Prayer for Zeke in Mexico

Hello,

We are moving today (this morning actually) so for the sake of time I think I'm going to cut and paste an email exchange that has happened over the last couple of days between us and a pastor's wife in Mexico regarding a little boy who is in the hospital, and who's family is in great need....at the end of the email I will provide information for anyone who'd like to send money to this family, via the church's fund....here goes, I hope you can follow it.......please pray for this boy and his family.....

Dear family in Christ....prayer partners,

We are asking you to please intercede for one of the young people in our fellowship. Ezekiel (or Zeke) is 14 years old and is on life support in an Ensendada  government hospital. He has been fighting for his life for  a few days now after being diagnosed with cerebral tuberculosis. It has taken several weeks to diagnose his illness and now it has become very grave. He was having seizure like activity off and on for a while and was treated for ear infections ( Ken took him to our Dr here and he had pus running out of his ears so we, too, thought it was a serious ear infection)  Yesterday afternoon we got a call that Zeke had passed away so we went right away to his home where his 3 siblings and Mother and other family had already begun to gather to await Zekes body and Crecencio ,his Dad to arrive from Ensenada. We had been there about an hour when Ken received a call from Juan Vasquez, his assistant pastor, who told him that Zeke was still alive !!! I cannot tell you the shock we were all in.....it seems Crecencio had not understood the Drs and thought that Zeke had passed away. Crecencios family are Triqui Indian and speak limited Spanish so he misunderstood the Dr. Talk about a turn of events.....from a grieving family to shouts of joy and hope renewed !!! I just pray that these parents don't have to go through the same heartbreak twice. We heard today that Zeke's Dr. is a Christian and he told pastor Juan that his condition is very grave but not to give up on expecting God to perform a miracle!!! Now that was great news. I'm hoping that means they will keep him on support and not give up too easily on him. 

PLEASE intercede with us for the Lords will and for Zeke's family. His family are among the poorest of the poor here so pray for all their needs to be met. Pray for a miracle for Zeke !!!

On Sunday one of our youth came to Ken and said the youth want to donate the money they had been earning and saving for a missions trip this next week to the C.C Bible college in Ensenada. They cancelled their trip and gave the money to help Zeke's family. Our hearts are touched beyond words at their sacrificial offering. This trip was like an extravagant vacation for these kids who don't go anywhere ever!! Their others-centered love and esteeming Zeke's family above their own wants blesses my heart so much. What an example they are to us all.

Thank you for your prayers and love for our flock here.....we are humbled by your faithfulness.

Sending our love,

Rita for the Marrs

Hello,

My name is Erica Melicharek and I received a prayer request from Cheryl Brummet regarding Zeke. This morning, during my Bible-time with my kids, I was already going to teach them about the commandment to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love others as ourselves....and then I got your email.  So I told my kids the story along with the teaching and they really want to do something to help.  So that is why I am asking.  My kids prayed for healing for Zeke, and also that the family would have the money they needed and that the other kids could still go on their trip....we will continue to pray.  If you can, please tell the kids who gave so sacrificially that they have ministered to us in their giving.  Can you give me some information regarding how we can make a contribution to the family?

Yours in Christ,

Erica Melicharek

Hi Erica,

My name is Rita Marr and my husband is the pastor of our church  Calvary Chapel ( Capilla Calvario) Vicente Guerrero Mexico. Any help that we can get for Zekes family will be greatly appreciated. They  have been out of work for a couple of weeks taking Zeke back and forth to the hospital so they are in great need of just daily food and keeping their other kids in school etc. Plus Zeke is 3 hours north of us and his Dad has been there with him all this time so please pray for him too as he must be exhausted. We are all helping as much as possible but any extra help is appreciated.

Here is the account info: 

Shepherds Staff Missions Facilitators  Marrs 

account # 4006 (earmarked for Zekes family)

PO BOX 53640  Albuquerque New Mexico  87153

Blessings to you Erica.

In Christ,

Rita

Alright, hope you followed that and that your hearts are as touched as ours were to hear of how the youth in their church sacrificed their own special trip that they'd been working for in order to give to this family in need....and that the Lord will impress it upon your hearts to something as well.  

It's Official!

It's official! We are scheduled to move into our new home on March 1st, this coming Thursday.  Getting to move into a home, also means that we will be receiving our clothes, be able to do our laundry at home again, can begin cooking, etc.  Although, we have not been suffering in our current situation by any means, we have been well cared for and rather spoiled.  Thank you for praying for us in every regard, we are always so encouraged and blessed to know that we are being prayed for!

The home that we are moving into is the one that is just down the street from the church plant, and we are now part of the 'core-group' of this church.  This is something we are very excited about, and looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do there.

Also, in regards to your answered prayers, I wanted to mention that the Lord has been bringing many, many people into our lives to share the truth of the Gospel with and also to minister to.  I don't like putting too many details about these things on-line, just to respect the privacy of the people we talk to, but there have been quite a few instances of people walking up to me and just starting a conversation about spiritual matters -Here are two of them.  First, the Church secretary that I mentioned in an earlier post, has begun a year long reading plan of the Bible and really hopes to continue it.  I hope and pray that I can continue a relationship with her, hopefully helping her find the answers to the many questions she had.

Another man that we met right off the bat, is a German local who works with Anthony.  He is very interested in spiritual matters and wants to continue meeting with Anthony to talk about the Bible, God, etc.  He has many doubts, but we are grateful for the opportunity to share truth with him and hopefully see Him experience the grace of God in the redemption of his soul, and the forgiveness of his sins.

I mention these people because I'm positive that many of you have been praying for the the Lord to bring people into our lives who we can share the Gospel with so I want you to know that the Lord is answering your prayers.  It is always encouraging to know that your prayers are being answered.

So thank you for your prayers, we are so grateful for and needful of them!  This last week, I especially have been made aware of my many weaknesses, faults and downfalls.  I praise God that He is faithful and that since He did everything in saving me, He also does everything in keeping me in His Kingdom....because trust me, if I could loose my salvation....it would have been lost a looong time ago!  So praise God! One of my favorite verses to lean on is, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, His grace is sufficient for me, and His power is made perfect in my weakness!  How liberating!

As far as what we've been up to, we were able to visit my cousin, Heine and his family.  They live close to Munich which is 4 hours south of us.  We had a wonderful time getting to know them better and also to meet and get to know their kids.  Their kids, Eric and Clara are similar ages to our kids, and they had a very nice time together.   It was really nice to be with family, and they are wonderful hosts.  We hope to see them soon!

Here's a few pictures to share....today we spend the day doing laundry  :-) We have to do laundry at the laundrymat on base, and since we don't have a car this weekend, we walked.  It's a couple of miles one way, and so it took a while, little people walk slow and look at many things along the way....and Anthony was pulling an over-stuffed large duffel bag of clothes behind him....if our family drew attention to itself before, adding a large duffle-bag being pulled along cobblestone streets only added to the attraction  :-)  but we had a nice day and are VERY happy to have clean clothes!!!

Ok, here's a few pictures as of late...

 How the kids have been getting their energy out while we stay in the hotel....

Essie having some tea

 The girls all bundled up!  We're not in San Diego anymore!

 Cute bath-time pic.

 Cousins.

 Malachi turned 6 this week!  He got some special treats from the hotel...including this plate of chocolate marble bread for breakfast, and a tray full of fancy mixed-juice drinks for dinner.  He also fulfilled our strange family tradition of getting a fat-lip for his birthday, I'm not sure why this happens to my kids, but they often get fat lips on their birthdays....makes for great birthday photos don't you think?  This time, a large easy chair with three kids on it landed on his mouth....I still can't figure out how it happened, but it's starting to go down now....poor guy.

 It didn't stop him from enjoying his birthday drinks though....

The laundry-mat....which ended with a loud round of bumper-laundry-carts....since we had the place to ourselves for most of the time we were there.....oh, just want to clarify that Simeon was NOT in the cart during the bumper-cart game....that would have been too dangerous....but he was pushed around a bunch in a cart before the game began.....which I think he enjoyed....

well, tomorrow is Sunday - I hope you have a worshipful day, celebrating all the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon you, and reveling in His abundant grace!  His Grace is sufficient!

Erica

We found a home!

Hello!

Well, we have great news of the Lord's faithfulness!  We have found a home to live in.  Though the contract is not signed yet,  it has been promised to us.  It has plenty of space, privacy, light and room for having guests!  That means that we'll soon be open to having you come over for a while!!!! The best part is that it is the one that is a short walk from our new friends the Gelston's who are planting a church here.  So our plan is to come along side them and help them in that endeavor.  The Lord's ways are always better than ours and we are thankful to once again, have seen His providence at work.  The Lord is so good at weaving the threads of our lives together in ways that make for a much more interesting story than what I would have come up with....

In regards to the housing situation, I have to say that the odds have been increasingly more against us as the housing market has gotten tighter and tighter and our housing budget was reduced last week to give us less to spend on a house.  Also, the manager of housing at Anthony's work told him that there are never homes in the area that we are going to live in, because it's such a desireable area (which we didn't know, we just wanted a place to live  :-) Anyway,  we are a short walk to the woods, close to a park, have a little yard for playing and gardening, and have friends near-by....more than we could have asked for!  So God's provision is only that much more magnified.

I'll post pictures once we get some furniture in there....we'll be moving in March 1st, I think.  So we have a couple more weeks in the hotel which isn't bad at all.  It's warmed up a little bit (today it's over 30 degrees) so it's very pleasant to go out and play.  We've figured out many of the ins and outs of living here, laundry, meals, etc....so now I feel like I can relax and enjoy our surroundings, which by the way are so beautiful!  There are many old buildings, parks, and tons of forests (because they're not allowed to cut down the forest to build homes).....

We're also excited to be able to be a part of the church plant while we are here.  Please be praying for the church, that it would be founded on a deep love for God's Word, His holiness and a strong conviction for preaching the Gospel in and out of season.

Sincerely,
Erica

A new church?

We may have found a church here in Wiesbaden!  We are very encouraged about this.  And it's a great story of God's amazing ways, of how we found them.  Before deciding to come to Germany, we wanted to know that there was a reformed church that taught the Bible expositionally that we could be a part of.  We did find one, and even though it was an hour away we were still planning on being a part of their body and were ready to make the drive.

We've been joining them on Sundays and we learned two things:
1. They have just made the decision to dissolve and their last Sunday will be Easter Sunday.
 2. They shared the building with a German Reformed church.

We instantly became friends with a young family from the German church.  Our friends discussed our issue (long commute/church closing) with the pastor of their church who knew of a family who has recently moved to Wiesbaden to plant a reformed English speaking church!  We contacted them a couple of days ago and will get to meet them soon.  They haven't started their church yet but have a group of 5 families who meet each Sunday in their home to worship.  I think their first official Sunday will be sometime in Either March or April.  We are excited about the prospect of being a part of a church plant here in Wiesbaden, where we have confirmed through our searching, that there are no reformed churches and very few solid churches that teach the Bible for what it is.

Here's the beginning's of the new church's website.... http://www.christchurchwiesbaden.com/Christ_Church_of_WIesbaden/Welcome.html

Pretty great to see God working things out....we just follow along, knowing one little step at a time....oh, this is ironic and 'funny'....we are looking at a house on Saturday that is a 36 second drive from where the couple lives, who is starting the church!   For many reasons, I hope it's a house that will work for us and who will rent to us!  Only the Lord knows the future, but I thought I'd give you an update of the things that the Lord has brought our way at this point....

On another note,  it 'warmed up' today and got to 20 degrees, it even got warm enough to snow (did you catch that?)!  It's been in the low teens each day for the last almost week, so we haven't been going outside much.  Here's a few pictures from the park that is an easy walk to the hotel we're in....next week, I'm going to try using the bus system with the kids so we can go to an indoor playground that looks really fun!  

Here's the pictures....we'll keep you updated on the housing / church developments!  

I just like this picture, because it has all four kids in it....this was a cute time, when I was tickling the 3 older ones, and Simeon was in the pack n' play clearly wanting to participate....so I picked him up and lay him down next to the others, and he took part in the tickling with them....it's so cute how he wants to be like them and be with them even though he is so small still!  I also like that the kids are in order here, oldest to youngest -- I like things like that  :-) 

Love, 

Erica

hunting, hunting, hunting for a house.....

Hello!  

Just wanted to put a little something here to let you know how we're doing....today was our 3 week anniversary of our arrival in Germany.  We're over the jet-lag, Simeon is almost sleeping through the night again.  Since we've arrived he's been either up all night or up every three hours, but I think that has been remedied so we can all sleep a little more soundly.  My new 'job' is to find us a house.  Which I've been working at for at least 2 1/2 weeks relentlessly, all the time.  It's not as easy to find a house here as it is in the states.  Thankfully there is a website that we can use and we do have the Army housing office to help us but there are a few factors against us.  1. There is a whole other base of people moving here right now, so people are getting tons of calls on their houses. 2. We have 4 kids and we are considered a very large family here, and people don't want us in their homes.  We've been told by multiple land-lords that they don't want 4 kids in their home. 3. On many houses, in order to rent it you have to pay 2 months rent to a real-estate agent, as well as a huge deposit, up front.  The landlords hires the real-estate agent to find them a tenant, and the tenant pays the huge fee just for the privilege of renting the house basically. There are only a few houses that are rented by the owner that are free of this (extremely high) commission.  So unless you want to pay 2 months rent for nothing, the pickings are slim.  4. We are a big family, with small kids, so the typical German layout of a home with many floors (sometimes 5 floors) and steep spiral staircases really isn't practical or completely safe, which lessens the options and a few other limiting factors.....did I mention that we don't speak German so that narrows the number of landlords we can communicate with - though many people graciously speak English with us.  

Anyway, it was suggested to me today by the wise, godly man that I live with that I take a break for a few days from my house hunting search and spend some time just communing with the Lord, delighting myself in him.  I think he's right.  As much as I really want to find a home and start getting settled in, I think I have been a little obsessive about it, ok probably a lot obsessive about it.  So for the next few days I'll take a break from the house-hunting search and spend more time meditating on Scripture, delighting in Him and in all that He's done for us.  Today I taught the kids about Job, and how Job worshiped God even when God allowed all that he had to be taken away, including his health.  Job told his wife, that he would accept the good and the bad from God and that it would not change his opinion about God.  Our house search is not comparable to what Job went through - at all.  But it's a good thing to make sure that the Lord is where he should be in my heart and mind before continuing on with the search.....besides, he already knows where we'll live, who our neighbors will be and when we'll get there....so I just have to follow him and trust him.  It's always better that way. 

Part of the reason I'm posting this now is so that when we do find a house, we can all remember all the factors stacked against us so we can rejoice all the more at God's faithfulness.  

Well I think that's it for now,

Although, I did want to say that we had a very nice day yesterday at church and also with our new friends. We helped them celebrate their daughter's birthday.  We were able to have lunch at their house, and also to go to an indoor swimming center.  This is the coolest thing!  It's all inside, with tons of warm pools, a water slide, a resteraunt, kids areas, etc.  So even though it's below freezing outside you can still have some water fun!  We had a really nice time.  

We love hearing from you, and cherish our friends and family so much!

A nice day!

Yesterday was a very nice day!  There are some sunny skies, though it's a little chilly, but seeing the sun is wonderful!  But more than that, we had some new friends come and stay all day!  They are a specific answer to prayer.  I had been praying that the Lord would give us friends who we could all enjoy.  We have been blessed in LA and is San Diego to have so many families that we can all be friends with, the wives, husbands and kiddos all have friends in the families.  On Sunday we visited the church that we'd been planning on going to all along.  Right away, I met a lady who has kids just like mine!  A boy Malachi's age, a girl Hannah's age, a 15 month old and a baby on the way.  They moved here two days before us from New Mexico, and are here for the purpose of strengthening the German church here.  Her husband has taken a job at a large computer software company (I think).  So there are many similarities between us.  They came to visit yesterday for a couple of hours but when they arrived, their car broke.  So they were here for much longer than they'd planned and we got to spend the whole day and evening with them!  It was great!  Then at night, their car started working again  :-) and they got to go home for the night.  She has also been praying the same prayer as me for our families, so the Lord answered both of our prayers and then some.  Both of our husbands play tennis, and she is an herbalist/nutritionist who grinds her own flour (and brought her mill with her).....So even the parents have similar interests!  God has a way of answering our prayers and then adding special blessings on top of what we'd asked for.

As for the church, this is an area that needs prayer!  We went to the church and it was wonderful.  The preaching is sound, and very good.  We've listened to the pastor's sermons on-line and have been blessed by his preaching.  They share the building with a reformed German church, which is the one that our new friends have come to serve at.  However,  a few weeks ago, the English speaking church that we came to join, made the decision to close the doors  :-(  Many of their people are moving away and they have become very small so the finances are tight.  This is the only church in Germany that we could find on the 9-marks website, and we've tried to find a church closer to us that does expository preaching and have not found one.  So this is a very sad thing to have this church close!  They have been a church for FIFTY YEARS and now they are planning on closing in a few months, Easter is their last Sunday - at this point.

For now, we are planning on continuing our travels to Heidelburg and will serve wherever we can at the English church as long as we can, and we're praying about also sitting in on the German services, and in the event that the English church closes, we will join the German church.  I guess we'd learn German quicker that way.  Anyway, please pray that the English church will not close and that the Lord would keep their doors open .  Please pray that the Lord would preserve the preaching of His Word in Germany and that this solid teaching would not go away.

Here's the link to the English church if you're interested:  http://www.gibc-heidelberg.com/
You can hear sermons online.

Here's a few pictures....

                                                                    My sweet boy!

                          We went for a little walk on Sunday....Simeon all bundled up!

                                                                           Buddies

 The country side....here's a cool thing about Germany.....On Sundays all the shops close and people mostly just spend time together, they go for walks in the fields and forests, and rest....only a few resteraunts are open....but nothing else!

                                                Simeon wants in on the action all the time!

bye for now!