Watching the Children Grow

Many of you have heard us talk about the little boys who visit our church without their parents.  What a joy is has been to see them develop over the past few years!  Besides praying for them, hugging them, and teaching them about Jesus, one of the more practical things we have tried to teach them is how to sit still and quiet in church.  With that huge task in mind, I bought them notebooks and pens and now every Sunday, they get out their notebooks and draw, usually quietly.  Spongebob has his portrait on several pages and Patrick is also well represented.  As one would expect at this age, the boys are starting to write letters and even copy phrases they see around them.  Today as we were singing one little guy brought me his notebook and asked me what it said.  "TU AMOR POR MI".  "Your love for me", refering to God´s love.  I was overcome with joy to be able to tell this little fellow how much God loves us.  I prayed that the message of the song and his little note-taking would sink into his heart, and the hearts of the other 2 children there without their parents, coming from homes where God´s love isn´t a prominent message.  Well, I found myself so overcome, that then, I wasn´t quite able to sing the song myself!  In a flash I was going over the process in my life that led to that tiny interaction between me and little sweetboy.  A calling to missions, God's leading to Spain, so many financial supporters who have made it possible over the years, language school (thanks for praying me through that one!), a dozen sh´s, a hundred fingers to the lips, and countless hugs later, we arrive at this special moment.  "What does this say?"  That He loves us so much.   It's more than a phrase to copy from the powerpoint.  It´s the phrase that helps us love little ones with dirty fingers, that motivates us to get out of bed in the morning, that helps us love those who mistreat us, and makes us want to do it all over again and again.   TU AMOR POR MI.  His love for me.  immense!

Car Repairs

Dear praying partners,

      I want to thank all of you who have been praying for the financial needs that we mentioned in our last prayer letter and to ask you to keep praying. We went by the garage to pick up our car only to find out that is in need of more repairs that are going to cost about $300 more. (If it wasn´t for the fact that the mechanic is a fellow believer, I would have some serious doubts that maybe we were being taken. He is actually doing everything he can to help us save money on the repairs.) That means that our intial estimate of $1,300 is now at $1,600. If God should so lead you to help out with this need, you can give online at www.abwe.org or send a check to ABWE. PO Box 8585, Harrisburg, PA, 17105-8585. Our account number with ABWE is #13121. Thanks again for bringing this urgent need before the Lord!

Yours for the harvest in Spain,
Glenn

Kid´s Club

Dear Praying Partners,

This week we are having our annual kid´s club. It´s our version of VBS. Please be in prayer with us that this activity will reach out to many families and that a clear witness will go out! We will be meeting every day from 7PM to 8:20PM (Spain time). On Friday evening, along with a special snack, will be showing a powerpoint presentation of all of the pictures that were taken during the week and inviting all of the kids to our AWANA club which begins on September 30th. Keep praying! God is working!

Yours for the harvest,

Glenn, Tammy, Levi, and Gracen

Additional Information

Dear partners,

     In response to our prayer letter, some of you have asked where to send gifts. Forgive me for not having included that information in the letter. You can either give through ABWE´s website www.abwe.org or you can send a gift to the mission: ABWE, PO Box 8585, Harrisburg, PA. 17105-8585. Please designate the gift for Glenn and Tammy Clodgo, account #13121. Thanks so very much for bringing these matters before the Lord! He is faithful!

 

Clodgo Corner September 2011

Minute to Win It! (game time with youth)

Family Camp

     Many of you were praying for a successful and blessed family camp and, indeed, it was!  (If you receive our email updates you have already heard this, so bear with us.) It was the best camp ever!  We just keep repeating those words over and over to each other! At the camp, overall, there were about 100 campers. (20 children and more than 20 teens make up part of that number). In our class of 11-16 year olds there were about 20. A large number come from churched families. About 4 boys from 14-16 years of age came without belonging to any of the churches. Some of these fellows travelled over 8 hours to get to camp. (Can you believe it?) One of our greatest joys in ministry is answering questions like "Where´s Mark?" "Where´s Luke?". In our little church in Coslada, just about any one of our children is capable of finding books in the Bible thanks to the amazing team of children´s teachers we have. So you can imagine how fun it was to help some of those teens look up Bible passages. They read verses willingly. They enjoyed filling in their outlines each day. HERE´S THE BIG NEWS: On the last day of camp, Tammy saw one of the 12 year olds reading his Bible during free time.  She had a chance to ask one of the 16 year olds about his camp experience and he excitedly explained to her his plans to "keep on with the Bible and go to church". Does that excite you? It does us. We just got a big charge out of explaining how Heaven and Hell are constantly at war for each of their souls and the power of Jesus against all things we fear and all things that can have power over us. (Mark 4 and 5, Luke 12 were some of our passages.) We presented them with the gospel each day and challenged them to draw close to Jesus in all of life´s situations. We feel strongly that God started working in some of their lives long before camp and we are praying for His continued work in each of their lives. One way He worked was enabling us to take 2 girls from Coslada with us for whom many of you provided a camp scholarship. They had a great time, made a lot of friends and were presented with some great Bible truths and their life applications. We wish we could tell you some of the details of their lives...a situation that causes us to wonder what God would really like to do if He were just invited in. Thank you for giving and for praying for them.

Financial needs

     To begin with, we want all of you to know that we appreciate so very much your sacrificial giving that enables us to serve our Lord and Savior here in Spain.  In this regard, we are blessed beyond measure.  However, there are two very pressing needs that we would like to ask that you bring before the Lord with us…

1. Car Repairs: Our car is, once again, in need of some important repairs.  The current estimate is $1,300.  Please pray with us that God will supply the funds.  This is an urgent need.

2. Lack of monthly support: Over the past year or so, due to the financial crisis, we have lost several individual and church supporters.  Currently, we are about $1,500 per month under supported.  We will be taking furlough next summer and will need to raise this amount before ABWE will allow us to return to Spain.  However, in the meantime, we need your prayer concerning this important matter. 

What´s on deck in the coming months…

     Next week, we will be holding our annual kid´s club.  It is held in a small plaza right behind our church.  This year we are going to incorporate a bit of English with the hopes of attracting some of the kids who  attend a bilingual school located right next to the church.  On the last night of the club, we will be inviting the kids to come and visit our AWANA club which begins the 30^th of September (Thanks again RCCC!).   We are planning a marriage retreat for the upcoming fall or winter.        

We are praising God for…
o    A great spirit at the church!
o    A great family camp!
o    Arrival of the Byerlys!

 Matters of prayer for the next few months…

 o    Kid´s Club and AWANA, a youth ministry to start up

o    Bible Study we will be starting with a married couple who live in Coslada – pray for God to work in their hearts.
o    Ladies´ Bible Study
o    Plans for Marriage Retreat
o    Andy and Lindsey Messmer, Brenda Andrus, the Hagues, and the Duryees are raising support to come to Spain.
o    Needed funds to cover car repairs.
o    Our support level – we are currently about $1,500/month under supported. 

Thanks so very much for standing with us in prayer.  Thanks also for your faithful support!  Keep praying!  God is working!

Family Camp 2011 - Best Camp Ever!

   We just keep repeating those words over and over to each other! At the camp, overall, there were about 100 campers. (20 children and more than 20 teens make up part of that number). In our class of 11-16 year olds there were about 20. A large number come from churched families. About 4 boys from 14-16 years of age came without belonging to any of the churches. Some of these fellows travelled over 8 hours to get to camp. (Can you believe it?) One of our greatest joys in ministry is answering questions like "Where´s Mark?" "Where´s Luke?". In our little church in Coslada, just about any one of our children is capable of finding books in the Bible thanks to the amazing team of children´s teachers we have. So you can imagine how fun it was to help some of those teens look up Bible passages. They read verses willingly. They enjoyed filling in their outlines each day. HERE´S THE BIG NEWS: On the last day of camp, I (Tammy) saw one of the 12 year olds reading his Bible during free time. I (Tammy) had a chance to ask one of the 16 year olds about his camp experience and he excitedly explained to me his plans to "keep on with the Bible and go to church". Does that excite you? It does us. We just got a big charge out of explaining how Heaven and Hell are constantly at war for each of their souls and the power of Jesus against all things we fear and all things that can have power over us. (Mark 4 and 5, Luke 12 were some of our passages.) We presented them with the gospel each day and challenged them draw close to Jesus in all of life´s situations. We feel strongly that God started working in some of their lives long before camp and we are praying for His continued work in each of their lives. One way He worked was enabling us to take 2 girls from Coslada with us for whom many of you provided a camp scholarship. They had a great time, made a lot of friends and were presented with some great Bible truths and their life applications. We wish we could tell you some of the details of their lives...a situation that causes us to wonder what God would really like to do if He were just invited in. Thank you for giving and for praying for them.

      Now that camp is over we are not slowing down...this week we have a barbecue and meeting at our house to plan for our September Bible Club for children. This is always a highlight of the year. From the Bible Club, we will be inviting the children to our biweekly AWANA Club and announcing biweekly Youth Activities. And so starts the school year!

      In October, we will get back to having the weekly Ladies´ Bible Study. For a couple years, Tammy have been leaning toward doing the Beth Moore study on Esther. Esther is a common name for ladies here in Spain and there is a bit of basic knowledge of the story so we think it would be a welcomed study even among the unsaved ladies who attend. The workbooks are availble here in Spanish. What we would love to do is be able to get a copy of the DVD set of Beth Moore herself teaching so that Tammy could use that in her preparation time. We know often a church uses teaching material and then places it in the missions closet for missionaries to then use. Could this be the case with your church? Would you contact Tammy if you know of a set someone no longer plans to use?

      We appreciate your prayers immensely and can see God´s hand moving. He definitly keeps motivating us, along with the entire Coslada church, to love Him more and serve Him wholeheartedly! We wish you could meet the dear brothers and sister we lock arms with here and that they could meet you- the prayer warriors who keep holding up our arms.

BIG NEWS!

Just a quick update - God has provided the funds needed to send both girls to camp!!! Thanks for praying with us and thanks to those who sacrificially gave to make it happen! Keep praying! God is working!

In awe of our great God!

Glenn