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Kid's Club
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The Becker Newsletter Dear Praying Friends, We want to thank you for your faithful prayers for us this month. We felt as if we were being carried along under the strong and everlasting arms of our Father. Administrative tasks seem overwhelming. The kids needed to catch up on their school. Ministry wise, we had the most contacts this month since we first came to Bordeaux - a great blessing! I also had my last basketball coaching clinic before the final exam in April. There is a lot of preparation that I could do before that day but I will only do what I can. I understand why French students spend their whole last year of school studying for their final exam. I have this sinking feeling that I am not studying as much as I should. My prayer is that on the day of the exam, they will ask me questions that will reveal what I do know and not expose all I do not know about the mysteries of French bureaucracy in basketball! We recently made contact with a sister whom we knew 10 years ago. Since that time her life has radically changed. She has lost her job, her husband and her children are no longer able to be close to her in her life. She lives on the other side of Bordeaux and our potential to minister to her is limited. However, as God would have it, there is a friend of a friend who somehow made contact with her. She called and wants to bring this sister to church next Sunday. Without names I suppose this is a bit complex but let's just pray that these ladies come to church next Sunday -- they are staying for dinner too! Thank you for praying for Yuliya, the kid's music teacher who is from Bulgaria. Yuliya's mom, Svetta, is with Yuliya for her grandchild's first year. Recently Svetta said that she appreciated our perspective on spiritual things as it reminded her a lot of her mother-in-law's church, ( Yuliya's grandma lived with them when Yuliya was growing up). We were encouraged by the story and would like to share it with you. Svetta's mother-in-law did not belong to the Orthodox church but left it to join a church that met in various homes during the days of communism because their church was not allowed. They were very kind people and the church is still going today in their town. Under communism, the church always made sure that the grandma had a meal to eat. Yuliya's grandma would help too in the daily distributions. One day, an under-cover police officer came to their meeting. They did not know he was from the police. He saw how they sang. He heard them pray for everyone, including their authorities -- praying good for them and not bad. They invited him to share in their meal. He saw how they organized themselves for the distributions for the following week. After the meeting, he went back to police and said, “Do not worry about this group or the people in the group. They are very good communists!” The police never bothered the group after that. Yuliya has shared that her grandma took her grandchildren at their birth to have them presented in her church. Yuliya has the small Bible that her grandma hid. Yuliya has always been very sensitive to spiritual things. No doubt God brought our paths together in answer to her grandma's prayers many years ago that Yuliya would come to the knowledge of repentance and faith in Christ. We feel like we are continuing a story that was started by a sister in Bulgaria over 25 years ago. Please join us in praying for this family. One last story; you might remember the baby dedication we had on a boat with a number of un-churched people last spring. One young lady who was there contacted us last week and wanted to talk as she had a lot of questions. She came over one evening and we spent 3 hours explaining the gospel to her. Rarely have we had such an opportunity to clearly share the gospel with someone. Certainly God had prepared her heart. Her name is Laura. She is still in high school. This is just another one of many examples we have of young adults being very interested in spiritual things. Please pray for Laura and her generation as they seek a “reality” in spiritual things. This month's bonus is that we finally figured out how to send a picture. This is of our Friday club. On Fridays, we will have between 20 - 25 kids come through our home. We are just overwhelmed that God would grant us such a blessing. Thank you for praying! May God richly bless you, In Christ, Kent and Sonya |
