AWANA MENA

2011
AWANA MENA
Winter
Edition
Edition
NEWS
We continue to be blessed here in Texas. We did
have several snowfalls last winter and the past
summer was in triple digits for nearly the whole
summer. We’ve enjoyed lots of activities with our
grandkids and our local church Chris has again
made trips back to the Middle East this past year
and two trips to Awana Headquarters in Chicago,
Ill. Peggy continues to substitute teach in the local
school district but receives fewer calls due to the
greater number of subs available and the poor
economic conditions that have a high number of
people unemployed.
FAMILY NEWS
Our biggest family news is the arrival of a new
granddaughter, Cora Margaret Toriz, born on July
25th to our son Tim, and wife Christine. She is a
lovely little girl and loved a lot by big sister Tessa.
Tessa is a very smart and loquacious little girl. We
had a great Thanksgiving with them.
Our eldest daughter, Amy has resigned from
teaching first grade, and now is teaching a couple of
college courses while embarking on her doctorate
studies. It keeps her busy. Sons, Donnie and
Dakota, continue to do well in school. Dakota (3rd
grade) is active in sports and Donnie plays the
trumpet in the Jr. High band. The boys recently
showed heifers (they are pretty large animals!) at the
Texas State Fair. Their Dad, Paul, is busy in the
construction and remodeling business. We had a
traditional Thanksgiving at their farm.
Christy and pet loving family have added a new
kitten to the family. Toulouse fits right in with all
the other pets. Olivia, (17) went to her first prom
this year, Colton (14) is active in sports. Ashton
(12) and Savannah (8) spent a couple of weeks with
us this summer. They loved playing in the lake and
trying to catch the neighborhood wild kitties.
Christy continues to work part-time for Purina and
husband, Drew, works in construction. Hard to
believe our grand kids are growing up so quickly –
but all kids seem to do that!
MINISTRY NEWS
Chris visited Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) this fall.
Jordan: Chris worked with Fairouz & Gus for ten
days on inventory, accounting and getting more
Awana materials made. They had two days of
QuickBooks (accounting) training and Albert came
from Palestine to attend the class (see picture 1).
Chris also visited the Awana club in Mahatta a
suburb of Amman. The club is doing well but has a
heavy turnover of Iraqis immigrating to other
countries. Five children were saved the week before.
(See Sparks picture 2)
Palestine: Chris also spent several days in Palestine
and met with Albert and Pastor Mazen who has
agreed to re-start their Awana club in the Old City.
He will also look into starting Awana at a sister
church. Albert started a new club in his area.
Lebanon: Chris spent a week in Lebanon and they
had a day of Basic Training for active clubs there.
Three boys from Sidon who grew up in Awana
starting in the Sparks and Flame clubs attended the
leader training. Chris spent several days with
Marwan (new coordinator) helping him in his new
Awana ministry. See Marwan’s family, photo 3.
UAE: Chris also spent ten days in the UAE. Their
Awana Leaders Conference was on Oct 8th in Dubai.
Chris taught three workshops; Gospel Magic, T&T
Update, and Ten Tools to Make You an Awesome
Leader. See conference attendee’s photo 4. Chris
spent five days working on the UAE accounts with
Tony & Gracy (see photo 5); he also attended the
ECC Awana Club in Abu Dhabi. ECC is one of the
few clubs in MENA that have a full sized game
circle (see photo 6)
Faris (a former Awana Commander of an Arabic
club) and Chris visited the new Arabic Pastor
Sameh, in Sharjah just N.E. of Dubai. He and his
wife are very interested in starting it soon.
Egypt: Awana has really taken off in Egypt. Chris
was there in May for the Train the Trainer Conference. PTL 30 churches participated in the SeedPlanter Basic Training Conference in August and 24
of these churches started Awana. We hope to have
a 2nd SeedPlanters (SP) conference in March 2012
with about 50 churches. This will allow us to reach
our long time goal of 100+ clubs by the end of
2012. (48+24+40=112) Pray that the 8 churches
from SP1 and all 50 SP2 will start Awana, and then
we will have 128 clubs. Also pray that a stable
secular
Government will be installed, that will give
Christians the freedom of worship without fear.
PTL many children were saved in these hard times.
4. Awana Leaders Conference attendees, Dubai, UAE
1. Fairouz, Gus & Albert in Jordan for QuickBooks training.
5. Chris, Gracy, Tony, Nathan & Vanessa at ECC in UAE
2. Iraqi Sparks Children at the Mahatta, Jordan Club.
6. Game Time at Evangelical Christian Church, UAE
In His love and service, wishing you a blessed
Christmas,
Chris and Peggy
Awana MENA
c.toriz@awana.org,
www.awana-mena.com
170 Tanglewood Rd., Mabank, TX, 75156
www.awanainternational.org
3. Vivianne, Marwan, Jonathan & Joy in Lebanon.