Merry Christmas

As we come into the Christmas season, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Many of you have prayed for me and supported me as I have traveled here in the U.S. and overseas. Thank you so much for bringing Linda and me to the Lord in prayer. The year 2022 was a very fruitful year.

Guatemala

In my last letter to you, I was still in Nigeria, but I asked you to pray for me because I knew I would be headed to Guatemala shortly after getting back to the U.S. I was only home for one week before I flew down to Guatemala to be with Missionary Angel Lopez and his wife Naomi. Angel had asked me to come down there because he had an opportunity to get into four military bases and preach to the soldiers. I was asked by the military leaders to talk about depression, suicide, and drug use. In each service that lasted about 45 minutes, I was able to give the Gospel while talking about these three areas. The pictures to the right show four of the groups. As you can see, the groups varied in size.

Below is a group of about 300 soldiers studying to be the future officers in the Guatemalan army. The colonel who showed us around said that this base was known as the “West Point” of their army. What a privilege to preach the Gospel to these (mostly) men. Some of those in charge told us they were thankful for the help I was able to give to them from the Bible. In total, over 500 soldiers heard the Gospel and were given an invitation to trust Christ. Only God knows how many took advantage of that opportunity.

While I was with Brother Angel, I was also able to preach to a youth group (where 17 got saved), preach at a new church, and perform a wedding ceremony.

MABC Christmas Show

I returned from Guatemala on Saturday night, November 26, and hit the sack around midnight. The very next day, we started preparing for our church’s annual indoor Christmas show. The next five days were spent practicing for the show. Starting December 4 and going through December 11, we put on 10 shows to over 5,000 persons, with 437 indicating that they had trusted Christ as their Saviour. It was a whirlwind two weeks, with many of our church people getting sick, but the Lord blessed in a tremendous way. I am so thankful to be a part of a church that reaches people in multiple ways. As you think of it, pray for me in 2023. I have three trips scheduled, with others in the planning stage.

Your servant,

Missionary Evangelist James Belisle