Thank you for faithfully praying for us. We are adjusting back to the heat and humidity here, although the rainy season is fast approaching or has already arrived.

Blessing from cockroaches? Four years ago, we received 10,000 Sranantongo Bibles and 20,000 Sranantongo New Testaments. The New Testaments were printed for promotional distribution. Both the whole Bibles and New Testaments were in identical boxes, both weighing about 40 pounds each. There was a small label on the outside to identify each. I estimated about 700 boxes arrived, and the men quickly piled them up in our house as well as a 20 foot container which we have behind our house. However, it was virtually impossible to know the number of each without moving the whole lot - which I estimated at about 12 tons of weight.

Thus I estimated the number of Bibles remaining by those that have been distributed. However, last week we saw that cockroaches had started eating some of the boxes, and laying eggs. So the man who maintains our yard moved the Bibles, separated them, placed them on pallets, and sprayed pesticide to kill the cockroaches. The first 5000 Bibles arrived in 1998 and were finished in 2003, at about 1000 Bibles per year. The second 5000 Bibles arrived in 2003, and were out in 2006 - about 1500 Bibles per year. At that rate, I assumed that our Bible supply should be adequate to 2012, since we received twice the previous number. However, to my surprise, we have perhaps 9-10 months supply of Bibles - and thus they have been going at about 2000 per year. I was able to place an order with Bearing Precious Seeds for another 10,000 to arrive early next year. I am thankful that the cockroaches alerted me to the problem, but also that they only managed to get into about 2 or 3 boxes before we killed them.

We also have some new ideas about promotion using the New Testament. Our plan includes distributing New Testaments to prisoners through Prison Fellowship - a fundamental Bible-believing group here in Suriname. We are also planning to send some New Testaments to the interior to be used by the schools there during the school year, and to be given to the 6th grade students as they complete their elementary education. We pray that God’s word will have a real impact.

It is always a blessing to be able to soulwin in Suriname. Last Saturday was particularly blessed, as I was able to speak to some young people from the interior and see 5 make professions of faith. They were all members of a strong believing family from the interior. It seems that sometimes we reach out to others with the gospel, but forget our own family. We pray that they will come faithfully to church and grow in their understanding. The same day I was able to speak to two young mothers about child dedication.

Thus far I have preached in 3 of our churches, but not yet in Sunny Point because there have been some things to do at the main church. I am on schedule to preach there on Wednesday night. Last Wednesday night, I showed a Christian DVD on persecution in China. This is the first time that I have actually taken a Wednesday prayer service, but we wanted to have an opportunity to actually pray for the persecuted. I gave an introduction to the film, including my wish for us to pray for the persecuted, and also outlined the basic message for those whose English would make it difficult for them to understand. After the film, I had the senior pastor add comments and pray, and then had prayer from other members of the congregation. It seems that sometimes we have the mentality that we have more problems than others. This may be particularly true in groups from a relatively poor country or poor folk economically, and our people might fit into such a group. Our people were aware of persecution in other lands, but the DVD made the persecution much more vivid. We in America have been somewhat insulated from persecution, but that day may come to a close. And in Hebrews 13:3, as I mentioned in the church service, we are commanded to remember that we are in the body of Christ, and we need to remember those in bonds as if we are bound with them. Let us remember to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Sunny Point building is progressing slower than I had hoped. The builder made a significant miscalculation in the construction of the roof, and there will be a delay of some weeks before it is up. We continue to pray for the Lord’s provision and timing.

I will begin the advanced Bible Institute next week. Our first module will be on prayer and revival. I will be having the regular Bible Institute by correspondence this year as the number of students is quite small.

We are having an important meeting tomorrow night in which the progress on independence should be discussed as well as the possibility of opening up a new area of service. I would appreciate your prayers!

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work
2. Spiritual growth
3. Safety in traffic
4. Further outreach
5. Sunny Point building project; the speed of the work is being limited by our limited funds
6. Actual printing of the New Testament commentary - has been at the printers for several months
7. Reprinting the Sranantongo Bible for its fourth printing and arrival in Suriname