God does hear prayer: Two weeks ago, the leadership asked my to take leadership in soulwinning. I preached last Sunday morning on soulwinning. Wednesday night I preached again on soulwinning when the preacher who was scheduled could not come. I encouraged our members to give themselves totally to God, and to ask God to use them. But I want to be an example to our people, and thank the Lord for blessing.

Last Saturday, Liz and I went to see a leader from Winti Wai who is now nearly blind from glaucoma which was discovered late. His medication schedule prevents him from coming to church, and we went to pray with him. After we were done praying, I was about to leave, but Liz asked the wife about the spiritual situation of their grandchildren. She called the children. Three young people came in, and I spoke in detail about salvation. Both grandchildren stated clearly that they had accepted the Lord, but were not faithful at church any more. We encouraged them to live out their faith and attend church with their grandmother. The third young girl, however, a neighbor girl, recognized that she was unsaved and prayed to receive Christ.

This Thursday, Liz and I had two places to visit. First, we wanted to pray with a young woman who was celebrating her 25^th birthday and had a number of family problems. Her brother had come to church with her years ago, and had made a profession. However, at age 20, he was no longer coming or living for the Lord. I had prayed to be able to meet him, and there he was. He sat down and listened thoughtfully and respectfully. He said that he had prayed a prayer but never received the Lord. Sadly, he was not ready to do so, but we encouraged him to make the right decision.

Then we went to see a lady recovering from a cataract operation. Her home was flooded, and she was staying in a home where her brother-in-law lived. I had spoken to the brother-in-law many times in the past, and I believe that he prayed with me once, but never came to church. However, there were also three teenage girls present, and so I spoke with them in detail. They had never really been confronted with the gospel, and after finishing, all three prayed to receive Christ. Furthermore, the man, now 60 years old, also prayed with them, though I had not directly spoken with him. It is always difficult to know what really transpires in the heart of an individual spiritually, but we pray that they will have truly received the Lord, and will come to church and grow. I also pray that the Lord will make me very sensitive to His leading, and always to trust in the power of His word.

Bible Institute:

We started our second module of the basic Bible Institute last Monday night, and gave the test on the advanced Bible Institute first module Tuesday night. All the students in the advanced course did extremely well. I have been very pleased how well they have grasped the principles of leadership. After the exam, they stayed around talking to each other. It is a great opportunity for the leaders of the four churches to meet together. After we packed up, Liz and I headed home with them still enjoying visiting with each other. That is always a joy to see.

The response to the leadership material has been so great that I am going to try to preserve them for the future. I will also be working on a set of DVD's for the material in about a month or so.

Your prayer support needed:

Steve Guiamo, our Suriname Bible distributor, runs the Baptist book store in town. He has just finished clearing an area in his store for Sranantongo materials. He wants to develop a center for Sranantongo Bible materials to sell, especially for those coming from the interior who are not comfortable in Dutch. The materials which we translated are abundant. We have at least eight discipleship courses of one sort or another. Steve also completed our first Bible Institute and is taking the advanced course. He is extremely active in his independent Baptist Church as well as helping coordinate work in the interior.

However, we have had two problems. First, the printing of the materials is not professional. I had done them in our office with our Duplo printer. Secondly, a number of people in our churches have started the course and never returned materials so that many books have been lost. We are praying for the right decision to be made concerning how the books should be printed, as well as a system to assure that people who borrow them return them. Also we pray that the printed materials would sell in the store so that many others would use them. Would you join us in prayer?

God's protection:

Two weeks ago, when Liz drove our 16 year old Toyota 10 seater van to church, it lost power part way as she was climbing the bridge over a canal. What a situation. She lost her wipers, her power windows, and was in a traffic jam both ways on the bridge. She managed to creep to the church and park the van safely. When I arrived for a meeting, it would not start. A friend charged the battery the next day, and it started immediately and we drove home without problems. The van had had an accident nearly two years ago which sprung the door a bit, and it apparently does not fit well. Sometimes small lights come on in the side doors even with the door closed. I removed the bulbs, and thus far the van continues to start. We hope that this is the answer, but the van has had lots of electrical problems in the past ever since we bought it second-hand almost 9 years ago. Thank the Lord for getting her safely to the church.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work
2. Our spiritual growth
3. Soulwinning outreach through the church
4. Bible Institutes
5. Printing Sranantongo materials
6. Independence of the churches

In Him and Content:
Bob and Liz Patton