Myers Weekly Prayer Letter - June 22, 2009

In the last few months, we have been blessed by Swazi ladies attending our Swazi Baptist churches who requested to have a Christian wedding ceremony. These ladies were either living with the father of their children or had been married in a Swazi traditional ceremony (neither man attended a Swazi Baptist church but did consent to a Christian wedding). As a sign of their faithfulness to follow the Lord, they wanted to raise their children in a “Christian home.” Tuesday, we had another such visit by a former student of Wayne (when he taught Religious Education at Eric Rosenberg in the 90s). He arrived at the house at 12:30 and for over an hour plans were made for his Christian marriage. Both he and his wife say they are Christians but because of pressure from his family, they were married traditionally a couple of years ago. Now, they want to make it right. When the planning dust settled, a date and venue for the wedding were made: September 5th at the Regional Education Office in Nhlangano. (They wanted to have the wedding in my yard, but I had to say NO!! Can you imagine over 100 Swazis congregated in my yard and going in and out of my house to use the bathroom or whatever? Please pray for Duma (duma is the siSwati word for thunder) Dlamini and his wife as they commit their lives and home to the Lord. Pray their Christian wedding will be a witness to others in their community and family members.
-Please pray for many other homes that need to follow this example and have a Christian wedding. Pray also for the Swazi youth to say no to tradition and say to yes to Christ and live as he would have his children live.

Thank you for praying for the second week of revival services at the Mhlambi Baptist Church. Attendance was great even though some of the community youth tried to disrupt the nightly services with loud talking and unruly behavior. (This is so typical of revivals in the rural churches). Several individuals made decisions to follow the Lord!! Overall, the revival was a wonderful boast for the Mhlambi Baptist Church.
- Continue to pray the Mhlambi Baptist Church under the leadership of Imphilo Mamba will grow spiritually and reach its community for the Lord.
-There is a great need to develop leaders for the children and youth ministries. Pray these leaders will develop from the Mhlambi Baptist Church congregation.

Hunter and Brinkley Johnson (sisters) had a wonderful week working in the Manzini and Hhohho regions. Today they join the Warrens at Tshaneni and will minister with the Warrens until the 26th of June. Pray for Hunter and Brinkley this week as they minister in the Lubumbo region of Swaziland. Pray for continued good health and the joy of serving the Lord in Swaziland!!

Steve Allen left yesterday (Sunday June 21) to participate in the planned archeological dig in Israel with the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Pray for his safety as he travels and a wonderful time of holiday of being refreshed doing something that is a passion of his heart. Pray for Monica and the children during Steve’s absence.

We enjoyed a time of fun and fellowship with the Swazi Team, Polly Trice and several little girls who attended Lacie Allen’s birthday party on Saturday in Mbabane. The weather was beautiful and it was good to be able to sit down and chat with everyone.
This evening I will be meeting with Annah Thwala to plan the 2009 Shiselweni Children’s Camp. We were scheduled to have the camp the week of August 31-September 5, but will have to make adjustments because of the September 5th Dlamini wedding. Theme of the camp is “Learning About the Bible.” Pray we will be able to find a good time to have the two camps. Pray also as we decide on the two camp venues.

June 26-27 is the National Youth Leader’s Retreat (this weekend). Pray for this important retreat for all youth leaders of the Swazi Baptist churches. Hunter Johnson will be the main speaker. Pray God will move in a mighty way among the hearts of our youth leaders.

Because of the concern of charismatic tendencies and practices displayed at the National Easter Services, teaching was scheduled by the Baptist Convention of Swaziland on the 22nd-23rd of May. Steven Allen taught about the “Biblical Response to the Prosperity Gospel” and Wayne taught on a “Biblical Response to Speaking in Tongues.” There was a good response and attendance from leaders from the Swazi Baptist churches and a desire for additional teaching was voiced. On July 18th and 19th, a follow-up time of teaching is scheduled. Please pray for Wayne and Steve as they prepare for a time of additional information sharing and a question and answer time. Pray for a better understanding of those attending concerning Baptist beliefs. Pray members of our Baptist churches will commit to making their churches stronger in Baptist beliefs as well as Christian beliefs.

We want to say thank you to everyone who prayed and sent their sympathies on the death of Wayne’s sister JoAnn last week. We so appreciated your thoughtfulness. Please continue to pray for the family as they deal with their loss. Continue to pray for Terry who is doing well, but is still considered to have stage 4 cancer.

Yesterday as I walked back to the house from attending worship services at the Nhlangano Baptist Church, one of the ladies of the church joined me. We talked about different subjects but as we approached my gate, I mentioned that I thought the plot on the left side of our house had been sold (the Nhlangano Baptist had used the lot for revival services in December). It had been freshly mowed and a couple of months ago the owners asked Wayne if the Nhlangano Baptist Church was interested in purchasing the plot. The owners had been offered 450,000 emalangeni (1 dollar to 8 emalangeni) but, they would let the church have it for E415,000. (Needless to say on behalf of the church, Wayne had to decline their offer.) My friend commented that the Muslims probably purchased the land since they were ones in town that could afford to pay E450,000 for the plot. I voiced my concern of all the businesses that were now being operated by Indian Muslims. She said it was because the King now allowed them to come into the county and operate businesses. His father King Mabusa (died in 1982) refused to allow Muslims to operate businesses in Swaziland. Please pray the Muslim faith will not become stronger and Swazi Christians will take a stand for their faith and their country. Pray the King will see the harm that can come from allowing those that follow the way of Islam to work and settle in Swaziland.

Time is fast approaching when we will be taking our 4th stateside assignment, September 24-December 30.
Pray we will receive all the information needed to schedule appointments in time to have our physicals completed by the middle of August. The timing of these exams will not affect our departure for the states but might our departure from the states.
-There always is a need for prayer in obtaining a vehicle to drive while stateside. Please pray a vehicle will be secured for traveling while in the states.
-Pray for peace concerning leaving our home and Wolf for three months.