Dear Praying Friends,
During the past three
months—through your prayers—our Lord enabled us to attempt much in His
Name. After being in our regular
ministry place in India about seven weeks, we had about one week of teaching to
do in the Philippines. The remaining
five weeks of the quarter we were in Singapore, where the Lord allowed us to
close out 2013.
In Philippines I taught the book of Amos,
and Ruth spoke on Children’s Gospel Ministry.
Through the rest of the quarter were many ministry opportunities in
India and Singapore, including special Youth Seminars, meeting with several
dozens of various brothers (many of them pastors) about 75 times for
fellowship, encouragement and mentoring moments, a three-days’ trip to teach
Pastoral Theology, a seminar on The Holy Spirit and The Cessation of the Miraculous
and Revelatory Gifts, fasting and prayer sessions, a Life of Christ seminar for
pastors, and, for Ruth (and Stephanie), ladies’ meetings and children’s Gospel
outreaches. Additionally, I was able to
speak in an another nine places (including Sunday assemblies) in forty
sessions, covering twenty Christly Gospel topics. The schedule was so busy that I feel pretty
exhausted. Thank you for faithfully
interceding for us at The Father’s throne.
Please
Pray:
- For me to recover my strength, as I am really tired because of the pace of the past six months. Our ministry calendar here in India is looking extremely busy for the month of January. My throat hurts.
- That Ruth and Stephanie and I would remain encouraged, and be useful to our Lord Jesus in the work of His Gospel. We’ve been invited to join in a new church-planting effort very shortly. Please pray!
- For our monthly financial needs—especially for the ministry fund—to be met.
- For safety as we travel. We are in India now, but are required to leave the country at least twice each year. Our normal procedure is to visit the USA during May and June, which is what we are planning.
- That the Lord would be glorified in every part of our thoughts, speech and deeds.
In case you are interested, the topics
mentioned above included: “Matthew 9.14-15, A Plan For Prayer” (twice);
“Christ, Our Mediator, Prophet, Priest and King” (one time in three nightly
sessions, and on another occasion in one afternoon); “Psalm 8, Man, in the
Image of God” (four times); “Psalm 51,
The Confession Of Sin”; “That Book In
Your Hand (the Bible)” (four times); “The One Another Commandments” (three
times); “The Moral Glory of Christ” (three times); “The Holy Spirit”; “Amos 4.13”; “The
Forgiveness of Sins”; “Ac 17—Why You
Must Become A Christian Right Away” (twice); “2 Kings 22-23 on Reformation and
Revival”; “Self-denial” (twice); “John
Mark”; “The Patience and Goodness of God”; “Lessons From The Life Of Christ”;
“The Power of God”; “Prayer”; “Five Things To Aspire to Improve Upon In Your
Spiritual Life for 2014” (twice); and
one funeral sermon from Genesis chapter
23.
Chit-chat: We
always feel happy to see our precious Singaporean friends in December. They are always so kind. We hope that by the grace of our Lord Jesus
we’d always be able to encourage their faith in Him as we try to conduct the
ministry there—and everywhere the Lord may allow us to go.
On January 3rd, we completed our twenty-fifth year overseas
as workers in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for all your love, and your faithful
support of our family as missionaries. At
the beginning of November we gained another granddaughter! Now we have seven grands, and they are such
fun! We want the same thing you must
also desire from the Lord: that He would
enable us to live for Him and glorify Him, and that we’d be able to see our
children and grandchildren loving and obeying Him even more and better than we
have done. Stephanie now has only four more months of studies here
at home with us. She says Economics is
her most serious subject remaining to be polished off. Ruth and I knew the day of becoming “empty-nesters”
would come someday. . .
May our Lord Jesus bless you with happiness and holiness of life,
protect you, answer your prayers, and all day long fill your mind with Himself.
In Christian Service,
The
Schaefers
"Serving with the International Gospel Mission"
990 Calkins Road, Rochester, NY 14623 Phone: 585-334-9048
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