United Beach Missions

Prayer Letter 8th July 2011

Spring Cottage Spring Road Leeds LS6 1AD Tel: 0113 230 4362 Email: office@ubm.org.uk Internet: www.ubm.org.uk

Psalm 54v2 Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth. There have been 3 missions this week Llandudno, Bournemouth and Canterbury. It has been an exciting week of opportunity and to hear of someone trust Christ in the tea room of the Llandudno house is thrilling. Every Saturday in July sees an increase in the number of teams operating with 5 starting tomorrow and then in subsequent weeks we have 8, 14 and 17 missions running. This is a busy time for the offices (Leeds and Belfast) as they ensure that each week is fully resourced. Please pray for them. We have said this each week but we are so grateful to know that many people are praying for the work of United Beach Missions. The opportunity in the summer is huge. With the many hundreds of thousands of people that visit the places where UBM operate, please pray that the Lord would direct the teams to individuals whose hearts He has prepared. It is exciting, for example, when the office receives a reply slip on the back of an evangelistic booklet asking for details of how to become a Christian. This is one of the things that happened this week.

Llandudno Graham Kneale

A 60 year old lady from Chester was challenged 5 years ago to read her Bible after visiting the Stories from Wales video. On hearing the account of Mary Jones, who walked miles to obtain a Bible she said, I have so many copies at home and have never read any of them. She started to read the Bible regularly with her Christian neighbours explaining some of the more difficult passages. We met her again during questionnaire work in the town, then at the Open-Air work on the promenade and finally at the new Land of Song audio-video presentation, where we had the joy of leading her to trust Christ fully. Pray for her as she returns back home and links with her neighbours church. The continuity of contacts between questionnaire work, prom and audio visual has been remarkable, as well as meeting contacts from previous years. An 18 year old from a Christian family is searching for the truth; he wants to learn NT Greek so that he can examine the authenticity of the early manuscripts for himself. A Liverpool docker is again in Llandudno right through the summer, having met the team many times in recent years. He is trusting in his own righteousness and consequently has no assurance. We met a distraught 35 year old during questionnaire work. She returned home without her husband, after being told that he wanted to leave her. A 50 year old man is seeking, but struggles with the need to submit to Christ. Pray for a 17 year old girl who accepted a gospel and is searching Pray or a 75 year old man in his last days after being diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer. The Lord can meet all their needs pray that He will open their hearts. England & Wales 16th July: Llandudno men 23rd July: Falmouth men &accordionist(acc); Llandudno acc; New Quay cook; 30th July: Falmouth - team members, cook & acc; Leysdown acc; Lyme Regis men; Mablethorpe women; Mumbles men & acc; New Quay women; St Ives team members 6th Aug: Dawlish men & cook; New Quay men; Whitby team members & acc. 10th Aug Bournemouth CA ladies and cook. 13th Aug: Benllech men; Broadstairs acc; New Quay women; St Ives acc. 20th Aug: Benllech acc; Llandudno cook. MV 16th July: La Panne women; Italy team members 23rd July: La Panne women 30th July: La Panne men Ireland 16th July: Downings men 23rd July: Tramore women, acc 30th July: Tramore men; Roscarbery women; Kilkee acc. 6th Aug: Ballybunion men, car driver; Kilkee men, acc; Tramore men, acc 13th Aug: Ballybunion car driver Please pray that each team would have sufficient numbers and pray that all CRB clearances would be completed in time.

Urgent Needs

Canterbury July 6th-9th Andy McIntosh

This is a report from just the first day of Canterbury there will be a fuller report in next weeks prayer letter. When I read the Bible, I know these are the words of God, so said a young Iranian man doing a PhD in English Literature at University of Kent at Canterbury. He noted the Christian Answer web site and wishes to keep in contact and receive more literature. He followed carefully as key verses from Johns Gospel were shared concerning judgement and Christs death for sin. A lady listening from a Catholic background listened intently and wanted a large print Bible and a team member local to the area is following this up. Please pray for these people in particular just two of the numerous conversations held on the first day of the mission. Conversations have also taken place with French, Italian, Spanish, Latvian, Chinese and Russian visitors to this historic city.

Bournemouth July 2nd-9th Andrew Norbury / Matthew Frost

Weve been amazed again at this unique and wonderful opportunity for gospel outreach. Thousands of students from all over the world gather here for language study. This has presented a great opening to speak to people from many nations. Through questionnaire work and evening events on the beach, weve had countless opportunities. We have also received a wonderful welcome and great support from the local church where we are staying. Praise God for: Good number of returning students, including some from previous years. Great opportunity to explain the gospel carefully and in detail with many. Much literature distributed and lots of gospels taken. An enthusiastic team who have been a real encouragement to each other. Pray for: A man already in contact with a local church who has been keen to engage in a series of discussions. A girl we met last year, remembering returning team members and is keen to meet up. Regular attendees to our evening events from Oman, eager to keep in touch with team members. Afghans who are returning to events for the third year in the past the language barrier has proven difficult, pray that this will improve. A lady from the Middle East appreciative of the teams friendship. A local group of lads back in contact with a team member for the third year.

Follow Up
We are encouraged to know that, after a few weeks of mission, there are several team members who will be keeping in touch with people they have met. Pray that this continued contact would lead to further opportunity to share the Gospel and to put people in touch with local churches. The office has also received its first application for the Postal Bible Club and a reply slip from the back of the evangelistic Beach Special. There have also been requests for more information (e.g. on how to become a Christian) as a result of literature we have given out (e.g. there have been 2 responses returned on the back of Roger Carswells Key to Life leaflet. Pray for those who will answer these.

Next week
Llandudno continues with Dan Hawley/John Hawley/JP Earnest; Bournemouth student weeks continue with Michael Prest/ Matthew Frost; Irish missions starting: Ardmore Mark English; Downings Colin Murray; Portnoo Bertie Coffey (& Tim Howlett)

The UBM reunions are planned for Sep 2nd-4th (Cefn Lea, Powys - Facing Your Giants) and Sep 9th-10th (Belfast - The Real Deal). Booking forms are available from the offices. You can also book online for Cefn Lea (or download the form) - see www.ubm.org.uk. Various prayer points were given in last weeks prayer letter. In particular please pray that the organising of the first of these two reunions would go smoothly (there are lots of things to arrange during a busy summer for a conference at a new venue and a week earlier than was originally planned!). It would be helpful to the office and those planning the weekends for you to book as early as possible. We would love you to come.