Tahiti: Edualdo & Aline Cicero
We are in the season of giving thanks to the Lord for His bountiful grace and provision. The Lord has seen us through many challenges and He promises to continue no matter what the decisions of men have been. I realize that out of His goodness on our behalf we are invited to be a blessing to the world around and we pray that Thanksgiving will be more than just an opportunity to celebrate His faithfulness to us but also to those who do not necessarily acknowledge Him yet by providing opportunities to show them how they are loved and embraced through His Son.
Here is a short outline of what I will be sharing in this newsletter:
- Marama Night youth outreach in Papeete
- Benny Prasad's visit from last August (oops! a bit late... :=)
- Aline's students in Moorea
- March for Jesus in Papeete (Nov. 9th, 2008)
- Erika's news from Redding, CA (an excerpt of her letter)
- Praise report and Prayer needs
OUR LAST MARAMA NIGHT IN PAPEETE WAS A REAL BLESSING!
Each MARAMA NIGHT has a unique flavor! This last one took place on November 8th and was a great mix of many tastes and shades!! The fun part was really there, the fellowship was absolutely tasty and the friendship component was definitely established... Each one of those youth events builds on diversity, free expression (with purity of heart), and quality of performance. We bless the Lord for the opportunity these youth events afford them to share their gifting and their heart to many other youth and adults who would otherwise not be able to be exposed to the joy of having Christ. We need more of that...
If you'd like to have a short slideshow of our last Marama Night in Papeete (McDonald) please go to our blog by clicking on the following website and enjoy: http://visionharvest.blogspot.com
MORE ON BENNY PRASAD
You may remember that we hosted Benny Prasad Kandukuri from India from Aug. 12th to Aug. 15th. He is a traveling Christian musician who shares, through his unusual guitar and the testimonies of his own life encounters, the love of God with shades of Indian music style to anybody hungry for real life. Benny has been traveling to many other countries since he left Tahiti going all the way to the Solomon Islands et then on a tour to the Americas and the Middle East (see his printed schedule for 2008 below).
We have been blessed with the freshness of his testimony and the great dedication of his heart. His life testimony has been a great blessing to some of the local officials of our nation (esp. the ministry of culture who came in person to meet with him on the day Benny held a seminar at the Sheraton hotel and was asked to play a few pieces of his music).
Benny makes a clear distinction between "excellence" and "success". The latter he defines as wanting to make it in life according to worldly standards of increase and celebrity which defeats the real goal of a believer's quest to please His Lord while maximizing his/her potential for the glory of His Lord.
We have no doubt that his performances were a way to affirm his love for Jesus and open doors of opportunities to witness of Jesus' magnificent ability to change hearts.
We want to thank those who contributed in allowing this remarkable man of God to bless our nation for 48 hours as he was given opportunities to share his life with people who hungered to know more. What has been amazing is to see a man with a weakly health condition commit to bless so many nations (over 170 by now) with his love for God and music and not requesting that any offering be given him and relying entirely on God's grace to supply his needs for plane tickets and hospitality wherever he goes.
ALINE'S CLASS IN MOOREA (a neat project, =))
Since August 2008, Aline has been teaching in Moorea (Paopao junior high) as a substitute teacher for a special education class but fairly quickly was asked to take on the one year contract because the trained specialist from France was not going to show up!
Her class, made of 15 students (no angels!!), is a real challenge but a very good one none-the-less for my remarkable best half who is enjoying investing her life into them (even though she feels the stress of it...).
These kids (13/14 years old) are in need of great affirmation and are much more aware of their inadequacies than they are of their potential. So Aline challenged them to invite this great guy, Rai, a local TV star. He hosts a special program called "Djeunes" (especially designed for teens and youth) which is really popular. Well, she had each of her students write a note to him in spite of their total disbelief that Rai would ever care to come see them on Moorea. Well, guess what...!? Not only did Rai responded to Aline's e-mail but we also met him at the Tahiti Nui Television station in Papeete in order to hand him the letters the students had written. He was sooo excited at the prospect of visiting her class whenever it will work out for him to go!!!
We are in the season of giving thanks to the Lord for His bountiful grace and provision. The Lord has seen us through many challenges and He promises to continue no matter what the decisions of men have been. I realize that out of His goodness on our behalf we are invited to be a blessing to the world around and we pray that Thanksgiving will be more than just an opportunity to celebrate His faithfulness to us but also to those who do not necessarily acknowledge Him yet by providing opportunities to show them how they are loved and embraced through His Son.