These past months have brought many exciting times, as well as some changes. We saw the birth of our second child, the authorities at our work location, Christmas parties, and more. First of all, I would like to thank the Father for His provision and watch care over us! I also want to say thank you to those of you who pray for us. Thank you!!
I mentioned in my last letter our moving to a new city. Sometimes in a new place come new risks. Such was our case. The school situation that I am working in now involves more risk than my previous one.
This is because of our current legal standing or, rather, the lack thereof. One day at the beginning of school, which is Bible class, we saw three people in uniform outside of the school. They saw the foreign teachers, but then they left without coming inside. The next day one authority came back. We responded with the city of Jericho response from Joshua 2:6. While we stayed in that location, the local people handled the situation on their end. Following this incident, I and the other foreign teachers were absent from the school facility for about three weeks.
However, it was during that time that our daughter was born. We are very thankful she was not born in the taxi! She was born at 12:17 p.m., only about 25 minutes after arriving at the hospital! She weighed 9 pounds and was 20.5 inches long.
While at the hospital, the Lord provided us with a Christian doctor. She also spoke some English. I had paid some of our bill with the cash I had with me at the time. I needed to go and get the rest of the money from an ATM but had been unable to do so because of our daughter’s extremely recent birth. Dr. L and another Christian brother came to our room and offered to help us with the bill if we could not afford it. We were thankful for their generous offer and thankful for God’s provision of a good hospital nearby, a Christian doctor who spoke some English, and a healthy baby. Oh, for grace to trust Him more.
My mother-in-law came to help after the birth of our daughter. We had applied for our daughter’s passport when we had gone to pick up my mother-in-law in Shanghai. On my way to drop her off at the airport, I went to the American Services Center to pick up the passport, but they were closed for lunch. After dropping my mother-in-law off, I went back to pick up the passport. They said I had arrived too late. I needed to travel two hours and work the next day, so coming back the following day to pick it up was not a good option. But God answered prayer, and they let me in after hours to be able to pick up her passport. Praise the Lord!
Though the risks are higher, as illustrated in a previous story, I’m thankful for the teaching situation I am in. It allows for me to be able to share the Truth with the students every day in a Christian school type of environment. A couple days before my spiritual birthday, November 23, I was telling the children about my spiritual birthday. I asked how many of them had a spiritual birthday. I was able to share the story again with them, and 6 of them prayed and asked Jesus to be their personal Saviour!
I need to get a new visa because of my new location. For a while we seemed to be struggling on what
company we could get the visa through. We needed to have at least a seemingly legitimate reason. The man who runs our school has a classmate who we believe will be able to help us out some. This also means that I am teaching one day a week for another man, going to public schools, and teaching the topics that they so desire in English. The classmate who I am working for is not a believer. However, the fact that I am a believer is constantly being mentioned as I am teaching my lesson in these public schools. Please pray that I will have wisdom and boldness and that we will actually be able to get the visas through this source. The downside to this is that one out of five days in a week is not spent with my children at school. Please pray for God’s will to be done in this area.
The Christmas season means opportunities for Christmas parties, and thankfully we were able to do so again this year. The Chinese man, Mr. M, whom we work with at the school, had a Christmas party planned at his church. However, the authorities found out about it, and the meeting had to be moved twice. Thankfully, the meeting still proceeded, and around 30 people believed. It is encouraging to know that the people whom we are working with have a desire for souls!
We were able to have a Christmas party in our home and present the Christmas story to those who came. For at least one, it was the first time she had ever heard the story. Some had heard it before but have still not decided to believe. Please pray that these will believe and that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their lives.
We were also able to be involved in two other Christmas parties in another team family’s home. They were able to see 3 people believe in those meetings! Many others also heard the story.
I met some foreigners in our building complex and wanted to have an appointment with them. I and Mr. F were able to have an appointment in our home. He and his wife Mrs. V met in the UK and are both Muslims. We were able to have a good appointment with them. Please pray that they will receive the Gospel.
Please pray for Mr. Z, the mountain man who helped us in W___. Our friend Mr. W has been helping Mr. Z’s son with his English in W’s school. Please pray that Mr. Z will believe. We have already been able to have two appointments with him in the past.
It was very, very encouraging to have our pastor, Pastor Wilkerson, come and visit us recently.
Thank you for your prayers, love, and support.
Missionary #6011