Can Prayer Be Unwanted?

This morning I was reading through Proverbs 28 and verse 9 really stuck out:

            He who turns away his ear from listening to the law,

                        Even his prayer is an abomination. – Proverbs 28:9

I remember where the Bible says husbands that don’t live with their wives in an understanding way can have their prayers hindered (1 Peter 3:7), but here we are told prayers can be an abomination to God. [Abomination: a vile, shameful, or detestable action; hateful beyond belief.]

Who is the person that turns away his ear from listening to the law? This would be someone who knows God’s law, who knows what God desires, yet turns away from these things because it might not be convenient for them. These people are everywhere! I think Solomon is referring not so much to unbelievers, because they don’t generally know God’s law, but to believers – people who call themselves Christians and may even be going to church.

And that is the danger. There are many people who know God’s law but have turned their ears away from His law, looking for something they want to hear.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. – 2 Timothy 4:3-4

 How do you know if you have turned your ear from listening to the law? Don’t look at your heart, for The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure (Jeremiah 17:9). Instead, look at your actions, look at how you are living your life. Certainly your actions do nothing for your salvation, but your actions and how you live your life are a reflection of your faith and your belief (faith without works is useless – James 2:20).

The Message translates Proverbs 28:9 like this:

            God has no use for the prayers

                        of the people who won’t listen to him.

Are you listening to God’s word, or have you turned your ear, deciding there are parts of God’s law that just don’t fit into your life at this time? Or are you enjoying the benefits of being a child of God?

Can you afford $6 to buy a plastic bin?

We have received donations of yarn, material and sewing notions, but all of it is still in the suitcases and cardboard boxes they came in. As we develop the Center of Hope, we want to use these items to teach women to sew, knit, cut hair (not with these items, of course!), and other skills to help them support their families.

As you can see, we have a storeroom full of empty shelves. We don’t really want to put suitcases full of material on these shelves; can you imagine trying to find what you want?

We are giving you an opportunity to help (by asking for your direct support). For $6 you can buy a 12-liter plastic bin; for $6.50 you can buy a 20-liter bin; for $8.50 you can buy a larger bin (I don’t remember the size).

This is a 12-liter bin, cost = US $6

This is a 20-liter bin, cost = US $6.50

This is a larger bin, cost = US $8

 

PLEASE, consider buying 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 bins for us. You send us the money and we will buy the bins! How else can you contribute directly to needs in-the-field?

Since we’re in Paraguay, how can you send us the money? It’s a few keystrokes away (if you want to do it, you can do it – but will you do it?)…

1)   go to www.uwm.org

2)   click on GIVE
you can mail a check to the address shown, or use a credit card…

3)   click on GIVE ONLINE (for credit cards)

4)   under Designation, select Missionary

5)   below Missionary, scroll down and select Stevener, Bill & Sandy – 27668

6)   to the right, in the amount area, enter how much you want to spend on the bins

7)   click “Add” to finish this part of the form

8)   continue to fill out the rest form (name, address, credit card info, etc)

Please send us an email or FB message letting you know how many and what size bins you want to buy.

Thanks!

Schooled by a 7-year old!

Sunday morning service was held in the amphitheater because we had no electricity on the complex, hence no fans in the church building. When it came time to pass the offering bag, the usher first passed it to the group of adults and older kids. When it got to me, I was going to pass it over to the younger kids, but the usher asked for the bag directly. I gave it to him and he passed it to the other adults and older kids. Eventually the bag made it back to me from the side of the younger kids, and I noticed they were all putting in their coins.

Apparently the offering bag had bypassed one of the younger girls. After the usher had collected the bag and was putting it away, this young girl came quickly and put her coins in, also. That act made a big impression on me.

Admittedly, there have been times when an offering bag didn’t make it to where I was sitting and I was content to save my offering for another time. This girl was different. She had a choice: save her offering money for something she might like, or give it to God’s work in the church. After all, no one would know if she didn’t make her offering. It wasn’t her fault the bag didn’t get to her. She was willing to give, but didn’t have to make the extra effort. But she did. Wow!

How many reasons do we come up with for not giving? Who else can learn from this little girl? Giving is a privilege, not an obligation. Take advantage of it!

Being "In the Loop"

We’ve heard this phrase over and over… keep me in the loop. What does that mean? Does it mean I want to know what’s going on? Does it mean I want to be part of the action [but from a distance]? Does it mean Keep doing what you’re doing; just let me know what you’re doing? A few days ago I got to see what “being in the loop” was all about.

Some of the 40+ from the town that come to our feeding program.

Here at Su Refugio in Paraguay, we have many of God’s blessings, two of which are extremely pure artesian water from deep below the ground and children. You see, we have a feeding program here for many of the under-nourished children from the neighboring town of Tobati. Three times a week we go into town at lunchtime to pickup these children (sometimes 40, sometimes 70), bring them out to Su Refugio, and provide two meals for them: one from the kitchen and another from the heart – the gospel.

I had the opportunity to help serve these children. After making sure they all had plates of food I was taking around pitchers of God’s pure artesian water. As I saw the children stretching out their arms with the metal cups to receive this water, I realized how blessed I was to be “in the loop” for passing God’s blessings on to these children.

Next time you hear that phrase, “in the loop”, ask yourself if you are in the loop for passing God's blessings on to others.

Travel and Preparations

On Wednesday, February 12, I (Bill) will be leaving Costa Rica again, this time for Paraguay.

On Saturday, February 15, Su Refugio will be celebrating the grand opening of the Centro de Esperanza (Center of Hope). This long-awaited facility is where we will focus our attention on training the people, especially, the women, of Tobati in skills so they can start small businesses that we hope will help them support their families.

Interior of the Center of Hope - 1 week before the grand opening!

In the photo, taken from the main entrance of the building, there is one large meeting room on the left and two smaller classrooms on the right. The large central part of the facility is open to allow for large gatherings. At the back of the building are two small 1-bedroom apartments.

Sandy and I will be co-directors for the use of the facility, coordinating the activities and trying to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Another reason I am going to Paraguay is to hopefully finalize our purchase of a piece of land so we can start construction on a new house. While we were in Paraguay a couple months ago, we discovered there are very few houses for rent (we didn’t find any available) and only a few houses for sale. The price to buy a house, and then make repairs, was as much as it would cost for us to buy the land and build the house that we want.

Tobati, Paraguay - Su Refugio to the south, and where we want to build

Paraguay does not use an escrow system, so it is basically bring a pen and a bucket of money: sign the papers and hand over the bucket. We tried doing this from Costa Rica but it just didn’t work out. Without an escrow system, we could not find a way to get the money to Paraguay. We don’t have a bank account, the person I gave power of attorney to sign for me does not have a bank account, and the people we know with bank accounts did not want to accept large transfers for fear of government investigations as to why they were receiving so much money. Banks trying to avoid money-laundering have created problems like this.

Closeup of the land we are trying to buy

Prayer requests:

• safe travels (I will be carrying a lot of money – but less than the $10,000 limit!)
• good weather and turnout for the grand opening – that people will come to learn more about Su Refugio
• clean transaction while buying the land – we already know the homeowner adjacent to the land we want built his house slightly over the property line and we have to fix the documents, in addition to buying the land… Welcome to Paraguay! I was told

Where Are We, Paraguay or Costa Rica?

Once we completed our coursework in the US (a week-long interpersonal skills workshop and a four week intercultural missionary course), we left the US to spend three weeks in Paraguay. We hired a “handler” to help us navigate the immigration offices and translate, validate, and file our permanent residency paperwork. We also took some time to visit with the families we know there and looked for housing options: no rentals available so we will have to buy a house or build one!

As of January 5^th, we are in Costa Rica to begin five months of language training, primarily for Sandy but also for Bill. While Sandy is in her classes, 7:30 am – 12:10 pm, Monday – Friday, Bill is helping in the school that teaches the missionary children, as well as some of the local Costa Rican children. He will be teaching computer applications, two Spanish math classes, and tutoring several students that need help with math. In the afternoons while Sandy is doing her homework, Bill will be getting Spanish tutoring of his own three days per week and tutoring another Costa Rican student to help prepare him for upcoming English exams, and in February Bill will be teaching an ESL class with AMCA, a Christian youth organization. Needless to say, we have a full schedule!

It’s easy to get focused on our various tasks, to get discouraged by the piles of verbs, confusing sentence structures, dirty streets and broken concrete but God sends us reminders of the beauty that surrounds us each and every day. We wake up to the beautiful smiling faces of the wonderful family that takes care of us so we can focus on our learning and we even have fuzzy flowers to make us smile!

The first of June, we plan to return to Paraguay and start to get settled, buying a car, a house, furniture for the house, etc.

Prayer requests:

• that we learn and retain as much Spanish as possible 
• that Daisy and Rudolpho (our host family here in Costa Rica) continue to see God’s blessings in their lives
• that the Holy Spirit would continue working in Paraguay, preparing the hearts of the people we will be serving

What's In a Name?

LAM? UWM? Su Refugio? What’s going on? Are you trying to hide something?

Those of you supporting us financially may have noticed a change after the first of the year… allow me to explain.

We are (will be) working for Su Refugio Ministries in Paraguay. Latin America Mission (LAM) is an organization that partners with existing ministries in Latin America, like Su Refugio. LAM is the mission organization that handles some of our state-side logistics, such as collecting donations, sending the funds to us when we have ministry expenses, and handling our IRS/tax obligations.

United World Mission (UWM) is an organization similar to LAM that does the same thing as LAM (partnering with existing ministries) but it works world-wide, not just in Latin America.

On January 1, LAM and UWM merged, closing the LAM offices in Miami, FL and moving their functions to the UWM offices in Charlotte, NC. Because of this merger, UWM is now collecting our donations, sending them to us when we have ministry expenses, and handling our IRS/tax obligations.

Any donations you setup through LAM, through their website, telephone, or mail, have automatically been transferred to UWM (so I’ve been told!).

If you want to start donations for us, here is the procedure:

      1)   go to the UWM website: http://www.uwm.org

      2)   click on GIVE

      3)   mail a check to the address indicated (include a note the gift is for Bill & Sandy Stevener)
           -or- click on GIVE ONLINE… if you are giving online, a new window will appear…

      4)   under the Designation label, select Missionary

      5)   below Missionary, scroll down and select Stevener, Bill & Sandy – 27668

      6)   to the right, in the amount area, enter the amount

      7)   click “Add” to finish this part of the form

      8)   continue to fill out the rest of the form with your name, address, frequency, etc

If you have any questions, you can call UWM at 800-825-5896, Monday-Friday between 8am - 5pm EST. You can also call one of us at 702-866-9548.

NOTE: LAM and UWM are both 501(c)3 organizations and your donations are fully tax-deductible.

Thanks!