the grapevine

(Issue #93; August 1st, 2000.)

ponder

          Do not believe that it is very much of an advance to do the unnecessary three times as fast.-Peter Drucker (1909-)

post-its

MO site: Abner’s personal letter

WS

          If you haven’t seen it already, Abner (CRO, North America) has posted on the Members Only site a personal letter that he wrote to a friend, concerning the recent letter from James Penn (former Family member) which has been circulating through the Family and ex-member circles. You’re welcome to send Abner’s letter on to anyone who you feel would be helped or benefited by it, including relatives or former members. God bless and keep you!

Country information packs

By WS

Dear brave pioneers-or anyone thinking of pioneering, even if you don’t feel so brave!

          Some of you have requested that WS publish info on various fields so that it would be available for all. We have considered and prayed about this, and would love to print all this information so that you could have it at your fingertips, but realized that it is a vast undertaking that wouldn’t be practical for various reasons: Information on one specific field would only be of interest to the (relatively) small segment of the Family thinking of going there.

          Also, there are so many areas in the world needing to hear the Gospel that the volume of information needed would be enormous. And thirdly, as governments, currencies, the Family presence, and civil or cultural conditions change, the information for potential pioneers to that field would also need to be revised.

       The CRO offices for each area stay updated on what you need to know should you desire to go to the mission field, China, for example, or Africa. So please contact the office of the area you are praying about, and they can send you information that will help you to pray knowledgeably about your decisions and plans. They know the situation better than we do. There may be conditions of the field that you are not aware of which would be good to be informed of, or even points that will make the allure of certain places even more enticing! We love you and pray the Lord leads and guides each of you as you continue to follow Him into all the world.

JOHANES AND LYDIA’S 50^TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

Introduction by Marianne, HCS

       Recently Johanes and Lydia celebrated something rarely commemorated within our ranks-a 50^th wedding anniversary! Last year, Lydia, who was then very weak after a heart attack, asked the Lord if He could grant her to live until her 50^th wedding anniversary. The Lord did the miracle, and she and Johanes have celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary not only once, but several times over the last months, using both her condition and this special event as a wonderful witness. Lydia is such a testimony to all despite her physical condition. She constantly praises the Lord for the “gift of this cancer,” which gives her the opportunity to reach people’s hearts and spirits like never before.

          Over this past year, Lydia’s cancer has steadily progressed, but because of everyone’s prayers, and her determination to fight and use this special time in her life for God’s glory, the Lord has been very merciful to her as she continues to minister to people wherever and whenever she can. Such a sample of a real fighter! Her third book, which is her life story, is on its way towards completion. Her first published book is a collection of quotes, verses, Good Thots, and stories to help people through difficult times, trials, and sorrows. Her second published book, The Joy of Living, is a beautiful compilation of praiseful stories about seeing and enjoying the beauty of life even through troublesome times. Both of these books are very appealing to the Japanese people.

       Wanting to do something special for Johanes and Lydia on this unique occasion, we offered to host a little party at the School. At first, Lydia didn’t want us going to all the trouble, and didn’t want to be the center of attention. However, when she brought the matter before the Lord, He confirmed that it was His will. It turned out to be a wonderful witnessing opportunity to all our precious Live-outs, Catacombers, and friends (some of whom we’ve come in contact with just recently) as they enjoyed this special event with us and tasted of our heavenly life and spirit. There was a Family dinner, inspiration (Ezra and Philip came from Tokyo and sang some beautiful Japanese songs), and Johanes and Lydia answered some interview questions regarding what’s kept their marriage together for all these years. It was so touching and a very good witness to all our friends.

       In the days following, Lydia decided to visit some of her relatives in the Kobe and Hiroshima area and participate in a class reunion, which was held in Hiroshima (where Lydia studied during World War 2). Forty-two of her class mates attended the reunion. Lydia delivered a good message to all, which touched many hearts, and gave everyone a copy of The Joy of Living. Some were particularly eager to listen to her testimony, and were very impressed by her faith and her strength in spite of her affliction.

          Johanes and Lydia also organized a 50^th wedding anniversary party at one of their former clubs in Ginza (a business district in Tokyo) attended by seventy of their former clients and contacts. Johanes and Lydia invited Family musicians from Tokyo to supply the entertainment. They both gave speeches which brought many people to tears, and Japanese Paul led everyone in a Salvation prayer at the end of the evening. PTL!

          Returning to Tateyama, Lydia prayed about what she could further do to use this special time in her life to reach others. In general, Japanese people won’t come to your house just to enjoy a barbecue; you have to have a reason, like a formal occasion, which compels them to have to come. So Lydia held another 50^th wedding anniversary party at her and Johanes’ house for all the Tateyama contacts and folks from this area who are not as close to the Family as our Live-outs and Catacombers. It’s beautiful to see the strength and anointing the Lord gives both Johanes and Lydia when they witness, and how the Lord uses them to reach people’s hearts.

          Since not so many of us (if any?) have been married for 50 years, we thought it would be interesting for other Family members to hear what Johanes and Lydia shared about their marriage in the following interview questions. It’s beautiful to see, as Johanes and Lydia have grown in the Lord and yielded their all to Him, how the Lord has strengthened their relationship. Twelve years ago they were considering divorce, but the Lord renewed their love for each other as together they’ve endeavored to be real doers of the Word, living the whole counsel of God. It’s beautiful to see the sweetness and tenderness that has developed between them, and the mutual appreciation they’ve gained. Living the Word and following the moves of the Spirit has renewed their relationship in a beautiful way and made them such a powerful team for the Lord.

Interview with Johanes and Lydia on their 50^th wedding anniversary

What things do you admire most about each other?

       Johanes: Hmmm, there are so many things-50 years is a long time to remember! I guess what I admire most is her discernment, especially when we still had our business and there were a lot of decisions that needed to be made-whether to buy or sell, etc., Since I’m a Sagittarius, I often make fast decisions which could have been disastrous. But thanks to her going slow and having discernment and noticing things, I was spared the agony of making stupid mistakes. So I owe her a lot for that.

       Lydia: Because he is a Sagittarian, he loses his temper quite easily, but the thing I admire most is his ability to forgive and forget. I’m so weak and full of mistakes, but his ability to not only forgive but forget, I believe, is one of the main reasons we’re still together. I’m so thankful for that.

What is your most memorable year or moment together?

       Johanes: I think it was the year when we moved from Kobe to Tokyo, 42 years ago. I had flopped at my first job as a businessmen, which resulted in being up late nearly every night working on negotiations, etc., and I was very discouraged with life in general. We were basically out of money. We only had about 10,000 yen in our piggy bank.

       After seeing how discouraged I was, she took the last of our money and told me to go back to Kobe (my home town) for a little break. So I went to Kobe, visited my ancestors’ graveyard, prayed, traveled around, stayed in hotels, etc. I came back from Kobe refreshed and inspired, and because of my bright countenance, the companies that I was trying to negotiate with assumed that I came into a lot of money somehow. In the business world, money talks! So I kind of played my bluff, and the negotiations went well, even though I actually didn’t have any money. It was thanks to Lydia’s idea and willingness to let me take a break from work, though we didn’t have any money.

       Lydia: My most memorable year was 20 years ago. I had taken a interest in the Bible six months before Johanes received the Lord. The year that he got saved would be the highlight of our relationship and the most memorable year for me, as our relationship really changed after that.

What place have you gone together that you enjoyed the most?

          Johanes: When we went to Hawaii together (see photo).

          Lydia: The road trip to Siberia on our 40^th anniversary.-Definitely!

How long were you dating before you got married?

          Johanes: Six months.

       Lydia: We met on December 1^st, which was the result of a matchmaking arrangement, and we got married on April 25^th. So that would be five months, to be more exact. Johanes proposed a month after our first meeting, so we were engaged for four months, but during that entire time, our most intimate moment together was shaking each other’s hand. Yes, it sounds extreme, but you have to remember that things were very conservative back then. That was the Japanese way of doing things.

Who proposed first, and how did you do it?

          Johanes: This may be done only in Japan, but our first meeting was the result of a matchmaking scheme by my sister. I was going home from work one day with five of my co-workers, and we stopped at a nearby coffee shop. On the way home, across the street, there was a little photo shop and Lydia’s photo was displayed on the window (see photo). I’m not sure why I was so drawn to it-it must’ve been the Lord-but I was mesmerized by the photo display. I saw her photo and thought, “Hmmm, she’s cute.” I made casual mention of this to one of the guys I was with who worked in the entertainment industry. He went to my sister and told her that I had found someone whom I liked, and she convinced him to arrange our meeting. So that was the beginning of my sister’s meddling. She pushed everything through, and five months later we were married.

       Lydia: He never thought that his little comment and fixation with that photo would lead into all this, and I was the one who fell head over heels the first time I laid eyes on him.

          Johanes: Wow! You’re honest!

If there’s one thing that you could tell everyone about marriage, what would that be?

       Johanes: To be able to have a successful marriage and live with someone for 50 years, or any amount of time for that matter, you’ve obviously got to have love. Secondly, honesty. Thirdly, humor!-That’s my strong point! I think those are the three most important things to make a marriage work.

       Lydia: He says this every time we are required to give a speech on marriage, and I used to have a very hard time agreeing with him. I used to think that he didn’t have enough love, he wasn’t honest; meanwhile, he was thinking that I’m so serious, etc., etc. Because of those thought patterns, we had a hard time making our marriage work for a while. I think it was pretty rough for about 40 years. We made our share of mistakes, and there were times when we really wanted a divorce. I guess that’s expected when you live with someone for half a century, but those are the times when we really had to hold on to the Lord. No matter how wonderful your spouse may be, they’ll always make mistakes, and they’ll never be perfect. So until we learned a lot from the Family’s way of doing things. We were always resentful when giving these speeches, and I, to this day, am still learning to have more of a sense of humor.

       In order to have a good marriage, you have to hold on to the Lord when hardships come. We speak from experience when we say that things can be really rough if you don’t have the Lord to hold on to. The funny thing is, when you’re down, all you can see is each other’s faults that you never even noticed when you first got married. But in the same regard, if you ask the Lord, He can open your eyes to the good things that you didn’t notice before. I think the essentials for a good marriage are: patience, prayer, forgiveness, love, and understanding.

       I’m so thankful for the Lord who managed to take the two of us, who are so imperfect, and bind us so tightly together. We owe it to the Lord, and I’m so very thankful for my husband.

Tribute and promise from Johanes

       Johanes: I’d like to have the last word. Thank you for listening to our long story. When looking back at our 50 years together, it seems like a long time, but at the same time it seems like just yesterday that we were married. Thank you for all you did to make this night so very special.

          I don’t know how much longer we’ll be together. As you all know, Lydia has cancer, but here’s my tribute and promise: I promise to do my utmost in caring for her, no matter how long or how hard it gets. And though it may not always be easy, I promise to day by day do my best to make our remaining time a special one in every way.

Historical photos of Johanes and Lydia

          Johanes (23) as a young bachelor.

          Lydia (32) as a model for a Japanese ladies’ magazine.

          Here’s the photo shop photo that Johanes fell for!-Lydia at 19 years old.

          Johanes and Lydia in Hawaii during a vacation trip with their business workers, 1971.

          Johanes (25) and Lydia (20) picking mushrooms.

          Johanes and Lydia with Family children in Thailand, 1990.

          Johanes (59) and Lydia (54) at their daughter’s wedding party.

          Lydia at 16 years old.

          Lydia at 7 years old.

          Clockwise: Johanes (10,) his second eldest sister (13,) and his eldest sister (16).

Photos taken at the HCS during their 50^th wedding anniversary celebration-April, 2000

          Johanes and Lydia

          Lydia

          Johanes and Lydia

          Lydia with congratulatory card made by one of the HCS artists

          Lydia

Call Frankie-It’s TRF time!

By Kevin

       The Family has been doing stats, reports and TRFs for a very long time. So long in fact, that my birth was most likely recorded on the Colony report over a quarter of a century ago. I know people just like you and me who actually enjoy writing long reactions or carefully calculating and recording detailed statistics. I think that’s quite admirable, but for me it’s laborious enough just keeping track of whether or not I changed my underwear, tied both shoelaces, fed the dog and had quality personal time with my plants.

          Nevertheless, I’ve drawn the conclusion that statistics and reporting are a must for every single international missionary organization that has ever had a Poor Boy Club. Dad eloquently put stats into perspective when he said, “Your TRF report of your activities and how much you’re witnessing, litnessing and soul winning, etc., is just as important as your tithe, and we need to know how you’re getting along and what you’ve accomplished for the Lord” (“No Mo’ Blank TRFs,” ML # 888:4).

          Dad obviously thought stats were important, otherwise he wouldn’t have written a letter called “No Blank TRFs,” in which he decreed that everyone was required to fill in every single white square of their TRF, or you would suffer the awful fate of being classified as an IRFer, or GIRFer, or something. (I was rather young when that Letter was published, so I don’t have a very good grasp of the cryptic acronyms of those days.)

          Think of what life would be like if Dad hadn’t taught us to keep statistics and write reports? WS would have to publish year-end GNs containing excerpts such as:

          “…and over the last 30 years the Family has probably won a lot of souls! WS is happy to report that according to our estimations, last year the Family population has either grown or diminished by between 0 and 100 percent. We probably did lots of personal witnessing and tool distribution, since we heard a report of someone having seen a poster on the wall of a local coffee shop…”

          I think you get the point.

          So now that we’ve established that stats and reporting are necessary to prevent the publishing of goofy sounding analyses, let me give you a tip that is sure to make your next TRF time effortless and enjoyable: Take advantage of modern technology. I’ll explain further.

          Back in the old days, keeping stats was a tedious and sometimes frustrating task. Statisticians usually used a large piece of paper with hundreds of horizontal and vertical lines. Sometimes it would take him or her many tedious hours and a quarter of Brazil’s coffee bean crop to add up the rows and columns one digit at a time, only to discover in the end that the figures were completely inaccurate.

          However, with the advent of speedy silicon computer processors and software comprised of millions of lines of code, with a simple click of a mouse button we can discover in only a few short seconds that your figures are completely inaccurate. In addition, it’s now possible to consume nearly the entire coffee bean output of Brazil while attempting to figure out what went wrong.

          The ancients, between 1969-1980 A.D., were limited to writing reports using the now virtually obsolete paper, pencil or perhaps a typewriter. One of the primary drawbacks of this primitive technology was that documents were occasionally lost or destroyed, often at the hands of well-meaning but trigger-happy preschoolers brandishing fluorescent crayons and scissors (yes, the same clippers they used to remove every single Eskimo from the entire stock of What Everybody Needs Is Love posters for their self-initiated geography project).

          But you can rest assured that computer technology has created the opportunity to lose reports and TRF reactions more quickly and efficiently than ever before. By simply pressing a key or dragging your mouse a little too far in the wrong direction, any adult of average intelligence can permanently destroy hours of hard work. This can be accomplished without any help from children whatsoever.

       But thankfully, all is not lost. Many of our Family Homes are equipped with a secret weapon to combat computer illiteracy-namely an OC or JETT. Why is it they so often seem to know so much about computers? We’ll probably never know, but we do know that when all else fails, you can usually count on Frankie OC to come to the rescue by reaching over to the back of the computer and removing the banana that was stuck in the fan (aren’t babies adorable when they’re eating snack?), the coffee mug from the opened CD-ROM holder (aren’t adults adorable when they’re trying to stay awake?), and pushing the “on” button.

          Once the local OC or JETT has unclogged the fan and turned the machine on, and the user is being careful not to press the wrong button and keep the mouse cursor out of dangerous territory, it’s actually possible to get something done. No, I’m serious!

          Some time ago I was asked to take part in evaluating a Beta (computerese for “probably doesn’t completely work yet”) version of the soon-to-be-released Windows TeleTRF program - a superb work of art, in my opinion.

       The TRF program is being developed for the sole purpose of making TRF time a more pleasant experience for everybody, by automatically multiplying your witnessing stats by 500%, in an attempt to win you the area’s shiner home prize.

          Seriously, it will automate many calculations and reporting steps and provide you with plenty of help, so that you don’t give your CROs cardiac arrest by accidentally reporting 4,000 deaths that month.

          After the evaluation process I offered the team a few small suggestions. There were, however, a couple of proposals that I later decided were both too difficult to implement programmatically and gave me the appearance of a lazy loaf. However, for your interest, here is what I might have suggested.

       1. A built-in “elaboration” feature. For example, if I input the following rough draft into the TRF program,

          “ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.!?”

       …the computer would sort these letters into an appropriate order and output a detailed witnessing testimony of journalistic quality.

       2. A “junk filter.” The TeleTRF program would take a testimony or comment and filter out any unnecessary, redundant or repetitive words or phrases, such as “like”, “really”, “so”, ”well”, “…was able to”, etc.

          I thought this was such a great idea, that I decided to try it myself. Having programming knowledge, I created my own rough prototype and passed through it a few of my own testimonies and reactions. Unfortunately the results were not what I expected. For example, in the case of one particular witnessing testimony, after my prototype stripped out the unnecessary words, my 14-page testimony read as follows:

       Witnessing to Natives in Africa

          From Kevin:

          Kevin witnessed to natives in Africa.

          Love,

          Kevin

       - The End -

          Obviously, that wouldn’t fill up enough space in the Grapevine to be noticed.

       3. A “Fill in the blanks” feature. My third and last idea was primarily for the benefit of the CRO Offices and WS pubs workers who sort through pages and pages of testimonies, reactions and the likes, searching for publishable material. Apparently, sometimes potentially exciting and interesting testimonies are sent in, which unfortunately remind me of the last time I tried to cook dinner - plenty to work with, but little to show. Wouldn’t it be terrific if the TRF program were smart enough to evaluate the existing data and then promptly fill in the blanks?

          With renewed excitement and confidence I decided to bang out a prototype and see what output it came up with. I input the following short testimony segment:

          “God bless you. My name is Peter. I live at the Acorn Home. I have an inspiring testimony. The other day when I was witnessing, 27 angry thugs chased me through the streets and stuff, until I prayed and the Lord saved me. The Lord sent an angel or something. It was very inspiring.”

          That sounds like a testimony with the potential for a film script, if only it were a little longer and had just a few more details. Evidentially, the computer didn’t like it much either. I concluded this because the only output I received was:

          “Huh?”

          So as you can see, some of my experimentation was entirely unsuccessful. I figure next time I want to send in a thrilling witnessing testimony, touching ML reaction, or question that I actually want to get an answer to, I’ll just have to do it right in the first place. That way, the programming team can concentrate on features that will truly help us record the wonderful things the Lord is doing for us all. So please keep the TRF programming team in your prayers; it’s more difficult than you probably realize to implement that banana detection subroutine.

Vacation with the best Tour Guide!

By Christian, for the Bride Home, Romania

          Last July, as our friends were beginning to take their holidays, they would ask us, “When are you taking your holidays?” To which we usually replied, according to the circumstances, something like, “Not now, later, in Heaven,” and so on!

       But it started to dawn on me that the Lord was trying to get through to us. Of course, after so many years in the Family, you don’t really think about holidays-at least I hadn’t-but it’s a new day, isn’t it? So, we decided to ask the Lord about it, and He confirmed that it was His will for our Home to take a one-week all-expenses-paid holiday.

          As soon as we decided to go for it, the Lord started to move. He supplied free rooms with meals included at a nice beach resort hotel for three weeks. Some of the parents and beach-lovers took turns with the children at this hotel.

          The Lord gave the six of us who were left at home a specific prophecy saying that He would be our tour guide and organizer, and would lead us day by day all through the northeast part of the country. We were excited about the plan, and off we went. I have to say that this was definitely the best holiday I have ever had in my 25 years in the Family.-First of all because I’ve never taken a holiday before, and also because the Lord spoiled us and gave us the best.

       As we checked with Him at every turn and city we crossed, He led us to the nicest, most touristy, gorgeous places you can imagine. We stayed in the best hotels, provisioned all our meals along with 170 liters of gas, won over 120 souls, and had a wonderful time. At one point He specifically told us to take a small side road to get to the next city rather than the main one. Lo and behold, as the road wended its way up to the top of this mountain, we found a beautiful chalet-style hotel restaurant. The owner was sleeping at the time, but the Lord told us to wait and not go any further. When we met him, we found him to be such a broken and lonely man. He prayed with us, gave us three rooms as well as meals.

          On another occasion, we were running very low on fuel (we provisioned our gasoline as we went) and stopped for a watermelon snack by the side of this nice little river. Not wanting to leave a mess on the grass or throw the trash in the water, Joy went across the street to ask for a plastic bag. The lady she met was so sweet, got saved, and told us that her son was the manager of the next gas station and she recommended us to him. When we got there, we saw that it was part of a very nice hotel, restaurant, and service station complex, isolated in the middle of the mountains. As you sat on the terrace and looked around all you could see was mountains, forests, beautiful meadows, etc. While we waited for him, we got to meet the owner of the complex who invited us for a free meal and free access to his pool table. When the gas station manager came back, he gladly filled up our tank with gasoline. GBH!

          Another time we arrived quite late in a city. Again, the Lord told us to go straight to a nice three-star hotel and that He would supply for two nights. The owner just happened to be there, prayed with us and gave us three rooms for two nights. The view from our eighth floor, overlooking the Carpathian Mountains was so gorgeous that you could just stare endlessly!

          I think the best was when we got in late one evening to the City of “Prince Dracula” (Sighisoara). We went to see one of our friends who is the owner of the Dracula Hotel. He was very happy to see us and invited us for dinner “a la carte”-anything you want. But the hotel was full. He said, “If you had called me I would have reserved rooms for you. But go to the Rex Hotel (which was two miles away), see Mr. M. and tell him you came from my place. When we got there and gave his name, the doors swung open and we got the three best rooms we ever stayed in during the trip, along with a nice breakfast and the invitation to come back anytime.

          When we shared some of the testimonies with one of our very close friends, as we were constantly using the word “miracle,” he seemed a little annoyed. At the end he looked at us and said, “Now be honest. How much did these ‘miracles’ cost for all of you to make this trip? Tell me the truth-just between you and me.” When he finally understood that all we had spent was $20, he could hardly believe it, and exclaimed, “That is a miracle!” Ha!

       The sweetest of all was to be able to spend precious and intimate time with our sweet Jesus. We had daily praise time and devotions in the most gorgeous settings; it seemed that everything was purer and more beautiful than usual.

kidbits

the newest arrivals …

          Natalie Andrea, born to Amor and Sergio on May 27.-Chile

          Misty Cheryl, born to Lisa and David on May 28.-Venezuela

          Emanuel, born to Aurora and Apollos on May 28.-Brazil

          Tommy, born to Joana and Ivan on June 6.-Brazil

          Victor Daniel, 5^th child, born to Jenny and Paul on June 17.-Romania

          Fiona, born to Femi and Tim on June 20.-Chile

          Brianna Cherub,1^st child, born to Claire L. and Brian on June 28.-Brazil

tidbits

new laborers …

          Karla (19, Ecuadorian) joined in Ecuador.-June

          Jeremias (32, Brazilian) joined in Brazil.-June

babymania

An Ode to Yogurt

By Jaz

        I had a thought-provoking revelation not long ago-actually, it occurred when I was writing the Babymania article, “Growing or Gloating,” in which I told the bittersweet Yono episode. I was pondering at that time why Kimby has such an aversion to yogurt. And then I was pondering why now it seems that Lauren is developing the exact same aversion. She was mad about banana-yogurt bottles early on, but now anytime I give her yogurt-based dishes, she seems to be entirely disinterested. And if a 14-month-old is disinterested in her food, you will know about it.

      As I was pondering this strange phenomenon, an unusual thought hit me like a wedgie from the blue: For some unexplainable reason, the first solid food that I started both Kimby and Lauren on when they were babies was yogurt. Plain yogurt. It seemed an excellent idea at the time (both times), yet it does seem significant in looking back now that the photo I managed to capture for Lauren’s baby book of her first bite of “real food” showed an expression of pure horror. I have heard that many babies launch into the Land of Solid Foods very happily with yogurt, but perhaps the relative sour taste in comparison to breast milk was just a little too much for my sweet-toothed wonders. I’m also fairly certain that I also didn’t ask the Lord specifically what solid food I should start them out on.

        And so now I am hit with the mid-mothering blues-that woeful time when you start to see various assorted bad habits cropping up in your kids … and a good percentage of them look downright familiar. So I am faced with all kinds of remorse: Have I permanently ruined the potential future yogurt lives of both of my children? Granted, it’s not an earth-shaking disaster, but nevertheless it’s a sobering thought that one can affect a little person’s entire life just by a simple set of actions.

          So I struggle through the guilt, the remorse, the condemnation-and then it comes, like a sweet whisper from Heaven-Jesus’ sweet reprimand to me: “Parenthood is not about being perfect. Parenthood is trial and error, success and failure. The life of a parent is not a post-graduate degree, it’s a work in progress. You know more today than you did yesterday; next year you will look back at yourself now and laugh. That’s the beauty of life, and of learning-and that’s why you need Me. In these times when you feel like you’ve messed up, here is what you should do:

          1. Come to Me, and find out what you did wrong-if indeed it was even wrong at all. If you’re going to be condemned about something, you might as well make sure you’re guilty!

          2. Get My guidance and instruction to help you learn from your mistake, and keep you from making the same mistake next time.

          3. Pray for your child, that whatever mistakes you might have made can be repaired by My Spirit, and ask Me if there’s anything you can do to help the situation.

          4. Leave the problem and its remedying in My hands. And that, My love, is all you have to do!”

      What more can I say? Leave it to the Expert to sort out all the problems and set my parenting worries to rest.

legal and media

Lufthansa’s airline calendar advertises two Family CTPs

        GERMANY - David Courier (FM), who works for Lufthansa airlines, has passed on to us a calendar from the Lufthansa “Help Alliance,” which advertises the airline staff’s involvement with humanitarian aid projects worldwide. Two of the Family’s CTP projects are pictured. January 2000 shows a picture of a child looking out of a sewer hole in a Russian city and explains how the center for homeless children is working there to help the 1,600 street urchins in that city. Each project gives the project address and a bank where people can make donations to. The other one is January 2001, which shows orphans in Romania with “Love in Action,” explaining that the project is working to help support orphanages and hospitals as well as needy families with their basic needs, as well as doing birthday parties for the children in the orphanages each month. The next page (still January) shows another picture of some of our girls dressed as clowns with some of the children who are holding their birthday presents.

          CROATIA - Maya, Jerry, David and Gabriela: In the local weekly paper-Medimurje-there was an article written as a thank-you by the Caritas Home for Handicapped Children, reaching 100,000. It mentioned the show we did there and thanked us for cheering the children up.

          GHANA - Sara, Christian, Michelle and Jenny: The Daily Graphic printed a short article with a photo of Emmanuel and Jenny receiving a check from two members of our sponsoring firm. It reports that a big local mobile phone company is sponsoring our nursery and mentions our names, explaining that we are offering local poor children free education. The Daily Graphic is probably the most popular and widely read newspaper here in Ghana, with a circulation of 8 million, out of Ghana’s total population of 15 million.

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Don’t miss it!-Upcoming FZ interview

      It’s hard to branch out and start something new, but with faith and use of the new weapons anyone can find their place of service in the Family.

        Don’t miss the upcoming interview with 20-year-old Juan Carlo, in August’s Free Zine issue #45, about how he found his calling in life. An interview worth the read!

Mama jewels, on BLADE 12…

        These messages are beautiful. You don’t get a lot of feedback from that age group, but you can know that His Word doesn’t return unto Him void and the messages are sure accomplishing a lot. You know the Lord’s going to get the kids to read them somehow-at least a lot of the kids-and that it is going to have an effect on them.

          (From the BLADE editor to the blade audience: Mama hasn’t heard from many of you about how you like the BLADEs. If you like ‘em, write and tell us!-You can even write about problems you’d like to see addressed by Jesus in the BLADE! We’d love to hear from you!)

backtracking

Re: Correction of birth announcement

      In Grapevine #91, it was announced that Jodi Brooke was born to Celeste and Jonathan. She is actually their 10^th child, rather than their 8^th, as was mistakenly printed. Our apologies!

forum

[Mother of 11 agrees]

      Hannah (of Philip), Madras, India: I just wanted to say a hearty “amen” to the dear brother (John Willing, Slovakia) who wrote about “Living by Faith” in the Dec. 15th issue. God knows I have been tempted to write many times to the Grapevine about different issues but due to lack of time, etc. I just haven’t. This one I just couldn’t resist responding to, as I also feel very strongly about it.

       To any young people who have a question about this point of living by faith, I would also like to pose a question: Aren’t we, their parents, for the most part, a testimony that it works? Sure, I’ll grant you, there have been difficult times, but if you look on the overall, the Lord has really done it for many, many of our precious families all over the world and still continues to do it, without System jobs.

       Mind you, I did get a System job for 3 months to earn some money to come to India in the first place, and have done little things over the years to earn some as the Lord led, not to be self-righteous about it or anything, but the Lord has, does and still will supply for us, come what may. Many of us are a testimony of that even still.

       I am a mother of 11 children, and still have 5 at home, and I can say that we have really never done without in India; the Lord has always done it. Sure, we have abounded and abased-we are promised that wherever we are-but He has always done it. I have been tempted to doubt, yes, especially during the hard times, but He has always come through. Some of my older children even now feel a little differently and have gotten jobs to have a better lifestyle and are even helping to support us, ha! That’s fine, but the point is, if you look at your parents and the majority of us in the Family, the Lord still takes good care of us and we have what we need, so PTL!

       Basically our main ministry since we re-pioneered Madras 4 ½ years ago has been follow-up. We vowed we never wanted to put ourselves under the stress of just going out to get out the tools for finances. As John so well put it, “not to underestimate the tremendous value of the tools,” but as he said to “major on witnessing and winning souls, friends and supporters and life is so much more fun this way.” No matter how difficult things seem sometimes, to me witnessing is always a victory! I love you!

After 20 years, another baby from Heaven

By Free (of Dom), USA

      Ever since I was little, I’ve always been one that’s “wanted 15 children, but would settle for a dozen.” However, the Lord saw fit to “stop the factory” after our fourth baby was born. Our youngest is now 20 years old.

       When my last child was about 14, a dear friend sponsored the funds for check-ups and medical expenses at a fertility center to see why I wasn’t getting pregnant any more. It was determined that my tubes and ovaries had scar tissue on them, thus preventing pregnancy. The doctor suggested in vitro fertilization. Knowing what a costly and iffy process that can be, I (a bit sadly) put the whole matter in the Lord’s hands, knowing that if He wanted to, He could give more children, but for now it just wasn’t His time.

       Several years passed and, as always, whenever there’s a baby in our Homes, I enjoy being around ‘em, helping, being the extra “grandma/wet nurse” or whatever the need is.

       In ‘98 I went to Indonesia and was there for 10 months, while Dom (my husband) was still in the States. Then Dom’s mother died and my dad had another stroke, and the Lord indicated for me to return to the States (in September ‘99) for a short while to help out with the business, see my dad, and then for both of us to return to the field together.

       With Dom’s mother going to be with the Lord we were to receive a small financial dividend, but just as the funds were at our fingertips, things fell through and were postponed. We committed it to the Lord to help us to continue raising funds for the field whether we received these monies or not. We’ve launched into our fund-raising and though we have a ways to go, are excited at all the Lord is doing.

       But Romans 8:28! On December 13th, we received the most amazing phone call! Pandita, now 21 (the daughter of Dom’s former wife and her second husband), had just had her second baby. She’s not been in the Family for about 15 years, but she loves the Lord, the Word and us, as we raised and trained her for the first five years of her life. She called and simply said, “I want to give you my baby. I can’t raise him, and I want him to be raised in the Family, like I always wanted to be but couldn’t. There’s no one else that I would want to give Joshua to.”

       We were shocked and told her to pray about it, as it’s a decision of an entire life. She called back the next day and told us she’d already been praying about it for quite some time and was sure she wanted to do it. We asked some people to hear from the Lord for us, and we of course took some time to get some specifics from the Lord. The Lord very specifically said that it was His will for us to have this gift and that it was an answer to our prayers. He likened it to Sarah having a baby in her old age (as I’m 45 and Dom’s 57!). Within three days we had picked up our little “bundle” and brought him home.

       He has already effected such a change in our lives, slowing us down, helping us to look more to the Lord, pray more, and listen to and praise Him more. We’ve been together 22 years and already raised an entire set of children, so we are excited to be given another chance with this little life, and are so thankful that we can do it this time with the new weapons, which has made it all the more exciting and fulfilling!

       We’ve had little Joshua for six weeks now and he is all and more than we could have ever hoped for! Please keep his legal custody in your prayers, that we can take care of that without any hitches, so we can go to Indonesia soon with our little knew disciple!

studio news

French studio news

Musique Magique Studio Team

        We hope you are enjoying the first fruits of yours and our hard labors in the form of the Colorier le Monde CD.

      At present we are working on the Little Drummer Boy CD (coming your way before Christmas!) and a fully indigenous French CD (all songs originally French with some ethnic sounds). We’re also getting ready to start the recording sessions of the Treasure Attic series French soundtracks.

       There has been no recording done in France for the last eight years, so we have an enormous amount of tools to translate for the roughly 350 million French-speaking people on various fields, the main one being Africa.

        All of this is a big workload, and the main thing we need and would greatly appreciate are all the prayers we could possibly get from you, our dear Family. Thank you very much. We love you!

happenings

[Traditional Chinese dance]

       Michael, Taiwan: Teri (14, of Michael, born in the Mainland), Angie (12) and Angie’s younger sister, Nina (8, of Jenai from England), have been going to a local Chinese dancing school for a few hours each weekend in the evening. They have liked it very much. We’ve found it’s helped them feel a part of the Chinese world around them, but not become too worldly. Their spoken Chinese has improved (as all the instructions are in Chinese). It’s helped give them a respect for this aspect of Chinese culture and society. They have an interest in something and are not hanging around the computer or listless in their rooms. This dance school is famous, run by Catholics and used as a showcase in Taiwan by the Taiwanese government.

       At the end of the school year the girls performed in the school’s yearly concert where all groups from the beginners to the very best perform on stage in front of guests, parents and friends. The girls were so nervous they said they were constantly praying backstage. The school was very pleased with them, and asked them to stay and go up a grade next year if they want. It’s been “becoming one” with the Chinese in a healthy way.

[Fruit of the Word]

       Abe and Mercy, Taiwan: A few months back, at the Taiwan Delegates Meeting, the Lord impressed on all of us the importance of feeding our friends more of the meat of the Word. Right after that the Lord showed us that Timothy (a university student) was one of those worthy friends that we should pour into more. Up to this point we have been sending him Reflections and Mountain Streams. When we asked him if he would like to come over and have a Bible study once a week, he was overjoyed. He says it is the highlight of his week, even though he has to travel about an hour by motorbike to our house.

       Timothy will graduate from university in about a week’s time. Since getting stronger in the Word he has been boldly standing up and testifying of his newfound faith to his classmates and teachers, even though some of them make fun of him.

        During Chinese New Year he went back home to his family who live in another city more than an hour away. As he was getting ready to leave the house to come for his class, his father couldn’t understand that he would drive so far during his vacation. When Timothy told him that he was going for a Bible class, his father was speechless. He was so impressed at the change that had come over his son in just a few months.

          Last week, on Mother’s Day, Timothy sent a card to Mercy. Inside he wrote: “I thank God for meeting folks like you. When I was just a lifeguard at the swimming pool in your building, the love and God’s Word you shared with me changed my whole life. Thank you for spending these hours to help me understand the Bible and the joy of becoming a Christian. What touched me the most was when my heart was troubled with the affairs of this world, you would listen to me quietly and patiently, and then give me guidance for my heart. You were like a mother to me. You understand my heart more than a mother. I love you! Thank you, my dearest mother in the Lord! Happy Mother’s Day! May God bless you and your family always!”

      Two weeks ago, we did a Word study on the “parable of the sower” and “giving” from the Word Basics. Timothy was very turned on, and the following week he handed me a red envelope with his first tithe. Timothy has also started to memorize the set card in both English and Chinese. The best way to improve his English, he said, is to memorize God’s Word.

[No more visiting hours]

          David and Hosy, Robin, Marcos and Rebecca and Esther, Cuernavaca Home, Mexico: Since we have met so many precious sheep here in Cuernavaca, we wanted to start having regular weekly meetings and Bible classes with them. We had tried for two weeks in a row to invite them all to come on the same day, but to no avail; they instead came to visit throughout the week on different days and at different hours.

        Our dilemma was: “Lord, You’ve told us to feed Your sheep, and we’ve tried to start weekly meetings but it hasn’t seemed to work.” The Lord told us that each of us are soul doctors, and that we needed to be willing to put on the uniform of a doctor who is always on call. He told us that if we only open our Home to the sheep for a once-a-week meeting, we’re no different than the churches who only give to their sheep a few times a week. He promised that if we were willing to make any sacrifice necessary, that He would bring more sheep to our Home then we could ever imagine.

      After this beautiful time of hearing from Him, we all went about our various jobs and activities for the day. It wasn’t long though before the Enemy really came in with a flood. Because we had spent some extra time in prayer that morning, the little kids were extremely fussy, which made it difficult for those caring for them. The team that needed to get ready to do a puppet show was pressed for time, and there was only one person left to do all the JJTs and meals.

        Though we were all totally thrilled with the vision of faithfully feeding His sheep, still we wondered how we’d possibly be able to do everything that He was asking us to do-give the children the care and attention they need, have our required Home meetings, keep up with the care of the Home and our fundraising activities, spend the necessary time in prayer and prophecy, and at the same time be willing to have sheep come over any time.

      The Lord encouraged us with a very visible sign that day, when during lunch, 23-year-old JP showed up at our door with a desperate plea for prayer. We were all shocked at how quickly the Lord was fulfilling His promise that if we were willing to have “no more visiting hours,” He would bring in the sheep. It has been especially difficult to get JP to come over in the past, and he had only come over once when we went and picked him up. Seeing JP standing in our dining room helped to instantly lift everyone’s hearts and spirits and melt away our frustrations.

        JP stayed for the next five hours, and we were able to read with him, sing to him, pray with him to receive the Holy Spirit, etc. He left our Home a changed man! The children calmed down and had a great day, and the puppet team returned bubbling over with testimonies. Not only had the Lord supplied our rent that was due the following day, but they met a man who had been looking for the Family for over 20 years!

          Though we’re still eager to see how the Lord is going to help us get everything done, our hearts now have perfect peace that this is His work and He’s even more concerned about it than we are. One thing’s for sure, though, we all now see the need for “NO MORE VISITING HOURS!”

[Distributing lit]

       From Relief Mission Home, Bahia, Brazil: We live in the North Coast of Salvador near two fishery villages where the neighborhoods are quite poor, similar to parts of the mission field of Africa.

        Between November 26^th and December 10^th, our Home distributed hundreds of pieces of lit, magazines with Bible studies, 250 Bibles in Spanish and 50 video tapes of the movie Jesus. We also distributed a few Treasure Attics in Spanish and audio tapes of Great Adventures donated by our loving Family, plus personal items and medicine. [jefmar@for.sol.com.br]

[Over the waves]

       David and Dawn, Bangkok: While witnessing on a ship, we met a Filipino seaman that we knew. He is the third officer on his ship and has access to the bridge (the room that only officers are allowed in, where the steering takes place, and so on).

       The bridge has a modern version of a ship-to-ship radio. It is a computer-like machine that sends messages to other ships via satellite. You can type out a message and send it, and copies of the message go to thousands of other ships instantaneously. Our friend showed us an example of the kind of messages they usually receive, which are posted in the dining room. It was full of news clips of things going on in the Philippines.

       Then he showed us what he was doing in his free time on Sundays. He was typing out the Word from the lit we had been giving him-about seven pages’ worth at a time-and then sending it to 1,000 ships at a time. He showed us the tract “You Can Know the Future,” including the complete salvation prayer, and at the very end his message urged the reader to pass it on to others as well. He told us that he had read in the Treasures that you only absorb 20% of what you hear but 80% of what you read, and that is what gave him the idea. He has been sending the backs of posters, excerpts from the Treasures, tracts, and so on. Wow!

[Be sober and vigilant]

       Ilia and Luba, Russia: This phrase rings louder for us than ever before. A few weeks ago we had just finished burning some paper. We put out the fire and sat on a nearby log to enjoy the pretty view of the lake. Suddenly the strong wind rekindled the fire, and it quickly started spreading around the dry grass and even to the nearby bushes. We were sitting just a few meters from the lake and put the fire out with water and sand, using the kids’ sand buckets.

       We felt help from Beyond and were very thankful that everything ended in a few minutes without becoming a big event. Our two- and three-year-olds enjoyed Mommy and Daddy’s activities and took advantage of us being so busy by getting as wet and muddy as they could, ha.

        The Lord showed us that we must always stay on the attack and that the Enemy really is fighting. We must be sober and vigilant even in small and insignificant things. Thanks to Jesus for His care and protection!

[Adventures in Africa]

          Ben and Meekness, Botswana: We are a little family of five: Ben, Meekness, Angelo (3 ½) Kristian (2) and Michelle (4 months). While going through our passports, it was interesting to see the amount of stamps on them. Ben’s stamps came to a staggering 320, Meekness’ stamps came to 270, Angelo’s came to 160, Kristian’s came to 95, and four-month-old Michelle’s total came to 16!

        As we go into our seventh year in Africa and our third year in Botswana, the Lord has done so much for us. Our time here has been our happiest yet serving the Lord, seeing daily miracles, supply, protection, helping the poor, and getting the Word out. In our past three years in Botswana, this is what the Lord has done:

          1. Food distributed to the poor, worth a total of US$30,000.

          2. Over 100,000 posters distributed.

          3. A total of around 6,000 videos gotten out.

          4. Petrol provisioned to the amount of 3,000 liters.

          5. We have traveled a total of 190,000 kilometers of African soil, spreading the Gospel.

          6. Donated 200 blankets to the poor.

          7. Distributed tons of clothes, toys, and schoolbooks to the needy.

          8. A local company donates all our vehicle parts and another does all the services at no cost.

          9. Appel Center, a Botswana company, sponsored a computer and does all the upgrades and services absolutely free.

          10. Our food bill is about US$2 a month. Everything else is donated.

          11. Cable television donated to the work, which makes it possible for us to keep up on the latest world news and record some children’s educational stuff.

          All in all we are most richly blessed and count it a joy to be able to serve the Lord in this exciting field of AFRICA. Got to go now … duty calls! The kids are up and it’s the beginning of another wonderful day, full of miracles in Botswana, Africa!

QNAs

JETTs link UP!

          Q: One of our JETT girls was wondering if it would be possible to reclassify the linkUP to include JETTs.

          A: From the linkUP editors: We’re happy to say that most of the material we have put out in the linkUP is just great for JETTs. Most linkUP mags have the following text on the back: “Suggested reading for this publication is JETTs and up. Parents or shepherds may read with or allow portions to be read by younger ages….” So dig in and enjoy!

       [Note to parents and shepherds: The only exceptions to this age rating so far are linkUPs 2, 4, 5, and 7. Some are recommended for older ages; some require your parental discretion. Please tune in to the age rating on future linkUPs.]

          Q: Is someone outside of the Family eligible to receive the CVC diploma? Like a relative?

          A: The CVC Vocational High School Diploma is available to former Family members who received their training in the Family during their high school years. Those interested should contact their local FED, or the FED in the area where the former member received most of their training. Appropriate forms will be sent to them. They can request the Vocational High School Diploma Application Form (for former members of The Family). The beginning of this form states:

        “Formerly active members of The Family who received at least three years of training in the Family beyond the age of 12, and who can demonstrate a grade eight level of education or higher, may qualify for a CVC Vocational High School Diploma. All you need to do is send in the following educational inventory, completed and signed by someone, in or out of the Family, who can verify its accuracy, to the Christian Vocational College.”

          If the person is not and has never been a member of the Family, then it is more difficult for us to properly evaluate his or her skills and abilities. In the future, we hope to make CVC diplomas and some CVC vocational proficiency certificates in various study areas more widely available, but at this time we do not have a thorough testing system set up to accommodate non-Family students and people who were not trained with us. However, if a good case can be made, suitable tests found and taken by the person, and a Family member wishes to recommend and in a sense “sponsor” or vouch for this person, then we certainly would be open to seeing if we can help him or her and meet the need. Please contact your local FED office if you are interested. They will likely need to charge a suitable fee for this service, as it would involve some correspondence, testing, documentation and record keeping.

feature: Croatia-changing our part of the world

By Bulgarian Maggie, Rijeka

Vojnic-A town full of refugees

      When we visited Franjo and Dragica’s family we were troubled by the sight of their living quarters. The old, broken-down house that had been home to them and their eight children for five years had no water supply. They had to carry buckets of water back and forth from a well two kilometers away. They cooked (if there was any food to cook) on a wood stove inside one of their two rooms, which was also the only warm place in the house during the winter. Work was hard to find. One more worry to add to the list: Their landlord was soon to return and expell them from his house.

       There are over 120 refugee families in the area of Vojnic, just on the border of Bosnia, who have lived in similar conditions since the war. Almost a third of them are also faced with the struggle of caring for their handicapped children.

       Our team has visited this area time and again, and helped out in cooperation with other humanitarian organizations. Towards the middle of May 2000, our team of five (Stephen, Maggie, Andrea, Jonathan [16, cameraman], and Yela [our faithful guide to houses away from civilization], managed to visit 120 families and personally distribute two truckloads of humanitarian aid, mainly food and household necessities.

        What our efforts were worth we won’t find out until we get to Heaven, except through the words of graditude expressed by these people:

      “Thank you so much for coming to visit us. The world has forgotten us-there are so few people who care.”

       “Please don’t forget to come again, even if you don’t have anything to bring to us. Just come and talk to us, and share some of your joy with us.”

        “Now we know that God is the only One we can trust, and that He’ll always care!”

Musical shows heal depressed patients

      A lawyer from Istria lost his wife two years ago. So great was the pain he felt over her loss that he sank into deep depression, and had to be taken for treatment to the psychiatric hospital on the island Rab, where he spent the following few years.

        “Thank you so much for organizing this event,” he told our friend Dragica (the social worker in the hospital on the island) after he attended our show in the hospital on April 18^th. “It brought tears to my eyes, and made me smile- for the first time in two years.”

          “After your show, his condition suddenly improved, and he’ll be returning to normal life in a few days,” said Dragica. “The people [from the audience] who got up on stage to sing and dance with you were some of the most introverted-completely closed up in themselves. The doctors weren’t sure what the patients’ reaction would be, whether your program would deteriorate their ailment, or help them improve and come out of themselves-but they felt your love and responded so well that even the doctors and nurses were left astounded. You did a great deed, and were a very good influence on the patients and their souls.”

Impressions from our latest trip to Bosnia

        In a camp in Capljina, after seeing part of our performance for the children, a young Irish tourist asked us: “But what about your future? Don’t you care about money?” He then answered his own questions: “But of course you don’t. If you could just bring a smile to these children’s faces, that’s all that counts, isn’t it? I would love to do something like this myself.”

          Though war is over according to the news, many Bosnian people still live with their war memories. As one of them put it, “How can we forget?”

          The need for material help is great, but the hunger for hope and a positive outlook is even greater. Their hearts are still in prison. Their minds keep reliving the tortures of war. Our task, since we started visiting this country, has been to free people’s hearts and minds from this bondage of despair, and bring them hope and love. We visited dozens of families (some we knew from before, and others we didn’t), and by listening, talking, singing and praying for them, we tried to help them find the love of God, which alone can relieve their pain.

      Our show troupe performed 10 times on this visit. We visited three schools, four refugee camps, and dozens of families. We hope to be able to fulfill our promise to come back as soon as possible.

entertainment

Movies Rated for YAs

Story of Us, THE (1999)

Bruce Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer

          Romantic comedy about a couple who have been married for 15 years and are considering divorce. Interesting and well portrayed, but could be unpleasant for those going through emotional battles.

Movies Rated for Senior Teens

FIRELIGHT (1997) Sophie Marceau, Stephen Dillane

          Touching drama set in the 1800s about a poor Swiss governess and an heirless English landowner who are brought together by clandestine needs and a secret bargain.

Movies Rated for Junior Teens

MYSTERY, ALASKA (1999)

Russell Crowe, Burt Reynolds

      A small Alaskan town, whose main form of entertainment is their weekly hockey game, shifts into high gear when it is announced that their local hockey team has been picked to play the New York Rangers in a nationally televised event.

Movies Rated for JETTs

EVERYTHING THAT RISES (1998)

Dennis Quaid, Mare Winningham

      Touching story about how a tough, unemotional rancher changes when his young son has a serious accident. Good lessons on the importance of demonstrating love and affection, and how parents need to relate to their adolescents.

Movies Rated for MCs

CINDERELLA (1997)

Brandy, Whitney Houston, Whoopi Goldberg

      Made-for-TV remake of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, with a multi-racial cast. The jealous behavior of the two stepsisters may need explaining to children.

reviews

The Story of Us

        (Jesus:) Unfortunately, this is the story of so many people in the world, only too many of them don’t come to the same good conclusions as the couple in this movie. So many people need My love and My solutions to their problems. This movie is not a sample of how My children should live or deal with their problems, but it does give a good look at how the average couple in the System deals with theirs.

The conclusion that the woman comes to is very worthwhile and meaningful. Life is made up of many events, good and bad, but it’s how you accept the things that come into your life that matters. Life could be so much easier for people if they would only look to Me.

Firelight

      (Jesus:) This is a beautiful movie, which shows the power of a mother’s love. Some of the behavior portrayed by the characters in this movie is not exemplary; nevertheless, it is a touching story of love. In a way it is an example of an attempt to live outside the System’s accepted boundaries of love, and shows that it can be very difficult for those who do not have understanding of My truth and grace and My Law of Love to cope with such situations and handle them well. Though things work out, you can feel the heaviness of spirit, even the guilt, that is upon the characters in this film, and the difficult, painful, and sometimes wrong decisions that they make in order to protect their love. It should make you grateful for the truth you have, the understanding of the ways of the spirit, and the freedom within My love.

Mystery, Alaska

        (Jesus:) This movie is fun and relaxing, and gives an interesting look at life in this rather remote part of the world. It also deals somewhat with relationships and jealousy, and portrays a pretty good attitude on this topic, for a System movie. It’s not high action, but has some sweet lessons, and most will find it enjoyable. There is a fair bit of foul language, which is sad, but other than that it’s wholesome entertainment.

Everything that Rises

        (Dad:) This is a beautiful story about love and understanding, forgiveness, walking a mile in another’s shoes, learning to give and take, fighting to overcome, tolerance and more. It’s lesson-filled and a good portrayal of how blessings can come from handicaps, how beauty can be born out of ashes. It’s nice to see a movie of this type for a change; there aren’t many of them. This is a beautiful story about how hearts can change, how blessings come from heartbreak and hard times, how with love and understanding you can fight through and overcome even a severe handicap.

There’s a lot to be gleaned from a film like this with the kids-lessons on love, forgiveness, communication, understanding. Get a confirmation from the Lord on showing it to your kids. If you’re going to invest the time to watch a movie for a couple hours, you might as well get your money’s worth, or in this case, your time’s worth from it. Try to have a discussion afterwards or at some point in time with your JETTs. Try to draw them out and discuss the lessons in this movie. Glean all you can from it and make it worth your while.

Cinderella

             (Dad:) I think the kids will enjoy this sweet movie. As with most movies these days, there are parts that are rather silly and exaggerated that will need pow-wowing. These parts should be pretty obvious to you. This movie is light entertainment. There are, however, some good lessons that can be gleaned from this sweet story on love, faith, determination, and trust.

help wanted

      We are a team in China of three adults and three children. The Lord is leading us to start a special ministry in our city. Although we all have a lot of experience in this area, we have never done anything quite like this before, but the Lord has told us that we will be able to reach a lot of people this way. We have no idea how to do it, but know that the Lord can do it as we follow Him step by step. The Lord told us to advertise the vision He’s given us to the rest of the Family so that you can pray for us and perhaps help in some way. We have certain needs that maybe you can help with. If you feel the Lord speaking to your heart, please write us to find out more. You can contact us via the China Desk, CN619 if you are interested in joining our efforts. Thank you and we love you!

personals

      Charity Newheart would like to contact Alfred Almost an Angel for needed paperwork ASAP. My E-mail is: newheart35@yahoo.com.

      Hey Chris, I miss hearing from you!!!!! Please write to me at: fes@bgl.vsnl.net.in. Waiting to hear from you.-Vico

          Gloria (Russian, originally from Khabarovsk) looking forward to hear from Luba (Russian, originally also from Khabarovsk). I heard that you could be in Turkey. Please contact me. Address: RU037 for Gloria

      Dear Mary and family (Spain, Cordoba), please write me whenever you can. I haven’t heard from you in a long time. Thanks.-James (Nepali). Add: Helping Hands, 305, Govindas, 86 Padma Palace, Nehru Place, New Delhi - 19 - India.

      Looking for lost sheep…I mean, friends (hee hee!): Brandt (of John and Rose), Heidi (of Mateo and Clare), Femi (of Chris and Joan). Write yesterday to Carm at fcindo@jakarta.wasantara.net.id Waiting to hear from you!

      We are Ben and Meekness (in Botswana) and we’d like to get in touch with Simon and Joan in Nigeria. Hey guys, drop us a line sometime. We’d love to hear from you. e-mail: botfam@botsnet.bw.

          Tim Lens, Andrew Latvian and Katrina Theophilus, please contact Zeb and Kristy at zklink@yahoo.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!

      Keren (of Steven and Shelly) wants to get in contact with Theophany (of Phillip and Sharon). We lived together in Songkhla, Thailand. Please write me at e-mail: kerenenright@hotmail.com.

      Bowy and Reina are looking for Russian Yan and Polish Masha, Nat and Polish Eva, Russian Tim and Dove. We would really like to get back in touch. Please write to e-mail: Reinab@tricom.net

      Sam (SGA, of Marcus and Christina) would like Ivan (last met in Okinawa) to write him at e-mail: homemail@ibm.net.

      Stephanie is looking for Gabe R., last heard of in Thailand. If you’re still around, write me at: steffy31@hotmail.com.

          Peter and Praise, last heard from you in Denmark. Lily would like to get in contact with you. E-mail: lily252@hotmail.com <mailto:lily252@hotmail.com>.

      Dear Claire (YA) who lived in China with us, I have your CVC diplomas and need an address to send them to you. Please email us via the China desk and send us your snail mail address and email address. Can’t wait to hear from you.-Jonathan, Celeste and kiddos.

       Laetitia Fr. (of Elisabeth), the e-mail you give me (mr625551@hot-mail.com) doesn’t work. Please send me your new one. Write me Marie-Madeleine Fr. (Nina). My e-mail is: PieBatFr@wanadoo.fr.

       Cherrie (Alie, of Lydia) is looking for Brandt (of John and Rose), Femi (of Chris and Joan), Kate (of Johannes and Joanna), Virginia (of Michael and Sharon) and anyone else I know or have lost contact with. E-mail me at: familyk@mail.kar.net.

Shine On-June 2000

TEAMWORK                       Per Adult     Total

SOUL SHINERS FOR JUNE 2000

Bernabe/Luz, Mexico        1,250  2,500

Juliet, Brazil                 1,165  5,828

Josue Fiel/Maria, Mexico  851      4,255

Pablo E., Chile                    640      1,280

Marcos, Chile                      592      2,371

Rejoice/Happy/Nina, Brazil   503      3,020

Tim/Emanuel/Joy, Venezuela          383     2,300

Esteban/Gabriel/Sara/Lydia/Esteban, Chile322        3,223

Andres/Maria, Argentina       257      1,030

Pablo Testificador, Ecuador  251      502

POSTER SHINERS FOR JUNE 2000

Ben/Meekness/Sam/Crystal, Botswana  5,000    20,000

Simeon/Ivan/Maria, Brazil2,000  8,000

David Searcher/Pandita First Love, Japan          1,925  7,700

Sharif/Joanne/Rima, Nigeria  1,000   6,000

Samuel/Rosita, Mexico        1,000   2,000

Marianne/Shine/Timothy, USA         972     8,748

Lucas/Paloma, Brazil           964      4,820

Jonathan Livingstone/Clare Livingstone, Japan          900    3,600

Micahel/Maria, Japan           865      3,462

Pedro/Lily/Constanza, Madagascar  733     4,400

TAPE SHINERS FOR JUNE 2000

Pablo E., Chile               169   338

Samuel/Clara, Spain       98.5   197

Tim/Aura, Philippines      98.0   196

Davi/Madalena/Dulcineia, Brazil      94        664

Dave/Heidi/Jenny/Sophie, Czech Republic   86         869

Victor/Pilar, Spain                86      172

Micah/Trust Sparrow, Taiwan          85        257

Josue/Abigail/Caleb, Costa Rica     80        320

Josue/Salome, Brazil           70      282

Juan/Rosa, Spain                69      208

VIDEO SHINERS FOR JUNE 2000

David Searcher/Pandita First Love, Japan        82     329

Joao/Clara, Brazil           80    242

Ben/Meekness/Sam/Crystal, Botswana   51         204

Andrew/Lena, South Africa    50      202

Clay/Abigail/Brook, Brazil     41      293

Pablo/Cielo, Colombia          33      100

Bangkok DF Home, Thailand28      580

Gabriel/Joan, Slovenia          25      50

Victor/Pilar, Spain                25      50

Ezequiel/Esther/Taines, Brazil       22         91

Also included with this file:

Elite Bruce (By David Komic) “Choose Your Weapon [s]”

        Caption 1: Bruce I notice you’re quite strong on using your new weapon of prophecy

          Caption 2: But you’ve got to use all the new weapons to be an effective soldier

          Caption 3: Or you could end up like

          Caption 4: Sir Basil the Knight of Only One Weapon. As related in…

          Caption 5: The ballad of Sir Basil.

          Sir Basil took an awful chance

                   And trusted solely in his lance

          But as the battle ran its course

                   Sir Basil got knocked off his horse.

          While Basil tried his lance to swing

                   His enemy used everything.

          Poor Basil had no sharpened sword

                   Nor spear, nor knife, nor piece of board.

          His enemy, I’m sad to say,

                   With many weapons had full sway.

          With dagger, flashing sword and net

                   He sent poor Basil to the vet*

          (*well actually ‘to the doctor’ but you try getting ‘doctor’ to rhyme with ‘net.’)

          So learn this lesson for today

                   That too few weapons just don’t pay

          Yes! Loving Jesus, prophecy,

                   And praise will bring you victory!

          See GN886, paragraphs 44-47 for more details!

(End of file.)

Copyright (c) 2000 by The Family