Praise and Prayer May 22, 2014

The Lord greatly blessed our travels last month.  We were back in Reims for Easter weekend, attending the wedding of two of the young singles that had been a part of the church when we were still living in Reims.  It was wonderful to be able to preach in the church on Easter Sunday and see many of the church family again.  

We enjoyed having dinner with Pastor Emmanuel and Sylvie, as well as time in the homes of three families.  We were encouraged by what God has done in the church there since we left in 2012 but were also reminded that the enemy is not at rest when God’s work is moving forward.  We need to keep the church there in our prayers.  Another highlight of our visit there was the opportunity to visit with two of our BMM retirees, one of whom had knee surgery in March.

The Baptist Mid-Missions French field conference went very well, and though we came home exhausted, we had received great refreshment from the Bible messages by our speaker and from the wonderful fellowship with our coworkers and the BMM Germany team that also joined us this year.  Our field business meetings went well and Cherith and I were both happy to get through another year of our responsibilities as the treasurers of our French field associations.  Since our return, some of our time has been taken with dealing with field business as well as preparing and filing our tax documents for France.

Three American college students arrived in Bordeaux for summer missions’ internships.  Baptist Mid-Missions’ summer program called First Look (formerly the M.A.P program) becomes F.O.F. (Focus on France) for those choosing to get involved in ministries here in France.  These students will be spending time in at least four different homes, helping in at least that many different church planting ministries.  We are thrilled for the help and encouragement that they will be and pray that the Lord will use this time in each of their lives as He leads and prepares each one for the ministries He has planned for their futures.

Praise for:

- safety in travel over 1,935 miles, and for the special time to reconnect with our Reims church family.

- the spiritual refreshment and good fellowship we enjoyed at our annual conference.  Our kids were also blessed by the special kids’ ministry of the Gadbois family and the interaction with a nice bunch of fellow mks from both France and Germany. 

- the three unsaved guests that were present for our “Jesus Film” outreach before Easter, including one first-time visitor who received a Bible.

Pray for:

- God’s work in the hearts of ML, N, F and C, and that He will bring each of them to Himself through faith.

- preparation for a special English adventure club outreach that we are planning to have in our home on June 18.  Pray for a good response to invitations.

- peace in the CAR where killing continues.  As of today, shooting has begun in Bambari where we lived and worked, and people are beginning to flee for cover.