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Thursday, July 19, 2012

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS


Reader beware as this months newsletter is going to be very different than anything that we have every written before. God has been speaking to us on what kind of culture is being raised up here and around the world and so we are going to share with you what we have been asking ourselves for the past few months. The hopes of this letter is to get people to do some serious thinking about giving. We are going to ask some questions and give you our views and we pray that this will spark a fire inside of you and that it will get you talking among your friends and families about how giving in a wrong way can affect a generation and generations to come.  So here goes:

As we have watched the many visitors coming here we have noticed some things that have brought us into a place of asking questions and wondering why. We are seeing outspoken people receiving many many material gifts such as mp3 players, jewelry,  and money. That the people are learning that if I can speak English, hug visitors, even if they don't want to, and hang out with them then they will receive gifts. That it is necessary to do these things so that they can receive. Now don't get me wrong we all like to receive gifts but what is it saying to a person if they are always asking for things and are never said no to because they can tell sad stories which manipulates visitors into giving them things. In fact the stories being told may not even be true.

Another thing that most visitors will never see is that the people do not keep the gifts that are given to them. Of course they keep them while the person is here that gave them the item but once they are gone the item is usually gone too. The item is probably stolen or sold which says to us that they don't really care about that item in the first place and that more visitors are coming in so they will just get more stuff.

What about people that are not as outspoken as others and may not get as many things as other people? When other people are bragging about what they received and the meek person has received nothing what does this do to their self esteem? How would you feel if you saw other people always  receiving gifts but you were not receiving anything yourself?

One question that we keeping asking is why are we giving? Are we giving to help the people or are we giving to make ourselves feel better? Is the gift that we are giving to them actually going to help them or is it hurting them by creating more of a beggar spirit?

Now don't get me wrong we are not saying to not give to them but give to them in the proper way. Give to them in a way that will help them and not hurt them. You maybe asking how does that look like and so here are some examples. What about taking food to the family so the entire family can eat, fixing up their house (such as repairing their roof, a big need here) , just hanging out with them, loving them and getting to know them and their families real needs. As you build up relationships what about encouraging their children to stay in school. So the children can be raised up as leaders instead of takers. This way we change a generation of orphan spirits into a generation of Kingdom mindset.

We love each and everyone of you and we are so thankful that you are on this journey with us. We pray that this letter does ignite something in you and that we have not offended anyone in anyway. We feel like God has taken us out of our comfort zone and that we are to share with you some of the struggle that we see.

We are coming back to the states either the end of November or the beginning of December until sometime in February. So if you would like for us to speak at your church, home group, youth group etc please email us at cindy@pishonriver.com so we can set up a date. We would love to see as many of you s possible when we are home. Also we would love to hear your thoughts about this latest newsletter so you can email them or just post a comment on the blog.

May God continue to stretch each and everyone of us.

Lots of love,
John and Cindy

PRAYER REQUESTS

  • For God to continue to reveal new things in all of us
  • Continued healing for John's mom as she is recovering from shoulder surgery
  • For our son Jeremiah as he is getting settled back in TX and is learning his new job as a train master! (Way to go Jeremiah we are so proud of you)
  • Divine health for us and all of our friends and family
  • We are traveling to Cape Town July 27 to renew our visas so for our protection and that we will find favor with the embassy in Cape Town and receive a longer visa then 30 days
  • Pray for our local workers as they are going to have to run the department while we are gone and we will be gone for 2 weeks. 
  • That we will have the strength and peace to continue with the journey that God has called us on.
  • Our financial support. Thanks to Wellspring Fellowship  you can now donate online via the following link:  http://www.iwellspring.org/#!Donations/cpk3 
  • We would love to prayer for you so if you have any prayer requests please email them to us at cindy@pishonriver.com