We could breath easier now after this weekend is done. For several weeks now, the children were busy with rehearsals for their piano duet and song number for a simple concert organized by their piano teacher. Last night was the grand performance of a fifty-some students aging from 5 to 25. It was quite splendid.
Vibrant Bea and Fuzzy played "All I Ask of You" from the Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Weber), which also happens to be one of their favorite musicales. We have seen this on Broadway and it was unforgettable. Fuzzy joined the boy's song number, "Stand By Me" (Ben E. King). Both performances are very good.
We were dead tired most of the time so I skipped blogging for 3 days. But I am happy to report we have not skipped a night of our commitment to pray. I wish to post more about the prayer items. But it is a Sunday night and I still have to prepare some lessons for the week. So I will just have to post the links for Day Five to Seven of our 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World.
Here they are:
Day Five The Bugis Peoples of Indonesia
Day Six Persecution in Turkmenistan
Day Seven Challenges for new believers
We touched a bit of our history as to how the Roman Catholicism became a prevalent religion in our country, the Philippines, an archipelago hundreds of miles away from it's colonizer, which was King Philip II of Spain. In fact, Philippines was named in his honor. When Ferdinand Magellan (Fernando Magallanes) came in the "name of the King and the Cross" in 1521, many natives were converted from animism and Islam to the Catholic religion in the 300 years they ruled the land. At present, 85 percent of our population are practicing Catholics. 10 percent are Protestants, and 5 percent are Muslims and other minor religions.
Are there Christians in Iran? I tried to find out by doing a quick search in the internet. Here are some of the latest news and information that came up with the search results.
This prayer time has also become a quick geography lesson each day. Before we pray, our Principal reads the items on the assigned day and then, we check the globe for the country or area where the tribe or people group is located. The children love to do this so we let them mark it on the globe. We prod them to say anything they remember about the people group as they might have already read about them from another missions book like the Window of the World or 100 Gateway Cities. We discuss a little about what we have read.
Then, we pray as a family and particularly mention the items indicated in the guide.
Since I had an extra time tonight, I visited the 39 Days website again. There is a video posted related to today's prayer topic. I recommend that you watch it as gives us a glimpse of the life of a working mother in a Saudi Arabian family. Below is a link to the Day Two of the 31 Day prayer for the Muslim World.
Day One is the very first of a 30-day prayer for the Muslim world which also coincides with the Ramadan. Day One also is our first day of classes which had a rough start but went smoothly later on. We can only thank God for His grace and the lessons learned through much patience and prayers.
WE encourage you to come together each night starting tonight to pray for 30 days for the Muslim World. Yesterday in church, Sister Sue Dean, our pastor's wife gave our family a prayer guide booklet which contains prayer points, insights, games, puzzles and activities. An online version of the daily prayer guide which coincides with the Ramadan can be also be found at 30-days International.
Note from the site: "30-Days International" maintains a positive attitude towards Muslims. We are not interested in denigrating or criticising anyone. Islam is not merely a religion or a philosophy. Islam concerns people. Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
The annual, worldwide, 30-Days Muslim Prayer Focus is for Christians to humbly learn about Islam and pray for Muslims during Ramadan (Islam’s important annual month of fasting and religious observance). This years motto: “Loving Muslims Through Prayer.”
Be active : Change your own perspective on Muslims. Change the world through prayer. Participate in 30-Days of Prayer for the Muslim World '08.
The site has lots of information and photos about Islam and Islamic countries.
