While out soul winning one Saturday morning some time ago, God brought a teenage girl across our path. After a visit to the church, she then left town, and we lost track of her for a while. About a year ago, God brought Rusheda back. This time she introduced to us her boyfriend Michael and her soon-to- be-born baby. God intertwined their lives with ours.
During our summer Vacation Bible School last year, we shared the Gospel with them, and they both made professions of faith. Since then, they have been eager to learn and are growing in spiritual matters. God gave us the privilege of discipling them, and we have seen exponential growth in their lives.
On a few occasions, Michael has told us that he believes God has a big plan for his life, and he wants to do whatever it is. They both have expressed that they want to get married soon so that they can be walking more in righteousness. However, there is hardly any right action without an opposing reaction from the Devil. In recent times, Michael and Rusheda have been plagued with much oppression, where the Devil is attempting to destroy their faith, their family, and their future. These are very dear people to us, folks of whom we would say as Paul and John said of their converts: “my children.” It would certainly mean a lot to us if you would pray that the Devil does not get victory in their lives.
Marriage Officer’s License
I mentioned in a previous prayer letter that I applied for a Marriage Officer’s License in order to perform weddings. After a year, the government still has not granted it. At this time, I can only conduct the ceremonial aspect of weddings, but I cannot do the legal aspect of it. There has to be a Marriage Officer present for the marriage to be legal. These restrictions, while inconvenient, do not stop us. We recently had the wedding for another couple, Sheldon and Grace. Please help us pray for a speedy acquisition of this Marriage Officer’s License.
Governmental Recognition for the Church
In our last prayer letter, we mentioned that we were seeking wisdom on whether or not to seek governmental recognition for the church. Well, we believe that the Lord is leading us forward. We are currently working on the necessary steps to that end. A part of the process is to be officially established as a church. In preparation for this, we recently completed a three-month Wednesday night study, focusing on the church’s constitution and articles of faith. Please continue to pray for this process.
Indian Immigration
We are still requesting prayers for our Indian immigration situation. We have not been able to acquire our visas as yet. We had a visa appointment earlier this month but did not have success due to documentation issues. We are currently waiting for some additional documents from India.
Additional Seating
The seats in our church auditorium were very old, to the point that they were falling apart and beyond repair. In the process of modernizing their auditorium, a church in the city replaced their 40-year-old benches and donated some of them to us. Of course, the benches needed some work, in fact, much work. It took us six weeks to complete the project of refurbishing them. Our seating needs have been resolved, and we have increased our seating capacity by about 20 percent.
While at their missions conference about seven years ago, Lewis Avenue Baptist Church of Temperance, Michigan, donated some tools to our ministry. These tools played a major part in the completion of this project. Thank you, Lewis Avenue Baptist Church, for your investment.
As always, we thank all of you who partner with us for your love and support. We appreciate you more than our words can communicate. Heaven’s population will be affected because of your generosity and faithfulness.
Missionary #6703 and Family
