As we look back over the year of 2021, as it has now come to its conclusion, one thing that we can emphatically say is that God has been faithful!! Though we have all experienced many ups and downs this past year, the promise of I Corinthians 10:13, that God is faithful through our temptations and trials, has been proven so very true! We would also like to thank each of you who, through the ups and downs of this year, have been so faithful to pray for, support, and encourage us in the work of the Lord He has called us to do here in London, Ontario, Canada!
It has been a year of changes and transitions for my wife and me in the realm of our personal family life!! Our youngest child Savannah graduated from high school this year and headed off to Bible college this fall! That meant that, other than our eldest son John who is mildly autistic and will be our “forever child,” we are now empty nesters. Not only are our children missed at home, but they are missed at church, where they have served and helped so many years in so many ways. But God is faithful!
God has allowed us to reach and see several other families becoming faithful and serving the Lord together with us, and for this we rejoice! Another change this year is that our son Jack married his college sweetheart Brianne this fall! We also just recently received news of a “Christmas blessing”; we are going to become grandparents, as Jack and Brianne are expecting a baby in August 2022! We are now praying for this little one and asking God’s protection and nurturing of this our first grandchild! I am so glad that we can trust in a God Who is faithful!
Lastly, let me remind us all that God is faithful in working in the hearts and lives of people! Let me share with you this story of God’s grace in a young couple named Wolf and Anastasia. Back in August, I received a phone call from a man who left a voicemail saying that he was looking for a Bible-preaching church. I returned his call and met Wolf over the phone. He had received a Bible and was trying to find a church that preached the Bible. They had attended a couple of churches but had found them to be more like rock-and-roll shows than Bible-preaching churches.
He and his girlfriend and their family visited our church. It was on a Sunday just before we were to be away for a three-week time period for our first travel away since COVID! I was blessed to hear that they continued to attend church while we were away. Upon our return, I was able to set up a meeting with them in their home to share the Gospel. That September 25 evening, Wolf and Anastasia both accepted Christ as their Saviour! They came to church the next day and obeyed the Lord in believer’s baptism together.
We began to have weekly discipleship studies in their home on Saturday nights after their your children went to bed! They began to express their desire to get right with God about their living together without being married! I told them that it would be our joy to help them get married and get that matter right with God and right before others! This young couple has been growing in the Lord and getting involved in serving, praying for souls, and making endeavours in soul winning. Very happily on December 13, 2021, we had the pleasure of joining them together in marriage! We are thrilled now to present to you Wolf
and Anastasia Zizka and the wonderful work of God’s amazing grace in their lives. By the way, their five-year-old son Slavik also got saved and baptized in November!
Thank you, Lord, for being faithful to work in lives! Because He IS FAITHFUL, may we also be faithful to allow God to do His work, both in us and through us! We wish a Happy New Year 2022 to you all. Come what may, praise God, HE IS FAITHFUL!
The Phil Powless Family
Galatians 6:9
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- Wolf and Anastasia got married on December 13, 2021.
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- The Wolf Zizka family. By the way, their five-year-old son Slavik got saved and baptized too!
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- Wolf and Anastasia began attending our church in August of 2021.
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- Wolf and Anastasia got saved, and both of them got baptized.
