We are on our way to Ireland today
to do street work throughout Ireland. We will be traveling with an Irish band named Reality who are
long time friends to both Mike and I. They have real passion for Jesus. By God's grace, we see huge
crowds of a 100 people, up to 600 people in one place, gathering in the streets of Europe to hear the
Gospel. This is an impossible thing that happens each year because many fall on their knees and pray
for Ireland. PRAY!!!! Please pray especially for Stephen who leads the band. Ask the Father to give
him extra strength and wisdom.
We will also do a series of shows
with children who live in a very difficult place in Belfast. The "troubles" may be officially over,
but many children are still living with a legacy of hate. Please pray that we can show them what real
love looks like. Please pray for our Irish Puppet Director Sam Shaw and his dear wife Slyvana, as much
of the burden of our care falls on them.
Please especially pray for an
easy time at the airport. Pray that they will not loose our bags.
Thank you!
In Jesus,
Linda for the team
August 21st, Ireland 2007
Dearest Friends,
We are on our way to Ireland today
to do street work throughout Ireland. We will be traveling with an Irish band named Reality who are
long time friends to both Mike and I. They have real passion for Jesus. By God's grace, we see huge
crowds of a 100 people, up to 600 people in one place, gathering in the streets of Europe to hear the
Gospel. This is an impossible thing that happens each year because many fall on their knees and pray
for Ireland. PRAY!!!! Please pray especially for Stephen who leads the band. Ask the Father to give
him extra strength and wisdom.
We will also do a series of shows
with children who live in a very difficult place in Belfast. The "troubles" may be officially over,
but many children are still living with a legacy of hate. Please pray that we can show them what real
love looks like. Please pray for our Irish Puppet Director Sam Shaw and his dear wife Slyvana, as much
of the burden of our care falls on them.
Please especially pray for an
easy time at the airport. Pray that they will not loose our bags.
Thank you!
In Jesus,
Linda for the team
August 21st, Ireland 2007
Dearest Friends,
We are amazed at all that we've seen the Father do! Europeans do not stand in the street and listen for
hours to a Christian band, puppets, and Bible stories. However, this is what we have seen in Tralee
and now in Galway. God faithfully answered your prayers concerning the weather and gave us many
opportunities to share on the streets in Tralee. The response was incredible! Hundreds gathered for
almost every show, sometimes ignoring bad weather and heavy traffic to listen.
THE MAIN STAGE
Each year, 200,000 attend the Rose of Tralee festival. People come from all over Europe and there were
even people from South America, North America and Africa. I also met one lady from mainland China. This was an opportunity to impact the world for Christ.
They have a large stage where they feature bands and different performers. We always set up on the
corner of the street by the bank, but this year we were also invited to do a program on the main stage.
This was our fourth year in Tralee, but our first time to be given this invitation. More, we were
the only Christian group that was given this privilege. A crowd of more than 500 people gathered to
hear about Jesus Christ. Most of these people would not often go to church if they attended at all.
Again I am reminded that it is so important that we go to the streets and tell the people there of the
hope that Jesus gives.
When we would look into the eyes of the people that we were sharing with, we saw such great need.
They were hungry to have answer to their questions. They were desperate for hope. Our hearts broke as
we thought about all of these dear people, many of whom have never heard the truth about Jesus Christ.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray that we will receive an invitation to do a program on the main stage next year.
Please pray for our time in Galway. Ask God to pour His Sprit on the shows at Salthil this afternoon
and in downtown Galway tonight.
In Jesus
Linda for,
Sam and Silvana
Heather
Calah
Anna
Mille
Derek
Katie
Reality – the Irish band we are traveling with
August 21st, Ireland
2007-AWESOME!!!!
Dearest Friends,
JACOB
The response that we are seeing is unbelievable! We are here and yet we struggle to explain what we
see God doing. So much is happening. Tonight, on the street, a young Polish man named Jacob prayed
to receive Jesus with our Slovak teammate and I. His name is Jacob and because we are working with
good local churches in each city, we were able to connect him with friends who will help disciple him.
There are even other Polish Christians in this church. God is so good!
Please pray for him and ask God to make him a strong believer as he returns to Poland in late September.
Another friend is getting him a copy of the scriptures in Polish. Tonight, he asked me questions about
the reality of God. When his questions were answered, he said that he had no other reason not to ask
Jesus to be his Savior. We were so blessed by his prayer.
Tonight, this entire day has been a special blessing. I received it as a special gift from the Father,
a special comfort. As I spent the day sharing, He focused my eyes on others and their needs. God is
outside of time as we know it; He is in eternity always, but you and I live in days and weeks and
months and years. We cannot help but notice the passing of time. I always know how long it has been
since my husband Mike went home to heaven. Today was the 1 year and 11 month mark. I still miss him so
much: I will always miss him so much! However, I want you to know how especially dear the Father is on
these very difficult days.
Today, by His grace, I told 4 stories on the streets at 2 different locations. It was not an easy day,
but it was a precious day. Each time as I felt so weak, God was so strong. The stories went well,
honestly better than usual. I was surrounded by very dear brothers and sisters on the puppet team and
in the band. They were so very kind, reflecting God's love to me in all they did.
Huge crows, hundreds and hundreds of people, stood listening to simple Bible stories about Zacheus,
Peter, Jonah, and Joseph. Some stood for a couple of hours not wanting to miss anything that the
puppets or the band were doing. In my weakness and sadness, God showed me His great mercy and power.
There were so many incredible conversations with people who came up to us between and after the shows.
Silvanna, Sam's wife, is from Brazil and shared Christ with a man tonight in Portuguese. Anna, our
French puppet director, had an amazing opportunity to talk with 2 students from Switzerland in French. Mili, our Slovak friend, shared hope with several people who spoke Slovak. Michelle and Raymie, part of Reality, brought a homeless man home for dinner with us and he became a new friend. More, a ride to church on Sunday was arranged for him.
Please continue to pray as we travel to Castlebar and Westport tomorrow for more shows. Ask the Father
to pour His spirit on what is said and done!
In Jesus, Linda for all of us
P.S. It is pass 2AM when I am writing this letter. Your prayers are urgently needed or I would be in
bed. You are impacting Europe for Jesus as you stay on your knees. We want you to pray and continue
to rejoice.
August 24th, Ireland 2007
Dearest Friends,
THE REST OF THE STORY
Yesterday, like so many days in the past week, we stood in the streets sharing Jesus with whoever
passed. Sometimes cars would even stop on the road to listen. We were even blessed with sunshine!
Usually there is so much that happens at these that we are never told. Some people come and talk to us
and tell us what they are thinking, but most will listen to a few shows, watch the puppets and the
Bible story, and then head off to finish their errands.
However yesterday was very special. First, a little girl came up to me that had come to the show last
year. She said. "I love your stories. I still have your pictures from last year and so does my friend.
I remember the story." I was so delighted that after all this time she had still remembered the story
she heard about Jesus.
Reality, the Irish band that we are traveling with was at the same town in July of this year. A man
interrupted their program and they were not allowed to finish. Everyone was discouraged, but yesterday
they heard they heard a story about what God had done during the part that they had been able to do. A
young woman from Beijing, China had stood and listened to the entire program. She talked for a long
time with Michelle and told her that her mother was a Christian that was praying for her. The young
women did not believe in Jesus Christ. Yesterday we found out that she had come to faith that day and
was now in a Bible study with her husband and was attending church. Half a world away, her mother was
praying for her and those prayers God answered on the streets of Ireland.
Every time we stand on the street, I find myself asking one question. How will these people who never
come in our churches hear about Jesus if we weren't out on the street. Yesterday there was even a
Muslim family that listened to the puppets and the band.
TROUBLE
Anna, our French puppet director, was sharing on the streets of Galway and a man threw a CD at her
head. There is always some group of drunks that passes by and yells at us and sometimes curses. Some
people smile, listen, and are happy till they hear the name of Jesus. Then they shake their head in
disgust and walk away.
All of these things, we see as blessings. We are happy to have these experiences. God's word says,
"Count it all joy when men curse you and persecute you." We have real joy for the privilege that we
are given, but our hearts break for these dear people that have such hatred for God. Each night before
we go out, we pray and ask God to help us show them God's love. All of us understand that except for
Jesus in us, we would behave much worse. Only Jesus' love changed us and only His love will change
these people. Please pray for these people to hear.
ONE BOY
We are working with a church in Castlebar that John Wesley founded in 1785. At night, we have twice
set up outside on the green and done shows. The first night I saw a little boy whose face I can't
forget. His eyes were full of such pain and longing. He volunteered to help me with one part of the
program. When I chose someone else I saw how disappointed he was. I quickly added another part into
the story and asked him to come and help me. He smiled! He listened to the entire program but left
just before we finished. No one at the church knew his name. They said they had never seen him before.
He looked to be about 12 years old and was very shy. I really can't explain to you the burden that I
have for this one child, but I know that God showed me this one little boy. Please pray for him to
come to faith in Christ. God knows his name. I want to see him in Heaven and hear that he lived his
life for Jesus Christ. Pray!
DUBLIN
Today we leave for Dublin and we'll do shows there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Please pray for these
last shows and ask God to do great and mighty things among the people who listen to the programs.
Nothing happens unless you pray.
In Jesus
Linda for the team,
Reality
Sam and Slivana
Derek
Lyn
Heather
Anna
Calah
Mille
Katie
August 26th, Ireland 2007
Dearest Friends,
WHAT CAN GOD DO IN A SINGLE EVENING OF SHOWS (3 HOURS) IN DUBLIN, IRELAND?
1. First, we met together and prayed for God to cover the evening with the power of His Spirit.
I was especially blessed by John, a member of Reality, when he prayed. He thanked God that He had
given Mike a vision for using the puppets to reach the children, teenagers and adults for Christ. He
really encouraged my heart. It is always a great comfort when someone remembers. We literally
covered every detail of the evening with prayer, knowing that only God could move in people's lives.
Our responsibility was to be obedient and faithful.
2. When everyone set out walking to town while one car drove pulled the trailer full of equipment.
We saw God answer our first prayer when we arrived and found the perfect place to set up for the
evening. Ireland has a tradition of street performers and so it is not always easy to get a good spot.
You want to be centrally located where it is really easy for the people to walk past you and stop and
listen.
The Lord blessed us with such enormous crowds when we began the program at about 9 at night. At many
points during the evening, there were as many as 150 people standing and listening to the show. They
were so responsive to every single thing they saw and heard. Can you imagine adults standing in the
street for up to 1 hour, some stood for the entire program and watching puppets and listening to
children's Bible stories! They loved the music and clapped enthusiastically after every single song.
Michelle, one of the band members finished the evening by telling them that if they wanted to know
Jesus Christ as their Savior they could come and pray, and they still clapped. The band only sings
songs that clearly present God's love and how a person can know Jesus Christ as Savior.
At the end of the entire program when we finished for the evening, the crowd clapped and even cheered.
Remember that most of these people are not church attendees and probably do not know Jesus Christ as
Savior. They have been taught to believe that good works get them to heaven. This is a terrible lie
that Satan has taught people.
3. We had so many amazing conversations with people but there is only space to share a few with you.
First, let me tell you about Joseph. Last night I told the story of Joseph and a young man named
Joseph came up to me when I finished. He said, "What you said was the ******* truth. My story is
like your story. My name is Joseph and today is my birthday. I think God sent me here tonight." We
had a wonderful conversation as I explained to him that he needed a second birthday, he needed to be
born again into faith in Jesus Christ. He was from France and he was not ready to ask Jesus Christ to
be his Savior but he was very happy for me to pray with him and ask God to help his unbelief. Please
pray for Joseph to come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you about a girl from the Czech Republic. While the band and the puppets sang together on
their last song I drew a simple picture of two cliffs with God on one side and people on the other
side. At the bottom the word Sin was written, separating man from God. Then I drew a big red cross
that bridged the gap between the two and wrote Jesus name on it. After I finished this girl came up
to me and said, "That picture I do not understand. Please I want. I buy. " Her English was very
broken and so I asked her where she was from. Then I called for our friend Milica from Slovakia to
come and translate for me. The girl believed that there was something, someone but she did not know
his name and so we told her all about God and his son Jesus. She was not ready to believe but was
very happy for us to pray for her. She is unemployed and so we asked God to give her a job and told
her to remember that God had done this for her. Please pray for her to know God.
Last night a man talked with Catherine, another member of the band, and recommitted his life to Jesus
Christ. He prayed with her. He said "Its like there is a water fall inside of me, washing me." I
think it is a beautiful description of the work of the Holy Spirit.
4. When we share on the street we are often heckled. People walk by, hear the name of Jesus and
began to mock us. You learn to always keep smiling or you will not be able to show them the love of
Jesus. None of us took offence, not even when a drunk man came with his beer cans and sat right in
front of me as I told the story. Randomly, he would sing, "Tell me baby, does he love me, I want to
know." This certainly was an interesting song to be singing.
He finished the evening by trying to kick a coffee cup that would have covered many of us, but he
missed. He ended up flat on his back in the street and I pulled him up. Sam thought that this was
very funny as I was wearing a leg brace and I would have been covered in coffee if he had been
successful. Then he decided that he needed a rest room and went over to the use the wall as a rest
room as hundreds of people walked by. Oddly enough this was not an unusual sight for anyone to see.
Then he came and kissed my hand twice, stared at Sam and I for the longest time and was still standing
in the street as we left.
This morning, he came and found us and said to me," Last night was beautiful. It really was." Sam
talked with him and I will tell you the rest later.
5. There is a lot of other fun stuff that happened as we shared on the street. Two River Dance
trucks were waiting to load their stuff and move it to another city. The truck drivers loved the
program and even made their truck rock back and forward to some of the songs. More than 200 people
last night alone received free CDs from the band that include their songs as well as a testimony of a
lady in Dublin who came to understand that she could not be good enough to get herself to God, she
needed Jesus Christ.
The Garda, the Irish Police, needed to drive through the crowd, but that only helped us, 100 people
moved closer and then they stayed.
6. The crowd was made up from people for all over the world and they all heard about Jesus Christ.
You have only heard a few of the stories. Praise God with us for his amazing work that He did in a
single night in Dublin! Yesterday, we had two of these programs on the streets of Dublin but you only
read about one, I'll tell you the rest in a later e-mail. Please pray for us as we return to the
streets again today, after we do a program at Grace Baptist Church. This church is located in the
inner city next to a drug and alcohol center.
In Jesus, Linda for the team,
REALITY
Sam & Silvana Shaw
Katie Humfleet
Calah Sager
Heather Kelley
Derek Ramsay
Milica Krizanova
Anna McIlwaine
August 28th, Ireland 2007
Dearest Friends,
Tonight, we saw God do something very wonderful! Sam has been working in Northern Ireland doing puppet
shows for 9 years and he remember seeing such a response only 3 other times. What was this unexpected
and delightful event? We heard many children praying out loud, asking Jesus to forgive them and save
them. This simply does not happen in Northern Ireland. It was awesome!
We were on the Shankhill road at a little church where they really care about children. It is a very
difficult place to live. The children are surrounded by hate, huge murals painted on the sides of
buildings keep that hate alive. These pictures encourage the children to never forget and always hold
onto to the anger that has held their families for generations. There are many churches on this street, but few with any vision. During the time of the troubles, it was a paramilitary stronghold. There is so much history in this place and still today few will make any effort to reach people for Christ in this place. They are either afraid or simply don't care.
Tonight, I told the story of Joseph, a story that teaches children about forgiveness. Before I got
into the Bible story, I dressed a little girl in a Quechua ladies outfit and opened the program by
telling them about my Peruvian friend Nemesio who witnessed the Shining Path, a Communist guerilla
group, kill more than a 100 of his family and friends when he was only 8 years old. As he grew in
faith, he was able to forgive all. You probably think that this is too hard a story to tell children,
but these kids have seen or heard about all kinds of violence. Some participate as young as 11 years
old. All were amazes that such terrible things could be forgiven. They understand terrible.
One little boy with blond spiked hair was singing an old American rock song as we came into the
building. If you had seen him, you probably would have decided that he would not listen, but he did.
After the program, he said, "Hey, I prayed that prayer." He smiled so big! I will learn his name
tomorrow night, but start praying for him now. God knows his name.
One young man, 14 years old, on Sam's Irish team courageously told how God had taken care of him when
he had a problem with bullies. A grandmother came and told Sam after the program that her grandson
really needed to hear that as he had the same problem. We were all so proud of Simon and so blessed by
how God used him to help another younger little boy.
I asked the children if they could forgive someone who hurt them or someone they loved. Only 2 little
girls softly said yes as the rest of the children said no. I told them how they could forgive when
they had been forgiven. By God's grace, they listened and prayed. Now, we need you to pray for
Wednesday and Thursday night. We will be with these same children again and want so much to help them
grow in their new faith. Please pray for these children, that most do not even consider, to have hope
for a different kind of life. God's love in our hearts has changed all of us and can change them. Pray!
In Jesus, Linda for all of us
P.S.: It is now almost 1AM and we will not all be in bed before 1:30AM. We are up at 6AM tomorrow.
Everyone is tired and happy, but we need strength to finish Wednesday and Thursday. Please pray!
August 30th, Ireland 2007
Dearest Friends,
Today we have our last 2 shows in Northern Ireland and then we leave for the airport at 1AM. There
will be no sleep tonight!
Please pray for us to travel safe home as our Irish friends say. Also, we have a big outreach planned
at my home church the day after we return on Saturday afternoon at 5PM. Please ask the Father to pour
His spirit on that program!
I have another wonderful report from the Shankhill Road where we have been doing puppet shows. Thank
you for holding these children in your prayers! Tonight, we have one last time with them, as well a
show in a housing estate in Downpatrick this afternoon. Pray with enthusiasm for all of these children
to hear and receive what they hear about Jesus.
We had an incredible evening! Earlier in the day, Sam treated us to a ride up the North coast and all
of us were awed by God's great creation. Then, we went straight to Belfast for the show. It was
especially sweet last night. We were teaching the children about prayer, how you talk to God. Some
stood up and prayed out loud, but all contributed to a list we made of their requests. There were
sick relatives on their hearts and some expressed concern for their brothers schoolwork. Best of all,
3 children named 3 different family members that they wanted to know Jesus as Savior. I can't wait to
see what God does tonight.
In Jesus, Linda for the team
August 30th, Ireland 2007
Dearest Friends,
We finished our time in Northern Ireland today with 2 shows, one at a housing estate in Downpatrick and
the other in Belfast on the Shankhill Road. Earlier today we sent out an email requesting prayer for
these 2 shows. I want to thank you if you were praying for us! The Father faithfully poured His spirit
on these shows and did more than we could ask or imagine. Again today, we heard children praying out
loud calling on Jesus to be their Savior. None of us could believe our ears. One little girl who led
all the rest in prayer, finished praying, and then began to tell everyone about what had just happened
to her. She said, "Jesus is the King of my heart!" Please pray for Shannon and the other children to
grow strong in their faith.
On the Shankhill Road, the children came running out to the mini-bus to greet us. Yesterday, we had
talked with them about how to talk to God and we made a list of their prayer requests. Many were
learning to pray for the first time. When they greeted us today, one little girl proved that she had
learned the importance of talking to God. She came and asked us to pray for her Mom who is having
surgery. This was a big thing for this child to do. Please pray for all the children to go to God
with everything!
