Jeremy and Sandra Barker Prayer Letter: Hungry Men Run Faster!

Those are the words a missionary friend of mine told me, which a missionary friend of his had told him years before. I don’t know if the missionary who told my friend came up with the phrase independently or if he was paraphrasing a center for the Philadelphia Eagles, but the meaning behind that is certainly true in the Barker household. The month of September had us in 11 different churches across 6 different states, with 4 of those meetings being Missions Conferences. There was also a stretch where we were in church 13 days in a row. I am happy to report that due to efforts like these, we are now at 18% of our support goal.

Taylor was a married man, with a one-year-old daughter, living in St. Claire, Michigan. I met him while soul winning with my two oldest children, and after an explanation of the Gospel, he trusted Christ as his Saviour. Less than a week later, my wife and I met Veronica and her husband while out soul winning in Chicago, Illinois, before a Wednesday night church service. Veronica accepted Christ, and while she could not go to church that day, she did promise to go soon. Her husband didn’t speak English but took a Spanish Gospel tract. Ayodeji was working at the front desk of the hotel we were going to stay at in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and was the first person we met there. I struck up a conversation with him and found that he had only been in the U.S for about three years, was originally from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and had worked at the Airforce base-housing complex where we toured a house. He also had family in the village of Omagwa, where we visited a church plant and where I taught Sunday school before their anniversary service. He was excited to hear of our time in the country and was amazed after seeing a photo of us standing in front of a church sign outside of his small village. He left his second job to drive over an hour away to watch me present our work and preach at Grace & Truth Bible Church of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. Please pray for this family, as he has tried for over three years to get his wife Hannah and son Jesse, whom he has never been able to meet in person, here legally.

We ended the month by taking a brief detour to Cedar Springs, Michigan, to visit the church where my father-in-law trusted Christ as a five-year-old boy. My wife used this as an opportunity to again explain the Gospel to our children. We were only there for a short while, but I believe it made a lasting impression on our children. Barrett was especially impressed that Grandpa used to be a five-year-old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy.

As always, thank you for your continued prayers and support,

Jeremy, Sandra, Carina, Barrett, Henry, & Alex Barker