Within Your Grasp

Reaching Out: (essentials for the skimmers)
    •    Enjoy our March 2013 video, "Within Your Grasp."

Within Your Grasp from corey pendergrass on Vimeo.

• It's been ten months since we moved to our new home.  We have nine months left in our three-year term.
• The microSD distribution ministry becoming more dynamic and versatile than ever.
• A volunteer, Josh Clark, came in January and helped us in our ministry.
• Racheal is teaching Fisher pre-school at home.
• Racheal shares memorized Bible stories with women in our community.
• We have engaged a valley of Susu people that have never heard the Good News before.
• We have been leading a youth group of missionary kids in the capital.

Taking Hold: (details for the readers)

Dear partners in growing the Kingdom,

You may have noticed that our last video update came a month late (in our intentions of producing a video bimonthly) and this video came three months late.  That's no bueno.  The good news is, we've been too busy doing ministry stuff in Susu Land.  Even so, from the bottom of our heart, please accept our apology for the delay.

Since October, the holiday season was super busy and was surprisingly a big whirlwind in our memories.  However, after the New Year we started taking advantage of the dry season and began doing more outreach than ever before among the Susu people and the other hodgepodge of people groups here in the capital.  About the time we got a breather in February, one of our children spilled some water on our computer.  That was a major setback, but our home church in NC, the River Church, bought us a refurbished computer identical to the one we lost.  Fortunately, we didn't loose anything because we recently backed up the old computer and were able to migrate everything to the new one.  Way to go, Body of Christ!

Because of that, when the computer arrived a couple weeks later with a volunteer team, we were able to pick up right where we left off with our multimedia files that we copy to microSD cards.  We are so thankful.

Back in late January, we had a volunteer come out named Josh Clark.  We were so thankful for his presence, because he not only helped us organize our multimedia library for evangelism, but he also went trekking with us to an area that had never been engaged by missionaries.  We were sad to see him go after three weeks.

This city of two million residence has several mission families living here with middle and high school-aged children.  Ironically, the last missionaries that lived in our house and moved back to the States used to lead a youth group comprised of those students.  We have since been lead to take up that touch and continue leading the youth group.  We are so thankful for this ministry opportunity.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for our boys growing in this foreign land finding their place in the world.
• for the microSD ministry to grow like wildfire
• for Racheal memorizing her stories from the Bible
• for protection on our technology equipment
• for God to call many Susu people to Himself

Thanks for lifting us up!
'til the whole world hears,
corey reid pendergrass

Pray for Mo.

You wanna hear a cool story?
Mo, my watchman told me this morning that yesterday his 8-year-old niece went missing and the family searched all night and couldn't find her.  So, he came to me to ask if he could go look for her instead of working for me today.  "Uhhh... YEAH!"  So i told him to go quickly and find her.  As he was leaving my yard i told him to come back and pray with me first. (To give you some back-story, Mo has been quite opposed to discussing Jesus with me or reading the Bible, despite that his holy book tells him to do both.  Go figure.)  So, i prayed in the name of Jesus that God, Who finds lost people, would find this lost girl and bring her home safely and quickly.  Mo left and came back in about 5 minutes.  He told me that the family had just found the girl who had been taken in last night by a good Samaritan from a different rival tribe known for being lazy worthless people according to Mo's astute and hardworking tribe (The parallels to the story of the Good Samaritan are vast here.).  I told Mo, "Prayer works."  He shrugged his shoulders and walked away.  Please pray this would soften his heart to the message of Christ Who saves that which is lost.

A Migration

So, you might be thinking to yourself, "Hey, this doesn't look like your old blog."  Bingo.
I just wanted to write a quick note as to why we left the SMOi Blog as our primary blog and created a new one (or two).
The Snowbird Missions Outreach International (SMOi) ministry has evolved quite a bit in the last couple of years.  That's a good thing, but when we started participating in the SMOi Blog, we were part of a community of missionaries that posted communally on smoiblog.blogspot.com.  With perhaps a few exceptions, we felt like we had become, by default, part of a dying breed of posters to that blog.  That being said, Racheal and i wanted to create blogs that were more personal to us in design and following.  We may still post on the SMOi Blog from time to time, but not as our primary blog.
Why "Wild Oaks?"  Though we like oak trees a lot, we weren't pursuing any "go green" fads when we came up with the blog name.  That being said, one of our family's favorite passages in Scripture is Isaiah 61 which reads:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins;

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

Oaks of Righteousness seems a bit conceded to call oneself, but since we know that the righteousness is not our own, but instilled (or as the above verse states, "planted") in us by the Living God, we like the term.  Even so, if you know any thing about the Pendergrass clan, you know that are a bit unconventional, rowdy, raw, unpredicatble, uncouth, reckless, and (hence the blog name) wild.  This is a multi-generational attribute of my paternal blood line, and thankfully, i don't see any chance of it ending in my own progeny.  God loves wild people.  It's a characteristic that He possesses Himself.
That being said, we celebrate being oaks that are wild and have thus named our blog.
Thanks for reading,
'til the whole world hears,
corey

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Things Missed

Last night i was singing to the King with a rockin' praise band aboard the Mercy Ship.  It occurred to me that i don't get to do that sort of thing very often...practically never.  This thought plunged me into considering a gamut of things that i miss about life in the States.  For the sake of balancing things out, i began to consider things that i miss about Susu Land when i visit the States.  Therefore, i figured i'd include my ponderings here in a blog post.

Things i miss about the States when i'm in Susu Land:

• Once or twice a year going to a concert with about 15,000 of your brothers and sisters in Christ and singing anthems to the Author of the Universe at the top of your lungs
• The tendency that most people have to carry on a conversation with strangers and not consider their ethnicity, their economic status, or what one can get out of the other
• Government employees and law enforcement who benefit the common good of the people they govern
• Justice
• Lexington BBQ, Taco Bell, movie theaters, miniature golf, Costco, hunting, bowling alleys, and delicatessens
• Sandy beaches that are not covered with syringes and plastic bags
• Bluegrass conventions
• Gun shows
• Smooth trash-free roads
• Religious tolerance (the kind where they let you live if you follow Jesus)...I don't miss the kind where people say everyone's going to heaven cause it sounds nicer.
• Sane traffic
• The "FDA approved" labels, construction and building codes (that ensure structures are safe to enter), and annual vehicle safety and emissions inspections (that heighten the probability that the vehicle you're riding is is roadworthy)
• The ability to leave my car without locking it
• When Christians not only recognize they have freedom, but also live out, despite the cultural norms

Things i miss about Susu Land when i'm in the States:

• The hospitality of most people to openly invite strangers to a meal, a bed, and a warm conversation
• Rampant hitchhiking
• Untamed natural beauty
• The spontaneity and unpredictability of every. single. day.
• The ability to take it slow
• How pretty much every Christian knows it's their responsibility to take the Good News to their neighbors
• Spicy meat sauce on rice
• Being invited to converse with village chiefs and elders in the meeting hut
• The phenomenon that causes thankfulness from the smallest blessings
• The unity of the Christian community, particularly when under persecution
• The hunger of millions to hear the Gospel

Setting Captives Free

Being in prison yesterday was quite eye-opening for me.  I've done prison ministry once or twice in North Carolina.  Inmates are fed three hot meals a day, they receive standard clothes, a bed, and an organized laundry service, and they have access to books, running water, TV, sporting equipment, board games, and limited (but at least some) communication with the outside world.
Here in Susu Land it is different.  We walked through a series of heavily guarded gates and checkpoint as expected.  An open sewer drained through the entire prison compound in the middle of the cement ground.  The stench clued me to what we were stepping across as we passed the "women's area" and the "men's area" proceeding to the back of the prison compound.  Razor-wire coiled around the top of the perimeter wall.  We went through a final door into the "youth area."  We passed by a guard in mismatched military fatigues.  In any other world, i might suspect that the inmates had overthrown the real guards and dressed themselves in their clothes.  However, any olive green outfit seems to be acceptable as official military uniform.  Soldiers in the same detachment where digital camo, hunting (Mossy Oak brand) camo, the old standard (Woodland) camo, and plain solid green.  Alas, this knowledge was ironically comforting to me, since it reassured me this was probably a real guard, not an imposter.  Whatever short-experienced "comfort" i just felt was melted by the fact that was the last guard we encountered as we rounded the corner of a few buildings into an area far from the sight (and perhaps hearing) of the wardens.  We were warmly greeted by about 130 young men.  They were socializing around in the yard, taking turns using the restroom behind a curtain in the awful smelling latrine.  Most were half naked, tattooed and scarred.  They didn't look terribly sick, but were definitely skinnier than most people in Susu Land.  I was wearing some Old Navy blue jeans and a quick-dry collared golf shirt.  Bill, Josh, and i stood out like the cream in an Oreo.  These teens were given one meal a day, and i imagine the food pyramid was not consulted when the menu was set.  Most of them have the clothes on their backs, tattered and torn.  One showed me his shorts he was wearing, full of holes.  He had worn the same shorts for four months now.  He didn't own a shirt.
They noticed i had some books in my hand.  Their curiosity overcame their inhibition and asked me what i had brought.  I was swarmed by most of the guys trying to shoulder in and get a peek.  I showed them a handful of Scripture calendars, which quickly got passed around and disappeared in the crowd.  Then a showed them my New Testament in their language.  I announced i'd like to read to them from God's Word.  The quickly ushered the three of us to the only bench in the yard and ordered us to sit down and read.
Bill and Josh prayed to themselves.  I read Mark 5 -the story the man possessed by Legion, but set free by Jesus.  For a while, except for the sound of my voice, you could have heard a pin drop.  Eventually about 30 of them stayed locked in to the story.  Others lost interest and one-by-one trickled away.  At one time about 10 feet away an intense argument broke out, and i thought it was going to turn violent.  The listeners couldn't hear me, so they shushed the fighters.  I continued reading.  When i finished telling the story i asked questions about what they learned.  I asked them why the demons were afraid of Jesus.  The repeated back to me that Jesus was more powerful than the demons.
They had understood.
Then i read Acts 16 -the story of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail.  I asked them what the people in that jail had to do to be saved.  The young men repeated back that they had to believe in Jesus.
They had understood.
One of the young men begged me for my New Testament.  I gladly gave it to him in exchange for his promise to share it with others.
No, we didn't have an "altar call," but Truth was know that day.  You can't rush into these things here.  Last night, i imagine many of the young men lost sleep pondering about Jesus, the healed man, Paul, Silas, and the jailer.  Lord willing we will return next Wednesday.
Would you pray for us?

Things that make you go hmmm... part 2

A while back we shared several short stories from our musings about life West Africa to tickle your funny bone.  Here goes round two:

• One day i was pulled over by a traffic custodian (there's another name for it, but our organization's policy requires me to remain apolitical) who told me i went the wrong way through the roundabout.  I knew i hadn't, but i played along.  He told me he could let me go if i gave him a little money.  I told him i wouldn't be able to do so for two reasons: (1) I work for our organization who has a policy against bribing such traffic custodians.  (2) The job of traffic custodian is a respectful and honorable job.  If i were to give him money, his honor and respect would decrease.  He replied, "Hey!  You're right.  Here's my partner.  Give it to him."
• Speaking of roundabouts (aka. "traffic circles"), the rule here is that people entering the roundabout have the right of way over the people already in it.  How often do you think that causes a traffic jam?  Every.  Single.  Day.
• A few days ago Racheal was running full steam on the treadmill at a local gym.  The city power cut off and she ran into the control panel and about flipped through the mirror in front of her.  Lucky for us, our gym offers muscle memory confusion training.
• I asked some of my friends the other day why they like Obama so much.  They told me, "Because he's from Africa."  I told them that recently Obama produced a birth certificate to prove he was born in Hawaii and that most US Americans believe it.  They looked at me as if i was crazy and they started to giggle.  Even so, no one from the American Democratic National Convention seems to be slandering these guys as members of the most radical conservative "birthers" movement.  Why do you suppose not?
• A couple weeks ago i was sitting in the waiting area at the local telecommunications office in order to get my internet turned on at home.  It took all day long.  To break up the boredom, about mid-morning, just after the city power cut off and the company's onsite generator cranked up, one of the company's employees in a suit and tie ran out of a back room yelling something about a fire and a propane leak.  You should have seen the chaos as 100+ people screamed and jumped to their feet and flooded the front door.  Then all of a sudden the employee who started the whole thing, just began laughing and told everyone that it was a joke.  Everyone in the room except me began to laugh with this guy as if he had done something funny.  I began to wonder what lawsuits might arise if this was to happen in the USA.

A Place to Call Home

Finding a Home: (essentials for the skimmers)
    •    Enjoy our October 2012 video, "A Place to Call Home."

Episode 9 - A Place to Call Home from corey pendergrass on Vimeo.

    •    We have moved to the capital city in Susu Land.  We are at a better place in Gospel outreach and as a family.
    •    Our summer volunteer, Joe, did an outstanding job and was an invaluable help to our restart in the capital.
    •    We are sharing the Gospel with our new neighbors.  We are looking to partner with other like-minded missions here to reach the lost in this urban setting.

Truly Finding a Home: (details for the readers)

Dear brethren and sistren,

It has been three months since our last blog update and four months since we created a video update.  Too long!  That sort of period is rare for us as we typically try to blog once a month an produce a video every two months.  Alas, moving a family of four and renovating our new house, not to mention trying to get out and meet our new neighbors so we can shine in the darkness, we have neglected some of our other tasks such as keeping our prayer partners apprised of our recent developments.  Nevertheless, we experienced the results of your prayers still.  Please accept our apology for not sharing as much as we hope to.  We will do our best to stay on the ball with our updates in the future.

Moving is tough.  We are so thankful we did it, but anyone who has packed up their life knows it's not easy.  Praise the Lord for helping us in this time.  Compared to our efficiency in getting setup, we were pretty amazed at how fast and well things came together in our new house, compared to our former.  Example: If a sink faucet in the old house, it meant a four-hour round trip to the nearest decent hardware store.  If a sink faucet breaks in our new house, it means a four-minute walk down to the corner hardware store.

Other than that, most of our ventures and prayer needs are described in the video.  Enjoy and thanks for praying!

Let us know if you wish to come to Susu Land.  We could use the help!

'til the whole world hears,
the Pendergrass clan