News from Jay & Diane Beeman @ Pioneer Bible Translators

Jay & Diane Beeman

Refugee children waiting outside before they receive help with their homework A couple of people we are praying for these days. . . We’ve been helping adults and children at a church-sponsored refugee center in the heart of Dallas. A couple of weeks ago we had a little girl show up from a Middle Eastern country. We can’t give you her real name, but if you say “Shazam” that’s real close. The refugee kids here are placed in a school grade only by age, and not by aptitude. She was bringing in math, reading and science homework, but she knows no English and couldn’t even begin to complete her assignments. So, we went to Walmart and bought one of those books with big letters to trace and bright pictures to go along with the alphabet. The next time she came we started with A for apple, then B for ball and so on. Along with the alphabet, she’s learning English words. You’ve never seen a child so happy to be able to learn something. We are excited for her and will help her as much as we can to catch up to her classmates. We pray for her that through the witness of the Christians at the refugee center and the strong Christian influence in the Dallas area, she will grow up hearing the message of Jesus and accept him as her Savior someday. Every week we help the adults with conversational English. We are normally given a guided lesson to help the students with vocabulary and grammar, which is supposed to be completed within the hour we are with them. One of the gentleman that Jay is helping is a refugee from Myanmar. He belongs to the Rohingya people who are mostly Muslims. As our lesson started, he was asked to tell something about his people. He gave the strong impression that nobody had ever sat with him and listened to his story before. For the next fifty minutes he told all about the persecution that he and his family had suffered from Buddhists who push them out of the country (This is no secret. You can just Google “Rohingya” and read about it). After leaving their home, they were bounced from country to country as refugees before finally ending up in the United States. They long to return, but will probably never be able. We pray that this man and his family can adjust to life in the United States and eventually call it home. We also pray that they continue to have loving Christians around them, helping them through the transition. And, we pray, more than anything, that even though they lost their homeland, they find Jesus. On Sundays it has been our pleasure to be able to worship at a Swahili service that is hosted at a congregation on the north side of Fort Worth. Most of the members are Congolese, so it’s been like a reunion to be with them. The service is much louder than we are used to at our worship back home. There’s a lot more singing and a little bit of dancing. The preaching is very animated, and the services lasts at least two and a half hours, but the people always make us feel very welcome. We are thankful for the warmup to be living full-time again in East Africa. Since our last news - Adding to our already hectic schedules, Diane is taking a college level class (online) from Johnson University on Foundations of Ministering Cross-culturally and Jay is taking one (also online) on Cross-cultural Church Planting. We are thankful for the opportunity to study and stretch ourselves, learning how we can better build bridges with those to whom we will minister. - We’ve moved from a mobile home to a one-room efficiency apartment. Aside from having to go outside to change our mind, we are doing fine. Seriously, we continue to thank God for the way he takes care of us. - After confirming a few verbal commitments, we should be about 5% within being fully funded to go to the field. If you are interested in partnering with us, please see the details at https://pioneerbible.org/give/JayAndDianeBeeman Please save for us the desiccant packets (silica gel) you might get in your medicine or vitamin bottles. These will be very helpful to us in keeping different things free from moisture in the tropical climate. Thanks. We’d love to hear from you. Our mailing address through December 11th is   Jay & Diane Beeman 7500 W Camp Wisdom Road Dallas, TX 75236 We kindly ask that you not forward this email. If you would like someone to be on our our email list, please let us know. Thank you.

Thank You

A big thank you to everyone who prepared food or helped serve. We made 20 take out meals and we served 60 meals at the Place. Again thank you to everyone who made Wednesday a huge success.

Michael

Prayer need

The Foster family asked that we send out a blog asking for prayer for Anne's sister, Christine and her family. Her husband took his own life Wednesday night.

Thank you.

Info about The Place

Don't forget we're signed up to provide and serve lunch at The Place this upcoming Wednesday, 10/4/2017.

You can bring nonperishable items to Michael on Sunday. Then he will be at the church on Tuesday, 10/3/2017 at 5:00pm to pick up food items.

Please let him know if you plan to bring your food to him on Tuesday so he'll know who to expect.

Sad News

Hopefully, you remember Kathy and Rich Mossburg who attended Castle for a while. Rich just discovered he had widespread cancer and Bill visited with them on Sunday. Rick passed away this morning. There are no immediate plans for a service as Rich will be cremated. Just please remember Kathy and the family in your prayers.

Latest News from Family Promise

State of the Program Wow!  So many great things are happening at Family Promise of Forsyth County, Inc.!  We currently have three families in the program, all are working, accomplishing their goals and saving money needed to be live independently. Our coordinator at Good Shepherd Catholic Church "retired" from her coordinating duties.  We want to extend a huge THANK YOU to Betty Schlecht for all the time, talent and love she has given for our families.  We are excited to welcome Linda Chisolm as the new coordinator and know that Ms. Betty will be close by and always in our prayers! This month's newsletter highlights many hands make light work.  From our coordinators like Ms. Betty and Ms. Linda working together, to Cumming First United Methodist Church working with our many congregations and communities in support of our upcoming garage sale, those hands allow us to serve families in overcoming homelessness. Our families are also a part of the many hands.  We started a Community Meeting each week with our guests.  Our Executive Director meets with the group to hear how things are going from a guest's perspective, share updates, and help in areas of struggle.  One of the most enlightening parts of this gathering is watching the families interact.  They support each other in many ways like helping with the children, sharing information about job opportunities or simply offering moral support. If you would like more information on how you can be one of the hands making a difference in the lives of the families we serve, contact our Executive Director, Tina at tina@fpforsyth.org   Family Promise Garage Sale! Who doesn't like a garage sale? Join us on August 25th and 26th at the Cumming First United Methodist Church. All proceeds benefit Family Promise of Forsyth County. For more information click here. President's Message "Many Hands Make Light Work - when in His Love" Think of the number of projects we have faced in life that we had to accomplish all by ourselves as youth or adults.  Hard but doable. Sometimes we were truly doing a one person project ... but how many times have we FELT like we were the one who had to do it?  Maybe thinking "No one else can do it as well as I can or the way I want it". I like the saying "Many hands make light work". But I want to focus on the last part of the title above...which I added to it. There are so many examples of this truth.  I think Family Promise and the relationships amongst its host/support churches is a perfect example.  Our program has so many moving parts within it that it does take many hands ... and willingness to work together with one common perspective.  It is one of the reasons I was drawn to this Volunteer program - diverse groups coming together for one common cause setting aside the minors to focus on a major - "loving our neighbor". Most may have heard the question asked of Jesus - "but who is my neighbor?"  I want to encourage us to focus on the "love" part.  What "love" was Jesus talking about?  Agape - the greatest of all ... God's love ... working in, on and through us.  It is the life blood of the body. The body is made up of many parts - hands, feet, eyes etc.  (1 Cor 12:12-26) and each is so important.  However, how long can each function without the life blood flowing into and out of it?  The "out" flow is as important as the "in" flow" to keep it alive. Is His Love the common perspective I am allowing to flow to help me work with others?  A perspective I need to keep in the forefront quite often.  Thank you each and all for helping keep this "life blood" perspective flowing ... many hands working together as a "loving your neighbor" example to others in our community! Please share this email with your friends.  Click here Other Happenings We are part of Amazon Smile. Click here to select Family Promise.   We still have  Christmas in July needs.   Click Here Email us if you can help. Save the Date! October 28th at 11am! Get your team ready for the Family Promise Bed Race.

Immediate prayer need

Many of you remember Don and Bonnie Sigette, Garnett and Tyson. We just learned that Bonnie has had a serious heart attack. She's unconscious and in need of immediate prayer coverage. She and Don just moved to Missouri in anticipation of their newest granddaughter's upcoming birth. Things are not looking too good right now. Please pray for Bonnie and the family.