Burwell Bulletin

Chuck & Jan Burwell                             December 14, 2011

14 W. Fiesta Green

Port Hueneme, CA 93041-1820

( home   805-283-6500

( Chuck 805-452-4424

( Jan      805-665-7193

* theburwells@yahoo.com　     

Merry Christmas to our Friends & Family,

“For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

Thank you so much for praying and partnering with us as we seek to mobilize workers to join our Christar teams.

We pray that this Christmas season you will hear His wise counsel, will experience His mighty power, will be comforted by the Father’s loving arms, and will have a heart filled with peace that surpasses understanding.

Updates, corrections and answered prayers

     We praise the Lord that a young lady from New York has been accepted as a short termer with Christar to work for one to two years in the Ube Lighthouse church.  Her goal is to get there in January or February and she is just starting to do support raising.  Please pray for Claudia and pray also that we can recruit another missionary to work with her.

     Praise the Lord for special donations to our account at Christar that has put us in the black for two months in a row.  For the first time in over two years we are no longer running a deficit.  Thank you for giving and praying.

     In our recent email bulletin we shared about 52 new Hindu background believers in India but we found out that actually they are in Bali, Indonesia and came to faith through a local church there.  Christar missionaries have been asked to help with discipling them.

     This is an update on Pastor Youcef in Iran that was just reported this week.  “US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Iran to release a Christian pastor facing death due to his faith in Jesus.  Nearly 200,000 Americans have signed a petition for the US government to intervene and help gain freedom for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.  In calling for Nadarkhani’s unconditional release, Clinton said Saturday, “Today, we call on every government to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally, including Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.””  Your prayers are working.

    

 Mobilizing Missionaries

     Since early September, Chuck has visited CIU in Columbia, SC, been to Biola twice, Corban in Salem, OR, and also to Master’s College, Azusa and to two Asian American missions conferences in LA.  Jan accompanied him on all but the CIU and Corban trips.  We are seeing a number of folks sign up for short term trips and it looks like Christar will have an above average response this coming year for short term trips.  But our department is still at half of our goal for getting long term applications for service.  Please pray with us to see many more mobilized.

Japan ministry update

     Pastor Uchida’s mother recently believed in Jesus but unfortunately his father passed away in November and did not indicate that he was a believer.  Please keep praying for their family to be comforted and provided for.

     Another one of the saints, Mrs. Teraoka, passed away in late October.  She was around 87 years old and we first met her when she came to an outreach piano concert by Sam Rotman back in 2004.  It took a few years but she eventually believed the gospel and was a great blessing to the church.  She is pictured here with her daughter-in-law when we visited Ube this May.  Pray that her son and daughter-in-law would believe some day.  They insisted on a Buddhist funeral.

     The Lighthouse church also had a cooking class outreach event in November and the participants including the Uchidas and Weinhofers are pictured here.

     The four gospel choirs did a combined concert as a tribute to Maria Sato, the director who passed away in April of this year.  We just watched the DVD of the concert and they really did a super job.  Of the 80 or so members of the four choirs, somewhere between 15 and 20 are Christians, so we all need to keep praying for them.

     Chuck is planning to lead a team of college students to Japan next year, if the Lord wills, so we ask prayer for the right ones to apply.

     Miyoko Oki, mother of Ayaka the little girl who survived leukemia,  is really struggling and in need of the Lord’s saving grace.  Please keep praying for Miyoko

Local and Family news

     Pastor Yamamoto and his wife are doing well and still trying to find a meeting place in the Thousand Oaks area for a Japanese small group meeting.  They are also continuing their ministry at the Japanese church in Santa Barbara.  We were able to participate in their Christmas outreach to UCSB and SBCC Japanese students this month.

     We have also been helping with the 2^nd and 3^rd grade Sunday School at VMC this fall and it has been a lot of fun.  We are amazed at how much spiritual food these little minds can absorb!  Pray we can recruit some future missionaries here!

     We were blessed for ten days in November with a visit from Chuck’s 88 year young mother who came out from Louisville, KY and also spent three weeks with her sister in Phoenix.  She did great and we had a wonderful time.

Burwell Blooper

     Jan and I(Chuck) were recently getting work done on our cars so we would drive to the mechanic and leave one car and drive home.  Then the next day we drove to pick one car up and drop the other one off and as we drove home I said to Jan, “Why are we both in the car together going both directions?”  and she says, “What do you mean…..Oh my gosh! I could have stayed home!  We are losing it!”  Ah, the blessings of getting old.  At least we had a nice ride and a good laugh together.

Summary of Prayer requests

1) For Claudia to raise all her support to go to Japan

2) For another female applicant to join her in Japan.

3) That we would have 14 more financial supporters join our regular support team (we gained one last month).

4) Pray for freedom for Pastor Youcef and the thousands of others around the world who are jailed for their faith.

5) Pray that Christar can double the number of applicants we currently have for 2012.

6) Pray for God’s comfort on the Uchida family and for the Lighthouse church to grow in faith and numbers.

7) Pray for Mrs. Teraoka’s family to believe.

8) Pray for the unsaved choir members and English students to understand and believer the gospel.

9) That God would put together a team of students to go to Japan with Chuck next year.

10) For Miyoko Oki to be saved from the spiritual oppression that she is in.

11) For the Lord to provie a meeting place for the Yamamotos and the Japanese group in Thousand Oaks.

12) For our ministry to the 2^nd and 3^rd graders and that they would all know the Savior and grow in His grace.

Thank you again for your precious prayers and gifts.

Merry Christmas and love to you all,

Mrs. Teraoka and her daughter-in-law

Gospel choir - in memory of Maria Sato

Jan at Biola

Lighthouse church cooking class with Weinhofers and Uchidas

Japanese outreach Christmas party in Santa Barbara

Chuck's mom with Melissa, Liam, Jackson and Justin in back, Nick , Megan and Brooklyn in  front

 Home Office

Christar

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Richardson, TX 75085-0357

800-755-7955

: www.christar.org