Friday

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6, NKJV)

Remember, we are in a twenty-four hour time of special prayer for the Price family.

I wanted to give you one last update on my cousin’s wife, Melissa. Through this trial for her and her family God has shown them and us of his awesomeness. Yes I know we should never be surprised but always seem to be.

Thank you for lifting Melissa up in prayer.

Love,

Melinda

Date: Thursday, December 18, 2008, 12:40 PM

Dear Friends and Family,

I cried this morning more than I have throughout this entire journey!!!

This time they were tears of joy as I heard the words I have prayed to

hear…REMISSION!!! I saw the doctor this morning to have my staples

removed and go over all of the tissue sample reports. No sign of cancer

found anywhere in my body!!! The pathology report on my reproductive

organs revealed that the cancer remained confined to the cervix only!!!

As a matter of fact God’s hand is so awesome that the cancer margins

stopped within 0.6 of a centimeter from my bladder and my rectum!!! My

doctor is even stunned and told my husband that I was a real trooper!!!

He just shook his head the entire visit in amazement at how well I have

done. I told him that it was not me it was God and the power of prayer!!!

He agreed!!! I go back in 4 weeks to make sure that I am still healing

well from the surgery and then he will follow me every 3 months. We can

breathe easier at the two year mark and we can call it a cure at five

years…I am looking forward to the celebration!!!

No need to tell you that this is going to be the best Christmas EVER!!! I

am going to hug my husband and my children (Eric, Haley and Hannah) and praise God for the

wonderful gift of life for which I will use with a grateful heart to

serve Him!!!

Thank you a million thank you’s for traveling this road with me!! I could

have never made it to the finish line without you!!! You don’t know how

many times throughout this journey that you and your love and prayers

have carried me!!! God is so awesome and I just scream praise for His

mighty hand!!! I hope you have half as Merry of a Christmas as I am going

to have!!! And may your 2009 be awesome!!!

Love to all!!!

Melissa

Dot Marlett-Allen
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7-8. Dot was a retired administrative secretary with the state of Louisiana, Division of Administration. She was 76 and a native of Kentwood. Dot died at 6:20 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008, at her residence in Denham Springs. Visiting at Greenoaks Funeral Home, 9595 Florida Blvd., on Thursday, Dec. 18, was from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Visiting resumes at the funeral home chapel on Friday from 9 a.m. until religious service at 10 a.m., conducted by the Rev. Don Hoy. Interment in Greenoaks Memorial Park. Dot is survived by her three children, Sheila Menck, Gracie M. and Patrick Dias and Robert “Keith” and April Menck; two sisters, Bettie G. Conley and husband Neal, and Sylvia G. McBride and husband John; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Dot was preceded in death by her husbands, Robert A. Menck, Joseph Marlett and Wallace Cooper Allen; parents, Grace Gibson Hanks and Wilmer E. Gibson; and sister, Evelyn Gibson. Dot was an active member of Brookstown Baptist Church.

Dorothy Newman Cutrer
A resident of Baker, she died at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008, at Baton Rouge Health Care Center. She was 76 and a native of Magnolia, Miss. Visiting at Baker Funeral Home, 6401 Groom Road, Baker, on Thursday, Dec. 18, was from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Visiting on Friday from 9 a.m. until religious service in the chapel at 10 a.m., conducted by the Rev. Bud Traylor. Graveside service at noon Friday at Osyka Cemetery, Osyka, Miss. She is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Patti and Billy Erwin and Lisa Cutrer, all of Central, and Harvey Stiegler, of Plano, Texas; son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Lynette Cutrer, of Sugarland, Texas; three grandchildren, Ben, Lacey and Carly Erwin; and a great- grandchild, Gavin Erwin-Cuenca. Preceded in death by her husband, Hugh Moise Cutrer; daughter, Sandra Stiegler; and brother, Vernon Newman. She was a member of First Baptist Church of Baker. In lieu of flowers, please make memorial contributions to a charity of choice.

Prayer requests

“Let the little children come to Me, and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these,” Luke 18:16b

KOMpray
Kids on Mission Pray

COOKIES OF LOVE

During the Christmas holidays, many families bake LOTS of cookies. You bake them and wait til they cool. Maybe they are sugar cookies, so you get to decorate them with fun faces. Then you put the cookies on pretty Christmas plates and wrap them up with colorful paper and ribbon. Then one afternoon or at church on Sunday morning, you take the cookies to your friends and neighbors. The cookies are a simple gift of love. When you hand a friend in the United States a plate of cookies, they are usually very happy. They only worry about how much weight they will gain!

Sometimes, though, people in other countries don’t really understand gifts of food. In West Africa, a Christian asked her Maninka (MAH-nee-kah) friend some questions about Christmas. The Christian wanted to know what her friend thought about Christmas customs. She asked her what she thought Christians were doing when they gave gifts.

The young Maninka woman said that Christmas is a time when Christians prepare special foods as a sacrifice to their god then share some of the food with friends. She didn’t understand at all. She didn’t know they were just simple gifts of love between friends.

She also didn’t know that baby Jesus was born to be the Savior of the world.

Pray for missionaries who live in foreign countries. Pray for them to tell people about Jesus in a simple, understandable way. Ask God to help this young Maninka woman know more about the love of Jesus.

MORE PRAYER REQUESTS FROM MISSIONARY KIDS

My best friend from school is Hindu. Please pray for her to believe in God so she can get saved. Every Sunday we go out to a Zulu Baptist church. The roads are very dangerous and there have been several car-jackings. Please pray for our safety. Please pray for our safety when we go out to town and going to tell the Zulu people about God. Please pray for the Zulu people to come to Christ. MARIAH, age 14, (Central, Eastern and Southern Africa)

Ask God to help me make new friends in Penang. KIRK, age 11 (Pacific Rim)

Please pray for my friends to come to know Jesus. And help me and my family to help the neighbors that my mom and dad talk to. And that they will accept Jesus in their heart. ANDRIANI, age 9 (Pacific Rim)

I go to downtown Nairobi often to work with street kids. One child comes across my mind. His is MI and he is four years old. His mom was often “high” on drugs, so he was taken away from her and put in an orphanage. We don’t know where he is. Pray for MI as he struggles through life without parents! Many of the other street kids are going through life the hard way. They get beaten up and are always hungry! Pray that they will find God and that they will trust in him.

NATALIE, age 13 (Central, Eastern and Southern Africa)

Pray that many people may come to believe in Jesus and that every animal may live all the time. CHERRY, age 7 (South Asia)

My brother-in-law is in the US military. He is in the war and that makes it harder on my sister. She has a 2 ½ year old and a 3 month old. Please pray for them. JESSICA, age 10 (Middle America and Caribbean)

My prayer request is for the Chinese people to know more about Jesus. HT, age 10 (East Asia)

I’m worried about some of my friends at school. One believes in astrology, writes her horoscopes, healing powers in crystals, etc, another has a severe hatred for God, and doesn’t want anything to do with Him. Most of my friends are simply indifferent. Please pray for them, and that God may have His way in their lives. JILLIAN, age 14, (Central, Eastern and Southern Africa)

INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS PRAYERLINE
INTERNATIONAL MISSION BOARD
Friday, December 19, 2008

“Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts” (Matthew 2:11a, HCSB).

Dear Intercessors, this is Eleanor Witcher of the International Prayer Strategy Office, thanking God with you for His gift to all mankind.

“Three thousand gifts! That’s how many gifts are being assembled for distribution around the holidays,” writes a worker among a Last Frontier people group. “Each gift will include several items: a calendar, a CD, the ‘JESUS’ film, booklets explaining ‘Why Christmas?’ and more. Pray that the Lord is, even now, preparing hearts to be fertile soil for the planting of His truth!”

A member of the Maninka Team in West Africa shares: “When we first moved to our city several years ago, I asked a young Maninka woman to explain her understanding of Christmas and its customs. She saw it as a time when Christians prepared food as a sacrifice and then shared it with friends as gifts. A worker had once given her baked goods at Christmas and that is how she interpreted the gift, even though the worker had shared the Christmas story with her. Often the message we share is seen through a cultural lens. As we talk about Christmas with our friends and with university students, pray that our message will be clear and God’s Spirit will speak across cultures.”

Many Sri Lankans like to get in on the festivities of Christmas, not because they want to celebrate the birth of our Savior, but simply because they like gift giving. Pray for international Christians to have special opportunities to share the greatest gift of all–salvation through Jesus.

Whether it is through tree-trimming or cookie-decorating parties, pray that believers will pass on Truth in unique ways. The number of prayer requests submitted for Christmas are too numerous to list individually in PrayerLine, but all ask for hearts to be open to Jesus. Please pray for Christians to be bold in their witness in Ghana, Senegal, China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Thailand, India, Hungary, England, Croatia, Tanzania, and Haiti.

Practice up on singing “Happy Birthday, Jesus”!
Anna Lee