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GLOW Update March 2016

GLOW Update – March 2016

Everywhere you turn you see hurting people: in your neighborhood, your church, your workplace and across the globe. Some are close and others are “strangers” who Jesus calls “neighbors” we should love, especially those he calls “the least of these.” But you may ask, “What can I do to make a difference?”

There is an old story of a boy walking along a beach filled with stranded starfish. The boy picked one up and then another, tossing them back into the sea knowing they would otherwise perish. A man watching told him there were so many stranded starfish, he couldn’t possibly make a difference. Looking at a starfish in his hand, the boy tossed it into the water saying, “I made a difference for THAT one!”

GLOW is uniquely positioned to make a positive difference in the lives of hurting people. And your partnership with GLOW (through gifts and prayers) makes you an integral part of changing the world for hurting people, even “strangers” you don’t know. GLOW is organizationally small and nimble, working with missionary partners we know personally and trust. Accountability is high. Last year GLOW raised $14,200 and spent $14,237. No salaries, insurance plans, cars, or buildings. Just money in/money out – bringing the hope of Jesus to change the world for people in desperate situations, one at a time.

A 10-year-old boy in Bolivia has his first pair of new $12.50 leather shoes because a 10-year-old boy here gave his Christmas money.

Syrian refugees who were sleeping on the cold cement in Athens, Greece have warm sleeping bags from GLOW donors and the caring outreach of our ministry partner there.

Bulgarian gypsy children have nutritious meals and Christian literacy tutors because GLOW donors care. 50 children now have their own native language Bulgarian bibles because many people donated $10 to GLOW. We are preparing to fund the building of a kitchen & dining area this year to expand the outreach to orphans who have no other support.

Five Bolivian children (Roberto, Herminia, Deysi, her baby Lucas, and Sabina – pictured here with their Aunt Francisca) were recently abandoned by their mother and stepfather. They know us and remember us from when we first met and prayed with them four years ago. Gifts from GLOW purchased shoes and outfits and backpacks for each of them. Additional gifts have been received to provide for school supplies, tuition, medical care, and food. Even now as their Aunt has stepped up to care for the children your ongoing GLOW gifts continue to enrich their lives.

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6) That’s what your persistent prayers and gifts do. They express your faith through love to “the least of these,” people you don’t yet know.

We also want you to know we’ve made provisions for the gospel ministries of Go Light Our World to continue, regardless of Bryan’s health concerns.

By praying and giving you DO make a difference. Please continue to PRAY daily for:

Roberto, Herminia, Deysi, her baby Lucas, and Sabina, abandoned by their mother and now adopted by their aunt in rural Bolivia.

Tiffany, Roxana, Maria, Mariana, and Sony who lead the Bolivian ministry for children at risk.

Moises and Kely who work to strengthen godly families in Chile.

Aleka who ministers to outcast gypsies in Bulgaria and boldly shares the truth and love of Jesus with all she meets, even at risk to herself.

Andy who pastors a small church in a hard neighborhood in Gracemount (Edinburgh), Scotland and his wife Sarah in her difficult pregnancy. Please pray also for former drug addicts they know who are struggling to know that the hope of Jesus is real for them.

Larry who daily brings the real hope of Jesus to those in prison.Mark and Lyndsey who minister to the homeless in San Diego.

Dawn and Willy who teach people with little to trust in God who wants to richly bless them spiritually.

Chris and Candy who are adjusting to living in Africa so they can reach the Digo tribe. They are dealing with water shortages.

Gary and Cristen who boldly equip college students to get real with Jesus, live fully for Jesus and reach their teammates.

Marcia and Bryan and the GLOW board of directors as we seek God’s continued guidance in all of this, and for Bryan’s full health recovery.

Thank you to our monthly donors and one-time donors. Your investment is well-placed! It brings the hope of Jesus to unreached people through practical ministries including literacy, food, medicine and health.

If you want to be the hands and feet of Jesus, you can make your tax deductible gift to Go Light Our World by

Check (1020 N 5th Ave W, Newton, Iowa)
Credit card/PayPal (golightourworld.org/giving)
PopMoney (popmoney.com) Use our email to make the donation: thayers@golightiurworld.org.

Thank you for partnering with GLOW in giving and in prayer to make a real difference in the lives of hurting people!!

Without God we are lost, BUT GOD intervenes. GLOW is excited to write the phrase, “BUT GOD…” onto the pages of people’s lives!

Because lost people matter,

2016 Go Light Our World Board Members:

Bryan and Marcia Thayer Chuck Jackson

Janet Johnson Dawn Neudahl

Mary Lothe Kathy Trotter

Val Wagner

Rather receive update by email or postal mail? Opt out? Let us know: thayers@GoLightOurWorld.org

GLOW Update: Bulgaria and Greece

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We have just received an urgent prayer request from our missionary who ministers to the gypsy population in Bulgaria. Abraham’s Flock is a Christian agricultural project that raises goats and chickens, ducks and geese, to provide milk and eggs for the poor children in Vetren, Bulgaria, where we also support a Christian literacy program.

“Abraham’s flock is in danger, due to ongoing rains and floods in Bulgaria. Due to a chemical contamination which government aircrafts have been spraying, an epidemic has been spreading in the surrounding villages. So, as a result of this all baby-goats die within three days after their birth. The vet has injected them with medicine and antibiotics, but despite everything done they are still dying! Due to the continuous floods the humidity has been increased and the animals cannot go outside the barn as often as they need. Please pray for the rains to STOP and for the baby goats to survive!

Along with this urgent prayer request is a praise story from that same ministry in Bulgaria. Todorka, a girl who attended the Christian literacy program GLOW supports has been accepted to nursing school in the city of Sophia (where our newest granddaughter was recently adopted) – and because of the Christian ministry in Vetren, Todorka takes Jesus with her! Your donations to GLOW go directly to support this ministry and others where disenfranchised people have not yet encountered the real Jesus.

Another story of praise and also prayer request is also from our missionary who ministers to the Greek orthodox and also Muslims in Athens and Corinth. She writes of “heaven’s appointment.”

“When I was walking in a nearby town, I saw an old white-haired man with a worn-out coat and a very sad face, picking out roots which Greeks cook for food. I decided to approach him, and asked him about these roots. As we were talking, the old man began sobbing with tears. It was very cold and the wind was freezing both my hands and face. He said that his name is Michalis. He used to own a small food market which he was forced to shut down due to the crisis. He doesn’t have a pension.

“Mr. Michalis told me that his beloved sister had recently passed away very suddenly, right after his 7 siblings had died, and was now totally alone. He told me that he loved Jesus, but he felt abandoned by God. His sister was a very compassionate lady who used to make small packages with food and had him distributing them to the needy and starving people out in their neighborhood. Someone had stolen his wallet which had his last few euros. So now he is left without any money, not even to buy a small bottle of milk!

“Even though he was a Greek Orthodox, he was reading the New Testament and he knew many portions by heart. His love for God was evident by every word he spoke! I am sure that this divine appointment was orchestrated by the Holy Spirit because Mr. Michalis knew about God, but not as a Father. He neither knew salvation by Grace. Later on he told me: “no one has ever spoken to me like this before”!

“Even his own priest didn’t have anything encouraging to say to him. We prayed together and he said Amen to every word I prayed for. Yesterday he called me on the phone, and I read with him from the Word of God and prayed with him. He told me that God’s Word brought “light” to his saddened heart. He will be calling me in a few days so we can read again from the Bible and pray.

Please pray for Mr. Michalis that the Lord will lift him up, provide for him and cover his needs, and that he will be a testimony of God’s grace in his neighborhood.

“… For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen…”
Romans 11:36

Capturing the cross

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A caption in last week’s news is a reminder of why Go Light Our World^TMpromotes the true gospel even in so-called ‘Christian’ countries.

The photo showed scores of ‘religious’ men diving off a dock into a cold lake in Sophia, Bulgaria (not far from the GLOW ministry in Vetren). They are trying to grab hold of a wooden cross thrown by the Orthodox priest to bless the waters. The men engage in this activity with hope that catching the cross will bring health and prosperity to the one who captures it.

Do void superstitions have influence over your life? Are “good luck” and “cross your fingers” woven into your vocabulary? Do you find yourself doing good deeds in hopes it will bring you blessing or good karma?

There is a way to capture the cross. And you don’t need to dive into frigid waters after some wooden icon. Simply bow your heart where you are right now, and extend your open hands in submission to the one who died on that cross and who offers His forgiveness and great hope to you. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you and show you the way you should go today.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
– Jesus, Mark 8:34

Thank you!

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We want to thank those who have partnered with Go Light Our World^TM to bring the light of Jesus to a dark world. Whether you gave a one-time or monthly gift of $10, $50, $100, or more, your generous gifts directly support vital gospel ministries in:

Bolivia
– Growing healthy families
– Providing literacy, nutrition, health, and worship outreach to children
– Vocational training for struggling moms
– (Marcia and I are preparing to join the Bolivian mission field in 2015!)

Bulgaria
– Literacy training for rural outcast children
– Abraham’s Flock provides milk and eggs for needy families
– Christian education for children

Greece
– Bringing gospel hope to the lost in Athens and Corinth

Scotland
– Bringing real hope and the power of Jesus to transform broken lives in the inner city housing projects

United States
– Supporting gospel church plants in New Orleans and San Diego
– Training and equipping college athletes to become Christian leaders and missionaries

Puerto Rico
– Raising up Christian leaders among college athletes

Kenya
– Supporting a young family bound for the mission field to bring the gospel to the unreached Digo people

There is still time to join our prayer and financial support team. Visit our giving page at www.GoLightOurWorld.org/giving to learn more.

Go Light Our World^TM is a tax-exempt nonprofit ministry. There are no paid salaries so your donations go directly to the mission field. Thank you for living a life marked by giving to others. It matters!

Do What Jesus Said: Feed the Hungry…

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Jesus said, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matthew 25:35-36

The context of this passage (verses 31-46) is Jesus, sitting on His throne, separating out people into two groups: 1) those who fed the hungry and quenched the thirsty, invited in strangers, clothed the naked, looked after the sick, and visited those in prison and 2) those didn’t. The reward for those in group one is eternal life but not for those in group two.

The interesting thing about this is not about good deeds per se. It is about loving Jesus. He says, “For I was hungry, I was thirsty.” The second group protested, saying “But WHEN did we see you hungry, thirsty, etc). Jesus replies, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Jesus so loves us that He associates our pain and suffering with His own. We don’t simply minister to others because they have needs. But when we minister to others we minister to our Lord.

We realized this when we first started mission trips to post Katrina New Orleans. Confronted with miles and miles of destruction, the overwhelming immensity of the needs was immediately apparent. We had the same revelation working with the local church in Bolivia: so much desperate need and so little resources. But the objective was not simply to help people. The objective was to love those Jesus loves and so show it in practical ways.

Someone said, “Think globally, act locally.” The way I see it we must do both. Who do you know who needs practical encouragement (resources, time, compassion)? Perhaps they aren’t actually hungry or thirsty in the physical sense, but you know they are emotionally. Look at people through Jesus’ eyes and you will see a very different world than the one you have been looking at.

Are you partnering with a reputable nonprofit agency to minister to others in Jesus’ name across the globe? Go Light Your World supports a mission in Bolivia that provides a hot meal, showers, literacy programs, well child clinic, and worship and prayer for about $2 per day per person. And also literacy and self sufficiency education for Gypsy children in Bulgaria. (See Giving link above.) Compassion International and World Vision are two large nonprofits that rescue moms and children from trafficking and cycles of dependency and abuse. Prison Fellowship helps care for children and families of the incarcerated. We have so much to give and so many ways to let our light shine while doing what Jesus said. Don’t wait. Start today. Ask God to show you the world through His eyes.

“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” Author, Edward Everett Hale