Greetings from Indianapolis, Indiana. We are in the guest room of Indiana Baptist College, where I am teaching a mini-module on certain issues in missions (translation, mission finances, and persecution) from Monday through Wednesday.

The biggest news since the last news letter is the safe arrival of Joanna Grace Champlin, all 8 lb and 6 oz. of her - last Wednesday, October 19th. Kim had not been feeling well the last week of the pregnancy and was delivered by C-section. Both mother and baby are doing fine. So we congratulate Ethan and Kim on baby Champlin #9. And we are blessed to have half of our grandchildren based in Suriname, although the oldest two boys are at Ambassador College.

To back up, we had two very profitable weeks at Crown College. I taught a number of classes both weeks to a variety of different classes. The lessons seemed to go very well - at least from my perspective. I am always interested in the student evaluation as well. Teaching effectively also involves learning. I can evaluate what I teach, but it is difficult to evaluate how well the students learn. I also had the privilege of preaching in college chapel the second week when we were at Crown. It actually fell on Pastor Sexton’s birthday. They had strung up a group of balloons for his birthday forming an arch behind the pulpit. So it formed an interesting background behind me.

We left Crown College about 2 pm on Friday, October 15th and drove back to the other side of Indianapolis that evening. We completed the remainder of the trip to North Love Baptist Church in Rockford, Il on Saturday. We were with Dr. Paul Kingsbury the entire day. This church is where the Reformers Unanimous program started. Dr. Kingsbury was most gracious and showed us around the various parts of the church ministry as well as allowing us to participate in the day’s programs. The most impressive part was their licensing 12 men to preach as well as ordaining a man to pastor a church just north of them. These men were all out of their program and had been in a resident program for addiction previously. It is amazing to see how the Lord changes lives dramatically.

The following day we drove about 1 ½ hours to Downer’s Grove, Il., where we attended the 50th anniversary of Baptist World Mission. It was impressive to see how the mission was started, and how it has stayed on course as a fundamental separated mission board with a church planting emphasis. We enjoyed our time very much. A family graciously housed us over the two days we were there. We saw many old friends and appreciated the preaching.

Our next stop was Fairhaven Baptist College in Chesterton, Indiana. Dr. Roger Voegtlin was away, but we were well taken care of. I enjoyed teaching his Christian Education class for two days, and had the opportunity to address the entire college about the area of missions.

Following our time at Fairhaven, we drove to South Bend and unloaded much of our supplies at our base at the home of our friends, the Hubeles. This was the first time we had been back to our there in two months. The following day we drove to Eaton, Ohio and preached and taught at First Baptist Church and fellowshiped with Pastor and Mrs Fred Hill. We drove in the afternoon to Hillcrest Baptist Church in Richmond, Indiana, which is a short distance away. After fellowshiping with Pastor Martin Holman, we then drove on to the guest house in Indiana Baptist College, which is our last teaching engagement before packing up for Suriname.

We thank the Lord for His many blessings over the past 2 months. We have renewed contact with many old friends, and also made a number of new friends. We have been blessed to minister to a number of churches and colleges, and many people have also ministered to us as well. It has been a special privilege to speak with many students in the various schools. It is now time to begin to focus on our return to Suriname and the ministry there. We are looking forward to an expanding ministry to serve the Lord in the days to come.

Praise:

1. Safety in travel
2. Health - I am doing fine with no symptoms
3. Opportunities to challenge in missions
4. Opportunities to preach and teach
5. The safe arrival of Joanna Grace Champlin - and a healthy mother and baby!

Prayer:

1. Continued safety in travel and our return flight Nov. 2nd
2. Health and strength for the work
3. Our own spiritual growth
4. Preparations for return to the field
5. Several prayers for Suriname, including the leadership at the main church, completion of the work at Sunny Point, and independence of the churches