Moulding Chronicles - Online: April 2016

Dear Friends,

Last month Sarah was clearing out the office and found some cassette tapes that we were given years ago when we first moved to Bolivia. We never looked at them before, but one in particular peaked our interest as it was the same author of a book she had just finished reading, 'lifting the level of our prayers' by Charles Stanley. So we thought we'd finally make the time on Sunday mornings to listen to them. What a blessing they have been for us as we have listened and learned more about prayer through them.

One of the challenges involved writing out our prayers and being very specific about who and what we pray for so we can see exactly what we pray for as well as having something to return to, to see when our prayers are answered. Another challenge was to use some of the apostle Paul's prayers as a guide to pray for people and to be very specific focusing our prayers more on the eternal consequences rather than general non specific blessings. As we have done this we have found our prayers are becoming more intentional and specific and as we think about what to pray and reflect on scripture God draws more prayer out of us.

The Birthday Boy turns 5

Last week I (Ed) was praying for a couple of people and a difficult situation I was in the middle of and I saw that in the Ephesians 1:16 prayer it started with thanksgiving for them and what God is doing in their lives and it stopped me in my tracks. Here I am praying that God would sort this situation out and I am only looking at the problem and have not lifted up my eyes to ask God to show me where His grace is at work so that I can thank Him for that and then ask what He wants me to pray.

In other news, coaching is continuing to go well and I am enjoying learning lots, as well as seeing the power in asking simple questions and watching my clients have ah ha moments as God reveals new things to them. I am also working with another coach in Spain to help launch later this year a Foundational Coaching Skills training FOCOS in Spanish. I am really excited about being part of this as it will enable these simple but effective skills to be used in many more settings.

At home we made a smooth transition into schooling with two, Isaiah has been very enthusiastic and excited about learning letters and numbers and Alana has enjoyed a little more autonomy in deciding what to work on and when as well as somebody else being around to interact with. She has also ventured out into art classes this year at a local college which she is really enjoying. After a bumpy first few days Lucas settled into kinder, and in the last month all three have been enjoying getting involved in Oansa.