English Class at the "K"

By Lauren Timberlake, Bhutanese ESL Director

About a month ago, we took twenty-five Bhutanese English students and volunteers to the Royals game together. It was the first time to go to a game for many students--most had not even heard of baseball before. Everyone had a great time huddling together in the stands and learning about a new sport. We admired the stadium, ate peanuts and popcorn, clapped and cheered together. When I watch people from such different backgrounds have that much fun together, it’s easy to see Jesus in it. We are thankful for volunteers and students who want to be friends inside and outside the classroom. And what a year to experience Kansas City baseball---go Royals!

In other news:

• Our level 1 Latino ESL class has a record number of students and volunteers participating this trimester!
• The  Latino Leaders in Training (LIT) kids are excited to engage in enrichment activities every Wednesday. The interactive activities have included healthy cooking, culturally-based art projects, and even some drumming.

Prayer needs:

• Please pray for two marriages in our Latino community that are currently going through significant struggles.
• Please pray that our negotiations on the lease for our Thrift Store location would be finalized and the lease signed this week!
• Please pray for many Bhutanese English students who suffer from chronic pain.

Current needs:

• Compact fluorescent light bulbs for use in our facility.

Important dates:

• Get-acquainted Days: Thursdays, October 16 & 23, 6:30-8:30  Have you wondered what all goes on around here on a typical evening of programming?  Here's your opportunity to come and see for yourself!  Come on up to 22 S. 18th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102.  Please note, the Bhutanese Get-acquainted Day on October 21 has been cancelled due to a festival that will be celebrated by our community that day.

Loving People from Other Places

By Gary Pauley, Latino Outreach Director

I am new at Mission Adelante, and my first trimester of ESL has been quite an experience. The class is full and we have an abundance of volunteers from all over the city. It is an amazing thing to watch unfold.

About our third week into the trimester a lady showed up asking to sign up for English level one. The class was full, and I was about to explain to her that she might have to wait for another trimester. She spoke no English and seemed...exhausted.

"We are new here," she told me. "I have five children and I speak no English. I don't think I can do this without being able to speak to anyone."

I asked her how the transition was going, and how she felt. She began to cry. "It's very hard," she said. I got the idea that there had been many hardships along the way.

We explain to our volunteers that they are not just volunteering to coach someone in English. They are finding connections to new people from other places, and God has a purpose in it all. We encourage our amazing volunteers to cultivate friendships and show the love of Christ in any way they can.

Someone will have that opportunity with this struggling lady. We found room for her in the English class.

News:

• The Latino Leaders in Training Program had fun taking learning on the road last Saturday! We took a field trip to the Ernie Miller Nature Center to go hiking and continue our studies on nature and conservation.  Then we finished the day off with a Halloween party.
• Developing young talent!  Our Latino worship team has become a beautiful, cross-cultural mix of people of different ages and from different places. Our bass player, drummer (age 11), and two vocalist are from Mexico.  Our lead vocalist, pianist, and flautist (age 13) are from Cuba.  And our two guitarists (one a former missionary to Mexico and the other age 14) are from the U.S.

Prayer needs:

• Please be praying as the Bhutanese community celebrates many festivals this month.
• Please pray for a member of our community whose mother is very sick in Cuba.
• Please pray for the Lord to strengthen leaders from our community who are taking on new roles.
• Praise God with us for the way he has created a sense of family in our house churches.
• Please pray for our Thrift Store lease negotiations to be finalized soon!

Current needs: volunteers

• Bhutanese LIT is looking for people to commit to being weekly mentors from 4:00-6:00 on Thursday afternoons!  If you are interested, or would like more information, please contact Kristen Maxwell at kristenm@missionadelante.org.
• Kids Club is growing!  Last week we had 23 kids under the age of 6, and need to add a new Kids Club group!  To add a new group, we need more mentors!  If you like to work with the under-6 set and have Tuesday nights free to serve, contact Kristen Maxwell at kristenm@missionadelante.org.

Important dates:

• Get-acquainted Days: Tuesday, October 14 (Bhutanese)/Thursdays, October 16 & 23, 6:30-8:30  Have you wondered what all goes on around here on a typical evening of programming?  Here's your opportunity to come and see for yourself!  Come on up to 22 S. 18th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102.  Please note, the Bhutanese Get-acquainted Day on October 21 has been cancelled due to a festival that will be celebrated by our community that day.  If you want to check out our Bhutanese outreach, we hope you can make it on the 14th!

The God at Work in the Lives of our Friends

Written by Holly Stetler

Most of us know the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel's friends who found themselves under the rule and authority of King Nebuchanezzer. The three men refused to bow down to an idol made by the king and were about to face their death in a fiery furnace because of it. They refused because they knew and worshiped the one true God that had recently helped them become some of the strongest and smartest men in the king's household. They served King Nebuchanezzer but they were not going to disobey their true king by abandoning the most important commandment. This was the story we shared with our friends at kids club this Tuesday and it was amazing to share what the power of the one true God helped these friends overcome: death!

Sometimes it is hard to get through to kids. Actually, let me rephrase that. It is ALWAYS hard to get through to kids. This story is about three friends who literally walked around in fire and did not even get burned! This story shows us the infinite power of God and how well he cares for those who follow him! However, most of the kids hearing the story didn't seem to be amazed! They recited the story back to me, and most said they probably would have tried to run away if this had happened to them, but it was just a story to them.

I felt discouraged in the moment, but I’m thankful that these aren’t just stories. I’m thankful that God is both powerful and loving. I’m thankful that every week I have a moment here and a moment there with my little friends to share about his unending love. I’m thankful that just like God's intervention on behalf of Daniel’s friends, he is the one who must, too, intervene in the lives of my little friends. I want them to know our Lord and Savior. I want them to feel his unending love and know the hope he brings even when things seem impossible.

I was humbled, and remembered that it is not me, but the Holy Spirit, who will pierce their hearts. I remembered that we are called to communicate the gospel with clarity and compassion through our words and our lives and let God do the rest. Will you pray with me that these children will know his truth? That one day they will hear this story and be in awe that the almighty God loves, cares for and protects his children? May He continue to break through to their hearts!

In other news:

• Megan and Iris, one of our summer interns, traveled to the CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) National Conference last week in North Carolina.   It was a great time of refreshment, networking, and growth.
• Bhutanese ESL students showed Tuesday night that they are mastering the citizenship material. We are thankful for the many volunteers who have invested in their learning and pray each student will eventually reach his or her goal of passing the citizenship exam interview.

Current needs:

• We are looking for an affordable and reliable snow-removal service to plow our parking lot this winter.  If you have any recommendations, please email Sarah at sarahw@missionadelante.org.
• The Bhutanese Leaders in Training program is looking for Thursday mentors!  We need 3 more people to help with homework and enrichment activities from 4:00-6:15pm on Thursdays!  To come check it out, contact Kristen Maxwell at kristenm@missionadelante.org.
• A Bhutanese family from our community recently moved and their new house lacks a refrigerator. If you are able to provide a refrigerator, please contact Drew Hammond at drewh@missionadelante.org.

Important dates:

• Get-acquainted Days: Tuesdays, October 14 & 21 (Bhutanese)/Thursdays, October 16 & 23, 6:30-8:30  Have you wondered what all goes on around here on a typical evening of programming?  Here's your opportunity to come and see for yourself!  Come on up to 22 S. 18th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102.

Turning the World Upside Down

By Hannah Hume, Bhutanese Teens Ministry Coordinator

At Mission Adelante we envision a growing multicultural community of disciples making disciples. This vision is the at the core of everything we do and how we do it. We believe that expanding God's kingdom through the transformation of individual lives is at the heart of God's call for us and is the only way to see lasting change in ourselves, our communities, our cities, and our world.

 As a Kansas City, Kansas resident I often get an front-row seat to the hard and broken aspects of the city. Drugs, domestic violence, bigotry, and unjust systems abound. It can be overwhelming at times. However, I know there is hope. I don't find this hope in government programs, or changing laws, or hungry bellies fed. Laws can always change again, and those who were hungry will be hungry again tomorrow. I find hope in stories of lives transformed, like Narbu.

A couple of weeks ago I sat with 19 year old Narbu in his living room while he shared his concern for many of the young men in our community, and his desire to see them know Jesus and have their lives transformed. Why is this young man so concerned about his peers? Because a few years ago, Narbu himself was in a gang. However, through a series of miraculous events, his Hindu family came to know Jesus. Narbu was exposed to the good news of Jesus as well, and responded with his own personal commitment of faith.  Narbu turned his back on gang life, and is now newly married and an avid participant in a house church and in our teens ministry here at Mission Adelante. He dreams of ministering to and seeing young men from similar backgrounds as his escape their current lives and embrace the full life Jesus offers.

Narbu's is just one of a number of stories like this. Jesus offers good news--not just eternal security, but an invitation to have full life today, and to participate in bringing full life to those around us. When we talk about making disciples, our aim is not to clean people up morally, or to teach a Bible class. Rather, it is to display a daily walk with Jesus that affects every area of our lives and calls others to walk with us, like Paul described in 1 Corinthians when he wrote, "Follow me, as I follow Christ."

I dream of the day when the Mission Adelante community is accused of "turning the world upside down" like Jesus' followers in Acts 17:6 (ESV).  Care to join us?

Prayer needs:

• Please pray for Mon Maya Rai, the matriarch of one of our Bhutanese house churches, as she continues to struggle with health problems, and for the community surrounding her.

Current needs:

• Bhutanese LIT is currently in need of 3 Thursday mentors to serve from 4:00-6:15 on Thursday afternoons.  If you are interested in joining our team, please contact Kristen Maxwell at Kristenm@missionadelante.org.

Important dates:

Get-acquainted Days: Tuesdays, October 14 & 21 (Bhutanese)/Thursdays, October 16 & 23, 6:30-8:30  Have you wondered what all goes on around here on a typical evening of programming?  Here's your opportunity to come and see for yourself!  Come on up to 22 S. 18th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102.

Becoming Found Together

By Drew Hammond, Bhutanese Ministry Logistics Coordinator

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their possessions and property and were sharing with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Acts 2:42-47 is a great passage. It is one of the first accounts of people gathering together after Jesus was resurrected and ascended to be with the Father.  It’s passages like these that gives inspiration for our vision at Mission Adelante. “We envision a growing multicultural community of disciples making disciples, where immigrants and others are thriving and using our gifts together to transform our neighborhood and the world for the glory of Jesus Christ.” That statement can be played out in a number of ways, through our various programs. For the Bhutanese Teens Ministry, it looks like what happened last night with the launch of our new trimester.

We gathered in the home of one of our staff members with a team of volunteers and invited a group of 6 Bhutanese students to come and meet with us. These students all come from a Hindu or Buddhist background, and are people with whom we have been sharing life. They have all voiced interest in learning more about Jesus and how to follow Him as Lord. In response to their persistent interest, we gathered them together to mimic what we see in Acts 2:42-47, and to become a spiritual family, devoting ourselves to Jesus.

To start off, we spent some time getting to know each other and shedding tears brought on by the spicy Nepali snack we were enjoying. We moved into a time of worship, singing in both Nepali and English.  The teaching time was focused on two passages: Genesis 3:9 and Acts 2:42-47. The focus of Genesis 3:9 was to draw out what it means for us as individuals to be people who choose to be found by God, through the work of Jesus, as He calls for all of us. Then we brought it together by reading Acts as our statement of how we do that together, become a spiritual family. We ended by sharing prayer needs and praises and by praying for those things, some in Nepali and some in English.

Even on our first time bringing this group of people together, we had a sense of awe. Will you pray with us? Pray that many signs and wonders would take place in our lives. Pray for vision and clarity around who needs to be added to this group of people. And especially pray that we would increasingly become of one mind as we worship Jesus as Lord, and learn what it means to follow Him together.

In other news:

• Both our Latino Leaders in Training (LIT) program and our Bhutanese Leaders in Training (LIT) program launched this week, with 12 and 18 students, respectively! They're energetic and ready for a new year of learning and growing together. We are super excited to spend this school year pouring into these kids and their families.
• The Bhutanese outreach had a great trimester launch on Tuesday night!  Many kids and English students were present, and it went smoothly. The Latino outreach launches tonight. Please pray for the ways God wants to work during this new trimester.
• Five community members shared their stories at our volunteer training on Saturday.  Our immigrant community has taken more ownership in training incoming volunteers in the last year.
• Gary Pauley has officially begun working part-time at Mission Adelante overseeing our Latino ESL program as he continues to raise funds to come on full time as our Latino Ministries Director.  We’re excited to have Gary on board!
• Some of our staff members, volunteers, and participants were able to enjoy interesting experiences last week! Twenty five students and volunteers from Bhutanese English class went to a Royals game together. It was a first for many of them, and a great way to connect relationally outside of class. Additionally, a group of 15 Bhutanese teens and volunteers went to see The Blue Man Group at Starlight Theater. They had a lot of fun dancing and laughing!

Prayer needs:

• Please pray for the recovery of several staff members who are ill with the respiratory virus that is going around.
• Please pray for new students and volunteers to make significant relational connections over the next few weeks.
• Please pray for the last steps in our lease negotiations for a site for Adelante Thrift.  
• Please pray for our our High School students that are beginning their Senior year. Senior year is a crucial and busy time for students and many of them have expressed feeling overwhelmed already with homework and preparations for graduation and beyond.

Current needs:

• Bhutanese LIT still needs----- mentors to help with homework and enrichment activities on THURSDAY afternoons from 4:00-6:30.  Please contact Kristen Maxwell if you are interested in helping out at kristenm@missionadelante.org.

Important Dates:

• September 24: No Latino LIT