Dear All,
Monday's Bottom Line:
In Nepal, Scott, Mohan, and Samuel are being driven three hours from #2 to #4 where they will hold a DM seminar and a DM summit, and where Scott is praying to be able to make an important connection with Pastor V. on Thursday evening (details below).
In the Philippines, our friends are fine, but the nation has been hit hard by Typhoon Uwan (a.k.a. Fung-wong; details below).
Following one more DM seminar in Villasis on Wednesday, Mark's family will begin their long trip home on Thursday.
Monday's Prayer Requests:
1. In the Philippines, Pastor Gil's surgery has been postponed yet again. Pray for God to oversee every detail of his medical care, provide clear and helpful results on all tests, and HEAL Pastor Gil's body.
2. Pray for an excellent DM seminar in Villasis on Wednesday, and for our team to debrief well later this week.
3. In Nepal, pray for Mohan and Samuel, as for the first time they each lead one of the sessions of Tuesday's DM seminar in #4. Pray for them to cover all the material well and for the attendees to grasp the reason for raising disciple-makers and understand Jesus's process for making disciples.
4. Pray for God, who does impossible things all the time(!), to facilitate a warm and productive in-person meeting between Scott and Pastor V.
Monday's Details:
Concerning the typhoon in the Philippines, [this Associated Press article] gives quite a bit of information. I was stunned and saddened to read of three children's deaths in Nueva Vizcaya, a place where Scott held a DM seminar just a week ago on November 3rd. In our base city of Villasis, the worst weather has passed, but it is still raining.
Concerning Pastor Gil's surgery, we understand it has been postponed because he needs to see a cardiovascular specialist. Evidently his situation is quite serious. The emotional whiplash of all this has been quite draining, but his faith remains strong, and he seriously requests our prayers.
Concerning Scott, Mohan, and Samuel's current time in Nepal, a little TTC background may be helpful.
As TTC expands in various countries, Scott sometimes finds himself "feeling his way." We've never done all this before, and since we want everything we do to be reproducible and sustainable for the long term, Scott is now working to solve problems, establish policies, and set up systems, whereas in the past "all" he had to do was teach and disciple. = )
Scott has worked with and personally mentored our national leaders in Kenya, as well as Wilson and Angelica in the Philippines, for quite a few years. In those nations, those leaders are well-trained and have proven themselves way more than capable of doing the hands-on discipleship that Scott has done personally for so long. In fact, sometimes they tell him, "Pastor, we don't need you to come lead DM seminars; we can do that ourselves!" And they do it with excellence and amazing results!
Scott's relationships with Mohan and Samuel, two key leaders in Nepal, are "younger" but also strong, meaning that Scott is gradually giving them more responsibility and opportunities to practice, so that they will be able to run well and accomplish even more in his absence. That's why it's a big deal that for this DM seminar on Tuesday in City #4, of the six sessions, Scott will lead only three or four of them. "You're no success without a successor."
Also, Pastor Gil in the Philippines knows many pastors all over the world, including Pastor V in Nepal. He has told Pastor V about Scott and is very eager for the two of them to meet, because Pastor Gil's whole approach to ministry in a very large network of churches is being transformed by what he has experienced by being a DM group and experiencing Jesus' discipleship principles firsthand. He and Scott both want to Pastor V to read Scott's Raising Disciple-Makers book, because they believe that that book may be a key to launching DM groups in City #1. For various reasons, Pastor V has suggested a Zoom meeting, but Scott really wants to meet in person so he can leave a book with him.
If you've followed all that, give yourself a gold star...
Oh, wait! Scott JUST NOW sent this: "There was a person killed by a tiger on the road to #3. I'm thankful we are not traveling by motorcycle. Samuel's brother will be riding home by motorcycle. Please pray." Scott and our small but mighty Nepali team have all been in #2 for a few days, but while Mohan, Samuel, and Scott are now driving in a car to #4, Samuel's brother is riding home to #3 on a motorcycle. Tigers are a problem in that area of Nepal; they have been known to drag people away and kill them. So yes, our prayers can mean life or death for fellow members of God's family members that we have never met.
Thank you for reading all of this and for PRAYING now for Samuel's brother and our other requests above.
Blessings,
Patty