Dear Church,
August was an encouraging month for us, and we were refreshed to enjoy sunshine, several visitors at church, answers to prayer, and making family memories. Our boys have also been growing both physically and spiritually. The apostle John said he had no greater joy than to hear that his children walked in truth. Anyone with a parent’s heart can understand and identify with that sentiment! Thank you for praying and supporting our church planting work and thank you for your patience as this letter is coming out a bit later than usual.
The scripture tells us that a wise son gathereth in summer. We are happy to gather at any time of year in Astoria and count it a miracle of God anytime someone trusts Jesus as Saviour. We sow the seed of God’s word regularly and pray for people to be saved that we might reap the harvest and bear fruit that may abound to your account. (Philippians 4:17) The spiritual opposition in this area cannot be overstated and we thank you for your continued prayer and financial support. Two years ago, we planted seed, watered, and prayed for God to bring the increase. At the end of August and first part of September, we rejoiced to see that labor was not in vain.
You see, when we first arrived in Astoria, Stacy brought the kids to the fire department for a tour. Soon after, Gabriel joined the fire department and invited a friend to come to church. He got saved about one year after that. When he was baptized, his family came to witness the ordinance. At that time, his sister indicated a need to be saved but did not make a decision. One year after that on Resurrection Sunday, the young man’s family came to the service again. A few days after, I visited their home and the man, and his wife trusted Jesus as Saviour. A couple weeks later they were both baptized. They have been faithfully attending the worship service ever since. Months ago, the man gave testimony of God’s goodness. He said he was thankful that God brought us into their lives, and he recalled that we came for a tour of the fire department years ago. At that moment, it occurred to me that he was the one who gave us the tour. I had never made that connection and had forgotten, but he remembered. We had no idea back then that God had a wonderful plan.
The couple continued to pray for their daughter to be saved but she was struggling with the decision. Several months went by and she would often indicate that she knew she needed to be saved. I cannot share the personal reason that kept her from trusting Jesus for months, but I can tell you that this young lady finally got saved and baptized! Now the entire family has been saved and baptized. We were so happy to add new members to the church. I sent the pictures of the baptism to Pastor Rick Adams, and he remarked that he loved our baptistry! At her request, we baptized the young lady under the bridge in Astoria in the same place where our son, Miciah was baptized.
The work here in Astoria has gone much slower than we hoped. I cling to the promise in Galatians 6:9; we shall reap if we faint not! Anchor Baptist Church is still very much in need of mission support, and we had some expensive vehicle problems last month. Thank you for praying!