As of this writing, we have been in Canada for five months! It has been the privilege of our lives and the ultimate realization of a dream planted in my heart some 15 years ago. If you are reading this, you’ve had a part in that in some way, and we are so grateful to you for your help in getting and remaining here in the Greater Toronto Area.
We’ve been busy getting into the daily grind of the ministry, which has made me appreciate more the sacrifice and amount of work that my own pastor, youth pastor, college teachers, Sunday school teachers, etc. put in on a daily basis. It truly is by God’s sustaining grace that we can keep going each day. I was blessed to be able to preach a Christmas-themed salvation message in December after our annual Children’s Christmas Program, where many parents and family showed up to hear their kids sing. After the service, our pastor and his wife, Bro. and Mrs. Johnston, approached one of our visiting couples about salvation, and the wife got saved that day.
As I mentioned in our last letter, we went into the States to visit both of our families for Christmas. It was a sweet reunion time, for sure. I was able to take another chance to witness to my dad, but sadly, he did not get saved. We’re going to continue to pray, and I’ll hope you’ll join me in praying for my dad and other family members who need Jesus. In some small way, I feel like I understand the mindset of Paul in Romans 9. I’m happy to pray along with you about any unsaved people in your life if you’ll email me.
We couldn’t get home (Canada) fast enough after enjoying our time in Louisiana and North Carolina. We both missed our teenagers and our church family. While we were gone, Ashley, one of our teenage young ladies, got to lead her first soul to Christ. Of her own accord, she approached a teen girl about her salvation after Sunday school, and subsequently, the girl got saved. We’ve been teaching and training our teens on soul-winning principles, verses, and techniques before our midweek service, but the funny thing is that I had never covered the scenario of approaching someone in a non-door-to-door situation. Liz and I are both so proud of the progress that has been made already among the Gospel Light teens in our teenIMPACT program.
Some things to pray for:
1. Contacts we’ve been following up on since the Thanksgiving service for either salvation or church attendance
• Bahar (Persian lady who follows the Bahá’í Faith, unsaved)
• Elizabeth (attended Thanksgiving service, got saved afterwards, but needs discipleship)
• Ilya (Persian young adult man my wife and her soul-winning partner met, interested in church, unsaved)
2. Upcoming teen events (soul-winning memory-verse challenge, preaching meetings, Family Day activity)
To God be the glory,
Brian Hebert