Shirin and Jasmine were walking to the car after attending a Tuesday afternoon Bible study. They stopped at the crosswalk in front of the Jaffa Gate, a heavily traveled intersection of the Old City. While they were waiting for their turn to cross a car came racing through a just turned red light. The speeding car hit another car making a right turn, causing it to flip and slide a few yards/meters. You often pray for our safety, and on this particular day we are most grateful! Thank you for praying.

In less exciting news I washed my passport this week, and I can't think of too many other bad feelings to match how I felt. It looks like a trip to the American Consulate is in my foreseeable future, but at least I didn't have the, ahem, long-awaited visa in it; otherwise, I'd have to go back to get it stamped again.

I read this recently and thought I'd pass it along:

Last year, Southern Baptist families received income totaling an estimated $300 billion and gave an average 2.5 percent of it to their churches, which allocated 93 percent of their receipts to local spending. Of the 7 percent passed along to Baptist state conventions, an average of 35 percent is sent to the Southern Baptist Convention, which allocates 50 percent of Cooperative Program receipts to international causes.

The result is that, out of every $100 in Southern Baptist family income, about 8 cents is invested in overseas missions through the IMB.

+ You prayed that the coming "winter illnesses" would not catch all three of us at once... there wasn't any of the dreaded overlap, and I believe it stayed away as a direct result of your intercession. Thank you! That being said, we did manage to take turns between weakness, sniffles, tiredness, and more sniffles.

+ You also prayed for Shirin and another co-worker as they went to the orphanage on Monday. One of our previous prayer requests was about how to plan for their Christmas party, so on this visit they talked with the director about how they could help with the party; however, they didn't get into too many details (still too early). They were able to pray with the director about the needs of the orphanage and the staff which, of course, is the main focus!

<T H I S  W E E K><

<>< Tomorrow Shirin will be praying with her friend who has a heart for reaching women. Join with them as they pray for every woman in East Jerusalem to have an opportunity to hear the Good News in a language she can understand.

<>< Please pray with the group as they prepare for the next Children's Party. Pray that the children's and mothers' hearts will be open to hear God's truths.

<>< The three of us may have an early weekend trip to assist co-workers in the setting up of computer equipment, so pray with us that the travel would be safe and that the setup would go well.

<>< Continue praying that 'whatever is in the air' would be kept at bay so we can stay healthy.

>< Pray for the Gulf Arabs.>

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12, Christians to have a heart for the lost

* Once this need is met, the world will be different : -)

13, Ask for improved online connections.

* Even with the latest Windows Updates, things went well. Thank you!

14, Pray for our neighbors as they pray.

* Thank you for joining us in this effort.

15, Ask God to draw Jews to Himself.

* Continue praying for this to happen all over the world.

16, Akram’s salvation

* It didn't happen today, but I'll let you know when it does!

17, Travel safety

* You saw how this prayer went ahead of Shirin and Jasmine : -)

18, Reliable utilities

* Today was a great day for the phone and electricity!