Keith and Kelly Hamilton Prayer Letter: Juggling Opportunities

Thanks for taking your time to read this letter. We are encouraged by the many ways the Lord is working in our midst through our church, our outreaches, the camaraderie of the missionaries, our efforts to help encourage newer missionaries, and our filling needs the Lord brings across our path. One of those needs is filling in on Thursdays for the Day family. It has been a blessing to get to help them, so Bro. Day can be there for his mom while she is in and out of the hospital going through cancer treatments. The church people in Ennis are very understanding about the situation. Thankfully, I saw the need to attend each week before this happened, giving the church people a stable person who is there each week. Sometimes I feel like I am conducting a great juggling act, but the Lord has helped every step of the way.

May

Our family got to participate in an event called “First Fruits,” which Bro. Tharp held at his church in Drogheda. Churches across Ireland gathered together to have their church kids use their talents and abilities for the Lord, and each of them was assessed. We had a group with Keenan playing the Irish whistle, Kendrick playing the piano, and Lana singing. When I promoted the event in church, Lana immediately wanted to participate. The kids practiced for weeks and did a great job. Lana and her family all came, even though it was a three-hour drive. It was a great blessing. A visiting pastor recently asked me what works in Ireland, and what I told him was, “Nothing works. Anything works. There is no method that works here. I just use the shotgun method. The Holy Spirit blesses our efforts and uses different things to draw different people in.” We also had our church’s nine-year anniversary and promoted it with a Facebook ad, which has never “worked,” but this time, we had a lady contact us. She arrived with her daughter and mother about two hours after the service when we were finished eating the food from our barbecue. We welcomed them in and helped them get food. When they sat to eat, we had a great chat and found out that it was the anniversary of the lady’s brother committing suicide. He used to attend a Baptist church, and they felt they should come when the ad for our church popped up on their screen. We sent them home with visitors’ gifts. I received a message back from them that they were nervous when they arrived, but when they left, they felt like we were old friends. That next Friday, we had a church mountain-bike outing, and at the end of the month, we attended some Bible classes. We had nine new visitors to church in May in answer to your prayers.

June

We began the month with a visit from a lovely American couple from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Longview, Texas. They were on holiday, but it was a great blessing to see Christians not taking a vacation from God and church. They had contacted me looking for churches to attend. We also got to meet up with Pastor Callaghan from California. His son was my roommate in college, and we got to visit with him while he was hiking through Ireland. Keith had had plans to work in a camp in the USA, but he was not able to do so because of citizenship reasons; they happened to schedule the citizenship ceremony on the very day he was supposed to start his camp training. He was disappointed, but the scheduling seemed like a verification that the Lord had closed the door this year. They also told him that he would not receive his certificate by mail for another three months. During the second week of July, one of my neighbours asked if he could attend our Wednesday Bible Study. He goes to a Baptist Union church in Limerick, but he wanted to attend since we are just up the road. He gave a clear testimony of salvation and said he would be back. At the end of the month, there was a Teen Camp that was hosted by Pastor Hill, whose church is in Lucan. Many of the pastors joined together to preach and lend a hand. There were about 35 teens, including our boys and Lana, who made a decision from the preaching to give up her phone for a month so she could get close to God. She is in her second week as I write this letter. In June, we had nine new visitors as well, six of whom visited last year.

Soul Winning

Every Saturday, we are getting the Gospel out to the community, in addition to social media and every way we can. As I spoke with the ladies who showed up late for our Anniversary Service, I mentioned to them that I was not always a Baptist. That prompted them to then ask how I became a Baptist, and from there, I got to tell them a clear testimony of my salvation when I was 19. It was a great opportunity to tell them the Gospel clearly. They didn’t make a decision for Christ, but I was able to sow a seed and send them away with books about the Gospel.

Please pray for these needs:

1. Co-laborers in Limerick
2. Protection over the ministry
3. More visitors on the countryside
4. Guidance and wisdom as we move forward

Last, I thank everyone who sent encouraging emails, letters, birthday cards for Kelly’s birthday in June, as well as gifts and offerings, and for your faithful prayers and support.

For the souls in Ireland,

Keith Hamilton