AWANA MENA
Transcription
AWANA MENA
2011 AWANA MENA Winter Edition Edition NEWS We continue to be blessed here in Texas. We did have several snowfalls last winter and the past summer was in triple digits for nearly the whole summer. We’ve enjoyed lots of activities with our grandkids and our local church Chris has again made trips back to the Middle East this past year and two trips to Awana Headquarters in Chicago, Ill. Peggy continues to substitute teach in the local school district but receives fewer calls due to the greater number of subs available and the poor economic conditions that have a high number of people unemployed. FAMILY NEWS Our biggest family news is the arrival of a new granddaughter, Cora Margaret Toriz, born on July 25th to our son Tim, and wife Christine. She is a lovely little girl and loved a lot by big sister Tessa. Tessa is a very smart and loquacious little girl. We had a great Thanksgiving with them. Our eldest daughter, Amy has resigned from teaching first grade, and now is teaching a couple of college courses while embarking on her doctorate studies. It keeps her busy. Sons, Donnie and Dakota, continue to do well in school. Dakota (3rd grade) is active in sports and Donnie plays the trumpet in the Jr. High band. The boys recently showed heifers (they are pretty large animals!) at the Texas State Fair. Their Dad, Paul, is busy in the construction and remodeling business. We had a traditional Thanksgiving at their farm. Christy and pet loving family have added a new kitten to the family. Toulouse fits right in with all the other pets. Olivia, (17) went to her first prom this year, Colton (14) is active in sports. Ashton (12) and Savannah (8) spent a couple of weeks with us this summer. They loved playing in the lake and trying to catch the neighborhood wild kitties. Christy continues to work part-time for Purina and husband, Drew, works in construction. Hard to believe our grand kids are growing up so quickly – but all kids seem to do that! MINISTRY NEWS Chris visited Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this fall. Jordan: Chris worked with Fairouz & Gus for ten days on inventory, accounting and getting more Awana materials made. They had two days of QuickBooks (accounting) training and Albert came from Palestine to attend the class (see picture 1). Chris also visited the Awana club in Mahatta a suburb of Amman. The club is doing well but has a heavy turnover of Iraqis immigrating to other countries. Five children were saved the week before. (See Sparks picture 2) Palestine: Chris also spent several days in Palestine and met with Albert and Pastor Mazen who has agreed to re-start their Awana club in the Old City. He will also look into starting Awana at a sister church. Albert started a new club in his area. Lebanon: Chris spent a week in Lebanon and they had a day of Basic Training for active clubs there. Three boys from Sidon who grew up in Awana starting in the Sparks and Flame clubs attended the leader training. Chris spent several days with Marwan (new coordinator) helping him in his new Awana ministry. See Marwan’s family, photo 3. UAE: Chris also spent ten days in the UAE. Their Awana Leaders Conference was on Oct 8th in Dubai. Chris taught three workshops; Gospel Magic, T&T Update, and Ten Tools to Make You an Awesome Leader. See conference attendee’s photo 4. Chris spent five days working on the UAE accounts with Tony & Gracy (see photo 5); he also attended the ECC Awana Club in Abu Dhabi. ECC is one of the few clubs in MENA that have a full sized game circle (see photo 6) Faris (a former Awana Commander of an Arabic club) and Chris visited the new Arabic Pastor Sameh, in Sharjah just N.E. of Dubai. He and his wife are very interested in starting it soon. Egypt: Awana has really taken off in Egypt. Chris was there in May for the Train the Trainer Conference. PTL 30 churches participated in the SeedPlanter Basic Training Conference in August and 24 of these churches started Awana. We hope to have a 2nd SeedPlanters (SP) conference in March 2012 with about 50 churches. This will allow us to reach our long time goal of 100+ clubs by the end of 2012. (48+24+40=112) Pray that the 8 churches from SP1 and all 50 SP2 will start Awana, and then we will have 128 clubs. Also pray that a stable secular Government will be installed, that will give Christians the freedom of worship without fear. PTL many children were saved in these hard times. 4. Awana Leaders Conference attendees, Dubai, UAE 1. Fairouz, Gus & Albert in Jordan for QuickBooks training. 5. Chris, Gracy, Tony, Nathan & Vanessa at ECC in UAE 2. Iraqi Sparks Children at the Mahatta, Jordan Club. 6. Game Time at Evangelical Christian Church, UAE In His love and service, wishing you a blessed Christmas, Chris and Peggy Awana MENA [email protected], www.awana-mena.com 170 Tanglewood Rd., Mabank, TX, 75156 www.awanainternational.org 3. Vivianne, Marwan, Jonathan & Joy in Lebanon.