A man, who had attended our services many years before, recently came back to our church. His name is Paul. One Sunday after our meeting, a brother came to me and said, we need to ask Paul about his salvation. Praise the Lord, that very day, Paul made a profession and was baptized the next Sunday upon his profession. He is very excited about the Lord and is growing in the Word of God. He is taking copious notes during our discipleship meetings on Thursdays. In our meetings, we are currently going through Bible doctrines and sharing Bible verses that appear contradicting in order to ground people very well so they know how to deal with false teachers in our 80-percent Catholic society.
We’ve had different afflictions these last few months. At our church, we were informed that one particular Sunday, the city would be turning off the power in our area from 6:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. We usually record and put our preaching services on the internet for others to watch. Also, we cook and eat food together after the service. So, on that particular Sunday, we could not do any of our usual activities. We did have a meeting, and we even ate together. We celebrated the birthday of a very faithful sister in the church. Instead of cooking foods, we had sandwiches which didn’t require any cooking. It was still cool outside, and we couldn’t use our heaters. There were a few people who felt cold during the meeting, but they just put their coats on.
The following Monday, I had an unsettled stomach, and around midnight I got very sick. I was sicker than I’ve ever been. I was unable to eat or drink much for two days. After that, I started to improve, although I was weak. It took me about two weeks to get back to normal. I may have gotten salmonella poisoning. It is hard to know why we had to suffer through all those trials, but God took care of us. Our people stepped up and really got involved and held two services without Jolie or me there to lead.
Pray for Teresa K. to get saved. We have known her for fourteen years. She has come the past year more regularly than ever. We have witnessed to her many times, but she is still trusting her infant baptism and her good works for her salvation.
Another young man who attended our church for a little while a couple of years ago has recently started coming again to the church and has joined our church. We praise the Lord for another member to help anchor the Gospel Baptist Church. He is using his talents with electronics to improve our church’s tech side. He has given our church a camera to record our services, and he is planning to install a security camera outside our church building because we have had various unusual things happen around our building. For example, someone got our mail from the States, and instead of putting it into our mailbox next to the door, they just laid the envelope on a window sill next to our church door. The mail could have been destroyed by rain or taken. Also, we arrived at the church on a Sunday morning to find trash from our trash container strewn on the ground in front of the building. There are homeless people who go through the trash cans, but they usually don’t throw the trash all over the ground. It is becoming needful for us to have a security camera there to monitor what is going on when we are not there.
Lastly, we praise the Lord that we just got permission to sponsor the Rangel family from Mexico into Poland. Please continue to pray for God’s leading and direction for them and the Gospel Baptist Church.
More than conquerors,
Paul & Jolie Sock