Big Changes

Dear family, friends and fellow workers,

Our last letter told you that we celebrated 25 years of missionary service. This letter will tell you that after nine wonderful years with The JESUS Film Project we have decided to finish theological studies and will therefore not be moving to Orlando as we had originally planned.
We have a three-bedroom seminary apartment overlooking one of the 10,000 (actually 11,842) beautiful lakes of Minnesota. What a blessing it is to have John and our daughter, Ruth, who has been attending Northwestern College in St. Paul, with us.

Will this be easy? Most probably not. We moved with just what fit in our cars. Within a few days, thanks to many kind and generous people, we had a completely furnished apartment! We have moved with only the knowledge that God has faithfully taken care of us all these years and will continue to do so. We are so very thankful for the more than 100 people and churches that have been praying for us over the years and investing financially in our ministry. We would not have been able to play the part we did without you! We hope that you will continue to stand with us both prayerfully and financially during this new training period. One of my classmates is a former Campus Crusade for Christ staff member who also felt the call to become theologically trained. They have reported that their support team has made it possible for them to be there. That was a real encouragement to us!

On the campus also sits a Bible school with 140 students, for which Bob is privileged to assist the new dean part-time. Our family has had a great burden and appreciation for the Bible school movement. Our daughters were the fifth generation to attend one of the five sister Bible schools.

Margaret is enjoying substitute teaching in several school districts. After passing out one day, and a trip to the emergency room followed up by tests, she was diagnosed healthy. We are relieved nothing serious was found. Bob will have knee surgery on December 22, the same day and with the same doctor as Ruth.

Mary and Joe had our second grandchild, October 6th. Jacob Daniel Dapelo was born a month early, weighing 5 lbs. 1 oz. and is doing great. He is dearly loved by his 20 month old sister, Lily. They have settled into their new home while Joe does his seminary internship in Napoleon, Ohio.

Esther, with two of her friends, moved into our aunt’s house that we were renting in Rosemead. She severely injured her knee in an on-the-job training exercise at Azusa Pacific University. She continues to recover after surgery and with physical therapy.

Ruth is attending Northwestern in nearby St. Paul. She is a nanny for three families and will have surgery on her other knee December 22. She has just become a missionary candidate to do Bible translation and will finish her undergraduate work in May.

John has adapted remarkably well to a new home, giving up his dog, and studying his senior year both on-line with his classmates through Biola University and in a highly-rated public high school (with an enrollment of 2400) around the corner from us.

Saying goodbye to Margaret’s family whom we have been living next door to these nine years was a big change for us all. Living on The Rosemead Compound was a real blessing. We have to console ourselves by making new friends, being nearer to Mary, Ruth, and Margaret’s sisters, Canadian geese honking overhead, squirrels in our yard, deer in the neighborhood and the prospects of a sub-zero winter. We may have escaped the hurricanes of Florida for now, but a tornado damaged 400 homes and killed one child just 16 miles from us.



Bob & Margaret Lee ~ 3140 E Medicine Lake Blvd, Apt. B ~ Minneapolis MN 55441 ~ bobmargleeATgmail.com ~ Phone (763) 746-3097

*The @ sign needs to replace AT. This was done to avoid spam.

May 30, 2006

Dear Friend,

June 2006 is a very special month for us. We celebrate our 25th year of mission service! During these years it has been a wonderful time of serving and living among our Santal friends and colleagues in Bangladesh, living in a mud house, cooking over a mud stove, eating wildcat, rat and intestine stew, braving bats, shrews, cobras and kraits in our home, facing demonstrators and robbers on the road, living under martial law, fleeing charging water buffalos and honking geese, and even having an elephant relieve himself on our front porch. It has been a time of taking rabies shots, surviving food poisoning, pneumonia, electrocution, and a lethal dose of medication.

Our reward has been seeing lives changed as the result of a Christian hospital birthed, church leaders trained, and Christian literature, hymnal and theological books published; watching adults read for the first time, preach for the first time and pray for the first time; and growing in grace and learning mercy by being its recipient many times. We praise God for his great faithfulness in our lives!

Then we came to The JESUS Film Project® and Campus Crusade for Christ. What a privilege to be a part of bringing the Gospel to millions of people throughout Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, East Timor, and the Philippines. It has been fun to visit our brothers and sisters-in-Christ as they take the JESUS film to their own people. Since we joined in 1997, more than 4.5 billion more viewers have either viewed or listened to the JESUS film! To God be the Glory!

We regularly hear reports from partnering organizations on how the JESUS film has impacted their work. Just one mission’s teams have reported 38,811,868 evangelistic contacts¹ from January 1998 through May 9, 2006. Of these contacts, 6,678,344 have indicated decisions for Christ and there have been 2,117,157 initial discipleship follow-ups. There have been 8,826 new mission churches started and 14,230 new pastors are in training.

One of their teams in the Democratic Republic of Congo reported: “Here they gain their livelihood from hunting and farming. This is an area where at least 380 people live in dire poverty. During the course of the showings, we were surprised to see 12 old soldiers from the group of rebels come forward to ask for forgiveness. Right there they handed over their fetishes². This happened during the crucifixion of Jesus. The village chief, a pygmy, was among the viewers and gave the church a piece of property where we can build a church, and a chicken and cassava to provide food for the JESUS Film choir of 12 people. We had a celebration service on Sunday with 222 people present.” Pray for these soldiers and the community as they are guided by Christ to change their futures.

The Da Vinci Code has been the talk of the town recently. Campus Crusade for Christ has produced a stunning 20-page mini-magazine which examines the issues raised by The Da Vinci Code book and movie in an engaging way that points people to the truth. This magazine will be a natural conversation starter before, during and after the movie. We are including a copy of this magazine to you as our gift so that you can seize this unprecedented opportunity to answer the challenging questions raised by The Da Vinci Code about the deity of Christ and his Word. It is our hope that it may help you in opening up positive, compelling and welcoming dialogues about the real and relevant Christ.

Many many people have made our ministry possible these last twenty-five years; praying for us, encouraging us, and supporting us financially. You are all special to us and we want you to know that you have made a significant impact on millions of people, not the least, our family. We would never have ventured out with our mustard-seed faith without knowing God’s support team was behind us, holding the rope. Thank you.

Prayer & Family Update

+Mary has been taken off the high-risk list. Her blood clot has vanished and she and the baby are doing well. They have moved to Napoleon, Ohio, where Joe is beginning his internship.

+Esther continues working and attending summer school at Azusa Pacific University. She is living at home for the summer.

+Ruth will visit for five days when her friend, Christy, gets married. She is spending the summer working and attending summer sessions at Northwestern College in St. Paul. Pray for her knees. She has just been diagnosed with trochlear dysplasia.

+John is finishing up his junior year and plans to do his senior year with Biola’s STAR Torrey Academy on-line.