Everyone it is my sad duty to post the following information. I met this young man while Cliff and I were in Montevideo a couple of months ago. Please pray as Paul has asked.

From: "Paul & Pam Sheaffer" <thesheaffers@pobox.com>Date: 2008/05/25 Sun PM 11:24:54 CDTSubject: Urgent Prayer NeedI do not even know where to start. We desperately seek your prayers for our family (especially Kaitlyn) and our church family here in Uruguay. Today while Kaitlyn was working at a children's club in the Old City with three of her friends, one of her best friends was electrocuted and died. Her friend's name was Pablo and he went to chase a soccer ball that went over a fence at the club; not knowing he was entering an electrical sub-station with high powered transformers. Pablo was electrocuted and immediately was in the presence of the Lord.Pam and I received a call shortly after the accident and went to get Pablo's mother to take her to the club. At this time we all thought he had just suffered an injury. Upon arriving we all realize what had actually happened. Because of the dangerous circumstances, Pablo's body stayed at the scene of the accident for almost three hours. Many people gathered including kids' families from the club, TV crews, family, and most of the neighborhood. Pablo's life and death made a big impact on many people; we are hoping that God can turn this tragedy into an opportunity to bring these same people to Christ.Specifically, please pray for the following:
1. We praise God that Pablo had a vibrant growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Just this morning he had played his guitar while helping with the music in our worship service. Pray that God will allow Pablo's testimony to continue and that many of his friends will come to know Christ. Just this week, Pablo had shared with Kaitlyn that he thought that several of his lost friends were close to trusting Christ.
2. Pray for Pablo's family. His mother and dad are in shock and his younger brother and sister will have many questions about why all this has happened.
3. Pray that God would provide for Pablo's funeral; Pablo's father has been unemployed from a steady job for several months.
4. Pray for Pablo's girlfriend Sadia. Though they were not officially engaged, they had begun talking about marriage.
5. Pray for Kaitlyn. Pablo has been one of Kaitlyn's closest friends here in Uruguay. Over the past week or two, they had seen each other almost every day. They took some classes together at seminary, they led our worship at our church, they worked with a senior adult home together, and worked in the children's club every Sunday. He was very much like a big brother to Kaitlyn; he was 20 years old.
6. Pray for our youth group and church family. There will be many questions and they will struggle with understanding how something like this could happen to someone with such a heart for ministry.
7. Pray for our two upcoming volunteer teams and how this tragedy will affect their work here in Uruguay. Both groups will be working with our church and we will need wisdom and strength to make adjustments with our schedule and work assignments. We have a GAP team coming from Post, TX in about a week, and we have International World Changers bringing in over 50 youth in about three weeks.
8. Pray for "Member Care" (our mission's counselors) as they will be arriving in Montevideo to offer aid to Kaitlyn and her friends.
9. Pray for the continued work in the Old City. Pray that many will be saved.I will be updating our web page before Tuesday. A week ago West Colonial Hills Baptist Church (my home church from TN) held a basketball camp in the same part of the city where 13 children received Christ as their Savior and over 70 attended the camp during the week. Many of the kids at the club today were a result of the work of this basketball camp. I will also work on a tribute to Pablo and will seek to have this posted by the end of the week.Thank you in advance for your support and prayers. We love and appreciate each of you.In Christ,Paul and Pam

Update

Hello Everyone,

I assume everyone received their CD’s in the mail. Please remember that I need everyone to start becoming familiar with the contents of the CD, especially the GAP training and the Redeemer Drama. I had asked that each of you send me an email to let me know that you have gotten it. To date I have heard from exactly NONE of you. The only one that I am reasonably sure got his was Stephen, and that is because I left it with the secretary. The main reason I am harping on this, is that I found out this week that one of the group leaders was not getting my emails, they were being sent to his junk mail box. I guess that is appropriate, though I hope you don’t think this stuff junk. Anyway, I would really like to hear some feed back from each of you group leaders and the individuals.

Secondly I would like to ask a favor. I need each of the church groups to obtain a working boom box with a cd player and several sets of extra batteries, for use at the ministry sites. You will be free to take this back home with you following the project, should you choose to do so. Please I need your help here.

Thirdly, I am including some cultural tips that Paul has passed along:

Here is a list of Do’s and Don’ts for Ministry Sites
1. Do try to engage people. Talk about family, hobbies, sports, and culture. Sit in listen.Do not talk about politics! Change the subject if it comes up. Do not be in a rush.
2. When using a translator, do talk directly to the person you are talking to.Do not look at the translator when you are talking.
3. Do “kiss” people when you greet them. Do not avoid “kissing”, especially people you get to know.
4. In the nursing home, ask permission to enter a patient’s room? “Permiso?”Do not wake a patient that is sleeping.
5. Be sensitive to the schedule of those you are working with.

Next, I am still waiting to hear back from a couple of you regarding Crew Managers positions. I have 4 so far that have stepped up. I still need two more, especially those that I have already contacted. Please help us out with this.

And lastly, we are about a month away from departure. I would like to encourage everyone to ask questions and to be diligent to the pre project study as well as these emails that I have been sending out. Thanks again for listening.

See you soon,

Jim