(For Part 1 of “Celebrating What God Has Done!”, please see our February 2021 newsletter here.)
We hope you are keeping cool this month! Working from home has its advantages, including not having to get into a hot box (our car) after a day of work. My teams will start going back to the office part time next month! We are full-steam ahead for Cru22 in Milwaukee. And, God has been working this summer!! We wanted to share stories from some of our friends.
Wendy and Louis, moved to Indiana in 2014 because their son, Jon had been incarcerated there (Wendy is Catherine’s boss). Louis went with the desire to start a business that could employ former prisoners looking for a new start. Sadly, Jon soon cut off all communication with them. They heard on Facebook about his eventual release.
On May 12, Jon texted Wendy and Louis that his daughter, Kenlee Kole, had been born. While Louis could not travel (he had an accident at his job, broke a wrist and knee) Wendy drove 1.5 hours to meet little Kenlee, Jon’s fiancee, Toni, and Toni’s son, Corbin (6). Wendy asked us to rejoice with them for the beginning of healing in their relationship. Jon, Toni, and the children then all traveled to visit Louis. Many had prayed for Jon throughout his imprisonment. Wendy and Louis thank the Lord, for how He redeems and restores.
“Luke” surprised us with a note: “I Went to Afghanistan.” Luke has been working with Ph.D. students from a Muslim background. One gentleman, “Manny” is still pursuing a Ph.D. from a school in Texas; however, he returned to his home county, Afghanistan, to finish his research. Manny created an institute to teach English to his local countrymen so they could apply for graduate studies in the U.S. The biggest obstacle for these students is the English proficiency test called the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).
Manny has asked Luke to be the listening/speaking native-speaker for a pre-TOEFL class. There are 15 students, 13 males and two females. They meet once a week. Then Luke meets with them one-on-one, for 15-20 minutes, to improve their language skills. During that time, Luke shares Bible stories and has the students discuss the stories. Please pray for Luke to build meaningful relationships with as many of the students as possible, and for his internet to be consistent when he is meeting with students.
“Caroline” is a Cru staff member (whom Catherine met through Wendy), serving among the Hispanic and Mexican populations in SoCal. This summer, she and more than 20 others used digital means to reach Muslims in North Africa. In one week the team engaged more than 500 Muslims online, resulting in 94 of them hearing a full gospel presentation to the point of decision. Since then, thousands have heard the gospel through online ads run in that area of the world. Several North African staff members have had the chance to meet with some of the people contacted by Caroline and her team.
While working in an office (which lately includes the dining room table), we can sometimes feel “out of the loop” on what God is doing. We hope that these stories are an encouragement to you as they have been to Catherine and me! Thank you for helping to make these stories possible!
The Kelloggs 