We want to thank our many friends for their condolences on the death of my mother. Many contacted us both in the USA and also here in Suriname. My mother's funeral was yesterday, and by all reports it went well. My brother Richard sang and played the piano. My sister-in-law Kaye read notes from the family. There was a good attendance, with a number of people coming from outside Waverly, Ohio. My niece flew in from Washington area. My daughter Cathy drove down from Michigan with her son Bryce. Cathy brought family pictures and made a display for the service. Good friends the Abels came from Columbus as well as other friends of my brother. Good friends the Duffys also came. We want to thank the folks from Waverly Baptist Temple, where we attend when in Waverly, for coming as well. A special note of appreciation goes to Pastor Rick Goodman, and also to our friends Jack and Sandy Hanes, where we stay when in Waverly. The Presbyterian church where Mom attended for over 30 years held the service and a luncheon following. We were sorry not to be present, but very grateful for the love shown by so many.

A special soulwinning day: The Lord Himself also consoled us by blessing in a special way while soulwinning yesterday. A lady recently saved is 7 months pregnant and has some medical problems. In the past, she had used witchcraft, but now as a believer, she wanted to be free from such things. On occasion, we have gone to help the family remove witchcraft items and throw them away. I should mention that not infrequently, missionaries have had major spiritual problems when they looked at witchcraft as just superstition. They would bring such artifacts home, or use them for display at mission conferences. The Bible is very clear. All such items should be destroyed. The Israelites were not even to use the gold, silver or precious stones from idols, but totally destroy them.

So we went and prayed with the woman. While praying in the house and removing various items, I met her step-mother, an elderly Bush Negro lady. Normally such individuals are very resistant to the gospel. I was also concerned that she would not understand me. Her daughter-in-law sat down near us, but left when she saw that her mother was clearly understanding. The Lord worked in a marvelous way, and she prayed to receive the Lord. During that time, Liz had the opportunity of leading a boy to the Lord. We packed up the items which the lady had personally. But her husband also had a number of items, and we wanted his permission to remove them as well. He was still at work.

So we went down the street to visit her husband's sister, who was also recently saved in our church. There we met a number of her children, either teenagers or adults. We had the privilege of seeing four young women also pray to receive the Lord. When we returned to the first lady's home, her husband was waiting for us. He had come to church several times, but there was a real question whether he understood salvation. This time, he understood clearly and accepted the Lord. He helped us pack up his own witchcraft items, so we had two sacks full which we loaded into the back of our car. We drove to a large drainage ditch en route home and threw away the items into the water. We thank the Lord for His graciousness on the same day as the funeral.

Other church news - We continue to have good attendances, especially Sunday mornings. The Advanced Bible Institute completed their second module last Tuesday, and the regular Bible Institute will complete theirs this week. The third module will take us nearly until our departure for the USA.

We continue to see slow progress in working toward church independence. I anticipate that the other churches will be adding Sunny Point to the list of independent churches. At the moment, Sunny Point is actually under Efraimzegen church.

I recently compled Module 4 for the Advanced Bible Institute, and am working on Module 5. We are waiting for the repair of the Mac computer. The repair shop said it is doing "something strange..." When it is repaired, I can continue to learn about making DVDs of the Bible Institute lessons.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work
2. Our spiritual growth
3. Continued spiritual growth in the churches
4. Souls saved and discipled
5. Radio & TV ministries to be effective
6. Continued impact of the Bible Institutes
7. Independence of the churches