JASON AND CINDY BRANDT

PAUL AND ERIN SMITH

Hello friends and family,

I hope that you are all doing well and that you are enjoying your spring weather. I know I am here in the South- it's very different from CO, there is not a chance of snow here:)

I wanted to send a quick highlight and prayer request from Clemson University.

HIGHLIGHT:
One wonderful event that took place with our students, just a week ago, was a prayer-a-thon. You may have heard of a walk-a-thon or even a golf-a-thon, and a prayer-a-thon is similar to that. As a ministry we realized we needed to raise some funds for our students and the campus is always in need of prayer, so we combined the two. For one week around twenty students and us as staff, walked around the campus praying for 1) non-Christians to come to the Lord 2) Christians to be strengthened in their faith and 3) Advancement of the gospel at Clemson University. Over 100 hours of prayer went up! It was fun to see our students extremely excited to pray for the campus and their friends! We are all eager to see how the Lord responds to our petitioning!

PRAYER REQUEST:
Today I am going to be sitting down with freshman girl, Alexa, who does not know the Lord. I met her while giving blood (a very amazing story indeed, but one I will not tell now) and we hit it off right away. We got together for coffee last week and soon our conversation turned to spiritual things. The longer we talked it became evident that she is very interested in learning more about God. So today we are going to start reading the Bible together. Please pray that Alexa's heart would be stirred by
God's truth and also that she would be open to us connecting via phone over the summer to keep discussing what she is learning from the Bible.

Thank you for your prayers! And thank you for taking such an interest in what God is doing at Clemson University.

I would love to hear how each of you are doing!

In Christ,
Caryn

Jason and Cindy Brandt--Jiun Hu Foundation in Hong Kong

Jason and Cindy Brandt

Dear Friends and Family,
 
Our start to the Advent season as a family has been very eventful.  
Cindy took a trip down to Shenzhen, a city in southern China, to 
represent Jian Hua in a government sponsored conference regarding 
foreign professionals in China.  But not before spending the whole 
night helping Lizzy as she suffers through a violent stomach bug.  
Since then, Hayden has contracted the same bug and is feeling 
miserable as this newsletter is being drafted.  We trust hopefully 
the Lord will restore them to full health in time for the holiday 
festivities.
 
During the conference, we had a Q & A time with the government 
officials regarding the subject of placing English teachers in 
China.  It was an interesting time as we heard from people 
representing organizations working all over China.  The officials 
expressed their gratitude for people like us who send English 
teachers to China and clearly expressed the deep need for more and 
higher quality English teachers.  We are excited about serving 
China’s very concrete need by providing English teachers.  However, 
our desire is more than simply helping Chinese students gain 
competency in English.  If we are to serve the people’s deepest needs 
and longings, how can we do that but in their own heart language?  
The shopping malls are starting to play Christmas music, the only 
time of the year in China where worship songs to Jesus are played on 
the loudspeakers in public, proclaiming glory to God – in ENGLISH!  
I’m afraid the true meaning of Christmas is lost among the grandmas 
and grandpas in our local grocery store when it is communicated in a 
foreign language.
 
Our annual event from the Disabled children’s school project is a 
Christmas concert put on by these special kids.  It is always a 
heartwarming time as you see these special needs children proudly 
presenting songs/drama they’ve worked so hard for the occasion.  This 
year, Lizzy will also take part in the program in a short skit of the 
story “Tale of the Three Trees” – in CHINESE!  Actually, we will have 
local staff narrating for the children, but she will be working hard 
to look cute for our Chinese audience.
 
This Christmas season, we’d like to ask you to pray for us, our 
family, our organization, and others like us who work in China.  As 
we reflect on God coming to dwell among us in Jesus Christ, that we 
would be faithful in following His example, to humble ourselves in 
China, to seek to learn the Chinese language and rich culture, in 
order to become relevant; that the true meaning of Christmas will be 
communicated not through the tunes of Jingle Bells in English, but 
through our lives reflecting Jesus in a relevant way – in Chinese.

Paul and Erin Smith--Send International, Bulgaria

Paul and Erin Smith

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Paul and I celebrated Christmas here in Bulgaria with my dad (Erin’s). It was a special time for us, the first time we’ve ever had family here for the holidays, and we enjoyed it immensely! We especially enjoyed going out to the orphanage the Friday before Christmas and handing out Christmas gift bags to all the children there. Santa Claus (or “Grandfather Christmas” as they call him here) made an appearance and the children put on a super Christmas program for us that included some great dancing and singing. They were excited beyond words and we were glad to be a part of their very special day.

As we head into this new year we have just a few prayer items we would like to share with you:

• Paul will be teaching the second half of Theology in Varna February 11 – 16. Please pray for his prep time, safe travel and his time with the students there.

• At the orphanage in Gorna Koznitsa, Erin is going to begin teaching some basic lessons about God and the Bible to some of the older children there. She starts this Friday with a small group of five young adults at the home. Please pray that God will work in their hearts as they learn more about Him and His love for them.

• Please continue to pray for the Bible school, UTF, as they begin a new semester: for the students and teachers, for the director, Tony Lalev, that God will give him wisdom as he leads and that God will continue to provide the funds needed for the daily operation of the school.

• Keep praying for the volunteer “babas” who are working with the kids at the orphanage – Penka, Ivan, Nadia and Boika. Pray for strength and energy as they do this hard job every day. They are making a big difference in these children’s lives!

Before I close, we do want to thank those of you who sent a financial gift in for heaters for the Bible school. Heaters for four rooms have been installed and are starting to make a difference. We still lack about $1,000 to cover the total cost so if any of you were planning to donate, the need is still there. We can’t thank you enough for your concern and help with this!

Our next newsletter mail-out is in February which will include more details and some great pictures. Thank you all so much for your prayers for us and the ministry here.

Christ’s peace to you,

Erin and Paul