Yesterday
would have been my father’s 75th Birthday had the Lord not called
him Home nearly five years ago. I
miss him dearly but am so thankful for his teaching and example to follow the
Lord and serve Him faithfully. How
thankful I am for God’s promises and for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because He lives, we shall live also!
Spring is
coming to Bordeaux, evidenced by bushes and trees beginning to burst into
bloom. This is a welcome sight,
but even more welcome, are the answers to prayer that we are seeing in the work
here. Thank you so much for your
prayers for us and for this work that God has called us to. You prayed for children in our Sunday
school, and we have seen three families bring their children during the past
few weeks. They haven’t been there
every week, but some of them have come back. On one particular Sunday, the Lord showed His sovereignty in
very special ways. Cherith was
home sick that Sunday and I took Adrianna and Caleb with me to church. There we discovered the senior pastor
had fallen sick as well and was unable to make it to church. I would need to preach. This would have created a problem for
Junior Church, except that the Lord had the other teacher already prepared to
teach through a scheduling “error” the week before. It was wonderful to be able to have three extra children
present in church that day, and to see the children’s classes cared for.
A big prayer
request regarding beginning a new work in the Merignac area has been for the
Lord to provide some mature couples and singles to form a core group for this
work. This month we have learned
of one of the ways God is answering this request. When we learned that a young couple from the church where we
worked in Reims is moving to Bordeaux at the end of this month for career
opportunities, we asked them to pray about joining us in this new work. They prayed and responded with interest
and last night we learned that the Lord is providing them with housing on our
side of Bordeaux. We were present
at their wedding in Reims several years ago (Adrianna was their flower girl),
and both of them were involved in the Sunday school ministry and choir, as well
as serving on the church counsel.
They have two small children.
This Sunday, the husband will be coming to Bordeaux for a work interview
and will be spending a couple of nights with us. We look forward to the opportunity to discuss the
opportunities with him this weekend and thank the Lord for sending this couple
to us.
Praise
for:
- opportunities to preach and teach the
Lord is giving us at church, especially these two weeks that Pastor Christian
is gone to Guadeloupe to visit his family. There have been some returning visitors, some unsaved.
- opportunities to share and teach the
Word of God here at home as we have hosted T, a young man interested in
spiritual things, although comes from a background with much spiritual
confusion.
- the way the
Lord has brought children to church and for the way He provided for their class
when neither Cherith or I were able to teach.
- the young
couple that the Lord is bringing to Bordeaux that will be able to help us with
the work in Merignac.
- a number of
good visits recently, some with church family, and some with neighborhood
contacts.
- the health
the Lord is giving to our family after several of us battling colds and flues
which are going through our area.
Pray
for:
- the Lord’s
help during this time of replacing Pastor Christian during his absence. Pray for each one who will be teaching,
preaching and leading singing and that the good attendance will continue.
- the
opportunity to have T and his girlfriend N for lunch Thursday and for the time
of Bible study that we will have with them. N is Mormon but has come to church
several times and is interested in spiritual things.
- the couple
from Reims as they make this move to Bordeaux, for the Lord’s provision of work.
- us as we
prepare to begin an evangelistic Bible study in our home.
- the Lord to
help us to find a house to purchase exactly where He wants us to live and
minister from.
- the
rehearsals in these final weeks for the Easter Cantata/Drama “The Centurion”
for the choir and for the actors, including Adrianna and Jonathan. Pray for the invitations that are given
out to the three performances in each of our three churches.
- peace and
stability to return to the CAR as rebels continue to wreak havoc and control
large portions of the country.
Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ that are caught between
factions, many who have lost nearly all they own.
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