August - October

My dad passed away on August 8. If we had gone to Bolivia, we would have been out of the country when it happened. Instead, I had the privilege of sitting with him on his last night here on earth. His plans are always better than our own.

In September, Charlie took a trip to Belarus and Luxembourg, this time as a working vacation since these are not IPM ministries. Since we had to book the trip in June, I felt I should not go so that I could be near my dad. As it turned out, Dad was already in heaven by then, but our bank account agreed that it was better for me to stay home. Once again it was clear to both of us how much we prefer to travel and minister together.

Belarus is an atheistic country whose churches suffered greatly during the previous Soviet rule. Although they have relative freedom now, there is still much resistance to the gospel. The majority of the older pastors that Charlie met had stories to tell of being in prison. They are miles ahead of us in standing for the faith, but they desire to learn more. So Charlie taught them about stewardship and then preached on Sunday to an audience of over 700. He also taught college students at a secular university. He taught hermeneutics to a group of philology students, marriage to a group of sociology students, and the benefits of exercise and religion in fighting depression to a group of medical students. One student approached him saying, “I can’t believe in a god who allows evil in our world.” Charlie was able to spend quite a bit of time with him and poke some holes in his logic that will, hopefully, bring him closer to the Gospel. All in all, Charlie felt it was a beneficial trip.

From Belarus, he flew to Luxembourg to spend time with missionary friends there. He preached and taught there as well. The international church that Tim Heijermans pastored for many years is continuing to grow under the leadership of a European pastor. We were encouraged when they invited us to return to be part of their family retreat next year.

In addition to these countries, God is beginning to show us what is ahead in 2020. We are planning on several different countries, and we are hoping to spend more time visiting churches. Please let us know if you want us to come to your church.

Praise God with us for:

• ·         Orchestrating events so that we would be home when Dad went home to heaven.
• ·         Safety for Charlie in his trip to Europe.
• ·         Rescheduling our trip to Bolivia.

Please pray that God would:

• ·         Work in the Belarusian student’s life to bring him to saving faith.
• ·         Give us wisdom as we prepare for our trip to Bolivia in November.
• ·         Show us all the places where we should go in the coming year.

We are so thankful for the prayers of God's people for us. We would not want to do this work without those prayers.