our Prayer Requests - June 16, 2004
Dear Praying Friends,
Please pray for wisdom as our Mobilization region undertakes a new pilot project for Wycliffe. Pray that we will have direction as to what programs to give up and what new things we will need to learn as we combine the functions of being a Personnel officer with that of a Recruiter. This change is necessary because we only get a small number of people that apply who actually make it to the field. This new system is being designed so that when a person applys to Wycliffe that the mobilizer who recruits the new person is the same person who handles the application process for them. We are praying that fewer people will drop out with this new system and that people will make it to the field quicker.
Please pray for good follow up with participants who attended the Total It Up course we just hosted in May. We have 16 participants to follow up with. Pray that many will commit to some form of involvement in Bible translation work. http://www.wycliffe.org/events/Total/home.htm
Pray for Barb as she begins to process people who are signing up for the August 16 - 20, 2004 Total It Up course. So far we have around 15 signed up. Pray that the Lord would send many more young people.
Pray that many more church youth groups would sign up for our Jungle Jump Off courses. So far we have only 5 of the 13 weeks filled. http://www.wycliffe.org/events/JJO/home.htm
Previous Prayer Requests June 4, 2004
Pray for a renewing of our strength after the busy week of Total It Up. The days started at 7 AM for Chuck and finished at 10 PM.
Pray for upcoming meetings for Chuck in Orlando, FL June 3 & 4. These special meetings were called in response to material discussed in the May National Mobilization Meetings. These meetings are designed to discuss Wycliffe programs and determine which ones should be kept and which ones should be discontinued.
Pray for Barb as she begins to process people who are signing up for the August 16 - 20, 2004 Total It Up course. So far we have around 10 signed up. Pray that the Lord would send many more young people. Pray for needed staffing for this course.
Pray for Chuck as he begins to prepare for fall mission conferences at three colleges:(Dordt College (IA), Trinity International University (IL) and Moody Bible Institute (IL). Pray for wisdom in knowing what topics to share.
Pray that many more church youth groups would sign up for our Jungle Jump Off courses. So far we have only 4 of the 13 weeks filled. http://www.wycliffe.org/events/JJO/home.htm
Thanks for praying!
Your Wycliffe Missionaries,
Chuck & Barb Micheals
Previous Prayer Requests - May 3, 2004
Dear Praying Friends,
Twice a year, Chuck & Barb host participants for the Total It Up course. This next week we have 15 participants coming in for this course.
This five day Bible translation course is designed to give young people an opportunity to learn about the various academic areas of our work. Classes are held on Phonetics, Phonology, Grammar, Sociolinguistic Survey, Langugae Learning, Literacy and Bible Translation principles.
The course starts Monday, May 10 and goes until May 14 and will be held at the Wycliffe West Chicago office where we work. Classes will be held during the day, but ethnic meals are served at night along with stories being told from translators fresh off the field.
The week finishes with with a section on helping these young people learn about how they would prepare themselves academically and spiritually if God is calling them into this work.
Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would move many of these young people into Bible translation work. Pray too for one last part time staff postion that still needs to be filled.
Pray too that the Lord would supply all our financial needs.
Thanks for praying!
Your Wycliffe Missionaries,
Chuck & Barb Micheals
Previous Prayer Requests - April 24, 2004
Pray for the upcoming Jungle Jump Off (JJO) sessions. Chuck is responsible for the oversight of the program, although there are two Wycliffe couples that actually run the program. This program is designed for young people from church youth groups to learn about Bible translation in a jungle mission setting located in Dixon, IL (http://www.wycliffe.org/events/JJO/home.htm). Please pray for more youth groups to come. So far, only about half of the weekly summer sessions are booked out.
Thanks for praying!
Chuck & Barb Wycliffe Missionaries
Previous Prayer Requests - April 7, 2004
Dear Praying Friends,
Please prayer for strength for us as the next four weeks will be very busy weeks.
On April 13 Chuck spends a day at Moody Bible Institute doing recruiting. Pray that he can make contact with seniors who will be leaving in May. He would like to make sure he gets their future address, future email addresses and phone numbers and determine their interest level.
On April 17 we have another Trans Scan at our office. Pray for a good number of people to come and a good response of interested people.
On April 19 & 20 Chuck flies to Minnesota for two days of meetings with the Area Coordinator team (3 couples) there. Please pray for safety in travel and for good communications. Pray for direction for our fall work which needs to be decided on soon.
Then on April 26 - 30 Chuck & Barb will be in Orlando, FL for national mobilization meetings. Please pray for unity and good direction for our work.
From May 10 -14 we have our week long Total It Up week. Please pray for more young people to come. So far we have about 12 people signed up and we are praying for 24 totally to come. That is a manageable number of people to work with and helps us break even.
Thanks for praying!
Chuck & Barb
Wycliffe Missionaries
Previous Prayer Requests - March 27, 2004
Dear Praying Friends,
A) Please be in prayer for us this next week as we head to Huntington College (IN) for a week. We will be involved in their mission conference and leading several mission workshops. The topic Chuck will be exploring is involving ethnic communities here in the USA in the Great Commission. Pray that many young people to come to our Wycliffe Bible Translator table and workshops. Pray too that many will respond to the challenge of involvement and that many will say, "Here and I, send me." Please remember to also pray for our safety in travel (you will remember some time ago when we were rear-ended on our way home from Michigan).
B) Following the week at Huntington College, several of our mobilization staff from our regional office will be joining us to put as we put on a Trans Scan at the college on Saturday, April 3.
Trans Scan as you remember is the one day look at Bible translation. This is the first time we have tried producing a Trans Scan at this location. So far we have 23 college aged people signed up, but we are praying for many more. Please pray for a good turn out and that many of these young people will commit to becoming involved in Bible translation work. We currently get about 12% of the people who attend these classes apply to Wycliffe.
Check out Trans Scan on-line at: http://www.wycliffe.org/events/TransScan/home.htm
C) We would ask that you continue to pray about our finances. Pray that our needs would be met.
FAMILY PRAYER NEEDS
D) Thank you for praying for our family this past month. Isaac is back in Haiti and has resumed teaching in the mission school there. Things in Haiti seemed to have returned to normal. We thank the Lord for the safety of the missionaries and the Christian church members in Haiti. Please continue to remember them in prayer. Pray for continued safety. Pray that students would do well in their classes and be well behaved.
Josh & Maria Mishler have left their jobs this past week and are now doing mission Partnership Development work full time. They are taking an extensive trip up north into our area to speak about their work with Wycliffe and look for churches and individuals who will partner with them and support them through prayer and finances. Pray that many people will respond and become part of their team and that churches and individuals will provide opportunities for them to share!
Chris & Rachel Wassenaar are doing well in Omaha, NE. Pray for Chris as he finishes up a busy tax season and begins work as a deacon in his church. Pray for continued safety for Rachel as she works at a local bank.
Jenny is doing well in South Africa. She is becoming quite involved not only at the Bible Institute, but also in Christian outreach in the area. This is being done in cooperation with local Christian churches. Pray for her safety and that her semester at the school would go well.
In Jesus Name,
Chuck & Barb Micheals
Your Wycliffe Missionaries
Previous Prayer Requests - March 13, 2004
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for praying for Isaac. He came home from Haiti last week Wednesday after being evacuated and spent a week and a half with us in Chicago. It was good to see him again and hear more about the situation in the country. He looked like he had been doing well and he was happy that he could spend his time of waiting with us in Chicago rather than in the Dominican Republic.
Christian Reformed World Missions (CRWM), Isaac's mission agency, sent a missionary into Haiti last week to check on the situation and based on his findings CRWM determined that it was safe for their missionaries to go back to Haiti. Therefore, the call was given for the missionaries to return. So, this morning (Saturday, March 13) Isaac left to go back to Haiti. He should arrive there today around 1:30 PM. Please pray for his safety as he travels back and resumes work at Quisqueya Christian School in Port-au-Prince. Isaac is looking forward to getting back into the classroom and resume teaching.
Please continue to pray that the school can get back to its normal situation. Last week the school did manage to open and some students came to class, but most of the teachers had evacuated so the school operated mainly by temporary substitute teachers. Pray that Isaac will be given wisdom as to how to cover his material in a shorter period of days left this semester. Lots of details will also need to be worked out about how to catch students up on their homework. Pray also for spiritual growth for the students and staff because situations like these can be not only emotionally draining, but can provide times of spiritual dryness. Please pray for hearty spiritual growth and for unity in all their Christian lives and that this will continue to be a time of great faith building.
Since we have traveled to Haiti, we are somewhat familiar with the situation there and so feel good about him returning. Although the situation in Haiti is difficult, we are thanking the Lord that the door has been opened for Isaac to return. We are praising the Lord that He granted Isaac safety during this time and that the time of violence was short for the Haitian people and the Christian church there. We are also praising the Lord that Isaac is anxious to get back to Haiti. These are all real answers to your prayers!
You can see a photo of Isaac being sent back to Haiti on our web site at: http://www.cbmicheals.com. We continue to update this web site each week so if you don't hear from us each week, you can check the web site out for the latest details.
We will keep all of you informed as to the situation in Haiti as we receive updates from Isaac.
In Jesus Name,
Chuck & Barb Micheals Your Wycliffe Missionaries
Previous Prayer Request - March 5, 2004
Dear Family & Friends,
As you continue to hear from our recent emails and the international news, the country of Haiti continues to go through great political turmoil. We wrote you two weeks ago that Isaac had left Haiti to enjoy a week school break in the Dominican Republic (DR). This had been planned before all the trouble started. He was safely in the DR for several days and had planned to stay in the DR until last Friday when he hoped to return to the mission school he teaches at in Haiti.
However, the mission that Isaac is a Partner Missionary with (the Christian Reformed Church - CRC) has decided to evacuate all its missionaries from Haiti. This means that Isaac will not be going back to Haiti right away.
At this point Isaac has returned to Chicago to live with us until the situation improves. He would like to return to Haiti and finish teaching out the school term if that is possible. Only the Lord knows if this is possible and if so when that might be. We are praying that the situation in Haiti will improve soon so Isaac can return with out much interruption to the school year.
Please pray for Isaac as he waits to return to Haiti. Please pray that the personal items Isaac left in Haiti would not be disturbed while he is out of the country. Several homes near the school have been looted. We would ask that you would also pray for the leadership of the CRC in Haiti as they decide how long the evacuation will be necessary.
Please pray for the Haitian Church. Pray that they would grow in their faith in the midst of this adversity, that they would be spared the loss of life and property and that the Lord would return the nation to peace soon. Pray also for the some of the staff at Quisqueya Christian School who are staying behind. Many staying at the school are Haitian citizens who may have to go through these difficulties.
For those of you who support Isaac financially, we believe that he will continue to need these finances during this time of waiting in addition to finances to cover extra expenses associated with the evacuation.
We will continue to update you on the situation as we know more about it.
In Jesus Name,
Chuck & Barb Micheals
Previous Prayer Requests - February 25, 2004
Dear Family & Friends,
As you have heard from our recent emails and the international news, the country of Haiti is going through great political turmoil.We wrote you last week that Isaac had left Haiti to enjoy a week school beak in the Dominican Republic (DR).This had been planned before all the trouble
started.He has been safely in the DR for several days now and had planned to stay in the DR until Friday when he hoped to return to the mission school he teaches at in Haiti.
However, the mission that Isaac is a Partner Missionary with (the Christian Reformed Church - CRC) has decided to evacuate all its missionaries from Haiti.This means that Isaac will not be going back to Haiti this Friday.
At this point it looks very likely that Isaac will be returning to Chicago this weekend to live with us until the situation improves.He would like ! to return to Haiti and finish teaching out the school term if that is possible.Only the Lord knows if this is possible and if so when that
might be.We are praying that the situation in Haiti will improve soon so Isaac can return with out much interruption to the school year.
Please pray for Isaac as he makes plans to return to Chicago and for his and the others safety as they evacuate.Please pray that the personal items Isaac left in Haiti would be able to be carried out by others evacuating.We would ask that you would also pray for the other CRC
missionaries as they evacuate.
Please pray for the HaitianChurch.Pray that they would grow in their faith in the midst of this adversity, that they would be spared the loss of life and property and that the Lord would return the nation to peace soon. Pray also for the some of the staff at QuisqueyaChristianSchool who are staying behind.Many staying at the school are Haitian citizens who may have to go through these difficulties.
For those of you who support Isaac financially, we believe that he will continue to need these finances during this time of waiting in addition to finances to cover extra expenses associated with the evacuation.
We will continue to update you on the situation as we know more about it.
In Jesus Name,
Chuck & Barb Micheals
Your Wycliffe Missionaries
Previous Prayer Requests - February 20, 2004
Dear Friends and Family,
It has been a long time since I have given most of you an update of what I have been doing in Haiti. My work at school keeps me busy and I have not communicated with many of you as much as I would like, so I would like to ask that you would forgive me for that. Quisqueya Christian school has shut down today because it is the beginning of the annual "Carnival Break" here in Haiti. Carnival break is usually a week long, and is filled with parties and celebration. This year however, Haiti is experiencing political turmoil, as many of you have heard from the news.
Haiti has had a history of instability, so this seems like the latest in the long line of problems that have plagued the country. The Haitian government has been facing opposition by groups who do not want the current president in power. Recently, some opposition groups have instigated armed rebellion against the police force, and other pro-government people in the northern part of the country. Police have been killed, and houses and businesses have been burned down and destroyed. These groups are now essentially in control of several towns in the north, and are threatening more violence. As you know, I am living in the capital, Port Au-Prince, which is located on the southern portion of the island. Over the past several months both pro and anti government demonstrations have been held on the streets of Port Au-Prince. Now that the violence that began in the north has spread, many fear that this will lead to increasing problems in the capital that has already seen its share of turmoil.
So what is happening with me in all of this? Nobody knows what will happen in the coming days. I am leaving for the Dominican Republic tomorrow with some fellow teachers for a vacation over the carnival break. I plan to be there a week, and return Friday. If the violence continues to spread, and the opposition to the President builds it may be necessary to evacuate for a time. Christian Reformed World Missions (my partner organization) has contingency plans in the event that we do need to leave. I feel safe living here in Port Au-Prince for the time being. No violence has been directed at foreigners yet, and I live in a fairly safe neighborhood. You may hear many news reports about what is happening here in the country. While most of the reports are fairly accurate it is important to keep in mind that I am not a target of the violence. I am keep abreast of the situation by fellow missionaries who are doing all they can to ensure our safety. The CRC home office and the CRC office here are in constant communication. If they feel at any time that we are in harms way they will do all they can to get us out of the country.
I will do my best to keep you up to date on the situation, and I would ask for your prayers during this time. Pray also for the Haitian people who are suffering immensely during this time. Pray that peace would come to this country and that the current situation will be resolved. I know that God is in control of everything, and I try to take comfort in this fact. Thank you for all you have done for me while I have been in Haiti.
In Christ,
Isaac Micheals
Why do we do missions?
Psalm 96:3,5:
"The gods of the nations are idols" and we are to "declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples." RSV
