Prayer Focus November - December 2012

November 2012 1 Thu. Liberia – Back in Monrovia Praise the Lord for the re-launch of the CLC ministry in Monrovia following two years of much hard work by all members of this project – including CLC Sierra Leone and USA. The new bookshop opened on September 3rd and an official celebration opening day will be held soon. The shop manager, James Cooper, requests prayer for God’s wisdom to manage the shop in an effective and efficient way. He is assisted by Isaac Dweh, who has been involved with CLC Liberia in the past and has been waiting for the re-opening for many years! (Photo below)

2 Fri. Bangladesh – Booktables Over the next two months shop manager Dominic Cadet hopes to have CLC booktables in various areas in and around the large and densely populated city of Dhaka. This will mean that extra resources and help will be required. Please pray that God will supply what is needed, and guide the team to the right venues for the booktables. Pray too for the safety of the shop and staff.

3-4 Sat/Sun UK - Administration Give thanks for the work of Tim Bloomfield, the UK Administrator who will be emigrating,

with his son Peter, to New Zealand shortly.

Please pray for Jill Fanning who has taken up this role. Pray that she will quickly learn what is involved and settle into the job. Also pray for those who will be taking over the website work previously done by Jill.

(Changing of the guard: photo of Tim B. & Jill F.)

5 Mon. Mozambique – Beira Please pray for missionary Claudia Middendorf as she returns to Mozambique in two weeks time following several months of home assignment in Germany. Claudia oversees the work of our bookshop in Beira as well as being the leader of another missionary organisation in Mozambique.

Please pray that together with national worker Jose Sacramento, she will be able to develop the ministry of the bookshop which, like our bookshop in the capital, Maputo, is located within a Bible college.

6 Tue. Mozambique – Maputo Please pray that a quantity of Bibles and books being shipped from Editora Vida in Brazil will make it to the bookshop in time for Christmas. The ministry particularly needs good Christmas sales in order to be able to order more Bibles and books, and to help with the repayment of a loan that was taken out last year for a much larger quantity of stock.

7 Wed. Romania – Books and Newsletters Praise God for the latest book we have published by Evelyn Christenson - What Happens when we Pray for Our Families.

Praise God also for the good responses we are getting to our almost weekly newsletters with new products or special promotions.The website newsletters have been particularly effective in generating sales during the slow summer months.

8 Thu. Cyprus – Bookfairs CLC Cyprus is once again involved in a number of bookfairs leading up to Christmas. Eva and Sotos Photiades, CLC Nicosia, would appreciate prayer as they and their volunteer helpers travel and set up bookstalls this month; in Nicosia (14th), Limassol (17th), Larnaca (24th), and also Paphos on December 1st. Pray for the Lord’s blessing on these occasions of fellowship among Christians, and pray that good books will be sold to help them in their spiritual growth.

9 Fri. Colombia – SEPA From the 13th to the 16th of November, four team members from CLC Colombia will be in the USA for the SEPA conference.

SEPA is an association of providers of Christian resources in Spanish. Praise God that this year more of our team have been able to get visas to travel to this event. Pray that it will be a worthwhile and fruitful time.

10-11 Sat/Sun. UK – Church Contacts Pray for all the shop managers and staff as they look to improve their contacts with local churches and their leaders. At the recent September managers’ meetings this was seen as vital to our continuing ministry through the shops. Pray that local churches will be keen to work with CLC shops to keep them as ministry centres on the high street.

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12 Mon. Sierra Leone – Improvements In October, a team from CLC USA visited CLC in Freetown to remodel the headquarters bookshop at Circular Road, and to introduce point of sale computerisation. In effect, the bookshop has now doubled in size as they incorporated the shop next door (which is owned by CLC and was previously leased to tenants) in the refit. Please pray that the staff will quickly get used to the new, computerised way of working and that our customers will be so happy with the new shop that they will be quick to spread the word!

13 Tue. Sierra Leone - Elections Jusu Wai Sawi, the National Director for CLC in Sierra Leone, writes: “Presidential, parliamentary and local government elections will be held on Saturday 17th November 2012 throughout Sierra Leone.

It will be a test of not only our democracy but also our hard-earned peace. Please pray with us that these elections will be violence-free, conducted in a calm and fair atmosphere and that the results will be accepted by all parties concerned.”

14 Wed. USA – Ministry Banquet CLC will be hosting the annual ministry banquet on Friday November 16th. Jill Brisco, a well known CLC author, will be the speaker. We will also be presenting CLC’s international needs with particular emphasis on raising funds to respond to emergency needs. Our theme for the evening will be ‘Transformation’.

15 Thu. Portugal – Global Leadership Summit For the past two years Carlos Cunha, the manager of CLC Coimbra, has taken a booktable to the annual Global Leadership Summit that is held in Lisbon and Porto.

This year we will be there again, in Lisbon this weekend and the following weekend in Porto. Praise the Lord for the good sales we have had in the past at this event and for the opportunity to make CLC’s ministry more widely known.

16 Fri. Austria – Joy in Ministry CLC Austria has booktables at conferences over the next two weekends. Hopefully the

team will already have enough extra help but please pray for joy and strength for those who are involved in all the transporting, arranging, selling and packing up of the books etc. Please pray too for the volunteers who are in charge of CLC book stands in their churches. May they too have joy in their ministry and encouraging encounters with people.

17-18 Sat/Sun. UK - Aberdeen Neil MacLennan, in the Aberdeen shop, is looking for more staff - either a full time member or two part time workers who could take on some responsibilities in the shop. Some more good volunteer support would also be appreciated. This need has become more acute as the work, and sales, have grown over the last year. Please pray too for the extra work involved in taking Christmas bookstalls to events in Aberdeen and surrounding towns.

19 Mon. Philippines – Anniversary During the month of November, CLC Philippines celebrates its 55th anniversary and has arranged some extra activities and an anniversary sale. Today there is a special programme with an invitation to pastors and Christian workers to celebrate with the team. There will be a guest speaker and also a book launch.

Regional Director Romualdo Macinas & wife Deedah

20 Tue. Dominica – Challenging Times The economic situation in the country is not good and CLC is directly affected by this.

Please pray for the shop manager Davis Laudat, and his assistant Janet Davies. Pray that they will have wisdom and direction from the Lord in ordering the right stock and in knowing how to promote it. Pray too for good Christmas sales.

21 Wed. Portugal – Evangelistic Studies Pray for spiritual fruit, and ongoing interest in the Bible, following a recent series of four evangelistic Bible studies, held over two Saturdays and arranged by CLC Portugal.

Between 20 and 30 people, many of whom are not believers, attended the studies on the theme of prophecy. (Photo below.)

22 Thu. PNG - Alotau Sadly the CLC bookshop in Alotau closed in September after 12 years serving the people of Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea.

Please pray for Basil Rurua, who was the manager, as he moves on to a new area of service and work. Pray too for Vere Babona and the team who continue to serve in the Boroko bookshop.

23 Fri. PNG – New Opportunities Praise the Lord for new opportunities for CLC in Papua New Guinea despite the difficulties we face here. At a recent conference where CLC held a bookstall, we were approached by the Director of the National Airports Corporation who talked about the possibility of having a bookstall at the airport. Please pray for God’s leading and guiding as this project is seriously considered.

24-25 Sat/Sun. UK - London Pray that customers of the old London shop on Holborn Viaduct continue to find our new shop in Ave Maria Lane. Pray also that we will get permission for an exterior sign above the shop and a protruding sign as well. We have been trying for this for the last year and the need is urgent. Pray for Petra and the team during this busy period as they work long hours to make Christian Literature available in central London.

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26 Mon. Italy – Milan There may be an opportunity to buy the property right next to our bookshop in Milan at a very reasonable price, giving us the possibility of enlarging the existing, but rather small, bookshop. To make this happen,several administrative obstacles need to be surmounted and funds are necessary. Please pray for wisdom in knowing how to proceed.

27 Tue. Swaziland – Recue Plan Update It is twelve months since a rescue plan was put in place to see if we could continue the work in Manzini, Swaziland. We have been able to settle most outstanding bills and, thanks to a number of gifts, have been able to purchase stock to rebuild our inventory.

The economic situation is very difficult in Swaziland, partly due to worldwide downturn but also because of a change in taxation.

We need to see an increase in sales to maintain the current situation or we will need to make decisions about the future of the work there.

28 Wed. Barbados – A Testimony A young woman came into the shop in Bridgetown recently to buy a concordance.

When she returned to the shop a few weeks later she explained that she had just spent a week in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. It seems her mother had contacted the police and had her admitted to the ward because ‘she had accepted Christ as her Saviour and was playing Gospel music on her mobile phone’! Please pray for this young lady, who has been brought up in a different faith, as she lives out her new found faith in Jesus in difficult circumstances.

29 Thu. Trinidad – Sales and Staff The ministry in Trinidad has been struggling recently. The decline in sales is partly due to damage caused during the recent hurricane season, which has proved very costly for many people, including our customers.

Added to this, the supervisor of the main bookshop, in Port of Spain, felt she should take up a new ministry and left CLC at the end of September. Please pray for Marlene Ramroop and her team in these days. Pray that they will have good Christmas sales, 4

and that God will provide the right person to manage the Port of Spain bookshop.

30 Fri. Cyprus – Staffing Situation Please pray for the person of God’s choosing to join the small team in Nicosia, Cyprus. The shop manager, Eva Photiadou, and her husband Sotos would like to have help particularly in the area of expanding the website and on-line sales etc. It would be good also to have someone helping who could take over the management of the shop at some point in the future.

December 2012 1-2 Sat/Sun UK – Christmas Rush This weekend marks the start of the ‘Christmas rush’ in the UK shops. Pray for all our staff that they can continue to provide a high level of Christian witness and customer service often under a lot of pressure. Many shops will be providing bookstalls to churches and at seasonal events as well as fulfilling special orders.

3 Mon. Kenya - Eldoret The shop we opened in December 2011, in Eldoret, seems to have settled down and is seeing some good sales, especially when Wilfare, the manager, can take books to events at local churches. However, we would appreciate prayer for an increase in sales so that we can afford to employ an assistant for Wilfare to ease his load.

4 Tue. Mozambique – Board Members The vice chair of our Board in Maputo and his wife will be stepping down in January due to other commitments. We thank God for all their help and support and wish them well in their future plans. We also thank God for preparing Don Hulsey, a missionary, to take over as new vice chair in January.

At the time of writing, we are still looking for one more new Board member. Please pray.

5 Wed. Austria – Team Building The team in Graz, Austria, is grateful for your prayer support especially regarding the staffing situation. Anna Krasser joined the

t e a m i n August and i s g o i n g through a period of training. At the same time another team member, Sarah Brugger, is planning to leave CLC in the New Year.

Please pray that God would lead and direct us in forming the right team for the future of the ministry. (L to R: Edeltraud, Anna and Sarah) 6 Thu. Romania - Publishing Please pray as we are intensifying our publishing efforts. We are currently almost ready to print Absolute Surrender

by Andrew Murray and Song of Solomon

by Watchman Nee. Although these are reprints of older titles we published, we think they are still in demand. As well as reviewing a number of our old titles, we are also looking to publish more new titles.

Please pray that our translators, reviewers, proofreaders and editors would have speed and accuracy so that we can expand this part of the ministry.

7 Fri. Canada – Relocation and Expansion This is a busy time for CLC Canada. In addition to the extra demands of the Christmas period, we need to vacate our headquarters and shop in Montreal by the end of February 2013. We are currently renting the building from the people who bought it from us earlier in the year. Pray that we will find the right building soon as ones we have already looked at seriously have not worked out. At the time of writing, there are also opportunities presenting themselves to open two more bookshops.

Please pray for very clear guidance from the Lord in these important matters. Praise the Lord for a number of ‘unexpected’ encouragements recently with extra staff and volunteer help.

8-9 Sat/Sun. UK – Stockport Following the sudden closure due to extensive fire damage, the Stockport shop should now be fully up and running in its

new location just down the road from the previous building. Pray that old and new customers find us easily - particularly during this important trading period. Pray too for strength and stamina for the staff with all the extra demands involved in a shop move just before Christmas!

(Photo on the right of the new shop taken on the day of the fire when the manager already thought this could be the place for us!)

10 Mon. Tanzania – Relocated It was with much gratitude to God, and to the local staff at Scripture Union, that we were able to relocate our new container bookshop onto the premises of Scripture Union in Dar es Salaam. CLC’s ministry in Tanzania has gone through many changes in the past year and national worker Salome Mapinda, together with SU missionary Penny Elliott, would appreciate prayer as they get the bookshop fully functional once more.

11 Tue. Italy – Reaching Out In addition to what is still quite a small group of Italian evangelical Christians, there is a growing number of foreign believers moving to Italy from Romania, South America and the Far East. Our desire is to serve them as best we can through our worldwide contacts within CLC - providing them with Bibles in their language and good Christian books. Please pray for more and better interaction with the various people groups.

12 Wed. Indonesia – Medan At the time of writing, the CLC bookshop in Medan is struggling due to a decrease in sales combined with high rental costs for the premises. The shop manager, Ely Hidayat, does not know how we can continue next 5

year given the current situation. Please pray for God’s wisdom and guidance in this matter, and His provision if, as we hope, we are to keep this shop open.

13 Thu. Indonesia - Growth We believe the CLC Ministry in Indonesia will continue to grow even in difficult circumstances. Many customers visit our bookshops and we still deliver books and Gospel tracts to places all around the islands of Indonesia. Please pray with the team for opportunities to grow and expand the ministry in this very needy area of the world.

14 Fri. Kenya - Kakamega It is now a year since the bookshop in Kakamega was opened and we are assessing the way forward. The situation is critical. We have been ‘under attack’ from vandalism, theft, floods and threats against staff. At the same time the sales have not been as high as anticipated. Please pray that we will see an increase in customers so that we can maintain this oasis in the wilderness, or that the Lord will give the CLC leadership guidance as to how to proceed in the future.

15-16 Sat/Sun. UK – Event Participation Chris Magee, the warehouse manager, is looking at ways CLC can work with one or two publishers and organisations to participate in special events next year. Give thanks for the events of 2012 and the sales achieved.

Pray that we can increasingly make use of these opportunities to reach the Christian public with good literature.

17 Mon. Korea – New Facilities The CLC warehouse team should be settling in well in their new warehouse facilities near Seoul by the time you read this. 400,000 books were transported from the old premises and it was a huge task to rearrange and organise everything.

At the time of writing, there was a need for another staff member for the warehouse team. Pray that the right candidate will be found and that he or she would also settle in well.

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18 Tue. Philippines – New Bookshop At the time of writing plans were well underway to open a new CLC bookshop in the Philippines. A suitable property has been identified, rented and prepared in the city of Davao. The plan was to have the shop ready for trading sometime in November so hopefully it will be fully operating now.

Please pray for all involved in establishing a new work in a new region of the country.

19 Wed. Philippines – New Authors CLC’s publishing department in the Philippines continues to grow and expand. Join with the team as they pray for, and make contact with local authors; they have a current target of taking on six new authors.

20 Thu. Antigua – Customer Care “We often have customers coming into the shop requesting prayer and encouragement in the Word of God. Recently a man came in very depressed and angry - to the point of violence - about a home situation; he was also losing his faith in God and his confidence in the church. After some initial shock, and a quick prayer that God would give the staff the right words, they were able to talk with him about the best way forward and he left much calmer. We may not know the outcome, but please pray for this man, and for wisdom and discernment for all our CLC shop staff as they encounter these kinds of situations.” Arah Martin 21 Fri. Germany – Caring Customers!

“Recently a customer bought around 80 books! It was a great feeling showing him a lot of good titles, talking with him about the content and then carrying two heavy boxes of books to his car.

He wanted to give most of them away to people in his church. Please pray with us, that these people are blessed while they are reading – for some of them it might be the first Christian book they read. May the books challenge and encourage them in their walk with the Lord.” Valentin Shweigler.

22-23 Sat/Sun. UK – Christmas Join with the UK team in giving thanks for the birth of our Saviour and pray that, in a world which so desperately needs saving, many will find Christmas to be a season of

good news and great joy. Pray that all our staff will be able to have rest and refreshment over the holiday period.

24 Mon. Italy – New Hope The current economic difficulties in this country mean that Italians, including CLC workers, are under pressure as everything becomes more expensive. The socioeconomic situation is also recognised as a factor in the increasing suicide rate in Italy but, at the same time, the crisis makes people reflect about life’s purpose. Our prayer is that through our ministry many desperate people can find new hope in Jesus Christ.

time of writing, a different venue is being considered in the ‘City of Tomorrow’ mall.

This would mean we can reach out to more people in the southern part of Surabaya.

Please pray for the stability and growth of this new venture for CLC Indonesia.

28 Fri. Cote d’Ivoire – Turning to God The security situation in the country has been a concern this year; it has affected the economy and our sales have been in decline. Please pray for the CLC bookshops in Abidjan, Bouake and Korhogo. One result of the national crisis is that many people are turning to God but they don’t have the financial resources to buy Bibles and books.

25 Tue. Look to Jesus

“Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen. He is my Beloved, who pleases me…

He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. Finally he will cause justice to be victorious. And his name will be the hope of all the world.”

Matthew 12 v18, 20 and 21 NLT

26 Wed. USA – Urbana Missions Conference Members of the CLC USA team (Dave, Bill and Marge Almack and Jim Pitman) will be attending the Urbana Missions Conference from December 26-31 and will be recruiting college students to serve as missionaries with CLC. This event has resulted in several people joining CLC in previous years.

27 Thu. Indonesia – Book Outlet Praise God for the new CLC bookstall recently established in a shopping mall in Surabaya. However, the shopping centre is being totally renovated next August and we will need to move out before then. At the

Pray with us that the distribution of the Word of God will increase despite the difficulties.

29-30 Sat/Sun UK – Give Thanks Give thanks for the many Bibles, books and other items sold during the last year. Even during a time when sales are slow, CLC still distributes a large quantity of Christian literature. Pray that God will use each item for His glory and the extension of His kingdom.

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31 Mon. Bulgaria - A Miracle Next Year!

CLC Bulgaria will be celebrating 20 years in existence in 2013. During all this time the ministry has struggled to cover its costs and has relied on support from other CLC countries. It would be wonderful to see the situation improve so that CLC Bulgaria can make a profit. Please pray for a miracle next year! Praise the Lord for the team in CLC Sofia, an attractive shop (in the longest street in Sofia!) and for the many customers that visit us. (Team photo on the right)

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Members of CLC USA have traveled to Sierra Leone to help the CLC team there to expand and renovate their shop. Now that’s team work! May God continue to richly bless this endeavour & ministry in Sierra Leone.