Prayer Focus: 2013 July
1 Mon. USA – Interns
“Please pray for our interns Amanda, Ben and Geli who are helping CLC this month Amanda in the UK, Ben in Burkina Faso and Geli in the USA. All of these young people were recruited by Bill and Marge Almack, and are university students. We are also pleased that Jen McAlhany will be serving for one year as a short term worker in the UK, now that she has finished her university studies.” Dave Almack, Director
2 Tue. Colombia – Bible Seminars
During the months of July and August we have various events with the Thompson Bible Seminars. Please pray for all the people involved in these meetings in different cities and towns throughout the country – teachers, co-ordinators and personnel (including CLC members). Please also pray for the families of these people in their absence.
3 Wed. International Office
Cristi and Ane Cotovan are moving from Romania (where they have been working
both with CLC Romania and with the International Office) to the UK. They are due
to arrive with their three young daughters this week. Please pray as they settle in and adapt to a different culture and lifestyle. Cristi will be based at the CLC International Office with Neil and Sheena Wardrope.
4 Thu. Bolivia – Shop to Open in Santa Cruz
At the time of writing, the opening of the first CLC bookshop in Bolivia is due to take place in July. Please pray that all the initial stock will be imported without problems. Pray too as new staff are recruited to work in the shop - that God would lead us to the right people who share the vision of CLC. Pray for Gamaliel and Marlene Padilla who have left their home, family and work with CLC in Venezuela to start the CLC ministry here.
5 Fri Hungary – Summer Worship Camp
At this time of year there is a drop in activity in the bookshops but, in Debrecen, CLC will have a booktable at the Summer Worship Camp (July 8th-14th). This is a great opportunity to meet Christians from around the country - of all ages and from different fellowships - who come together to improve their musical skills. CLC is increasingly being welcomed and appreciated at this annual conference.
6-7 Sat/Sun. UK – Head of Operations
Mick Goodman is joining CLC UK this month as Head of Operations (formerly the
Administrator). Mick comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the Christian trade and we feel blessed to have him on our team. Please pray Mick settles quickly into his new role, which will also include being a member of the Leadership Team, and that he receives the “wisdom that comes from above” for the challenges that lie ahead.
8 Mon. Regional Director Travels
CLC Regional Directors travel extensively in their work. This month Romualdo Macinas, Regional Director for Asia, will visit CLC in Papua New Guinea and in August he plans to visit Cambodia to assess the needs for Christian literature, and possible CLC involvement, in this country.
9 Tue. Trinidad – Sales and Seasons
“Praise the Lord for some good sales recently. In the lead up to Mothers’ Day we exceeded our sales goals! We are thankful to God for His keeping power and protection on our lives on a daily basis. We are now in the rainy season (May to December) and last year was terrible with serious flooding and landslides. Obviously this affected our sales and other activities. Please pray for better weather this year.” Marlene Ramroop, Director
10 Wed. Papua New Guinea – Stock
Stock takes a long time to reach the CLC bookshop in Port Moresby. Pray that Vere Babona and his team will be able to maximise sales with the stock they do have currently – mainly from a container of donated new and quality second hand books from Australia. Praise the Lord for recent contact with a distributor in the USA which means that books, in smaller quantities, are arriving more frequently.
11 Thu. Kenya – Tough Season
“CLC Kenya is going through a tough season. We really need the Lord not just to walk with us, but carry us through these hard times. In such circumstances, the staff can get demotivated; pray that we will be rejuvenated and that we shall learn to depend on Him much more. If the birds of the air feed without worry, why should we?” Edith Wamalwa
12 Fri. Kenya – God’s Provision
After receiving the previous day’s prayer point, the CLC UK team prayed about the situation at their annual conference. That same week we heard that the bookshop in Nairobi had had an unusually busy week, including a significant sale of books to one customer. Praise the Lord for this encouragement both for the team in Kenya and for those who pray for them!
13-14 Sat/Sun. UK – Blackpool
CLC has been in Blackpool for 10 years and Sheena Burwell (manager) and Hilda Dryden are running a series of events in the shop to celebrate this. Pray for effective publicity and that customers will come along to the events. Pray also that many of the summer visitors to this seaside holiday town will find the shop and make use of it. Praise the Lord for a customer who became a Christian in the bookshop recently.
15 Mon. Venezuela – Booksellers Conference
Please pray as the CLC team in Venezuela host a conference this week for booksellers
from around the country. This event takes place from the 17th to the 19th of July.
16 Tue. Tanzania – Closure
After two years of struggle to keep the ministry afloat, and having relocated due to a very high increase in rent, we have decided that we need to close the ministry down. A number of factors have contributed to this, including the fact that we have been unable to find a permanent location for our container bookshop. This has been a great disappointment. Please pray for the closing procedure, and for the people involved, including local workers, Board members and Liz Patten (Regional Director). We are very thankful for all the support and help given by Penny Elliot, a Scripture Union missionary. CLC is open to the possibility of a new start in the Lord’s time and purposes.
17 Wed. Austria – Temporary Solution
Please pray for Sarah Brugger who has volunteered to keep the bookshop in Graz open during June and July while Armin and Edeltraud Heumann take much needed extended leave. The shop will close during August. The future of the bookshop from September is uncertain. The Heumanns may need more time off but even if they are back for September, there is a need for another staff member able to commit long term to the work as Sarah will be moving on to another job. Please pray.
18 Thu. Dominica – National Crusade 2013
There will be a ‘National Crusade’ this month in Dominica (21st -28th July) and the theme is ‘Reinvesting in your Foundation’. CLC is taking part in this event by providing a booktable. Please also pray for Davis Laudat, the manager of the bookshop in Roseau, and
his co-worker Janet Davies during this busy time. Praise the Lord for healing for Davis Laudat’s son who was in hospital recently suffering from sepsis (blood infection).
19 Fri. Mozambique – Pastors’ Conference
Please pray for the Pastors’ conference being held in Maputo today and tomorrow. This has been organized by Editora Fiel, an evangelical Brazilian publisher wanting to partner with us in Mozambique. As last year, we will help ‘Fiel’ staff with a large bookstall and we will also provide Bibles for sale. Our bookshop has been the local registration centre for the conference, which brings potential new customers in!
20-21 Sat/Sun. UK – Aberdeen
Please pray that the books sold as Sunday school prizes will be a great blessing to
those who receive them. Continue to pray for suitable volunteers for the Aberdeen shop. At the end of August, Neil MacLennan, the shop manager, will be speaking about CLC at the WEC Scotland centenary event.
22 Mon. Swaziland – Time of Crisis
During the past 18 months the prayer topic for CLC Swaziland has been the ministry’s ongoing crisis. Although the situation is still critical for the survival of the ministry, at the time of writing we remain convinced of the need to try and persevere in prayer and faith. A small amount of emergency funding has been provided and we are urgently seeking missionary personnel to manage the bookshop until such time as a local manager can be employed.
23 Tue. Korea – Visiting Bible Seminaries
Our Sales Department will be visiting a number of Bible seminaries in Korea with a bookstall of CLC Korea publications. Please pray for us that it will go well.
24 Wed. Romania – Changes 1
Please support us in prayer as we go through important changes in our team. Cristian and Ane Cotovan recently left us to join the CLC International Office in the UK. We need to find ways to fill some of the roles they had. We need God’s leading for finding the right people to complete our team.
25 Thu. Romania – Changes 2
We would value your prayers as we change the accounts system, and work with a new accountant; we need to transfer all the information from the old system to the new one. We thank God for the progress we have made recently with the publishing department. We pray for God’s help for the next few months in order to be able to publish more books.
26 Fri. Ecuador – Prayer Requests
We continue to pray for a new location for the bookshop in Quito. Sales are stable butwe could do more if we had a bookshop with parking space nearby. We would also like to find a suitable building in Guayaquil for wholesale distribution. We pray that the team will maintain their passion to serve the Lord. May our commitment to God and to our community be our passion.
27-28 Sat/Sun. UK – Focus 2013
Having been approached by the organisers, a team from CLC UK is running the bookshop at the Holy Trinity Brompton ‘FOCUS’ Conference (July 27th – August 2nd) in Lincolnshire. Pray that the stock selected will meet the needs of those attending. Pray that the team will have the stamina, energy and grace to serve well throughout the week. Also, from July 29th to August 2nd, Geoff and Jill Fanning will be running a bookstall at ‘Keswick in Wales’. Pray for this venture - another first for CLC.
29 Mon. Colombia – Mobile Bookshop
We thank God for the provision of finances to buy and fit out a mobile bookshop and for the trips it enables us to do. Customers are very happy and grateful for this ministry of CLC – that we are thinking of them and can visit more regularly. Please pray for the team involved in this work.
30 Tue. Switzerland – New Location Needed
We are continuing our search for a more affordable shop where we can transfer our bookshop because our rent is too high. We continue to try to reduce costs. Please pray with us that we can find a new location soon. Carlo Ciafani’s wife Sara (who works for a Christian radio company) is recovering from a knee injury, but she will need surgery in the next few months. Please pray for her.
31 Wed. Thailand – Help in English
We often ask for prayer for someone to join the CLC team in Chiang Mai who could help with the English book section of the shop and also with communications in English. Sadly, an intern who was expected to help for a while was not able to move to Chiang Mai so we continue to ask the Lord to provide the help we need in these areas specifically. Please pray too that sales would pick up as they have been rather slow recently.