WS Staff
July 18, 2003
FSM 266 / FN 375 DO
—Special Issue!
Copyrighted January, 1995 by Family Services, Zurich, Switzerland
—By WS Staff 1/95
NOTICE TO BE READ BY ALL HOME MEMBERS AGE 14 AND UP BEFORE FEBRUARY 15TH.
Dear Family,
God bless you! We love you and have you in our daily prayers. It's wonderful to see all that the Lord is accomplishing through your continued faithfulness and obedience to His call. Praise the Lord!
In this notice, we'd like to explain the suggested plan and meeting schedule for this year's Family Birthday Celebration, February 15th through 18th. To begin with, as was mentioned in FUN 27, this year's Family Birthday Celebration will not be a three-day fast, as it has been for the past three years. Therefore you can plan your menu as you feel led, but you might want to keep most of your meals fairly simple, to minimize the work for the cooks and dishwashers, and so that as many people as possible can enjoy your united meetings.
With this notice you should be receiving various publications to read in part or in full during this special time of Word, prayer and fellowship. These are: GN 615, including "Moving Forward: The Need for Change!" (Peter #76), "The Love Charter!—God's Call to a Love Revolution!" (ML#2963), "Mama's Prayer to Be Able to Express the Lord's Words More Clearly!" (ML#2964), "The Charter of Responsibilities and Rights" and "The Fundamental Family Rules". (Note: We will henceforth refer to these last two items together simply as the Charter.) Also, a very special and wonderful blessing for this year's celebration is that each Home should have received a copy of Dad's Garden of Eden video, "Songs of Heaven", which may be viewed by all. Praise the Lord!
Upon even a cursory perusal of the Charter, you will quickly realize that this is a milestone publication that is going to have a major impact on the Family as a whole, as well as each individual Family member, as it puts forth some major policy changes and shifts in our present modus operandi.
You'll also notice right away that the Charter is very long, so there is a possibility that you may not be able to read the whole Charter during the four days of the Birthday Celebration. For this reason, Mama and her teamwork have suggested a proposed meeting and reading schedule for these days, which will hopefully assure that you are able to read at least the most relevant portions of the Charter during this time period. This schedule is explained below, followed by various tips and suggestions for your Birthday Celebration and the JETTs and the children's reading and activity schedule.
General Meeting Tips
It seems the best general schedule for February 15th, 16th and 17th would be to have two meetings daily for united reading, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and an evening meeting for viewing one hour of Dad's "Songs of Heaven" video. (The "Songs of Heaven" video is in three segments that are approximately one hour long each, so you could watch one segment each evening.)
We recommend that junior teens on up participate in the united readings. All adults and children may attend the evening video viewing. How you schedule this for the children would be up to you. It could be that you will choose to have your Home members of all ages watch all three hours together (one hour each evening). Or you may prefer to watch the first hour all together, but for the next two showings, if you feel the children, especially the younger children, would enjoy the viewing more and would be able to tune in better during the day when they're fresher, then you can have a special daytime showing on February 16 and 17th for the children. If you choose to do this, then you could have your evening showings for the adults, YAs, teens and JETTs (and possibly OCs) after Family Time is over and the little children have been put to bed.
Apart from the important reading of the Charter, we also have other prayer requests related to the needs of our worldwide Family. As she did last year, Mama has asked our dear JETTs and children to be our 1995 Birthday prayer warriors. So you will, in effect, have two programs running at the same time: (1) the Charter reading by the junior teens on up, and (2) the prayer warriors—JETTs, children and overseers.
Organizing these two programs will require some preplanning, and how to go about this will depend on your particular situation. Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind when planning your Birthday Celebration schedules:
Please try to work out your schedule so that as many teens, YAs and adults as possible can attend the united reading of the Charter. You may need to combine some of your childcare groups at times, to free more adults, YAs and teens.
However, you will need to continue to give the children the same loving and diligent care and oversight during the Birthday Celebration time that they are accustomed to receiving. So even though you're trying to work it out for as many YAs, teens and adults as possible to attend the reading of the Charter, please be sure to have enough people with the children to ensure they're well cared for and there is no safety risk due to the childcare groups being too large. It is also preferable that the children know and feel happy and secure with those who are caring for them.
Those who work with the children during the Fast can and should call upon the JETTs to be their helpers and assistants. Many JETTs probably already help with their younger brothers and sisters, but if not, this will be an excellent opportunity for them to take up this challenge, and be the overseers' right-hand men and women and bellwethers for the younger ones during these prayer days.
We understand that in years past the normal arrangement in many Homes has been for the adults, teens and YAs caring for the children to rotate so that all can attend some of the meetings. This would be fine to do when you are having your Charter reading meetings. Be sure that the ones who miss some of the meetings are given time as soon as possible to catch up on reading the portion(s) of the Charter that they missed. Perhaps those with the children during the meetings could be given time off in-between meetings, at which time others could help oversee the children.
For proposed activities for the children and JETTs, please see "Family Birthday Celebration and Prayer Time for Children and JETTs" on page 4 of this FSM.
It would probably be good if your meetings for united reading could be three hours long, with a 10-minute break at the halfway point. For example, you could have a morning meeting from 9:30 to 12:30 and another in the afternoon from 4:00 to 7:00 (or whatever variation you choose). But if this is too taxing, or if you are making good progress and you feel you don't need to have such long meetings, you could of course reduce the length of the meetings. Or you could keep the morning meeting at three hours, when you're fresher and more rested, and have the afternoon meeting be just two-and-a-half hours. For example, you could have a meeting from 9:30 to 12:30 and another from 4:30 to 7:00. You would still want to have a 10-minute break halfway through both meetings. (The details are up to you, these are just suggestions.)
You would, of course, want to cancel any other meetings you would normally have during these days, except for those which are necessary for the organization and smooth running of the Birthday Celebration.
To facilitate the reading and studying of the Charter, each person 16 years and older will be receiving their own personal copy. This should make it easy for you junior teens to read along with the person you're sitting next to.
Daily Reading and Viewing Schedule
February 15th:
Morning meeting: Please begin this meeting by reading the first Letter in GN 615, "Moving Forward: The Need for Change!" Then begin reading from the Charter book: First, "Dad's Foreword", followed by Mama's Introduction "The Love Charter!", both found near the beginning of the book.
(Note to teamworkers: Please do not actually pass out everyone's copies of the Charter until after you've finished reading Mama's Introduction, "The Love Charter!" Thanks! The reason for this is so that everyone will then be able to listen attentively to these, as they might otherwise have a natural desire to glance through the Charter book! Once the Charter books are handed out, your Home could then unitedly read the "Preface" to the Charter [see page viii], with everyone following along in their copies.)
Afternoon meeting: Begin reading the main body of the Charter. The goal is to try to read at least 30 pages of the Charter in each meeting assigned for this purpose. By this time you will have already read "Dad's Foreword", Mama's Introduction and the "Preface". Please skip the "Definition and Explanation of Terms" on page xi, and jump to the "Responsibilities and Rights of Individual DO Family Members," which begins on page 1 of the Charter. Hopefully you will be able to read most of this section during this meeting.
Evening meeting: View first hour of "Songs of Heaven" video.
February 16th:
Morning meeting: Continue reading the "Responsibilities and Rights of Individual DO Family Members" (up to and including page 42) if needed. Then read the section entitled "Responsibilities and Rights of the DO Home" (page 42-69).
Afternoon meeting: Continue reading the section entitled "Responsibilities and Rights of the DO Home" (pages 42-70). When you have finished that section, skip the sections called "Responsibilities and Authority of DO Leadership" (pages 70-91) and "Procedures" (pages 92-114). Jump over to page 115, and begin reading the section called "Fundamental Family Rules". You will not be able to read this entire section in this afternoon meeting as it is over 40 pages long, but just read as far as you can, and then pick up where you left off in your morning meeting the next day.
Evening meeting: View second hour of Dad's "Songs of Heaven" video.
February 17th:
Morning meeting: Continue reading the "Fundamental Family Rules" (which ends on page 164).
Afternoon meeting: Mama would like to ask if you could please have prayer for her at this time. Please begin the meeting by reading her prayer entitled "Mama's Prayer to Be Able to Express the Lord's Words More Clearly" (ML#2964), which explains her needs and prayer request very clearly. Then please pray desperately that the Lord will anoint Mama for her new ministry and role, that He will give her a clear channel to hear from Him, and that He will help her when dictating her Letters to be able to express more clearly and easily the Lord's thoughts and find the words to describe and share His love. Thank you very much for your earnest desperate prayers. We know they will avail much! Praise the Lord!
Evening meeting: View third hour of Dad's "Songs of Heaven" video.
February 18th:
This is a freeday! You need not schedule united meetings on this day. You can continue reading or reviewing the Charter privately, if you so desire. You may want to try to read the portions that were skipped in the united reading, such as the sections called "Responsibilities and Authority of DO Leadership" (page 70) and "Procedures" (page 92), but it is up to you. It's not mandatory.
Evening meeting: Family Birthday Celebration, with inspiration, refreshments, etc. Praise the Lord! Have fun!
Other Comments, Tips and Suggestions
- As mentioned earlier, we estimate that you could probably read a minimum of 30 pages in a united meeting lasting three hours, or roughly averaging 10 pages of the Charter per hour. But if you find you can't read that much, then please just adapt the proposed schedule as needed.
- We suggest you do not spend a lot of time discussing the Charter as you read it through this first time. There are several reasons for this: You will be able to read more pages if you don't get bogged down in lots of discussion and questions. Your overall understanding will grow as you read, and the whole picture will begin to come more into focus as you read each section. Also, you may find that your questions are answered further down the line in a later section. So we'd suggest that you please be patient and hold your questions until after you've read the whole Charter. A good idea would be to make note of your questions and comments as you read, and after you have finished reading the whole Charter and reread the parts that were unclear to you, if you still have questions you can bring them up later, at subsequent Home meetings or pow-wows.
- It is not necessary that you read the "Definition and Explanation of Terms" (page xi) and "Glossary" (page 164) unitedly. However, to facilitate your reading and enhance everyone's understanding of the Charter, we suggest someone be assigned to read through these sections and become familiar with them in advance of your meetings, so that the first time you run across such terms or words in your united readings of the Charter, this person can look up the words and read the definition aloud. (These words are marked with asterisks within the Charter.)
- Three days are being dedicated to reading the Charter unitedly, but you will undoubtedly need many follow-up meetings and pow-wows to discuss and pray about the changes put forth in the Charter in order to unitedly determine exactly how they affect your Home and you personally. These follow-up meetings should be scheduled over the weeks that follow the Birthday Celebration.
- It is our hope that at least some people from each Home will be able to read the whole Charter during the four days allotted for the Birthday Celebration, but we realize that others may not get through the whole book in these four days. However, Mama asked that all Home members age 16 and up (excluding new disciples less than five months in the Family) read the whole Charter before April 1st, the date it is to be implemented. New disciples are allowed to read the Charter and can participate in the united readings of it during the Birthday Celebration, but they are not required to read the entire document until their sixth month in the Family.
- Please have your best readers read aloud during your meetings. We also suggest that you have several different readers, if possible, to add variety. You might want to consider having one reader read all the root clauses, another person read the explanations, and a third person read all the confirmatory quotes.
- For more tips on reading aloud and other related topics, please see "Tips for Spirit-Filled Meetings," pg.9, GN 496.
God bless you, dear Family, with a wonderful 1995 Family Birthday Celebration! We are praying for you, that this year will be one of great fruitfulness and happiness for you all!
"Thank You Lord for all Your wonderful works unto the children of men! Thank You for how Your line has gone out through all the Earth, Lord!... We know You're going to bring us closer to the End and You're going to help us to accomplish more of the work that You want us to do. So keep us and help us to look forward with faith to the wonderful things You're going to do!" (ML# 2399:78,81).
Mama received the name The Love Charter as the final touches were being added to the Charter. (See The Love Charter!—God's Call to a Love Revolution!, ML#2963 in GN 615, and in the Charter.)
TO THE JETTs FROM MAMA MARIA
Maria #248 DO 2965 1/95
Dear JETTs,
1. I was just thrilled with the many reports we received about the faithful, inspired job you did during last year's Birthday Fast. You really took up the torch and poured into your younger brothers and sisters, God bless you! (See "JETT Prayer-Warrior Victories!" on page 8.)
2. I would again like to ask you, dear JETTs, to be prayer warriors and "activity captains" for the children during this year's Birthday Celebration and Prayer Time. Would you like to do that? It is a very important assignment, and the Lord can do mighty things as a result of these special three days devoted to prayer!
3. Your job of leading and helping the children as prayer warriors is especially important because the teens and adults will be occupied for much of this time reading a new and life-changing publication: the Love Charter! There is a special introduction to the Love Charter in Kidz Mag #80 which I'd like you to read, preferably with one of your teachers or parents. It should also be read with the MCs and OCs as well, so they will understand what the Love Charter is about. In the days following the Birthday Celebration and Prayer Time, your teachers will probably spend some time with you JETTs going over the main points of the Love Charter in your Word classes.
4. Please read again the Letter I wrote to you last year, "Our JETT Prayer Warriors" (in FSM 251), as this Letter explains to you how important this special job is, of caring for and inspiring your younger brothers and sisters, and helping them grow into the prayer warriors that they need to be! If possible, you should take some time before February 15th to plan and prepare the activities for the children.
5. Thank you so much for your faithful, inspired help! I am sure all of you who were not JETTs last year, but who are JETTs now, will also do a wonderful job on this assignment! God bless you!
6. Lord bless each of our dear JETTs, and all those who help take care of the children at this time. Please give them a safe and happy time together, and give them fun ideas of things to do with the children. Protect them from any accidents that could hurt them. Give them inspired prayer times together, looking to You, Jesus, and claiming Your Word, Your promises, and we know You will answer! Thank You Jesus!
God bless you! I love you!
Love, Mama Maria
(To be read to all children and JETTs)—By WS Staff
Dear Kids,
Praise the Lord! Are you excited about this year's Family Birthday time? This year the teens and adults will not be fasting during the three days before our Family Birthday as they have in previous years. No one will be fasting, because this year our birthday time will be more of a celebration! We'll be celebrating all the wonderful things the Lord has done for us!—Celebrating Grandpa's happy Homegoing!—And celebrating our brand new Love Charter! Hallelujah!
The teens and adults will have a special time of reading and studying a brand-new publication, the Love Charter. This is a very long pub; actually it is a book of over 200 pages! So, they will all be very busy reading it and learning about the changes that the Love Charter will bring to our Family.
Even though this is a time of celebration, we still want to have our special three days of prayer. And just like during last year's Birthday Fast, Mama Maria is counting on you kids, if you would be willing, to be our prayer warriors. Would you like to do that?
"Your prayers can do mighty things!" (AB4, pg.R30).
"When we pray, things will happen and things will be different!" (AB4, pg.R30).
"There's great power in united prayer together!" (AB4, pg.R33).
"If you're really desperate and crying with your whole heart, He'll answer!" (AB4, pg.R33).
"The Lord leaves a lot up to us and our concern and prayer!" (AB4, pg.R33).
"So much depends on us, so much depends on our prayers!" (MOP 97:62).
"The prayers of Godly men and women can accomplish more than all the military forces in the World. Prayer-craft is greater than aircraft!" (MOP 97:102).
Wow! What an important job, to be prayer warriors for our whole Family. There are many important things to pray for! Isn't it exciting to think of the wonderful things the Lord can do when we pray? Remember to be good operators! (See "The Operator", KTK5, pg.107.)
For this years' Birthday Celebration and Prayer Time, we have a very special surprise for you and for all our Family! Your Home should be receiving a video of Grandpa's "Songs of Heaven!" You'll be able to watch our dear Grandpa sing to us! Isn't that exciting! We don't know how those in your Home will arrange it, but perhaps you will watch parts of it during the day, or perhaps you will watch it in the evening with the rest of your Home. It is a very special treat, and we're sure you will enjoy it! Hallelujah!
God bless you! We'll be praying for you as you pray for Mama, World Services, and for all our worldwide Family!
Love,
Your World Services Family
P.S. to MCs and OCs:
You kids won't need to read the whole Love Charter, as it is addressed to the adults, but we have prepared a special Kidz Mag for you, called "Learning about Our Love Charter." This is for you to read at the same time as the teens and adults will be reading the Love Charter, so you'll understand what it is all about.
Ideas for Family Birthday Activities for Children and JETTs
Grandpa's "Songs of Heaven" Video
Pray More Vigil Activity!
Prayer Ideas for All! (FSM 250)
Children's Prayer Vigil Promises
Prayer Cards
Kidz #80 DO "Learning about Our Love Charter!"
Charter-Related Reading List in this FSM.
Children's Reading Lists in FSM 203, 233 and 251
And Lord willing, you may receive in time:
Bible Cartoon videos
Bible Cartoon activity pages
(If you don't receive these videos and activity pages in time for this year's Birthday Celebration and Prayer Time, they should be arriving shortly, and we're sure you'll enjoy them when they come!)
Daily Prayer Requests
DAY ONE: Prayer for Mama Maria and her teamwork, and for our Family publications
This includes praise and thanksgiving for:
Grandpa's wonderful healing and Homegoing and Heavenly ministry!
All the Lord's wonderful answers to prayer!
Major children's publications finished: Word Curriculum and "Victory in Babylon"!
Six Family Fun videos out to the Family, and numbers 7 and 8 are on the way!
Many new audio tapes out to the Family last year!
Plus, please pray for:
Mama Maria's ministry and anointing as God's Prophetess
Mama and her teamwork's ministry, health, safety and security
David and Techi, and Mama's staff: their health, safety, security, happiness and faithfulness in their tasks
World Services publications workers: their health, safety, security and fruitfulness
More publications for children: more MLKs, Kidz Mags, Activity Pages, etc.
More publications for our young people: JETT Reading Lists, Christian Vocational College program, etc.
More DO tapes and videos, such as Family Fun
GP publications, tapes and videos to get the Lord's message of love out to the world
Suggested Reading Material
Kidz #82 DFO "Grandpa's Heavenly Hallelujah Homegoing!"
Reading List for Mama Maria in FSM 203
Reading List for Healing in FSM 203
DAY TWO: Prayer for the Love Charter changes in our Family; witnessing; supply; continued protection from persecution
This includes praise and thanksgiving for:
Our Love Charter!
Victories in persecution situations (Australia, Spain, Argentina, France)!
The time of peace from major persecution He gave us this past year!
Plus, please pray for:
The Love Charter and the changes it will bring to our Homes
Smaller Homes: that the Lord will supply the housing needed, and help the big Homes to break up into smaller Homes
Miraculous supply of every Home's needs
Supply of our children's educational needs
Witnessing—opportunities for our children of all ages, young people and adults to get out witnessing
Continued victories in ongoing court cases (England, Argentina, France)
The Lord to protect our Family everywhere, and keep us safe and secure from any harm
Suggested Reading Material
Charter-Related Reading List below
Kidz #82 DFO, pg.19, "Our Commission" (witnessing!)
Reading List in FSM 203, pg.10, "Witnessing" and pg.11, "Answered Prayer and God's Supply"
Reading List in FSM 251, pg.10, "God's Supply" and pg.11, "Distribution and Fruitfulness of Family Tools"
Reading List in FSM 233, pg.8, "Victories in Persecution"
DAY THREE: Prayer for personal and Home prayer requests, and that our Homes and Family will grow in love
This includes praise and thanksgiving for:
The Lord's wonderful Spirit of Love!
All the Letters of Love we have received from Grandpa and Mama Maria!
Plus, please pray for:
Our Family to grow in love, and for each person to be more loving to others
The Lord will fill us with His Spirit of Love!
Make a prayer list for your Home's needs (health, outreach, supply, etc.).
Make a prayer list for your Home's friends, sheep and supporters.
Suggested Reading Material
Reading List in FSM 251, pg.9, "Family-wide and Personal Prayer Requests"
Activity Book 4, pg.U23, "Prayer" and pg.U18, "Love/Kindness" (Kidz TK and Pub Index)
Kids' Charter-Related Reading List
Please choose from this list according to the age group you are with. You won't be able to read all that is listed during this three-day Birthday Celebration time, but perhaps you can continue reading through these Letters and TKs in the next month or two.
CHANGE / REVOLUTIONS
Change (K.MOP1, pg.4; MOP1, pg.35)
Change (GT1, pg.376)
Travel & Change—I Love It! (LOG, pg.118)
Are You Old Bottles? (TK3, pg.481)
Old Bottles (DB5, pg.269)
Keep Moving (TK3, pg.489)
The Birds & the Seeds (TK5, pg.185; DB6, pg.100)
TAKING INITIATIVE / RESPONSIBILITY / INDIGENUITY
Pioneering (K.MOP2, pg.459; MOP2, pg.752)
Take Action (K.MOP2, pg.644; MOP2, pg.1006)
Vision & Goals (K.MOP2, pg.683; MOP2, pg.1089)
Vision & Goals (GT2, pg.1734)
There Is No Limit (Treasures, pg.136)
Change the World (KTK1, pg.89; DB1, pg.50)
Pandita Ramabai (KTK1, pg.97; Rhyme Book, pg.66; DB5, pg.240)
The Pioneer (KTK4, pg.125)
Second Epistle to Pastors: Training Leaders by Trusting Them (DB4, pgs.116-118)
Third Epistle to Pastors: New Teams—Preparation & Plans/Pioneering Major Cities First (DB4, pgs.126-129)
Specifics—Decision Making (TK2, pg.389; DB4, pg.390)
Let My People Go (DB4, pg.441)
Choice (TK3, pg.461; Rhyme Book, pg.9; DB5, pg.258)
MO's Worldwide Family Newsletter No.23—Letting People Govern Themselves (DB6, pg.120)
The Way of Pioneers (DB9, pg.290)
Decisions (Rhyme Book, pg.13)
O Mountain Man (Rhyme Book, pg.154)
It Couldn't Be Done (Rhyme Book, pg.352)
FOLLOWING THE WORD
Builders Beware (KTK1, pg.33; DB6, pg.39)
When I'm Gone (KTK4, pg.137; DB1, pg.107)
The Word (DB1, pg.300)
The Word (Treasures, pg.179)
For God's Sake, Follow God (TK1, pg.193; KTK5, pg.129; DB4, pg.35)
Looking unto Jesus (TK2, pg.377; DB1, pg.4)
The Word, the Word, the Word (DB8, pg.402; Hope TK #23)
Vision (Rhyme Book, pg.52)
Daddy, the Good Shepherd, Part 2 (KTK2, pg.140)
SMALL HOMES
The Gypsies (TK1, pg.679; DB4, pgs.212-218)
Decentralisation (DB4, pg.362)
Let My People Go (DB4, pg.441)
Details (TK2, pg.385; DB4, pgs.406-409)
The Birds & the Seeds (TK5, pg.185; DB6, pg.100)
The Blob Story (DB6, pg.106)
Dispersion (TK5, pg.219)
The Economy Revolution (DB6, pgs.200-202)
Who To: Small Teams: Every Member Is Essential (DB6, pg.277)
WITNESSING IS OUR JOB
Love for the Lost (K.MOP1, pg.369; MOP2, pg.626)
Service (K.MOP2, pg.579; MOP2, pg.914)
Witnessing (K.MOP2, pg.708; MOP2, pg.1111)
Change the World (KTK1, pg.89; DB1, pg.50)
Pandita Ramabai (KTK1, pg.97; Rhyme Book, pg.66; DB5, pg.240)
Mark 16:15 (GT2, pg.1323)
Wonder Working Witnessing (Treasures, pg.124)
Tommy (KTK1, pg.115; TK1, pg.581; Rhyme Book, pg.59)
Courageous Crusaders (KTK5, pg.177)
World Conquest!—Thru' Love! (DB5, pgs.2-5)
Become One (DB5, pg.185)
Rags to Riches (TK3, pg.171; DB5, pg.196)
The Birthday Warning (TK3, pg.207; DB5, pg.233)
Go with the Words of Life (TK4, pg.39)
Witnessing (TK6, pg.349; DB8, pg.1; Hope TK #4, pg.5)
More on Witnessing (TK6, pg.353)
Through the Father's Door—Witnessing (TK6, pg.357)
Witnessing (KTK5, pg.113)
Go to the High Schools, Colleges & Universities (DB2, pg.23; Hope TK #4, pg.19)
Pilgrims (Rhyme Book, pg.40)
Glamour or Glory? (Rhyme Book, pg.64)
Wit with Lit (Rhyme Book, pg.141)
Jesus Bids Us Shine (Rhyme Book, pg.243)
As Ye Go, Preach (Rhyme Book, pg.245)
The Silent Preacher (Rhyme Book, pg.247)
Comments from JETTs, Children and Overseers about the 1994 Birthday Fast
From Daniel (12), of Gabriel and Rejoice Iowa, S.E. Asia
Dear Mama,
GBY! I really love you and pray for you. I'd just like to share my reaction to the Fast this year. It was really different and fun to be able to be with and care for the kids during the Fast. There are three of us JETTs here and there are about 10 kids. We really prayed for the Lord to give us some ideas and the Lord gave us a lot, mostly with the help of the FSMs prepared for the Fast. They are such a big blessing! The Lord also showed us some other fun ways of praying, such as the whisper prayer and the gift prayer, etc.! All the kids really enjoyed it. Here are some of their comments: "I really liked the Telephone Prayer where you talk to Jesus on the phone. This is the most exciting Fast I ever had." (Heidi 6 years old). Esther (3), when her teacher was about to take her for the evening, said, "Are the JETTs going to be with us tonight?"
One of the main lessons I learned was to be thankful for whatever state I'm in, because usually I think just how I'd be so glorious if I did the jobs the adults did. Now that I'm taking on the job of taking care of the younger kids during the Fast and their activities, it really makes me thankful for all the adults do, and also thankful about where I am and what I'm doing.
God bless you! I love you and am praying for you. Lots of Love, Daniel
From Kezia (12) of Adam and Divina, S.E. Asia
Dear Mama,
I really love you! God bless you for all you do. You are so sweet, and concerned about everybody of all ages. Thank you for the sweet personal letter that you sent to all the JETTs. Caring for the kids during the Fast was very challenging! It was a lot of fun. It was nice to hear that the kids really liked it. Some different things that the kids said that they liked were the Telephone Prayer, Throwing the Ball Prayer, and Hide a Prayer. One thing that I learned was that I need to take more responsibility, and I saw what the teachers feel and go through. Well, bye bye for now! Much love, Kezia
From Isaac (12) of Thai Christina, S.E. Asia
Dearest Mama Maria,
God bless you! I love you! Thank you for the challenge of being the YC/MC/OC shepherds during this Birthday Fast, 1994. Here I'd like to recall all the lessons that I learned throughout this time. I know that this has helped me to learn not to be critical of the teachers taking care of the children, as I saw what a big job it really is! I used to think that the shepherds that were overseeing the MCs/YCs/OCs had a very relaxing job because I never really saw or experienced how big a job they really do have!
When this challenge came, I saw what shepherding is really like and how hard it may be. It really helped me to put myself in others' shoes and see how it is when the children or someone is not entering in at inspiration time. You understand how it feels when you have prepared something and the children don't want to do it. I now really admire the adults who take care of the children, and shepherd us JETTs—that they can all still be so cheerful at the end of a full day that was pretty hard.
It has also made me want to obey more and to make it easy for my shepherds to be good, and to receive correction, 'cause I know now how it feels to be a shepherd giving correction. Some more lessons that I learned were along the lines of my thoughts. I've always wished that I could be the boss or in the lead of things sometimes, but as the verse goes, "He gave them their request, but sent leanness to their soul." My desire to be the boss during this time only lasted for about two hours, as after that I was able to see that it's really hard work and more of a responsibility. So I kind of learned that lesson the hard way!
Thank you, Mama Maria, for this challenge! It teaches us JETTs the many leadership lessons that we will need in the future. It taught me so much and I'm really thankful for this special learning experience! Thank You Lord! Much love, Isaac
From JETTs in JETT-1 Home, S.E. Asia
Dear Mama Maria,
We would just like to share with you some of the activities that we did with the children here. For Word time we would split up in groups of nursery, YCs/MCs, and OCs. Each one of us would take over a particular group for Word time and we would do different things with them. With the nursery, we would do a "draw me a story" type thing. With the YCs/MCs/OCs we would do things like charades and skits, etc. For prayer time, we would have all the kids together and we'd do a lot of things from the new Prayer Ideas, which was such a help. One of the main types of prayers that the kids really liked was the Fishing Prayer where each child goes fishing for their prayer requests, the Telephone Prayer where you talk to Jesus on a telephone, and the Treasure Hunt Prayer where they all go and hunt for their prayer requests. We just really wanted to say thank you so much for the FSM that gave so many ideas to really help make this Fast meaningful for each of the children.
We really love and pray for you, our dear shepherdess, and Grandpa, our dear shepherd.
Much love, from the JETTs in JETT-1 Home
From Kenji (9), NAS Home, S.E. Asia
The Fast was really fun because we were with the JETTs and we could pray in different ways, with the different prayer games that we had. I'm also thankful for all the new Kidz Mags that we got then, too. The "Victory in Babylon" showed me that prayer is powerful, that it can stop people from doing things, like when Paul prayed against Spud as he was running away from him, that if you rebuke the Devil that it will work. Also it taught me about loving our enemies. Also, that we need to be a good sample so that when persecution comes, people will be on our side.
From Jackie (8), NAS Home, S.E. Asia
I liked the Fast. It was quiet and inspiring and it was fun to be with the JETTs, to read the mags and pray in different ways! I like the "Victory in Babylon" pubs because they teach me how to be more of a witness and not give up, but to keep on praying.
From Stevie, Hannah and Joan, Pacific
The pubs provided for the children during the Fast were tremendous and our older children's group (4-7 yrs.) were very inspired and challenged about being the Prayer Warriors. There was more than enough to keep them interested and busy, and after the three days they were asking when the next Fast would be as it was so much fun that they wanted to do it again. Praise the Lord! Since the goal was to not only have them carrying the responsibility of being the main prayer warriors, but also really enjoy the Fast and see that prayer and fighting in the Spirit can also be really fun, we felt that these materials made that possible! God bless the dear folks who took so much prayer, time and effort to put these together! The prayer ideas were also tremendous and we used them for both our adults and children, resulting in much more variety and inspiration in our prayers. These new ideas really helped and we were impressed with how many new ideas, things we had never thought of before, were included in this pub. Just when you wonder if you've "tried it all," a pub like this comes out showing that you haven't even scratched the surface! Thank You Jesus! We have been continuing to use the pubs and activity suggestions and extended the prayer theme into our regular Word and activity times since.
From Gideon, Jeremiah and Joan, Pacific
We were very thrilled with all the Fast mailings! They were just beautiful and life-changing. All the publications for the children were such a wonderful blessing! Our JETTs were thrilled and excited as they studied over them prior to the Fast and they took up the challenge beautifully throughout the Fast time. It was wonderful to see them setting up little "prayer tents" etc., with the children, and how they and all the little ones got so turned on and excited. The teachers were thrilled too! Thank You Jesus! Mama's vision coming to pass. Thank you, dear Mama, and all of World Services who worked so hard on all of those publications to get them to us on time. It was such an "on-fire" time in the Spirit!—For adults and teens reading Mama's Letter, the JETTs so inspired and so dedicated and unselfish in their vision for their Fast time job, and for all the precious children! It was a very beautiful time. Thank You Jesus!
From Jimmy, Matthew and Tabitha, Pacific
The children's Fast materials were really super and were such an inspiring blessing for the kids! God bless those who worked so hard to produce these in time for the Fast. Thank You Jesus! Also, the JETTs really took up the torch in their responsibilities for planning and leading the activities for the classes during the three days! God bless them! Thank You Jesus!
From Gideon, Juan, Claire and Hannah; L. America
We really appreciate all the love and effort that was put into all the Fast material. The kids were so happy with the Activity Pages. When we first opened the package, it made us cry to see how much Mama cares for our kids and JETTs to make it soooo easy for them to be good. The kids had fun and the JETTs really learned a lot while caring for the little ones during the Fast. Some of them had almost never taken groups before, and now one JETT even wants to be an OC teacher!
From Jerry, Vicky and Leilani, Pacific
Having our teens away this week, we saw the JETTs' potential in the way they handled the younger groups during the Fast. Sometimes the JETTs get overshadowed by the teens and we don't realize their capabilities. One 11-year-old and a 12-year-old capably handled five YCs and enjoyed very much being with them. Their excitement and enthusiasm opened our eyes to our JETTs' potential, and to their needs as well.
—By WS Staff 1/95 DO
To be read after you've finished reading the Love Charter!
Dear Family,
God bless you! We love you and are keeping you in our prayers as you study the new Family Love Charter. Praise the Lord! Truly these are times of change and growth for our wonderful Family! We have a few points regarding the Love Charter and its implementation to share with you. We pray that the need for these procedures will be clear and that they will seem good to all of you!
Inaugural Home Elections to Be Held On April 1st
As you will have read in the Love Charter, elections for Home teamworkers will now be scheduled to take place at six-month intervals on March 1st and September 1st. However, because the Love Charter is scheduled to go into effect on April 1st, we ask that you please hold your next Home elections on April 1st instead of on March 1st. This will give you more time to study and absorb the Love Charter before holding your next teamwork elections. Otherwise, if the elections were to be held on March 1st, there would only be a few days between having first read the Love Charter at the Family Birthday and the election. Since the nominations for such elections would need to be turned in a week before the election date, this would give you very little time in which to assimilate the Love Charter and its many changes before your Home would be faced with a teamwork election. With this in mind, we therefore feel it's best to delay your elections until April 1st, when the Love Charter goes into effect.
After this one-time April 1st Home Election has taken place, then all subsequent Home elections will take place on March 1st and September 1st, as outlined in the Love Charter. Thus the next Home election to take place after the April 1, 1995 election will be held on September 1, 1995, and the next election after that will be on March 1, 1996, and so on.
Right of Mobility —Prepare Ahead of Time
With the inauguration of the Love Charter on April 1st you will receive the freedoms and responsibilities of the Right of Mobility. This means that you could personally initiate a change of Homes or fields if you wish, as outlined in the Love Charter. We'd like to suggest that those of you who may be planning to immediately exercise this right should plan ahead by writing for clearance and beginning to raise your fare even before April 1st. We'd suggest that you also inform your Home teamwork of your plans, as it would probably be a help to them to have as much advance notice as possible of any planned moves of Home members. That way they can better anticipate and plan for the official April 1st implementation of the Love Charter.
Once the Love Charter has gone into effect on April 1st, you will be free to give your 30-day notice if you wish. Please bear in mind that any such moves should be made in a prayerful and responsible way. We'd like to suggest you refer to the explanation under the Right of Mobility, section A.1., pg.19, where it is explained that "Our prayer, intent and desire is that all such moves will be prayerful and responsible decisions; that when the Lord leads you to move, you will 'squeeze, not jerk'; and that you will take into account the needs of your Home before doing so." We recommend that anyone considering moving from their present Home, either within their Continental Area or to another Area of the world, should again carefully study the Right of Mobility section of the Love Charter, pgs.18-30.
Maximum Home Size Restriction
In order to allow time for the opening of new Homes and all this involves, we are granting a four-month grace period before the maximum Home size rule takes effect. So no Home will be penalized for being oversized until August 1, 1995.
Visiting Servants to Take Office Later
In light of the changes in our Family leadership structure as outlined in the Love Charter, your present Area shepherds have very graciously agreed to step down from their shepherding responsibilities. We would add that we greatly appreciate them for the sacrificial job they've done as shepherds. God bless them! As of February 15th, 1995, your NASs, GASs and DASs will no longer hold their shepherding offices. Visiting Servants will be appointed later by the CROs, with the approval of WS Leadership.
Because the Love Charter will usher in such major changes in the governing and administration of the Family, we feel that it's important to forego having any Area shepherds or VSs in the time period between the Family Birthday and the time the VSs take office. This will give you Homes the time you need to thoroughly study the Love Charter and absorb the rules, guidelines and principles.
Your Area shepherds have already received a letter sincerely thanking them for all the love, prayer, dedication and sacrifice they have poured into their jobs of shepherding the Family these last years. This letter also explains the need for them to step aside from their shepherding duties to make way for the Love Charter to take effect. We expect your former Area shepherds to go on to new challenges and responsibilities in which their gifts, talents and leadership will be greatly used by the Lord, and they will still continue to be solid pillars in the work.
Area Business Managers
Interim office managers, who will be known as Area Business Managers (ABMs), will be appointed by the CROs to handle any necessary phone communications and other vital business activities during this interim period between the Family Birthday and the VSs taking office. These interim appointees will not be responsible for making shepherding decisions, but will only be coordinating Area communications and business as needed. They will function more or less as operators who will pass on communications between the Homes, other Areas within the Continental Area, and the Continental Office. The ABMs will also be able to forward clearance requests to their appropriate destinations. In some Areas they may assist with the supply of tools from the Service Centers and PPCs. These ABMs may or may not continue on as part of the VS teams, which will be appointed some months down the road.
Homes Making Their Own Decisions
With your present Area shepherds stepping down from their responsibilities on February 15th and there being no VSs in place, you may be wondering who will answer the myriad of questions you'll undoubtedly have. Well, this is one of the major reasons for the Love Charter: To allow you Homes to govern yourselves without much, if any, outside help from leadership. As explained in the Love Charter, "Homes and their members must assume the responsibility for the management of their affairs, and not expect their VSs to sort things out for them." This means that it will be up to each Home to seek the Lord in His Word and in prayer and counsel together for the answers to their questions and problems, with the help of the Love Charter. "The Love Charter is a guide to help you know how to govern your Home, how to make decisions and how to sort out problems."
Although your CROs will try to answer appropriate questions and do what they can to help and counsel you during these initial stages of implementing the Love Charter, you can expect that a good many of the questions which you formerly directed to your Area shepherds and CROs will no longer be answered by them, but instead it will be up to you as a Home to look to the Word to find the answers you need. This will be a big change for all of us, but one which the Lord has shown us is very needed! Hallelujah!
Prepare Financially
It's possible that during the initial implementation of the Love Charter, Family income may drop. In the past, with the three-day Birthday Celebration taking place in February, the shortest month of the year, our Homes experienced more financial difficulties during February and March than at other times of the year. With this in mind, we'd like to encourage you to prepare for this possibility by planning the remainder of your February and March outreach and other fund-raising activities so that your Home's income does not significantly diminish during these traditionally slower months. If each Home, and especially the Home teamworks pray and plan ahead, asking the Lord to show you ways in which to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, we believe you can help your Home avoid such a drop in income.
February 15-18:
April 1st:
At a later date:
Visiting Servants will be appointed, though not before June 1st
[end]
Copyright 1996 The Family