News from the Fields – March 2023

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Highlights from the Lord…

May the Lord lead your hearts…

                          into a full understanding of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. (II Thes 3:5)

 

FIVE ways God has used Dad’s cancer to teach us to trust the Lord more:

  • God gave Dad a specialist in his exact kind of cancer! HE is exactly amazing!
  • Dad talks about the Lord with any medical staff around him. What an example!
  • I got to share the gospel in my college speech class. Following dad’s example!
  • Dave shared the gospel to the propane shop worker! Following dad’s example.
  • We want to put a spotlight on the Lord when someone asks how Dad is because…

HE IS WORTHY!

What else has been happening with us?

We had a large group of young people come to visit Ethnos Bible Institute! They stayed in the dorms, went to classes and loved what they saw! Many of them will be returning as students in the Fall!

We got to travel to western Wisconsin to speak at a church last weekend. We sure enjoyed the company of those believers and getting an opportunity to shine the spotlight on the Lord!

This past weekend Dave got to speak at the church family we are a part of here in town. It was an opportunity to give the pastor a well deserved break! Dave loves every opportunity to open the Word and teach verse by verse!

Dave is also teaching two hours per morning here at Bible School. The class now is called Christian Life..where the nuts and bolts of their two years comes together for the Seniors.

God is also being so faithful and true in the lives of our sons! He is blessing them as they seek to honor Him daily in whatever way the Lord asks of them.

All my life He has been faithful. All my life He has been SO, SO GOOD!

Thank you for partnering with us and loving us and praying for us!
Dave & Kim Field

 

Hautle Happenings – March 2023

May he grant you your heart’s desire

and fulfill all your plans!

Psalm 20:4

Even though our ministry is focused on designing materials, one of my favorite tasks is training others to use design software. I’ve had a desire for several years to conduct an in-person training. God granted that wish and allowed Jen and I to travel to Ontario, Canada, last month to train workers with Child Evangelism Fellowship® from three provinces for three days.

One benefit strategically is the large contingent of French-speaking workers that took part in the course. Since French is one of the CEF® major language groups, this will help more French materials to be translated and produced for world-wide use.

It was such an enriching and fun time, and as always, I learned new things while teaching.

We also got a chance to visit Second Reformed Church in Marion, NY, on the way, giving an update at the worship service and during Sunday School.

Around the time we were in Canada, the European Leadership Team met and asked if I could teach again in Europe. We are now in the planning stages of a full design software course in Romania in May—with which I’m thrilled. It will (Lord-willing) take place after the European regional team retreat, which I’ll be a part of, so it fits nicely together.

Present and future projects

Work continues on the latest camp packet, Esther, as well as the Youth Challenge book redesigns—three of which are currently in various stages of development.

It is the time of year for countries to submit their files for printing for the Boxes of Books program. We receive the PDFs and review each one to make sure it is ready for printing.

Other projects on the horizon include a new Christmas Together kit, materials for the Children’s Ministry Leadership Course and designs for a new preschool course.

So far, more than 125,000 backpacks distributed in Ukraine and surrounding countries, and 4 million Do You Wonder Why? booklets have been printed, most of them distributed.
The Ukrainian team was able to conduct many Christmas Clubs. One parent who attended a Christmas Club with his 4-year-old daughter said, “I was so ashamed I didn’t know these things before now. I didn’t know Emmanuel is a Name for God, I never made the connection between Adam & Eve and Jesus Christ. The plan of salvation was explained so that even the youngest person could understand it. May God work in every heart who was listening—parents and children.”

On the home front

A lot has happened since we last wrote! Amy got her learner’s permit to drive, and she’s about halfway to getting the hours she needs in order to take the test.

In November, we held a small surprise 50th anniversary party for my parents. It was so good to see family and long-time friends.

In December, Amy was inducted into the National Honor Society at Upper Dauphin High School. Christmas morning I preached at Echo Valley Grace Brethren Church, and we got to spend Christmas day with Jen’s mom, sister and brother-in-law.

In January, my father and I took a much anticipated trip to Mississippi to visit family—including my great-nephew, Jett. It was such a wonderful trip, and we were so blessed to have gone.

Things at church keep us busy—Awana, worship teams, youth group, helping with KidCheck and nursery. The growth at church has been amazing, and we’re grateful to be able to serve there.

Amy and Christopher have been accepted to be summer missionaries with CEF in Schuylkill County again this year. They are excited to serve once again!

Brent, Jen, Amy & Christopher Hautle

PRAYER CORNER

  • Praise God for an excellent InDesign course with Canadian staff in Ontario.
  • Please continue to pray for Ukraine, especially for the workers holding clubs among the refugee children. Pray for their physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.
  • Pray for the European regional staff retreat, which Brent will, Lord-willing, be taking part in the end of April in Romania.
  • Pray for the Design Software Course planned after the regional staff retreat—for the planning and development of new teaching methods.
  • Pray Brent can quickly get the Youth Challenge books, PowerPoint lessons and digital files designed and ready for translation.
  • Pray for the Esther camp materials that need to be finished quickly. Praise God several countries are currently translating the Survival Camp materials, and pray for those currently working on putting it in their language.
  • Pray for Amy and Christopher, who will again be attending training school and serving this summer for six weeks with CEF in Schuylkill County.
  • Pray as Brent helps at training school, that he will be a blessing to the students and staff.

 

The Lenz’ – March 2023

That’s A Wrap…

You may recall that in September 2021, the North Wahgi New Testament had gone through its final consultant check and we were approved to pursue getting it printed. Since then, during my visits to the village, I have been working with a team of guys from the church to proofread the entire New Testament, looking for spelling and grammar mistakes as well as anything else that may need to be tweaked before we send it off for formatting and, finally, print. This process has been spread over a long period of time, but I am very excited to be able to say that on my last visit to the village, we were able to complete the proofreading process!!
So, what’s next? We have a few changes to make on the text and then it should be off to our Mission HQ in Sanford, Florida, for them to assist us through the process of formatting, typesetting, and finally getting it off to the printer for publication. We don’t know yet how long to expect this process to take but we are excited to have come this far! We are also working to find out what printing costs will be for the Wahgi New Testament. Please pray for the necessary funding to get God’s Word printed and in the hands of the Wahgi church. If you, a small group, Sunday school class, or anyone you know would like to donate toward meeting the expenses of getting the Wahgi New Testament printed, shipped, and distributed, please reach out for more information. There will be some specific instructions to help streamline this.

   

It’s ALIVE!!!
My last trip to the village in late-January was multi-purpose. Yes, one purpose was to work on the Scripture proofreading, but another was to help facilitate the connection between a family from a completely different part of the country and our church. This family has been working for close to 15 years helping their missionaries (from our same mission) do Bible translation in their village. About 16 months ago, the father was medivaced out of his village due to complications from a VERY enlarged prostate (bigger than an orange). For 15 months he was not able to get any medical help other than changing out a catheter. BUT GOD opened the door for him to be seen at the hospital near our village. The surgeon agreed to do the operation and then his missionaries brought him and his family over to our village where our church warmly welcomed them. Our church knew the road to recovery was going to be a long one and that this family was a long way away from their home. They provided them with some food, a place to cook, a cooking pot, a place to sleep, their own outhouse for the time they were there, and some money to help with transportation cost to/from the hospital! WOW! We missionaries were humbled and encouraged by their generosity! The Word of God was ALIVE! It was the book of Acts in living color!      Our new friend, Basa, has had his surgery and has completed his recovery time in our village. While in our village, people from the church were great about taking Basa’s wife to the hospital to visit every few days so that she wasn’t worried about him; also helping to navigate the public transport system which is a bit overwhelming for them because they’re from a remote location that is only accessible by plane. I have to say, this has been a proud “parent” moment for us missionaries as we have seen our “kids” stepping up and living the Word of God. Last week, Basa, his wife, and their son were able to leave our village and begin their journey back to their own village. Please pray for Basa as his incision still needs to fully heal. Pray for him and the family as they have a long bus ride and then a very long difficult hike to make it home. 

 

Thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support.

Levi, Robyn, Michael, Daniel, Matthew, and Krystiana Lenz
Serving among the North Wahgi people in Papua New Guinea

News from the Field’s – March 2023

God’s peace….

exceeds anything we can understand

We were able to get out for coffee with Dad before we left back to Wisconsin and it was fun making good memories! Please be praying for my parents as they found out that Dad’s cancer is called Mesothelioma. They need wisdom as they make decisions about the treatment plan. And they truly need His peace which passes all understanding! God is showing Himself faithful everyday.

It’s strange getting back into life at EBI.

It feels like our heart is in two worlds! I’m sure the Lord will help us balance them both with His wisdom. It would be nice to live closer to mom & dad, but I am thankful I can hop on a 2 hour flight and be with them when they need me to come.

It’s strange getting back into life at EBI.

It feels like our heart is in two worlds! I’m sure the Lord will help us balance them both with His wisdom. It would be nice to live closer to mom & dad, but I am thankful I can hop on a 2 hour flight and be with them when they need me to come.

Back here at EBI:

  • Dave is teaching Christian Life to the Seniors…I can’t believe grad is coming up in May!.
  • I am helping prepare students to host 40 or so visitors coming next week for a campus visit!

Thank you for your prayers for our family! We are leaning on the Lord and finding Him faithful everyday!

Dave & Kim Field

Ethnos 360 – News from the Field’s – February 2023

Please pray for travel safety

As 60 of us are driving to Missouri!

 

The reason to take all these students to our missionary training:

  • To introduce them to the amazing cross cultural missions training our mission offers them.
  • To allow them to sit in classes, live in student housing, meet students and staff.
  • To bring the world needs before them and show them how they can be a part.
  • For worship, good food, new experiences, and time in the Word in a beautiful lakeside setting.

Thank you for praying for all of us this weekend!

I am so very thankful to get to go on these student adventures with Dave by my side! What a fun joy to have a life partner in Dave!

I will fill you in next week on all the ways the Lord blessed and encouraged and directed, and protected all of us! He is good!
Dave & Kim Field

Lenz News – November 2022

I greatly apologize for this being so late – it got lost among my emails….Judy White

Difficulty = Discipleship Opportunity

A few weeks ago our family was able to make the drive into our village over the kid’s term break. It was nice to be there as a family again; for Robyn to be able to spend time with the ladies and the kids to spend time with their friends too.

One day, Robyn and I needed to take a little road trip to get some medicine from the local hospital. We invited a few other people along for the ride who needed to go to town. On the way home we asked one of the ladies about their daughter whom we’d not seen in a while and her answers were evasive. When we got home and everyone had bailed out of the vehicle, our sister stayed behind and began telling us about how her daughter had succumbed to temptation and is now pregnant. For about an hour we sat in the vehicle listening to, encouraging with Scripture, and praying with our sister-in-Christ.

There are other cultural dynamics that only serve to complicate this situation. The next day Robyn went over to our friends’ house to see them. Our daughter-in-Christ now lives in shame and fear of what the future holds for her. Over the next few days (with the parent’s permission) we took the opportunity to speak with the church about what their biblical response should be in this situation. If this young lady is willing, we said, to submit herself to God, her parents, and the church, she needs to be restored. The ladies need to draw alongside her and teach her all she needs to know about being a mom and a woman. She doesn’t need to constantly be reminded of her wrongdoing. The wrong has been done, but what she needs now is to be shown the love, mercy, and forgiveness of Christ. I took the opportunity to speak with some of the Christian men from this clan and encourage them with the need to stand strong on the Word of God even when it will be counter cultural. There will no doubt be many culturally relevant solutions offered up in this situation, but they will most likely not be biblical. As the men their voices will carry weight and they need to use that weight to influence others toward a biblical resolution.

  • Pray for this young lady that she will be willing to be restored to the Lord, her family, and the church.
  • Pray for the church to step up to the plate in helping this young lady.
  • Pray for the church to stand boldly on God’s Word, even when it stands against culture.

It is difficult at times (okay, almost always) to see our difficulties as discipleship opportunities, and much more difficult to thank God for them. This situation has caused me to think long-and-hard about how I would respond if this were my own child? I pray that my children won’t fall into temptation, but I also know how easily it can happen. I pray that when they fall short in some way, I will be able to show them the love, mercy, and forgiveness of Christ; because do you know what?? I need it too when I fall short.

  • Pray for us as we raise our children; that they would grow up to be God-honoring adults!

One more thing…

Please also be praying for the young man involved in the situation. He has expressed an interest in hearing God’s Word and I have encouraged our teachers not to let this opportunity pass as he is ripe for the picking.

Thank you for praying.

Levi (for the Lenz fam.)

Join the Lenz’s Support Team
Thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support.

Levi, Robyn, Michael, Daniel, Matthew, and Krystiana Lenz

Open Door Mission – January 2023

January News & Updates

Thank you for taking the time to read our monthly e-newsletter that communicates Mission news, updates, prayer requests, needs, events and success stories.

Help Support Our New Residents
This Fall, we opened 24 permanent supportive housing units for formerly homeless individuals. Our new apartments are fully furnished but some of our residents are lacking some basic items. If you can help provide some basics, please click on our AMAZON WISH LIST Your help will ensure our residents will get off to a great start in their new home!
Can We Come Visit Your Church?
We would love to come and be a part of your Sunday service or weekday bible study.
There’s so many new developments, improvements and success stories to share with multiple opportunities to engage your congregation in service to the Lord at the Mission.
Call us today at (585) 325-3243 to put us on your calendar.
Volunteer Service Opportunity
URGENT VOLUNTEER NEED to serve in the Mission’s food pantry area and for donations of gently used jackets and winter coats.
Please consider a group volunteer effort to serve breakfast at our emergency shelter.
To view and sign up for other volunteer opportunities, please CLICK HERE!
If you have any questions, please email Shawn Baldwin at sbaldwin@opendoormission.com
Open Door Mission Job Opportunities
  • Weekend Case Aid – Addiction Recovery – Part Time, 16-24 hours/week
  • Overnight Supervisor – Emergency Shelter – Full Time
  • Case Manager – Emergency Shelter – Full Time
  • Case Aid – Emergency Shelter – Part Time, 16-24 hours

For serious consideration of any posted job description, each applicant is required to complete an Application for Employment and General Questionnaire.

Click HERE to view more details of all these job descriptions!

“Hope Lives” Radio

Tune in to hear the latest information effecting our communities homeless population and how Open Door Mission is addressing key issues.
CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast of the most recent program.
Business Sponsorship Opportunities Available!
Call Chris Scribani at (585) 325-3243 for more details.
Current Needs List
Going shopping this week? Please take a look at our current needs list and consider buying a few items from our Amazon
If you’re shopping for yourself then please consider shopping at AmazonSmile.com where a percentage of your purchasing dollars go to support the Mission.
Create Your Personal Giving Account
Did you know you could have complete access to all your giving records with the Open Door Mission?
It’s especially helpful if you give regularly with a debit or credit card account. It’s also helpful at the end of the year when you need your history of gifts to report during tax filing season.
Go to OpenDoorMission.com today and click the MY ACCOUNT button in the top right corner of your screen to create a personal username and password.
What To Pray For
1. Pray for the salvation and restoration of all those we serve with emergency shelter, food, clothes, addiction recovery, transitional housing, life skills and job readiness programs.
2. Pray for peace and health to all of our staff and their families.
3. Pray for the families that just came into the Coldwater House and for those who recently moved out into their own permanent housing.
4. Pray for continued success for the men who recently graduated from our addiction recovery program and for those just entering the program.
5. Pray for the Mission’s permanent supportive housing apartment residents.
6. Pray for the necessary resources to maintain our daily expenses.

Hautle Prayer Points – January 2023

January 11, 2023

Dear praying friend,

“…since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1

War is devastating and destructive. It ruins lives and property. It destroys physically and psychologically. We see this in the nearly daily images and videos coming from Ukraine. How much more devastating a war against God is? But yet, through Christ we have peace with God! Praise God this message of peace continues to be proclaimed even in the midst of earthly war and destruction. Christmas clubs took place throughout Europe and boys and girls put their faith in Christ—the faith that brings peace!

PRAISES

  • Praise God for the many, many Christmas Clubs held across Europe. We’re rejoicing for the children who put their faith in Jesus and we’re praying this opens the doors for more church partnerships and a growth in Good News Clubs.
  • Several Children’s Ministry Leadership Courses were held last year in Romania, Germany and Ireland. Thank the Lord for more workers for the harvest field!

REQUESTS

  • Brent and his father will drive to Mississippi Jan. 12-13 and the return trip Jan. 16-17. Pray as they spend time with family, and for the Lord to give them safe travels.
  • Amy and Christopher are going on their youth group snow camp retreat Jan. 13 and will return on the 15th. Pray this is a spiritually enriching time for them and the 60+ teens, and for their safety.
  • We are putting together a trip for training in early February. Please pray for the details of this trip.
  • Work continues on the Youth Challenge manuals and the camp packet. Please pray for these items to get completed quickly.
  • Please continue to pray about the war in Ukraine—especially for the CEF workers still there and those who have fled the country. Pray for the Hope for Ukraine project bringing the Gospel to displaced children across Europe.

Thank you!  We greatly covet your prayers!