Praise and prayer September 30, 2014

Thank you for praying for us.  Our needs for strength, grace, wisdom, patience and perseverance are met as our Father provides these daily needs, often in answer to specific prayer.  We are so thankful for His restoration of Cherith’s health after the nasty cold/flu that she had come down with at the time of our last update.  Josiah continues to suffer with a runny nose, but Adrianna and Caleb have both gotten over the colds that they had.  The sharing of germs is definitely not our favorite part of school life.

Praise for:

- healing for Cherith and the children after the flu and colds they had.

- the time that Timothee’s grandfather from the north was with his family here in Bordeaux and came to our services before he returned home this past week.

- several good contacts that we are having as we invite people to the English outreach, for some good contacts that J. has had at her university and for good contacts that E. is having in her neighborhood.  The Letellier family has had more opportunities to reach out to families of cancer patients, including one who lost their small child this month.

- the technology that enabled us to meet to pray and plan with our teammates over Skype, though they are home in the US for a brief visit and ministry.

Pray for:

- God’s continued work in the hearts of M., C., and F. as well as for Timothee’s grandparents.

- Timothée Letellier as he has begun more intensive chemo treatments which will contiue through the end of October.  Pray for grace and for healing.

- the preparations for the first English outreach, which will be held twice a month beginning October 10.  Pray for a good response from those who are being invited.

- wisdom and strength for our various ministries and obligations. 

- our children as they face various challenges with their schooling.  Pray for spiritual protection for them, especially for Caleb as his history material this year is all about prehistoric time and evolution.

Prayer and Prayer

Time marches on and the school year is now in full swing.  I’m so thankful we serve an all-powerful, infinite God.  We are constantly faced with our own limitations when it comes to time, strength, even health.  Yet, to know that God gives from His infinite supply of grace and strength especially in response to prayer and faith encourages us to keep praying – and to keep encouraging you to pray for us and for His work here in this corner of His world.

This week marks one year since we began regular services in the new church plant here in Saint Medard.  We are thankful for all that God has done for us in bringing us through this first year, for the thousands of church and event flyers that have been given out, for each and every contact that has been made, and for the visitors that have come through the doors of the church or our home.  This month, we have seen the return of a couple that had begun with us, then left in January.  Their faithful return would be a boost to our small group, bringing some stability as an older French couple.  We have prayed that the Lord would send us a younger French family with a burden for reaching the people of this community.  Our teammates, the Christys, continue to wait on the Lord for a buyer for their home, which would enable them to move to Saint Medard.

Timothee Letellier is doing well with continued chemo treatments, and is anticipating a stronger, more difficult period beginning in October.  His grandparents returned to China, but his grandpa on his father’s side (P.) has come from Reims to help with the children for a few weeks.  Due to his leukemia and treatments, Timothee is unable to attend daycare as he did last year, which complicates things for his parents who are both working.  They have adjusted their schedules this month but don’t know how this will affect their jobs.  We believe God is working in the hearts of these grandparents.  P. who has a Catholic background and does not know the Lord, has been in church the last two Sundays with evident interest.  The Gospel was clearly presented in the Bible studies and messages.  P. has been exposed to the Gospel in the past (in Reims) but has up till now not been able to see his need for repentance and faith. 

We have not seen M. return to our services yet but she is starting up the weekly English/Bible story class with Cherith.  She was unable to come last week as her sister was in a car accident.  Cherith has come down with a miserable cold/flu over this weekend so I don’t know if she’ll even be up to the class Wednesday morning.

The kids went back to school the first of this month, giving us renewed contacts with families in the community.  Preparations continue for the English Connection outreach set to begin October 10 in our home.  When we have the flyer ready, we will begin to invite contacts and friends here in Saint Medard.  Adding this new ministry to our very full plates is a bit daunting but we believe the Lord would use this to help us to connect to more of the people in our community that need to hear the Gospel. 

Praise for:

- the visitors that we have seen in church and for the return of the Christian couple. 

- the arrival of J. a university student coming to Bordeaux from Reims for graduate studies, and for her presence in our services these last two weeks.  












- the opportunity to see and host three of our Reims church family who moved J. down from Reims.  These dear people continue to be prayer warriors for us and this ministry.
- a good beginning of the school year for all three of our kids, including Adrianna who is now homeschooling (6^th grade).

Pray for:

- the people who are coming to church to keep coming!  Pray that we will see others respond to verbal invitations as well as to the flyers as we continue the mailbox campaign. 

- Timothée Letellier and his leukemia treatments.  Pray that God will open the hearts of his grandparents to receive the Gospel through faith. 

- Pray that God will continue to work in M. and her sister’s lives.

- the Lord’s guidance for J. regarding her involvement in our church here, as distance definitely creates a challenge. 

- the preparations and inviting for the English Connection starting next month.  Pray for grace and strength for us and the Christys as we spearhead this initiative.
- peace and stability to return to Bambari and all of the CAR.  Fighting this month at the Ngakobo sugar plantation/factory caused much injury and many deaths including some believers.  We are thankful for the report that our pastor there was spared.