I trust that you all had a happy Thanksgiving with family and friends this year! This Thanksgiving was a little more special for our family since it will be the last one spent with family for at least two years. We are very thankful for how God has strengthened our family relationships even more while on deputation! We also are thankful for each and every one of you as we partner together to bring the Gospel to those in darkness across East Africa! Thank you for your faithfulness!
This month, we finished up our eight-week trip to Alaska with our last three meetings and then flew back home to Michigan, where we had three more meetings to close out the month of November. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to present at the following churches this month: Resurrection Bay Baptist Church of Seward, Alaska; Independent Baptist Church of Big Lake, Alaska; Immanuel Baptist Church of Kenai, Alaska; Volinia Baptist Church of Decatur, Michigan; Sheridan Road Baptist Church of Bridgeport, Michigan; and Maple Grove Baptist Church of Lansing, Michigan.
It was a blessing to be with the last three Alaskan churches we visited. We had a great time of fellowship, and we were blessed to hear some great preaching on missions and missions giving at the Missions Conferences in Seward and Kenai! I also want to thank Pastor and Mrs. Caleb Cinereski personally for watching our children one of the nights during the Missions Conference so Ali and I could have an evening just to ourselves! Thank you to all the Alaskan churches for your hospitality and for the love that was shown toward our family.
When we arrived back home in Michigan, Ali was asked to speak at our home church’s Ladies’ Prayer Breakfast. It was a blessing to see how many ladies showed up for the breakfast and to see the way the Lord was able to use Ali to speak to many of the women there! The Saturday evening before attending Sheridan Road Baptist Church, I was privileged to join Pastor Keith Williams to preach to a group of women and then men at a halfway home. It was a blessing to be able to share my own personal testimony with them and show them that if we will give our lives to God, then there is no telling what God will do in our lives! I’m very thankful for the opportunity to speak to them and the way God used it to encourage them to live for Him!
Lastly, it was a blessing to be a part of some of our home church’s services throughout the month and to see many church members we have not seen in nearly two years of deputation. We are very thankful for our home church and the family that God has blessed us with!
Please pray with us as we get ready to ship our crates to Kenya. Pray that the door will remain open so that we can travel into Kenya on the 25th of January as planned and that our visas will be approved to enter. Lastly, praise the Lord for Bible Baptist Church of Fairbanks, Alaska; Open Door Baptist Church of Fairbanks, Alaska; and Open Door Baptist Church of Anchorage, Alaska, for partnering with us! Praise the Lord, we are now at 97% of our needed support for Kenya! As always, thank you for your faithfulness in both prayer and financial giving to make all this possible. We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Your co-laborers for lost souls across East Africa,
Brandon, Ali, Jeffrey, Hannah, & Esther Heselschwerdt
Romans 10:14
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- Hannah and Esther singing in the kids’ choir at Immanuel Baptist Church of Kenai, Alaska
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- Ali and I—just the two of us—out for dinner! Thank you, Immanuel Baptist Church, Kenai, Alaska, and Pastor Cinereski!
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- Hannah and Esther playing together during children’s Sunday school
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- Family picture at Thanksgiving with some of the Heselschwerdts
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- Packing our crates with just a few “important things” for Kenya!
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- Scott and Heather Turnbow, our best friends from our home church, picking us up from the airport