Once again, we greatly appreciate your partnership with us in prayer!

Sunny Point building project: Praise the Lord, we are moving again. The steel framework for the roof is completed, and half the cross-bars for holding the zinc roof are in place. I anticipate that if the weather holds (we were held up partially by a LOT of rain last week), there is a real chance that the zinc roof could be completed this week. Once that occurs, we will be able to work steadily without worrying so much about the rain. The next task will be to put in the first layer of the cement floor (it is finished a bit later), followed by the ceiling. Kalow Palata has devised some ways to save money on both activities. Following that, we will look at doors and windows.

Andoe Kampoe: We need your prayers. We feel quite welcome there, and we are free to soulwin. Liz and I went soulwinning a week ago Saturday, and had good conversations with 8 persons. Three of them made professions. However, the attendance has not been good at church services, and Sunday was, I believe, the lowest we have experienced. No special problem, but most of the regulars had a reason not to come: I was busy; I didn’t feel so well; I had something to do; etc. This Saturday, I decided to have a short prayer service rather than door to door soulwinning. We had seven in attendance, went over the importance of church attendance, and then had special prayer at the home of one lady afterwards who had personal problems.

Last Sunday, Br. German preached in my place. He believes that the Lord has called him to preach, and he has been doing some of the song leading. His sermon was OK, but he needs a lot of work and encouragement. I was encouraged that as soon as he was in the car, he asked how the sermon went and what could be done to improve it. He has a good attitude, and we are hopeful that God will indeed raise him up as a preacher. Kalow Palata has been very good about finding and developing national young men. He suggested working with 4 young men about 4-5 years ago, and God called all four to preach!

Our daughter Kim’s pregnancy: We asked special prayer for our daughter Kim, who is now 8 weeks pregnant. She had lost two of her last 3 previous pregancies. The ECHO she had on Thursday showed a strong heart beat. She will have another ECHO in about 3-4 weeks, when her husband Ethan comes to the city for a hernia operation. Thank you for your continued prayers on her behalf.

Burial funds: This may seem strange, but our church has funds for burial. We just decided that the costs would need to be increased. Burial is one of the very important aspects of the Bush Negro culture. The usual technique is to go throughout the extended family asking for donations when someone dies. The problem is that there are many heathen rites associated with a heathen burial which are totally inappropriate for a Christian. If a Christian dies and goes to their extended family, most of which are heathen, asking for funds for burial, the family may demand that many of these heathen rites be carried out. Some of the ceremonies are supposed to protect against evil spirits of the departed person attacking other members of the family, and the heathen fear the spirits. So we have our own funds, so that the church can bury the Christian in a Christian manner without being dependent on the heathen family for financial support. In recent years, things have been much better. We do not have the heathen trying to “take over” that we had when we first arrived. However, the funds have been very helpful, and we plan to continue with them, but must be careful that we have enough money to meet our obligations to those who participate.

Financial cut-back: One of our radio stations, Shalom, just raised the prices of broadcasts, and more than doubled the costs. So we will drop back from daily broadcasts to four broadcasts per week. We are thankful that we are able to continue. This particular station is a Christian station, and we are able to influence many Christians who do not attend our church, but find that the broadcasts are helpful spiritually.

Radio station Switi Boskopoe: Our son-in-law Ethan Champlin has applied to the government for permission for a Christian broadcast station in Moengo. Apparently the government is not giving out any permissions in Paramaribo, the capital, any more, but there is hope for approval for Moengo. Please pray that the government will give approval. He would be able to broadcast Christian messages and Christian music to that entire area.

Finally, a word of praise. Liz’s follow-up with the urologist went very well. No changes in medicines - come back in a year. No new stones. So we thank the Lord for His blessing.

Prayer requests:

1. Strength and health for the tasks at hand
2. Our spiritual growth
3. Safety on the road
4. Independence of the 4 churches - nothing new to report this time
5. Andoe Kampoe - growth
6. Sunny Point building project
7. Kim’s pregnancy
8. Approval of radio station in Moengo