Since we last wrote ... 

We've been busy - as usual!
Since we last wrote, our DTS 2009 has gone on outreach, we had a big group this year, a lot of fun with people of different personalities, backgrounds and nationalities mixing and learning how to get along with one another! We have had fun with these students, and have been challenged lots, as well as learning so much from them ourselves.

What the Bakers have been doing 

 
We can finally breathe! We feel like we have had a marathon swim and can only now put our feet on the bottom and rest.

We have had our fair share of challenges with the students this year, with a few making some rather unfortunate choices. However, life goes on. It has been a good school overall. Good speakers. Good relationships. Good students who are open and ready to change and align with what the Father speaks to them. We have seen an amazing influx of finances for the students and staff. Our fellowship here gave so much to us, some of the students have dug very very deep, whilst speakers have given, visitors too! They still require a lot, but they are all well on their way to getting what they need.

As for us, we can now rest and hopefully save a few pennies. Catch up with friends and write letters. Whilst this year the school has done well in terms of support, it has been a challenging year for us as a family so far in terms of finances. Mark has 2 weeks before he flies to Penang for a staff conference, joining some of our staff and one of the teams. After that we will have no further travelling except maybe a family trip to KL and Ayer Tawar if we can save enough! We are looking at getting a local credit card or a debit card, as the teams are using ours to book tickets and then we get surprise bills at the end of the month for large amounts. We have found one that you can only withdraw on if you put money in, which is the best, so we will look into that! The children continue to do well at school, Bethany got quite a few As in her last lot of tests, so we decided to reward her with a handphone she had been eyeing for her recent birthday. She had to contribute towards it as well, as we wouldn't have been able to afford the kind of phone she wanted. Unfortunately she will need to wait for credit! Ha! Ha!

DTS 2009! 

DTS is out and about! 4 teams set off to various parts of Malaysia on the 13th of April to put into practice what they have learnt in the first three months of DTS. We have seen the Father move in amazing ways in the lives of the students during the lecture phase of the DTS, and are looking forward to hearing more stories about what He continues to do through and in them as they step out in faith and obedience.

Bethany & David's Skribbels 

Click on our page to find out what we've been up to!!

Thank you 

 
We often think about what we do and the things and people who make it possible, and we are so thankful to the Lord for you. Different ones of you have blessed us so much in so many ways, sometimes it's a word in season, at times it's just a message to let us know you're praying for us, some of you give so freely and generously to the work that we do, and also to our daily needs. We cannot begin to express the gratitude we feel for all of you, you are all truly God's blessings and a treasure to us. For those of you who communicate, can we just say that even though we are busy, we always appreciate your communications and do read them, even though sometimes it takes us an age to respond. We thank our Lord for you!

A new openness 

 
John 4:20

In the days of Jesus, Israel’s religious leaders sent out missionaries (Matt. 23:15), but their message to outsiders was something like this: Only if you follow our way can you be saved; only then can we accept you. The Samaritan woman had sensed this attitude among the surrounding peoples, and therefore she was surprised by Jesus’ openness to her.

We need to be careful not to impose our cultural traditions on others as a condition for knowing God. When large numbers of Western Dani people in Irian Jaya came to faith in Jesus Christ during the 1960s, the Western missionaries did not require them to sing Western hymns or wear Western clothes. Dani men typically wore only a gourd over their genitals. Ironically, when the Danis began evangelizing the Sawi and Asmat peoples, whose men wore nothing at all, they wanted to clothe them with gourds. They also wanted them to sing their Dani hymns.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that old restrictions on worship would soon be ended. He once described himself as the good shepherd who had to bring sheep from many different sheep pens (other cultures) into one (multicultural) flock (see John 10:14-16). Jesus wanted disciples who would approach the sheep through himèthe gateèand not in their own way.

When you share the gospel with outsiders, what message do they hear from your behavior?
More study: John 10:1-16; Acts 10:1¹11:19; 
Gal. 2:11-14; 6:12-15.