God is so good! I honestly cannot believe that I forgot to give the birth announcement of my grandson, Reuben Gonzalez, on July 13! Mary and Caleb are such proud parents; it is a joy to see them with him. I hope my daughter, who gets our prayer letter, will forgive me for this terrible oversight. Please pray that God will use little Reuben in a great and mighty way.
On August 23, Brother Blanchard, a few church members, and I had a meeting with our local Parliament member regarding the COVID-19 passport legislation. We stressed with him that we thought it was not only infringing on our spiritual rights but also on our human rights, limiting people and putting them into classes. He is like-minded on this subject, even though he is a Catholic. Please pray for our PM Russel Broadbent to continue to stand for right. I was also able to get him a tract, and he received it gladly. This was the second time I was able to witness to him.
On September 22, we had one of the most powerful earthquakes in our region since they have been keeping track of them. The 5.6 earthquake, which some people may not think is big, shook our house, knocked thing off the walls, and was a glorious sign of Bible prophecy, because we are not used to getting earthquakes down here very often, even though we live on a fault line. The center was near Melbourne, so we just got the tail end of it, but it was felt as far away as Tasmania.
In October, we had one of our dearest and most loved saints go Home to be with the Lord, a widow named Lynn Evans, who was so sweet to my wife and me and even adopted me as one of her “boys.” At her funeral, I told my friend, her youngest son Rodney, that I felt a little shunned because I wasn’t able to plan the funeral with them. They laughed because the other two brothers didn’t know that Mum loved me as a son and even called me Ronnie Boy. The funeral was extra special, as it was our church’s first, and her family made it fun by adding show bags (a gift bag with toys for children, like at a birthday party) because in her life, she made everything fun.
Please pray for me, I had a chest cold before the funeral and was sick in total for almost six weeks. We three were diagnosed with COVID-19. Laura and Ron Jr. fared well, but I am still struggling with respiratory symptoms and general weakness. Please pray for us, as we struggle with our health, that we will still be able to witness to the lost and edify the saints.
Sincerely,
Ron Back
Missionary in Australia