Sope Otulana Summer update

18/July/2008 06:28 Filed in: Updates from HG students

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to send out a quick update letting you all know what I will be up to this summer. Many of you already know that I will be spending this summer in Bethlehem, Israel. I'll be leaving on June 17, and returning to the U.S. on August 29. While I'm there, I will be ministering in Palestinian communities in the West Bank. My main work will be a photography project with the Palestinian Christian children and youth in and around the refugee camps of the area. I'll teach a basic photography class, give the kids a chance to take lots of pictures, and compile their best ones into a book. The book will then be sold, and the money from its sales will go back to the children's communities. I will also be coming alongside 2 women who are full-time missionaries to the West Bank and have several exciting projects that they need help with. For more information about their ministry in the Middle East and the organization we will be working with, please take a look at http://mountainmovers.org/ministries/international/middle-east.

I can't overstate how important your prayers are to me. Previous generations of missionaries often based their decision of whether or not they could go to the nations on the status of their prayer covering; if no one prayed, no one went. It is so crucial to have you all praying for me. I know from experience that it makes an immense difference. Here are some things I would like to ask you to pray with me:

1. The success of the photography class. I (obviously) don't speak Arabic, so I will need quite a bit of help to coordinate the classes and actually teach. Please pray for the right people to come along and help, and for the kids to take breath-taking photos.

2. That we will be able to publish the photo book in a way that is most beneficial to the children and their communities financially.

3. I've been praying Psalm 126 for communities of the West Bank, particularly Bethlehem where I will be living, believing that as revival comes to that region it will literally change the face of the people, and they will become a blessing, not a threat, to all of Israel because of what God is doing in them.

4. I've been praying Psalm 77:11-19 over my time there. I depend on miracles, and prefer God's way of doing things because, well, they are always miraculous.

5. Unity among all the missionaries from different organizations that are at work in the West Bank, and an increase in unity among the Palestinian believers.

6. That I will maintain a childlike faith throughout this trip.

Thank you so much for your prayers! If you would like to keep in touch while I'm abroad, there are several options. I'll have pretty regular Internet access, so you can email me, and I will dust off my blog at http://sope.missionblogs.com to share my thoughts and experiences. You can even send me snail mail if you like! Mail in the W.B. is not reliable, so I will keep a PO Box in Jerusalem. You can mail me at:

Sope Otulana
PO Box 100
Jerusalem, Israel 91000

I'll also be raising support throughout the summer. If you would like to make a contribution toward my trip, just email me and I will give you details on how you can do that. I am so excited about this trip! The combination of prophetic words, unusual coincidences, divine appointments, and favor that I have received and experienced in preparation for this trip show me that God's hand is on it, and it is impossible for incredible things not to happen. I'm looking forward to telling you all about it.

Love,
sope otulana