The last four months have really been a great blessing for us, from seeing family we have not seen in nine-plus years to visiting supporting churches and meeting new friends who are praying for us, as well as seeing old friends who are still being faithful. I also got to meet several people who follow us on our Facebook page and who receive our emailed prayer letter. Everyone was so encouraging to us.
November
The month of November began with two meetings with friends from Bible college. They both have churches in West Virginia. It was great getting to fellowship with them and their families. I also got to preach with another friend, Bro. Nathan Goodpaster, missionary to the Philippines. He and his wife have been through a great trial with their son being diagnosed with brain cancer. Their son is now cancer-free, and they will be heading back to the Philippines soon. From West Virginia, we went to Maryland and Delaware. During our time there, we stayed with my Uncle Mike. His wife Sandy (my mother’s sister) has Alzheimer’s, and we went to visit her during our stay. Kelly did very well communicating with her, which was a great blessing to my uncle. We then traveled to Somerset, New Jersey, for a missions conference and then back to our missionary apartment in New Hampshire. We arrived there just in time for the tail end of the missions conference at our home church. At the conference it was a blessing to see the Belisles (the couple who filled in at our church in Ireland during August through September) again. We stayed in New Hampshire for the remainder of the month and had meetings in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine. The last weeks there, we got to spend a lot of time with my parents, and we were able to spend Thanksgiving with extended family who celebrate together each year. We got to present our work to three churches that do not currently support us; one committed to supporting us, and a few of our supporting churches said they were going to raise our current support.
December
As usual, our meetings tapered off in December. We had two final meetings in New Hampshire, and then we headed to the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area for a final meeting on New Year’s Eve. After Pennsylvania, we headed to Newport News, Virginia, where we spent Christmas with Kelly’s family. We had a wonderful Christmas. My last meeting was on New Year’s Eve, where I flew to Dallas with Keith II. We had a wonderful time with our hosts while we were there. Unfortunately, there was freezing rain, and all church meetings were canceled. We flew all the way out there and never got to report on our ministry to our supporting church. I left them with a stack of prayer cards and a link to where they could download our furlough presentation.
Soul Winning
In November when we were back in New Hampshire, we went soul winning with our home church. I got to go out with our sending pastor, David Carlson. He brought us to his favourite “fishing hole.” When we began knocking doors in an apartment complex, we got to talk to several people. One man he got to talk to was very open and listened for 30 minutes, but at the end, he refused to trust Christ. Finally, at the last door, I got to talk to two teens who were very open and interested. They asked a lot of intelligent questions and understood clearly. At the end, they eagerly bowed their heads and trusted Christ, receiving the gift of eternal life.
Ireland
In Ireland we have continued to have visitors come. There was a younger couple who began coming, and there was also a lady who lives around the corner from the church. Please pray as we go back in January and begin getting settled into our new house.
Please continue praying for these needs:
1. Our support level is at 95%; please pray it might increase.
2. Co-laborers in Limerick
3. Protection over the ministry
Last, I would like to thank all of you for your continued prayers, faithful support, and all the churches and individuals who have gone out of their way to be a blessing.
In the campaign for Irish souls,
Keith Hamilton
