Marjolijn - UK |
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Marjolijn works in East London
email:
info[at]crosslinks.org
c/o Crosslinks
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Prayer Letter May 2010
Acts 8: 26-40 is always an inspiring message to me, reminding us to obey the Spirit’s leading, and that without the Holy Spirit we will not understand the Scriptures. It also is an encouragement to us to be bold and discerning and expect God to work in people’s lives.
CONTINUE
As you know from my last newsletter I stopped being involved with Girls’ Club which was the right decision, but it was equally right to continue with visiting some of the girls’ families with one of the club leaders on a regular basis.
In early March I was getting quite frustrated with little or no spiritual conversation and felt strongly that we are not visiting to entertain or be entertained, and at our weekly prayer meeting we prayed very specifically about this. Within weeks we had the opportunity with S.’s family to share the Easter story when asked what Easter was about and had nearly the whole family listening.
• Please pray that this will be the beginning of more opportunities to bring the gospel to the whole family and where language barriers exist the girls will interpret well. Anna (Girls’ Club leader) and I are waiting to go back to the Pakistani family and share the Easter story with them. At our last visit we were nearly out of the door when the mother asked: What have Easter eggs got to do with Easter? We had a brief conversation and promised to share more at the next visit.
• Please pray that the family will watch the Jesus film in Urdu, which the mother took at the end of the parenting course last year.
• Pray for open hearts to hear and understand the gospel.
• Pray for patience, love and wisdom when it seems little or nothing is happening and when my faith is being tested will grow more into His likeness.
A second encouragement is more contact with Bangladeshi Christians through the monthly Bengali fellowship and weekly prayer meetings. Many come to the UK as students and are working at the same time. Some become followers of Jesus and have lived in England for most or all of their lives. I have been greatly encouraged to experience their unity and love for each other.
• Give thanks for many believers from different backgrounds (Muslim, Hindu, Roman Catholic) now worshipping the same Lord as believers in Jesus.
• Pray for the young believers and for their pastoral needs; pray for those who are not yet saved.
FRIEND
S my Moroccan friend recently separated from her husband. She has no relatives in the UK. Recently we have seen each other more then before and also had a relaxed afternoon in the park
• Please pray for her and her two children (12 and 7 years old) as they are readjusting their lives with S now working part-time.
• Pray for spiritual openness and continuation of a good friendship.
Please pray for M who recently moved to the Middle East with her family as her husband’s job took him there. Pray for all the changes for them and adjusting to a new culture with more restrictions. We managed to see each other before they finally moved end of March.
MIDWIFERY
At present I am still working in the community, but the plan is that in the summer I will be working on labour ward again, mainly looking after vulnerable women. In the meantime I do an on-call every few months at the weekend, so it won’t be a total shock going back to a very busy (in a different way then in our team) and stressful working environment.
First of all I am hoping to have a two-month break from early June until 1 August to re-charge and travel to Wales, Netherlands, Northern Ireland and visit friends in the UK, and also be home for about four weeks (plenty of time to catch up with friends, reading, Wimbledon and DIY and maybe join the local gardening club (as I am attempting to grow some vegetables and strawberries on my balcony I need all the advice I can get for them to do well). As you can imagine I am looking forward to a long break and hopefully have a fresh start early August.
• Continue to pray for healing and to know His joy and peace in all circumstances.
INITIATIVE
Lastly a new initiative just started with many churches meeting early morning once a week to pray together for local initiatives in churches and Muslims worldwide, and eventually having training events for local churches to raise awareness and understanding of Muslims. It was exciting to see many who aim to be a Christian witness among Muslims to meet with one purpose - to see Muslims turn to Christ.
• Pray for many Christians to increase their efforts to get alongside Muslim neighbours, colleagues and friends and to see they too need of our Saviour to be Lord of their lives.
With love in Christ,
Marjolijn