We are doing well and enjoyed a month of vacation in August. Upon our return we had a Source Boiler Room retreat. It was a lot of fun and included: our own Olympics (see picture), lots of great worship, fellowship, teaching and of course food. It was a nice way to gather ourselves together as we begin the Fall/Winter season at Source.This month has been a lot of readjusting to work and praying/planning for the Fall and Winter. We are really excited to be back in the full swing of things and for our relationships to keep growing.
An update on Mohamoud
We have not seen Mohamoud in 2 months due to our travels and because he is an assistant art teacher! You may remember that Tim wrote him a letter of recommendation in the Winter for an art teacher position. While he did not get that position, he was hired as the assistant art teacher. Mohamoud has been very excited and busy with his job. We hope to see him again soon.
24/7 Prayer week
September 20-27 we hosted a week of nonstop prayer at the Fallout. As a community we try to host one of these every 3 months. This week of prayer we focused on praying for homeless youth, human trafficking, Muslims during Ramadan and families/marriages. It was a great week! During the week of prayer we had 4 traveler/homeless youth come through our building, two of which spent the night! What a quick answer to prayer!
Another neat experience during the week of prayer was a trip with friends to a local mosque. We went to prayer walk around the mosque Thursday night. The atmosphere went from peaceful to tense quickly. A security person told us it was private property and that we could not be there. We began walking around the mosque. As we approached two more young Somali men with security guests i wanted to greet them with the Muslim greeting, "Assalamu Alaikum," which means may peace be upon you. Instead they asked us to answer a question. "Are you from the university or mission?" We said we were just on a walk and they said thank you. "Assalamu Alaikum,' said Tim as we walked away. They responsed, "Aleykum As-Salaam...Wait! Are you Muslim?" It opened up a great conversation but then the first security person spotted us and explained why the tension was there. Some people had been assaulted near by that week and they didn't know who we were or what we are doing. They asked us to leave immediately. We came back to the Fallout and prayed for Muslims.
Gretchen
A few weeks ago as we were getting ready for midday prayer two young ladies walked into the Fallout. Peter and Jeff talked with them and told them what we do at the Fallout. They then invited them to stay for midday prayers and they said yes even though one, Gretchen, had stated that she was of the Baha'i faith. She enjoyed the Celtic Daily Prayer and asked if she could say a healing prayer from the Baha'i faith for her sister and others. It was a beautiful prayer. She told Jeff that we were the first Christian place to invite her to pray. She has been back several times, gotten in great conversations and gratefully received a Bible to read. The B'hai faith blends all major religions together and believes they all are from God. Though she spoke of Moses and Jesus, she had never actually read the Bible. Please pray for our relationship with Gretchen and for her as she thinks about who Jesus really is.
Opal
Opal is an 85 year old neighbor of the Fallout who has lived there since 1935. We had the opportunity as a community to patch a hole in her ceiling, paint her kitchen and paint her entire front porch. It was part of a Compassion Service weekend that our house church community is doing once a month. As we worked at her house we were able to hear her story, give her some company and begin a relationship. She said in all the years she has lived her she has had no good neighbors. What a testimony to God's love that we were able to serve her in this way. Please pray for our new relationship with Opal to grow. Also pray for Opal as she feels lonely and we have many people who could simply be a listening ear. Here is a picture of Libbie, one of the staff, with Opal in her newly painted kitchen.
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