Archive for December, 2017

December 2017 Prayer Letter

December 15, 2017 4:15 pm

Dear Praying Friends,
Merry Christmas! In my last letter I told about the 18 who were saved on my Africa trip; however, I only gave details about Ethiopia. I also visited Tanzania and Zambia. Since then I have spent time at a couple of Christian colleges representing BIO.

Tanzania

Photo of me with the pastor and his wife.

Pastor Frank and Deborah Laurent

I was with Bro. Frank Laurent on my trip. Bro. Frank is a Tanzanian national who came to the US for Bible college and then returned to Tanzania to start deaf churches. Frank is Deaf and a man of God. The Sunday I was with Frank we met in the church’s new auditorium. The building is not complete, but it is usable. We saw 13 Deaf give their lives to Christ that day. Several of them have been baptized since then.

Bro. Frank mentioned again and again how important it is for Christians to visit the field and see the work for themselves. He is strongly convinced (as am I) that a trip to visit a missionary will change your life and your view of missions. If you would like to visit Frank, or any BIO missionary, please contact me and I will do what I can to help equip you for such an opportunity.

Pray for Frank and his wife Deborah. On December 11 Deborah gave birth to a baby girl. This is their first child. I pray God will use Frank and Deborah to mold baby Priscilla into an honorable servant for Him.

Enjoy pictures from the Tanzanian portion of my trip.

Zambia
Zambia was a refreshing time with missionaries Yohannes and Kidist Getaneh. Bro. Yohannes is an Ethiopian national who has been working with the Deaf in Zambia for almost 17 years. The Lord has used him to train more than 2 dozen deaf pastors who have started churches throughout the country.

After one service with the Deaf, we all went out to the main road in front of the church and handed out tracts. In a short while the Deaf brought out some chairs for Bro. Yohannes and me. The ones passing out tracts would bring the hearing folks from the street to talk with us. We saw 3 hearing people saved as a result of that ministry.

Colleges
Dr. John Yingling (President of BIO) and I represented the board at Pensacola Christian College for the Campus Church’s missions conference. I am thrilled to think of what God will do with the young people preparing for various ministries through PCC. I trust we will see many on the mission field in the future.

At Ambassador Baptist College, Bro. Terry Childers (General Director of BIO) and I had a wonderful week sharing our burden for missions with the students. I absolutely love the opportunities I have had to befriend the Ambassador students over the last several years.

Italy
Our son James and I will be visiting BIO missionaries Shane and Kathy Rice in Italy. Pray that we can be an encouragement and help to them during our trip from December 31 to January 12.

You can download a PDF copy of the letter for printing.