Update March 29, 2022

We are grateful for your prayers as we come to the end of another month, very much aware of God’s help and blessings.  Our hearts are burdened for so many who have lost so much in the past few weeks, but we rejoice to hear reports of various ways that God is helping His children in Ukraine, in Russia, and in places to which many have fled.  It has been a blessing to see the eagerness of the church here, including some of the students in the Bible Institute, to send aid through BMM World Relief Ukraine to enable missionaries in eastern Europe to help to meet some incredible needs.

One blessing this month has been the removal of the mask mandate in the middle of the month.  Now, not only are we able to see most faces (some for the first time!) and communicate and understand much better, but there has been a wonderful change in the singing portion of the worship service as well.  We understand that more restrictions will be dropped the first of April.  French services continue before the English morning service each Sunday in which we lead worship through singing, praying and opening the Word in French.  The family from the Ivory Coast continues to come, a mom with two university student sons.  We are getting more accustomed to translating the English service for them, but are still challenged to keep up with the speed of the one speaking! Thank you for your prayers for us and that God will help us to connect with other French speakers in the area. Cherith continues weekly Bible studies to disciple D who is hungry to learn and asks good questions, and in turn passes on some of what she is learning to unsaved family members back home in Quebec as well as in Africa. She can see evidence of God working in the heart of one of her cousins who now recognizes the existence of God.

The Bible Institute (EBBI) missed Spring break due to the late start in January but the second half of the semester is lighter than the first. I finished up my class on Missiology and chapel preaching assignments mid-month so our involvement is now down to choir chapels and music lessons through the end of the school year.  The students will be singing a special number at the Spring Bible Conference this Friday and Saturday hosted by Emmanuel Baptist Church.  This conference is normally an annual event here, with churches around the Maritimes participating.  If the Lord allows the conference to take place this week, this would be the first time to have it in three years.  We are also working with the music students to prepare for a musical recital April 28, and graduation is scheduled for April 30.

Other than one choir practice last fall before everything shut down (again!), the church hasn’t had a choir for the past two years.  Now with restrictions lifting, we began practices again on March 13 to prepare several choir numbers for Good Friday and Easter this year.  Cherith and Caleb labored many hours to prepare recordings of each of the voice parts and accompaniment to share with the choir members to aid in learning parts.  They have proved very helpful and have been much appreciated, especially when people have been out with sickness, and several are new at reading notes.

We are so thankful for a wonderful gift from God as He sent us a very special visit from Adrianna and Cherith’s sister Hannah’s family last week.  It was a refreshing time with family (first time to see family since last summer!) and the Lord gave us three precious days together.  Despite all the sickness going around us, the Lord protected each of us (thus far!) and all of the travelers have returned to home and college safely. 

Adrianna was able to plan for her missions internship in Chad with Bibles International this summer.  She had the opportunity Wednesday evening to present the ministry to the church here which has already expressed interest in supporting her in prayer and with finances.  Please pray for her as she continues to move forward with this project, and for the Lord to guide her and provide for each need.

March 15 update

Our province lifted all of the C-id 19 restrictions yesterday for the second time since the pandemic began. We look forward to connecting with more people and hope there will be more interest in the French Ministry particularly. A week ago Sunday we had a third member of the family from Ivory Coast join us for the first time.  He and his brother are both students at the Université de Moncton.This week we will be launching a Facebook announcement for several days to try to target more of the French speakers in our area, and invite them to join us.

With the lifting of restrictions, we are working with a volunteer choir at church to prepare a few numbers to present in the special Good Friday and Easter Sunday services.  Cherith is recording tracks with voice parts and accompaniment to facilitate practice at home.  Our church is also preparing to host the Spring Bible Conference April 1-2, a conference normally held annually but which has not been held since the beginning of the pandemic.  

We enjoyed having the N family over for a Birthday celebration on Tuesday, and traveled out of town on Friday for a lovely evening in the home of one of the couples from church.  Cherith baked some special treats for these occasions as well as for the parents of a baby born last week.  She also prepared several small French cakes for the youth group’s “Baked Blessing” Giveaway to the church family on Sunday.  

I finished up my class on Missiology last Thursday and should be able to finish grading the course projects and calculating course grades by the end of this week.  B-weekly choir chapels and individual lessons will continue through the end of the school year.

Last week, we were a bit torn to have to miss getting to see and hear Adrianna participate in the Bob Jones Opera performance on three separate evenings.  We were thankful that some of our close family and friends were able to attend.  We were also consoled to know that Lord willing, Cherith’s sister Hannah and her family (minus one) will be meeting up with Adrianna in PA and bringing her here to Moncton for a brief visit next week during Spring Break.  Although it will be tiring for them, it would be a nice break from the busy college schedule and we look forward to having family visit. Please pray for their safety in travel and for smooth boarder crossings.