“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:3-6
As many of you know, the year 2020 has started off with some big changes. After working for a regional airline in Portland for a short time, we realized that we needed more time to put toward the ministry. So with God’s leading through many advisors, we chose to start full-time deputation at the beginning of the year. While we are only a couple of months into that now, it has been quite the experience already.
We had the opportunity to be with Bethel Baptist Church in Salem, OR, where there are several families that are old friends. We really appreciate their heart for missions and enjoyed our time there. We were able to be at Mid-Valley Baptist Church in Corvallis, OR, one of our supporting churches and very close family and friends for an entire Sunday of services. We spent the rest of January preparing for our trip to Indiana.
Our trip to Indiana brought us to Dyer Baptist Church after some delays. We had the opportunity to meet another amazing group of people that are truly focused on missions. They treated us so well, even in the frigid temperatures and lots of snow that was happening while we were there.
On the way to Indiana, we experienced God’s hand of protection during our travels. We had a pair of wheels separate from our truck while driving on the freeway, pulling our 5th wheel trailer. No one was hurt and the Lord provided for the repair and the cost of waiting for the repair to take place. With the repair and the winter storms in Wyoming, we were delayed by four days, but we had planned four extra days for a detour. We lost the detour but we made it to the missions conference just in time.
We left Indiana and headed back to the West Coast to Galilee Baptist Church in Kent, WA, for their missions conference. Once again, we had the opportunity to meet some special people who took such great care of us and showed their heart for missions.
Praises:
· We have had several opportunities recently to share the gospel with people. One such was a lady that Rebekah met in a truck stop restroom who is likely saved and is working to lead her Sikh husband to the Lord. Pray that we will be able to continue to encourage her and that her husband will be saved.
· We had several opportunities to share our ministry outside of church presentations. Because of the vehicle situation, there were several times when we told unsaved people about our ministry and shared with them how God had protected us through it. These were times when we could lift up Christ to those who would not likely come to a church. Praise the Lord for these opportunities.
Prayer requests:
· Our biggest need at this point is to set up meeting dates with churches. Please pray that we will be able to fill up our schedule as the Lord sees fit. While we have been able to add to the schedule, it would be good to have a full schedule. We need to fill up our schedule for the late spring through summer.
· Rebekah and Emily will be joining our church teens on a missions trip to Mexico in March. Pray for the safety of all 22 teens and adults going to spend 10 days with the Jones’ in Guadalajara.
· With our first major trip behind us and that being in the winter, pray for our truck and trailer to hold up as they have several fixes that need to be accomplished. They are working well, but winter weather takes it toll.
Faithfully in Christ—Matt, Rebekah, Emily, Michael, Chelsea, Elijah, Noah