prayerletteraug2014

 

                                                August 15^th, 2014

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank the Lord for His mercy, as we've been traveling a lot since our last letter.  April was very much like the first quarter, with many opportunities for teaching the Gospel to various groups of rural pastors.  April is an important children's ministries month here, so Ruth was in a couple of these.  I spoke in a Christian youth camp retreat, as well.

During May, June, and part of July, we were in the USA, visiting some of you all, in PA, OH, and FL, to make our missionary reports.  It was very good to visit friends and family as well, especially our dear parents.

Before returning to India last week, the Lord enabled us to spend time visiting our daughter Mary Ward and her precious family who two months ago began their overseas missionary service in Togo.  While visiting them, our Lord allowed me to contact several local pastors who preach the glorious Gospel in Togo and in neighboring Ghana, and I'm hopeful that perhaps next year we may be able to visit these places once more, and have a useful part in the proclamation of Christ and His Gospel in both countries.

Please Pray:

• For our health and strength.
• That Mary and Andrew would be increasingly used of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sake of His Gospel during all the years He may give them in Togo.  Please also pray for them to be kept safe from any Ebola outbreak which may soon edge closer to their area.
• That the calendar would fill up with excellent opportunities to teach the Gospel here in India. So far, in only a week back here at home, appointments for the next three months are multiplying.  As always, it is our only wish for Jesus Christ to be glorified as Lord.
• For Ruth and me as we plan to fly to Pune to teach in a Bible School in the coming few days.  I'm to teach the Book of Hebrews, and Ruth is to teach a couple of seminars as well.  I'm looking forward to many more such occasions in the months ahead, through your prayers.
• That our Lord Jesus would preserve Stephanie through all of her planned movements, from the visit to Togo, through all her flights, back to Greenville, SC, where she is to start her first year in Bob Jones University around August 29^th.  And that she would continually grow in understanding and in grace.

Chit-chat:            The Lord helped us cope with the fatigue and with the 100°^F, and above, temperatures which characterized the entire month of April.                               Stephanie managed to pack up her suitcases to depart from India for the last time, and to leave behind a lot of boxes containing stuff to be brought to her later on.  The apartment seems very different this time, for us.  We now have no kids living in our home—first time in the past 31.5 years.                               Everyone was so kind—the Lord's people always are—everywhere we've gone when traveling.  Now I feel a bit tired, but happy, and eager for the Gospel weeks to come.

 “Serving with the International Gospel Missions”  (note slight name change—still IGM)

Home again

We have arrived safely back in India.  We were so pleased to be able to stop and see Andrew and Mary and the boys in Togo.  They make us feel very proud.  The house and the compound where they are living is very nice and well maintained, but overall the town where they live is much more “basic” then we had while we lived in Grenada.  The family is adjusting well, maybe the boys are still trying to find something they really like to eat. 

We are excited for the work they are doing, and were thrilled to meet many of their colleagues.  

Stephen got to share some thoughts from a favorite verse: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"

Traveling from Togo to India was an adventure lasting for over 50 hours. Shocked?  We wanted to have a little time to visit with some of the pastors in Ghana that are part of International Gospel Mission, our own mission agency.  So we left Togo at 6am by taxi to get to the border, then we changed to another taxi to deliver us to the next city.  While on that ride, we got stopped on the road so a bunch of baboons could cross the road.  Then in the next town, our taxi driver drove into a bus depot and everyone clamored to have us join their bus to the capitol city, about a four hour drive.  Our taxi driver was so kind and made all the arrangements and told us what to pay and not a penny more, he said.  So now we’re on a 15 passenger bus where we also have to travel on the bus, on a ferry because a bridge is under repair.  When we reached the city, our bus driver made sure that he got us into another taxi that would take us exactly where we needed to go.  Ok, by now, we are pretty tired and it’s only around 1pm.  We are meet by some pastors at a hotel.  While there the owner of the hotel, who is a strong Christian and church planted himself, took very special care of us. Also the fellowship with the pastors was very refreshing.

That evening started the three plane rides on South African airways (nice planes by the way), that would bring us back to India.  In between the flights we had a 5 hours layover and a 7 hours layover – that was not so nice.

Stephanie, you should remember, stayed back in Togo and will be traveling to the States on August 18 via, Ethiopia, Rome, Wash. DC (for a few days with her sister) and then Greenville, SC to start as a freshman at Bob Jones University.

Our visit to the states was great.  Elizabeth gave birth to her fourth child, a son.  We got to visit some of our supporting churches, and their kindness and fellowship also encourages us.  Stephen was also able to spend some extra time with his father, while I was with Elizabeth.  Stephanie and I had lots of time together in Greenville, getting her ready for University.  It was a very full three months.

Hannah, Ashley and their crew living in DC.

(we did spend time with Lydia and Nathan and with Joanna, just didn't get any really good pictures - sorry)

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 Elizabeth, Ben and their crew in Greenville, SC.

We are thankful for all this and now are very eager to get busy back into the ministry here where God has placed us.