September’s trip to the Punjab province of Pakistan was truly a life-changing experience for us and so many others (detailed in our September prayer letter). We spent much of October laying the groundwork for two things: (1) a website that would serve the new converts and seekers in the region and (2) delivering funds to the pastor for a church recording studio, where content could be recorded and uploaded to the website in their local language (Urdu). We have already assembled the website with placeholders for streaming and recorded media. PLEASE PRAY as we select and upload content very shortly. We will be targeting this content to many millions of souls as soon as the Lord allows.
We have also been blessed to serve believers in the Islamabad Capital Territory through an online ministry, where large numbers of Muslim seekers (and former Muslims) join us weekly for Zoom Bible studies. In October, we had a high month, with 54 individual couples and families joining us on FINDING THE WILL OF GOD. At the end of the study, we presented the Gospel step by step, and at the invitation, 40 people professed Christ. This is definitely a high day for a single online event, and we praise God for it! PLEASE PRAY for this ministry as God again uses technology in this closed country.
On a much more somber but sweet note, my father-in-law was much more than a relative; he was a true friend. L___ M___ went to Heaven very peacefully yesterday, November 2, 2024, at 5:45 p.m. in our home state of Maine. I knew him for 24 years. He drove bus for G___ B____ C___ in P___, M___. During those years, he went soul winning with me in G___, I___. We played about 6,000 games of Aggravation at the dinner table (he usually won). He would tease us incessantly. And he loved the Lord! PLEASE PRAY for my wife and family as we all grieve in this temporary loss…only an interruption—a comma, not a period. Thank God for Heaven!
Here’s the kicker: You need humor at a time like this. I say this with my wife’s permission, because she laughed out loud when my brother-in-law K___, who cared for dad with his sister K___ for several years, shared this story today. After Dad’s body was moved and cared for, K___ and K___ were cleaning out under his bed when they found what proved to be A LIVE HAND GRENADE. No kidding. My father-in-law was an Air Force veteran, and somehow he had acquired the real deal in his travels and then left it under his bed for years! Perhaps he didn’t realize it was live; we don’t know. When K___ found it, he called the police, who promptly called the bomb squad, and they were told to set it down and clear out of the house until it could be disposed of. On site, they confirmed it was loaded. For years, the house could have been blown wide open, and no one knew it! God sure has a way of distracting us from grief just when we need it. What a story! My wife said, “I picture Dad looking down from Heaven saying, “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell them about that.”
Missionary #6505