February 2023

Warm greetings from Canada on this cold February day.  We are thankful for God’s help and care for us here in Moncton over a particularly challenging time.  In early January, I was approached with an emergency request to teach English Composition in the Bible Institute this semester just days before the semester was to begin, since the scheduled professor was unable to teach it.  The Lord led me to accept the course and I soon found myself working frantically to plan the course and trying to prepare myself to teach the class.  Cutting time out of my schedule for the prep time, teaching and grading each week has been a challenge but it is encouraging to see students make progress in their English and writing skills.  Several have taken up the challenge to do their research paper assignment on topics relating to ministry that they want to learn more about.  My prayer is that God will use this class to help equip these students for ministry.

The French ministry continues to meet weekly.  With the temperature up to 32F on Monday, our two students from Quebec went with Caleb and me to go door to door with bilingual Gospel tracts and church flyers in a rather rough area of town.  We spoke with quite a few people, and while some were quite closed, others were more open and receptive.  Pray for eternal fruit!  We would like to get out regularly again soon, weather permitting. The high tomorrow is only 14F but the days are getting longer and Spring is coming.  It is encouraging to see the burden for the lost among the students (and Caleb) and the desire to get out to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to those around us.  We are thrilled that one of our students is preparing for a ten-day missions trip to France over the March break. Another student, who had taken the missions trip to the Gambia in November, has changed his outlook to now being open to God’s calling him to the mission field.  

Cherith is encouraged with the spiritual growth in a number of the ladies of the church, both through weekly Bible studies with D, and through the monthly Ladies’ Bible study.  The ladies have their meeting this evening (always the last Thursday each month) to continue their study on gratitude. A few weeks ago, Cherith was approached by R, one of the ladies in our church, about doing something to encourage some of the widows. A couple weeks later, Cherith gathered some card-making supplies given by some of our dear friends at Plainfield Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, MI and joined several of these women at R’s house to help them create greeting cards to use to encourage and bless others. Within a few days, we began to see some of the cards they created being shared at church to encourage and edify others. French classes continue weekly in the Homeschool Co-op, which has grown this semester with the addition of several elementary age children from three families.

God gave us about three weeks with our family all together at Christmas time when Adrianna was home on break from BJU. She has a full schedule of classes and work, plus church choir and violin lessons.  We appreciate prayer for her as she  searches for a required business internship in Greenville this summer. 

Praise for

• 
  the way God has answered prayer for Cherith’s health.  The pulmonologist she began to see when she got sick last October has been able to diagnose her respiratory issues, and though there is no cure, he has been able to get her on a treatment that has helped her more than anything she has been given in over five years!  We praise the Lord for the improvement in her breathing. 
• God’s blessing of the Teen Retreat at Emmanuel Baptist in the fall, for the excellent attendance and for God’s help for Cherith as she spoke to the girls on purity and biblical womanhood.
• God’s blessing of Caleb and the other men on the missions trip to The Gambia from November 21 to December 1, and for all that they were able to accomplish in the church construction and in Gospel outreach.  

• The opportunity at Christmas to send Christmas cards and calendars with beautiful pictures and evangelistic readings to a number of our friends in France (and with neighbors here).  It has been encouraging to receive positive responses from nearly all of them.
• The weather warming up and the opportunity to get back out to go door to door.  
• God’s help for us with the full loads we are carrying.
  

Pray for

• God’s blessing as the church grows, and that He will help there to be unity of spirit and purpose.
• Warmer days coming and for good contacts and opportunities to share the Gospel with door to door outreach. Pray for visitors and that God will cause others in the church to be burdened for the lost around them and get involved in this outreach ministry. 
• Our discipleship ministry, and that we will be able to impart  a vision for striving for excellence in all we do for the Lord.
• Caleb and I as we travel to visit the Holy Land from March 6 to 15, on a guided tour of biblical sites led by Pastor Eastwood with about 25 others from churches mainly in the Maritimes.  Pray for Cherith and Josiah as they stay behind, and will be caring for 2 active little boys whose parents will be on the trip.