World Snippets is distributed bimonthly (mail and email) and contains approximately eight short stories about what God is doing around the world. These stories come direct from Global Interaction cross-cultural workers. World Snippets is suitable for use in church bulletins or for a short ‘mission spot’, as well as for small groups.

Past editions:

• July- August 2010
• May - June 2010
• Mar - Apr 2010
• Jan - Feb 2010

September - October 2010

An “accident”?
Under direction of a parking attendant, Fleur reversed into a parked car in a carpark in South East Asia, after which the attendant mysteriously disappeared. As she got out of the car, Fleur prayed “Lord, use this situation for your glory”, then exchanged details with the other lady driver.
Later, Lloyd arranged the repairs for both vehicles through insurance, and the next day Fleur took a cake around to the lady’s home to apologise. After her car had been fixed, the lady expressed deep gratitude that they had followed through and ensured her car was repaired.
A few weeks later, Fleur invited her for a meal with some preschool mums and she happily joined in, thoroughly enjoying herself. Who knows where this relationship will go? Who would have thought you could befriend the person whose car you just smashed into!

Caring for one another
Tim and Mel in Malawi wrote recently about a local friend who is HIV+ and had TB. They tell the story: “He is now out of hospital and slowly recovering. He is back from the dead, with a second chance of life. Thanks for praying for this man of God.
“To add to his life’s saga, just last week his mother suddenly died. It was a big shock to all of us. Pray as we grieve her.
“This was the family who walked into town to our house from the village (10kms away) to take care of Mel when she had malaria. They even washed our dishes.
How incredibly humbling it is to be cared for by those we are supposed to be ministering to.”

“God is calling me”
Pauline, in the Outback, was tidying up the community op shop in Dagaragu when a young mum came in to browse. After a few minutes, she asked Pauline if there was church on Sunday at Dagaragu. Pauline was disappointed to tell her that since the church bus was out of action, the service would only be at Kalkaringi (a neighbouring community). The young mum sat down, looking rather unsettled. Pauline waited.
“Ngaio (God) is calling me I think?” Through dreams and feelings she was sure that it was time to come to God. A friend at Dagaragu had also been sharing with her about God. Pauline talked and prayed with the young woman.
That night she came to Bible study and gave her heart to Jesus! Praise God for this woman’s open heart!

A life spared
Wendy makes regular hospital visits in Malawi, and recently her and Ian visited a village chief who was suffering a severe reaction to HIV medication. They were shocked to find that they could only recognise him by his voice, as his skin was almost completely gone. He was in terrible pain, and Ian and Wendy felt helpless as they prayed for his healing and tried to comfort and encourage him.
As they continued to visit over the next few days, he began to slowly recover. After a couple of weeks the chief was allowed to return home. He is still struggling, but is amazed that God has spared him. Ian and Wendy are praying that God will continue to show His mercy and grace, and that the chief would come to trust the One who saved his life.

Long-term sustainability
In South Asia, project work is aimed at producing long-term sustainable change in people’s lives. Except in some cases of severe disaster relief, nobody gets handouts, which only provide short-term solutions.
This process is being repeated many times in different projects in South Asia, and works by providing basic education in reading, writing and numeracy skills which empower people to take advantage of opportunities that come along, and even to create their own opportunities.
Praise God for Australian and local staff in South Asia who faithfully and patiently work in these projects! Pray too that governments and funding bodies will continue to recognise the value of the work and be generous in providing funds to expand the outreach.

Making peace
In Central Asia in 2002 David and Shirley farewelled their student Steven, and gave him a copy of the “Footprints” poem. After graduating he entered the military and is now an officer, married with a young daughter.
Eight years later, Steven returned to visit, and happily accepted a scroll of 1 Corinthians 13 as a belated wedding gift, plus a small book of Bible stories for his daughter. He also assured David that he still has his “Footprints” poem.
Steven had just attended a training course in preparation for volunteering with UN peacekeeping forces in Africa. As they talked, David and Shirley were able to share with him how peace can only come to the world “one heart at a time” as it makes peace with God.

Stopping the rain
Recently Lloyd attended the opening of a local artist’s painting exhibition in South East Asia. It was raining, and upon arrival Lloyd was ushered into a courtyard filled with people sheltering under a balcony. He was told that the opening was on hold until the rain eased.
Men dressed in black were huddled around a hole in the ground, with various items including a smoking cigar and a young coconut. They buried everything in the hole and planted a small banana tree on top. Lloyd was informed that these men were specialist rain shaman with secret powers, employed to stop rain at important events.
Later Lloyd asked a local friend, Ralph, about the rain shaman. “These people are very successful at redirecting rain,” Ralph told Lloyd. “How does one gain these secret powers?” Lloyd asked. “Through fasting,” he answered.
Encounters like this provide insight into deep, underlying assumptions, and Lloyd is praying for meaningful ways to share the reality of the Kingdom of God.

Diversity
In Malawi, Ian has been reflecting on the process of arriving in a new community and beginning to learn language and cultural skills. He says “language and cultural learning is a real struggle for most people. When we leave Australia we are competent individuals, doing meaningful work. However, we arrive in another country with the social, cultural and language skills of a baby…and abilities in language and culture are essential for meaningful ministry.
It is true that the Spirit of God can cut through cultural and linguistic barriers, however Scripture tells us that God is not in the business of overriding our humanness, cultures or languages to get his message across. His desire is for the message and person of Jesus to be established meaningfully within people of different cultures. Not only that, but God doesn’t want us to be clones, rather He delights in our diversity.”