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Environmental Missions Prayer Digest
March 2013 |
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Greetings!
 | | Steve Dresselhaus, squatting in front, was part of the "bunk bed" team of a recent short term trip to Guatemala. |
This month, in praying for the Potter's House and ministry to the trash pickers of a dump in
Guatemala City, we also get to introduce a new, promising development in the missions world. TEAM (who many have known as The Evangelical Alliance Mission) have joined OMF and SIL/Lead Asia (Wycliffe) in officially appointing an environmental strategist for their organization. Steve Dresselhaus, veteran of Venezuela, is TEAM's Senior Director for Global Ministry. His recent trip to Guatemala was part of his new duties.
Follow-up to last month's EMPD:
National Public Radio recently ran two stories about elephant poaching in Central African Republic wherein they report that the forest elephant population has declined by 62 percent between 2002 and 2011. Karl Noren was in CAR last month but was chased out again. He is now back with his family across the border in the Cameroons.
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Gehenna: Outside the New Jerusalem (but nearby thanks to the Gospel)
Potter's House and TEAM reach out to trash pickers
With all due respect to Steve, why do so many garbage dumps lay claim to being the "largest in the world?" I've heard that title given to Manila's, Rio's, Calcutta's, Cairo's, and now to Guatemala City's. It may be because of its overwhelming impact on the first time visitor. Steve said, "It does something to you to see human beings competing with vultures and dogs for the scraps of garbage."
Scott Sabin, director of the reforestation ministry Plant with Purpose, traces a good deal of his creation care/poverty epiphany to a visit to the Guatemala City dump. In his book Tending to Eden, he writes:
One weekend, I visited a dump in Guatemala City. Acrid smoke curled into the sky behind the block wall surrounding it. Mountains of garbage smoldered beneath wheeling vultures. Amid heaps of rotting food, cardboard, and burning plastic, rag-clad little boys and girls sorted through the piles. I was stunned to learn that they and their families lived in this dump, fighting over the privilege of picking through the scraps.
When Jesus described the place of damnation, he called it Gehenna--the name of the garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. The image of hell as a refuse pile took on new meaning for me. This place was as close to hell on earth as I could imagine.
"Gehenna" is the same title that Steve chose for his blog post following his visit. (See the link below.) Please pray with Steve as he intercedes for the work in Guatemala City and for other environmental ministries of TEAM:
- "Wisdom and clarity as we, TEAM and the Potter's House in Guatemala, develop a partnership as together we serve the poor of Guatemala City. TEAM's first missionaries to the Guatemala City dump are schedule to arrive in September. The Potter's House in Guatemala has been serving the poor for over 26 years.
- Pray for Dave and Cheryl Jereb as they begin a fish farm called Fish for Life in Zimbabwe.
- We would ask for prayer regarding the development of a solar oven for drying firewood in Mozambique. The oven is being developed in Baja, Mexico and we are hoping and praying it will be useful as a tool to reduce the rampant deforestation in Mozambique."
Ministry of TEAM in Guatemala, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Mexico and beyond
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Please forward!
The Lord honors the prayers of a single person (e.g. Elijah), a small crowd (e.g. Pentecost's upper room), or a huge multitude (the Israelites crying out in slavery)-- but we'd like to get as many people praying for God's glory in his creation as possible. So please forward this e-letter to anyone you believe may wish to join us.
And if, like Steve returning from Guatemala City, you know of any environmental missions projects for which we could all intercede, please forward them on to me.
God bless you,
Lowell Bliss
Eden Vigil
Links: Contact the editors, Eden Vigil website, Donations to Eden Vigil
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