Planes Trains and Automobiles
Chicago!
As many of us head into Christmas, we just want to extend a warm and kind greeting from here in Lima. The last several weeks have been packed with ministry, travel, and even family. We are so thankful for the many of you who faithfully pray with and for us. We are blessed to have so many of you in our corner as we seek to serve here, south of the equator.
God is still in the business of saving the lost. Our church has been blessed in recent weeks to see 3 more come to Christ through the ministry of the local church. We are so thankful for this blessing. At the same time, we have many burdens to carry, just as many of you do as well. In our church, there is more and more of a need for counseling as there are marriages under attack and young people being drawn towards worldliness. We see great victories and great trials and see God’s goodness in all of the circumstances. Our church has grown a lot in the last year with many new believers being added to our mix. But one thing in the growth is a growing need for more and more, ongoing discipleship and counseling. Pray with us, that God would help raise up leaders and counselors to meet our growing needs.
Small Group Bible Study
This month, we had the privilege of heading home for a brief visit. We found out that Debbie’s grandfather was recently diagnosed with cancer and will be going home to be with Jesus very very soon. Within 30 minutes of finding out, we were looking for plane tickets. We decided that it would be better to see him now than return for a funeral. 48 hours later we were on a plane to Chicago.
I won’t bore you with the excitement of the trip, other than to say this: Between customs, 4 children, 11 hours worth of flights, 20 minutes worth of trains, 8 hours worth of automobiles, and the balance waiting in the airport or having an inordinate amount of potty breaks, we made it to Iowa in about 25 hours. And what a blessing it was to do so heading into thanksgiving! Truly a Planes, Trains, and Automobiles experience! And God worked in all of the details, from intruding on the in-laws (both sides), to seeing all of the immediate family (both sides), to having a car to use while in town, to the generosity of God’s people. It was amazing! God worked it out that our nearly $5000.00 unplanned excursion only cost about half. I am sorry we were unable to see many outside of family, but God was gracious to us in this and we just wanted to publicly thank the Lord for His goodness.
We did get to sit with Grandpa quite a bit. We laughed and cried and expressed our gratitude to Him for his Godly example all of these years. Bill Wright is a faithful servant of God. He and his wife of over 60 years have made countless impacts on Debbie and our family. We are and will be eternally grateful for his kind, calm, humorous, nutty professor-like, Christ-centered, eternally minded, seed sowing, rapture desiring impact. He is not gone yet and is probably reading this letter in his chair. We love you so much.
Upon arrival back in Lima, we were tired and a little sick, but so thankful nonetheless.
First Snow in almost 2 years! We love it!
Another heavy that you can pray over is a young couple in our church. They are 18 and 19 years old, very in love and very immature. As a result, we had a special, members-only meeting to begin the process of restoration, as they are now expecting a child. They are not yet married. As hard as it was, they were given the opportunity to confess their sin publicly before our church and their families and repent. There were a lot of tears shed, but the mourning was quickly turned to joy as our church surrounded them with love and support. Lots of hugs, and prayers. Our church has showered them with support and encouragement as they enter counseling and might be married sometime within the next year. They prepare for what they were not at all prepared for. But isn’t this exactly what the church is for in the lives of these young believers? To forgive, restore, and help a young couple such as these two. To show the kindness of our savior in such a difficult circumstance. Pray for them, that God give them the grace to honor Him as they seek to cultivate humility and maturity as they move forward in faith.
And may God do that in us as well. Cultivate humility as we are not perfect and we do still sin. Help us walk with Him when life is uncertain and the road before looks daunting. May we ever grow in our dependence on Him and serve Him, wherever He Leads.
This Sunday, we are quite a bit excited for the Christmas program. Our kids don’t speak fluent Spanish so pray for them as they seek to sing with the others. I have the privilege of sharing the Gospel to round out the program. I think they are going to have me wear a shepherd’s outfit or something. Weird! Pray for me as there will be many who do not know Christ present. The message is called “The Gift of Hope”, and what a hope we have in Jesus!
Prayer Requests
1. Growth- That Debbie, I and our kids grow in our love and submission to Christ
2. Salvations- for those God has brought into our path
3. Counseling- That God would mature more believers to do this work
4. Language- That God would help Debbie and the Kids improve in their language
5. Funding- We continue to be short