“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 15:58)

We thank God for all of those He uses to help us stay on the field and get the Gospel to the lost. It’s been a blessing to see God work over the last couple of months.

We were able to successfully meet face to face with some of our mainland “friends” for the first time since we left on what we thought was going to be a short furlough in 2018. The political atmosphere prevents our “friends” from coming to our current location. For a while, I have had the idea that possibly some of our contacts would have the ability to travel to a nearby country where we could meet and freely disciple and discuss ideas. However, getting permission to exit the country, even for a short time, seemed to be rather difficult. After praying about it for a while, we found a possible opportunity to meet at a Teen Rally that a co-laborer was hosting in a nearby country. One particular mainland family was very interested in joining this meeting because their son C___ is just reaching his teenage years. With the help of several of our supporters and supporting churches, we were able to accomplish this meeting. It was especially exciting to see C___ go forward to make a decision to “stand for Christ.”

To understand how significant this seemingly mundane decision was, I will mention part of this family’s amazing story. After the parents began learning from our team in mainland, they were very eager to homeschool their children. This form of education is considered illegal in their country. From K5 to 5th grade, they have determinedly worked around the system to avoid being noticed, as well as keep their children from the ungodly influences and propaganda of the public school. Before they left their home to meet with us at the Teen Rally, they were contacted multiple times and given an ultimatum concerning C___’s schooling. To their frustration, they were forced to register their son for classes even though it was nearing the end of the school year. However, the Lord provided a way for him to avoid having to go to the classroom. They applied for leave from the classes while he took a family trip to a nearby country. This is where we were able to meet. While we met with them, they were still unsure if C___ would be forced to attend class after they returned home. This made the young man’s decision to “stand for Christ” an even greater testimony to the Lord!

Praise the Lord for those of you who gave and made this meeting possible! Praise the Lord for co-laborers in Christ. Praise the Lord for Teen Rallies, where young people can make decisions to be “steadfast” and “unmoveable” for Christ. Please keep this precious family in your prayers.

Another significant fact is that this event has shown us that it is possible for multiple contacts to meet us in an environment where we can freely disciple and train them. Please pray for possible future events like this. Also, we would ask that you pray for opportunities for us to return to mainland to work with our “friends” in their own cities.

Along those lines, we are making progress on our language skills as well. I have begun preaching once a month in our target language. Please pray for increased fluency.

Thank you for your specific prayers and your sacrificial support.

Bound to His service,

Missionary #6004