The Butler Family

Would you pray for and/or offer advise on the following situation:

Around AD 2000 we bought a new Kenmore front-load washer, model #417.41042000. Until very recently, it has served us quite well.

But now we have an unsolved problem:
The washer runs through the full cycle, but in the spin cycle it only tumbles (no spin). This leaves a soggy, dripping mass to transfer to the dryer for an extended drying time. And of course laundry stacked up through Christmas.

So far I have considered these theories:

• Washer Pump Plugged or Bad
I checked first and verified that the washer drains swiftly. No apparent issue there. So I moved to the next point below. When that didn’t fix things I opened the pump and found nothing significant jamming it. Probably not the issue.

• Door Latch Mechanism Failure
I read that failure of the secondary door lock or related sensor could cause our exact symptoms. I took the part out, hooked it up to AC and tested it. Everything seemed OK, but I still thought this must be the problem, and the one tech I spoke with supported this theory. So I replaced this part for $90 from a “local” store an hour away. But the washer still is not working, so after opening the pump I moved to the next item.

• Broken Left Lower Shock Absorber
I considered that some sensor register the broken shock and not allow the spin cycle. But I tested this by reversing the shock absorber and holding it to the washer frame through a spin cycle. The spin never attempted and the shock never flinched. This doesn’t appear to be the problem.

• Faulty Water Pressure Sensor
I pulled this sensor, blew through the tube and heard light gurgling. There is no obvious blockage in the line. I’m not ready to replace this sensor yet.

• Motor Speed Board
We are probably ready to buy a new washer before trying this item with no certainty of repair ($160 from Amazon).

• Repair Service Options
Sears schedule appointments about 10 days out, and won’t quote an hourly rate. It costs $80 (non-refundable) to get them to your door, but this can apply to the service. Another service in town was scheduling just a few days out and starts at $140.

Is it time to get a new washer?

Thanks for your prayers!

Waiting for lunch in the medina (city center) of Fes.

Thank you for your prayers for our ministry in Europe and Africa.

Following is an abbreviated report.

— Answered Prayer

The day we flew to Spain we requested urgent prayer for a missed FedEx delivery of training materials we were to bring with us. That morning FedEx agreed to hold the box for our pickup at their office, which would have involved an hour detour for us. Then they said the books accidentally got on the truck with no way for us to get them. We finally left  this in God’s hands and headed for the airport.

Then moments after we left home FedEx reached us, and a 5-minute detour connected us with the driver and the box! (The friend we carried these books to in Spain is the same one who brought my computer to Greece last year after I left it in a rental car at the Denver airport!)

Praise God with us for His faithful answers to prayer!

— First Leg in Spain

Our first three weeks in Spain was a whirlwind as we worked with two short-term teams from the U.S. (one Hispanic U.S. immigrants). On the ground long-term are already several expatriates collaborating to launch disciple-making movements in Spain, representing Greater Europe Mission (GEM) and Wheaton Bible Church, a non-denominational church, and the Assemblies of God. Should God ever open the door, we would love to be part of a well-informed front-line effort such as this.

We also had a great week interacting with Fouad Masri, founder of Crescent Project, which provides excellent orientation for sharing the Gospel with Muslims in a respectful and loving way. Fouad came to provide training for more than a dozen ministries working in Spain, and the second team came with him.

Pray with us for lasting fruit

– in Spain through the team on the ground,
– in Spain and the U.S. through those who came to learn and help, and
– throughout the world through Crescent Project.

— Morocco before and during Ramadan

This past Friday our family flew to Marrakech for 3 nights, where the temperature rose to 50C (122F) before we left. From there we traveled by train for 2 nights in Fes and two more in Tangier, where we are now. Throughout Morocco we have found friendly, helpful people, a rich history, and a few Muslims with enough English to enjoy “Any-3 conversation” (including a clear gospel presentation without tension or awkwardness).

Pray with us for the continuing work of God’s Spirit in those we have shared the Gospel with here: Rashid and Ali, Balil, Sala, Muhammad, and Omar. (Omar is Muslim, but his wife is a Southern Baptist from Savanna, GA who works as a translator for the U.N. He requested 10,000 copies of the Bible to give out in Berber villages. Sala is a city planner who had tried reading Arabic and French versions of the Bible but found them both too difficult to understand. He was delighted to learn about Bible.is, which offers free access to 100s of languages. Hopefully one of them will speak his heart language adequately.)

A few years ago the government expelled all registered missionaries, but some are still finding creative opportunities to be here through tourism, business or study. The sight from our train travels of 1,000 minarets stretching across the horizon has stirred additional thoughts about how contemporary mission insights and experiences can be adapted to accelerate the spread of the Gospel throughout the house of Islam. Yesterday was the first of 30 days of Muslim day-time fasting called Ramadan.

Pray with us and many others (especially this month) for Muslims to have dreams and visions of Jesus, for Muslims to read what they consider to be “the rest of God’s word,” and for God to raise up laborers to share the good news with them.

— Second Leg in Spain

Next week we head to the coast of Spain for some overdue relaxation and debriefing as a family. Then on 7/20 we return for another whirlwind time time of ministry, joined this time by leaders from GEM’s ministry throughout Europe and three church teams with up to 50 total participants.

Pray for God to refresh and prepare us for more fruitful interaction with leaders and learners in this next period in Spain.

— Mission Frontiers (MF) on Movements and Translation

Before coming to Spain I gathered and edited the main content for the MF which went on-line July 1st. This issue was aimed at motivating and equipping local Christians to start disciple-making movements among their Muslim neighbors. This has sensitized me to the attack on Wycliffe over the past couple of years, through which nearly 2,000 translations have suffered, and the variety of barriers which remain to making accurate and readable translations available to a number of large language groups. I am now in conversation with leaders of Wycliffe and other translation efforts about producing an issue of MF aimed at stimulating global collaboration for more rapid progress in translation to aid in bringing new movements to maturity in Christ.

Pray for God to accelerate the availability of accurate and readable translations for everyone, especially in major language groups and religious blocs.

— More Any-3 Impact

Just before this trip I gave copies of Any-3 to a variety of friends and mission leaders. One wrote back: “I was very encouraged by the book, and had an excellent conversation about Jesus with Hussain, the Kurdish owner of the pizzeria in my town. He listened very carefully when I spoke about salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice. The book was incredibly encouraging.”

Step one in Any-3 is “Get Connected” by building rapport.

Step two is “Get to God” by asking a person about their religion.

Step three is “Get to Lostness” by asking questions about how they atone for the wrongs they do, leading them to express their lack of assurance about what will happen when they die. (This creates a non-confrontational, conversational context for Step Four.)

Step four: “Get to the Gospel.” We lead into this by asking, “Can I tell you why I know what will happen to me when I die?,” then present the Gospel in a culturally relevant way, concluding with our testimony of how God has changed our own life. (Visit our ministry site for more about Any-3 and the Muslim-relevant Gospel presentation we are adapting.)

Step five is “Get to a Decision” by asking “Does this make sense?” and “Do you believe this?” This provides helpful information about how the Lord is working in a person’s life, leading often to either immediate fruit or Bible study together.

Pray for Any-3 to spread widely, and help many believers learn to enjoy guiding conversations to a clear Gospel presentation.

— Engaging National Churches in Spain

The Any-3 step of “Getting to God” has helped open other doors. In Spain we met a born-again Filipino Christian whose pastor wants help to train his 80 members to share effectively with Muslims. He has invited us to provide two hours of training for his English-speaking Filipino congregation on July 21st: one hour before the service and another during the 3-hour service (that will be 7:00am and 8:30am Pacific Time on 7/21). Rather than do this training myself, I am involving long-term workers here who can provide continuing coaching after I am gone.

Pray for God’s spirit to empower those who receive this training, and those who provide it. Pray also that this will be just the first of many local Spanish churches to catch a vision for launching disciple-making movements among their Muslim neighbors.

— Other Matters for Prayer

– Jackie’s mom: We had a wonderful time with Jackie’s mom the day we flew to Spain. She was interactive and in good spirits. However in the past few days she has stopped eating on her own and is unresponsive in conversation. Pray for God’s grace for Jackie, her sister Joanne, and their mom Eva.

– Our Health: Jackie developed a sore throat on our flight to Spain, but recovered swiftly. Joelle had a mild lung infection after our flight to Morocco, but also recovered quickly. I had an intense but brief bout of food poisoning in Fes, but am almost fully recovered. Thank you for your continued prayers for our health.

– Our Faith: Before we left, God provided just enough funds to cover our planned expenses by draining all our normal reserves. Two generous electronic gifts since our departure encouraged us and relieved some of our temptation to worry, but unplanned expenses have more than consumed these. Please pray that God will increase our faith and give us victory over the temptation to worry, and for God’s provision in whatever way and timing will bring Him the greatest glory.

Thanks again for your prayers. Let us know how we can pray for you!

Thanks for your prayers!

After running through the funding we had set aside from the sale of our last house working with a contractor and his team to get the walls in place (including power, water, gas, insulation, etc.), we switched to working on our own on evenings and weekends, with power tools loaned by our new contractor friend Russ, to do nearly everything else ourselves.

With his great coaching we had a great result.

Here are a few photos (click any one to zoom):

Living area with kitchenette

Living area

bathroom entrance

bathroom sink

Dana’s room

Joelle’s room

Looking ahead to the day when our daughters would be in college, we began in 2010 to explore alternate home locations to facilitate God’s purposes in and through our family. As Joelle skipped out of high school to began college last Fall through “Running Start,” we found open doors to work with local ministry leaders at our community college to build disciple-making movements among international and other college students.

Since receiving an offer on our house on January 4th, our life has been a kayak ride through swift rapids. In the five weeks following this offer, we researched and settled on a smaller, 3-bedroom home with an unfinished basement. This leaves our family one bedroom short, with Wesley sleeping on a mattress on our bedroom floor. So we began checking into building bedrooms for Joelle and Dana in our unfinished basement.

A couple we worked with to run the first Perspectives class in Mount Vernon introduced us to Russ Rehm of Doulos Construction, who teaches a Sunday School class at Bethany Covenant Church (which hosted the second Perspectives class in Mount Vernon).

We felt led to involve Russ in our basement project for several reasons:

• He lives just ten minutes from our home.
• He invited us to work with and learn from his team so that we could later borrow his tools and finish the rest of the basement on our own.
• He and his two Pentecostal Russian laborers do all their own work (no subcontractors).
• He had room for us in his schedule right away.

Russ and his crew started framing at 7:30am on Tuesday, March 19th, and we worked with Russ’ team each day and carried the work forward on our own into the night. Ten days later  we helped Russ’ crew finish applying the first coat of mud on the freshly hung drywall.

Along the way we learned and involved our daughters in framing, electrical switches and outlets, installing ceiling can lights, hanging insulation, carrying and hanging drywall, and taping and “mudding.” I accompanied Russ for most of the lumber purchases, and Jackie drove Russ’ old manual transmission pickup to Home Depot for drywall and other supplies.

With Russ’ orientation, I did most of the duct work and trained our girls to install electrical outlets and switches while Jackie put in ceiling lights, and Jackie and our girls installed all the insulation. We left Russ’ team to install a window, break into the sewer line, install water lines, add gas for a fireplace, and reroute our hot water line (so that the heat it loses goes into the basement instead of underground).

When the shower we bought wouldn’t fit through the basement door, we realized the window we were putting in would be just big enough to bring the shower in that way. (This gives new meaning to the popular saying, “When God closes a door, he opens a window.”)

To Russ’ amazement, our involvement kept the cost to date down to $12/sq ft, and we now have the skills and confidence to bring the rest of the basement to the same point in coming years.

We already have some prior experience in painting, installing cabinets, and other aspects of finish work, and plan to do most of the rest of the work on our own at a more sustainable pace as additional funds become available. Please pray with us for God’s timing and provision for finishing the first half of our basement.

See pictures of the project unfolding over ten days.

A 40 sec panorama of the bare basement prior to construction.

A 1 min 40 sec walkthrough after the first mud on the drywall.

(6/13 update: See Basement Completed)

Our 2012 ministry among refugees

What a gateway this country is to the nations! In just over two weeks here, we have met people from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Egypt, Eritrea, Comoros Islands, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Some had been here for ten years, others for only a few days. But the religious freedom in Greece meant open doors to tell everyone about Jesus, whereas in many of their countries we would not have such opportunity of find such openness among the people.

Our main role here was to gather information on the Afghan community there, but we had plenty of opportunity to interact with many wonderful people, and it was a pleasant surprise to discover how God is bringing the unreached peoples into places where we can reach them for His kingdom and glory. There are roughly 400 Afghan refugees entering Greece each day, more than 100,000 each year. Many hope to get to another country in the EU, but one source said that only 30-40% of them are able to leave Greece.

Before we left for Europe, I knew there were a lot of Afghans in the city we’d be in. But it’s a big city, could we find them?

Yet God put His people Israel in the perfect place to interact with the peoples from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. And He had no problem bringing Afghans and many other refugees and immigrants from closed nations to a country where His people are free to share His love for them. Although some may be scattered, many congregate in public places with an openness to learn and make new friends.

These are people in need. Some might have some money, but most have left their homes and everything they knew in search of a new life.

And what a great opportunity this creates for God’s people to walk them into the new life God has planned for them!

They need to learn about Jesus and be discipled. Ninety-nine percent of the Afghans are Muslim, but most seemed more culturally Muslim than religiously committed.

They need teachers. They want a future and hope for their children, but many don’t have the proper papers to attend Greek schools.

They would love to learn English. Most of them are hoping to leave Greece, and English can be used all over Europe.

They are eager to work. But the unemployment rate is 25% for Greeks, and over 60% for the refugees/immigrants here.

They need food, clothing, and shelter, as they were only able to bring what they could carry.

They need faith in Christ as they lose hope. Some have lost their life savings to dishonest smugglers, and Greek citizens generally resent them, the Greek government can’t help them and other European countries don’t want them.

I am so grateful for the Afghans I met; they are wonderful people facing an incredibly difficult time.

Most walked to Greece from Afghanistan, sometimes with long stays in Iran, although many now are being smuggled in by boat. This as far more dangerous, as boats designed for 5-6 people are often dangerously stuffed with up to 15 people and lives are lost in boating accidents as smugglers seek to evade detection.

I spoke to a lady who walked from Afghanistan with her 4 & 8 year old children—across three mountain ranges, one in Iran, one in Turkey and another to get into Greece.

I visited with a 16 year old girl who came  into Greece from Iran with only her younger brother. She said her dad was gone and her mom stayed in Iran. She is currently studying Greek in the mornings and English in the afternoons, she is very sharp and resourceful, but it is definitely sad to see her being forced to grow up quickly.

I enjoyed the company and warmth of so many of women that with could only communicate with by our smiles.

I was surprised to hear from a nineteen year old girl that her husband is an alcoholic and she was forced to raise her kids without him. She live with her parents, and has their help and support.

I enjoyed listening to some of the older Afghani ladies tell Joelle she is at an age where she should be married. One of them kept bringing a young man around, but he didn’t speak much English and Joelle doesn’t speak Dari, so it didn’t work out too well. (Joelle thinks she wants to get married young, so she enjoyed the encouragement.)

And what a joy and surprise it was to see Dana so comfortable being with the Afghan people. She made many friends and continues to email a young Afghan girl about her same age who speaks very good English (as well as Dari, Greek and Urdu). She told me she loves watching Indian movies on TV, and that’s how she learned Urdu.

The Afghans are very appreciative of the handful of churches and ministries here which are helping them with food and clothing, and in whatever other ways they can. And these Afghans are open to relationships with believers and with Jesus. God has led them to a place where they can be reached for His kingdom and glory, but there are so many of them and so few workers. Please pray with us for the Afghans, for those working among them, and for those God is raising up to go and work among them.