Thank you for partnering with us for another year to reach Canada, the Greater Toronto Area, and the world with the Gospel. The cold weather is starting to loosen its grip on us, which means even more opportunities to get out and witness for Christ. The New Testament Bible Outreach has been going splendidly despite the cold weather, and by God’s grace and your faithful prayers, the goal of distributing 600 more New Testaments has been achieved, totaling up to 1,000 New Testaments to date. Most of those given out have gone to young people. Here are a few stories that encouraged me to keep going.

Allow me to introduce Tom. He came into the picture at the beginning of the year when I was fighting a real spiritual battle over these very New Testaments I now rejoice over. For some reason, I was battling getting started this year with giving out the Bibles. The voice of doubt shouted to my heart: “It’s not going to work!” “No one cares!” “Just quit!” I was a depressed and discouraged man as I fought this battle in my mind. However, God gave me enough strength to get started the next day. As I was setting up to give out Bibles near my home, I tried to give a Bible to a man I assumed would not be interested. That man was Tom, and he politely declined, not because he hated the Bible but because he was already a believer. He proceeded to encourage me for several minutes to keep giving out Bibles. He said he never sees anyone doing what I was doing, and it encouraged him to see me there. He then asked if he could pray for me right there on the street corner! Minutes after Tom left, the students started to pour out of the school, and I was able to give about 30 Bibles to teens! God knew just what I needed to get going, and I’m happy to say that I haven’t stopped since God sent Tom to me.

One of the last times I went out distributing Bibles, God sent me another encourager in the form of a teenager, who very quietly came back after taking a Bible and said something like, “I just wanted to tell you I like what you’re doing. Keep going.” Isn’t that just like God to send someone to get us started and someone to help us keep going across the finish line? Have I had discouraging moments in between? Yes, I have. In fact, one of the most discouraging moments I’ve had was when a teen came back to me after taking a Bible and handed me three New Testaments that had been throw in the dirty snowbank by his classmates. He apologized for their behaviour, which was nice, but what I noticed after this was how intently he was reading the Bible after seeing it disregarded. I walked away brokenhearted that for the first time the Bibles had been discarded in such a manner, but also amazed at how the ordeal made this teenager, who was at first reluctant to take a Bible, read it all the more.

God also brought another unexpected witnessing opportunity my way when our van started making some awful creaking noises as I drove. I took it to our mechanic, and because the job would take a long time to get done, I was offered a ride home by my mechanic’s employee Theodore. He started asking questions about what I did and where I was from, which opened the door to tell him that we’re here to share the Gospel with people. He let me share the Gospel with him on both rides to and from my home. He also took one of the New Testaments. Pray for his salvation as I follow up with him.

Your friends in the North,

Brian and Liz Hebert