“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:38)
Praise the Lord! The day we have been looking for and praying for is almost here. Lord willing, we will be heading back to Thailand sometime in August. Denise’s strength is increasing week by week. At the end of July, she will have her final checkups with the doctors. They will be doing a lot of scans, bloodwork, etc. We are hoping and praying for good reports. Thank you for all of your prayers, especially concerning her health.
Thank the Lord, He can put us in the right place at the right time. One Saturday as I headed out to try to find someone to share the Gospel with, I wanted to stop by a graveyard. Not sure where it was, I pulled into a convenient-mart parking lot to look it up in Google Maps. I decided to go into the store, and as I was walking in, a young man was coming out. I handed him a tract; as he took it, he turned his head and broke into tears. I asked if he was okay, and he replied, “Not really.” Asking if he wanted to talk about it, Allen replied it would probably help. Allen looked a mess—hair and beard every which way, along with bruises and wounds from a fight the night before. He said that one of his friends had broken his windshield during the fight. Allen was so sick of living in the hogpen of sin. After it happened, he cried out to God and told God that he was sick of the life he was living, but he didn’t know how to fix it and pleaded with God for help. He had just returned from having his windshield changed out and had stopped at that convenient mart to get some cash from the ATM. He had been doing drugs every day for years and had just withdrawn the cash to buy drugs. He said he felt trapped and didn’t know what to do. “I was just giving in. Then you showed up, and I knew God still loved me.” After talking awhile, he said, “I’m going to use this money to get a haircut and get cleaned up, and I’ll meet you at church tomorrow.” He did. He looked like a different man. He had a smile on his face, sang all of the songs, and was the first one to hit the altar at the invitation. He has been on the right track ever since. Praise the Lord for His tender love and care!
On another note, our eldest son Joseph is in India. He was so excited to go back to see his wife and son after so long. They were all so happy. He took everything to have a big party for his family and all of the orphans. When they came home from school, the whole place was decorated. They were so excited. They had never seen anything like that before. It was so precious. Please make it a matter of earnest prayer; while he is there, he will be trying to do everything necessary to be able to live there permanently. Also pray for God to provide the funds he would need to be able to live, build a building, and take care of the orphans. Some of our churches have asked how they could support him and the work there. If you are interested in partnering with them, please contact us at andrew.long@fbmi.org, and we will relay that information to you.
Thank you for all your faithful prayers and support!
Yours for His harvest,
Andrew Long
Romans 10:14