On Monday, we finished up a two week camp, where we slept in a tent.  Sleeping in a tent for that long was a different experience. I never realized that birds got up at the same time every morning, or that they could be so loud at 6a.m.  During the camp, several of the kids made decisions to continue in the christian life. Some said that they had decided to read the Bible daily, others said that they were going to try and be more respectful to their parents, while others made other decisions. It was a great encouragement to see God working in the hearts and lives of the young people. Over all, we had a great time at camp.  Melissa was the “laundry lady” for the two weeks, and also helped out in other ways. Melissa said that she had never seen so much laundry in her life.  She washed between 8-10 loads a day (I’ve never realized how dirty kids can get when they are playing). I also was able to help in several ways at camp.  I played games with the kids in the afternoons, helped in the morning devotion sessions, and taught the teens during their Bible study time for a week.  This coming Saturday begins another two week camp session. During this time, Melissa will be working in the kitchen, and I will be filling in where needed.  Please pray that God would work in the hearts of the kids who will be coming to this next camp.

Thursday, we were again at the Bible stand. It was an encouraging day. We were able to speak with several people who showed interested in God and His Word. I was able to speak with a man named Pepe. He is Spanish, and here in the area on vacation. As I was speaking with him, he said that he was looking for God. I was able to present the Gospel to him, but he said that he needed to think everything through. Please pray for this man. Please pray that he would come to church on Sunday before he heads back home to Spain, and that God would convict him of his sin and his need for a Savior.

On another note, several have e-mailed and asked about the market stand in Montréjeau.  As of yet, we still have not received permission to setup our Bible stand there. If we do not receive a response within the next couple of weeks, we are planning on showing up at the market and setting the stand up to what happens. Please continue to pray that God would work in this situation, and that we would receive permission to setup the Bible stand, and if not, that we would not have any problems from anyone when we do set it up.

Last week was a pretty busy week for all of us. Including the normal responsibilities that we have with the church and visitation, we began to work at the camp, helping to prepare for the summer season. There was a lot of cleanup to do, putting up of tents, and cutting the grass. All of this went much easier this year because there was a team that came in from NY state to help with the cleanup. Along with the cleanup, we were able to build a new cabin, which will be used for the snack shop and game storage, and we also remodeled another existing cabin to turn it into a bunkhouse. There are now two cabins that are used for sleeping. Praise the Lord that he protected all of us during this week of work, the work team from the US, and that he helped us accomplish many things in preparation for the camps. The camp would like to replace the tents that the kids sleep in eventually with cabins. Please pray that God would provide the financing and the permits needed.

This past weekend was a great blessing to us. God answered our prayers, and we were able to see a soul saved. We had the last evangelistic conference of the school year.  We distributed invitations out all last week and the week before. We had a good turn out for the conference, though most were from the church. We did have one visitor (Therese). She was invited by one of the ladies in the church, but said that she would not come. Praise the Lord that He worked in her heart and changed her mind. The subject of the conference was, “Life after death, should we believe in it?”. That night, Therese expressed her understanding of the Gospel message, but was night quite ready to accept Christ. The next day, Sunday morning, she again had decided that she would not come to church, but the Lord worked in her heart and she came to church anyway.  After the service, she trusted Christ as her Savior with the missionary that we are working with (Tim).  Praise the Lord for His answer to our prayers.

Last Thursday was also an encouragement to us. We had setup our Bible stand as usual at the market here in Saint-Gaudens and Antonio came by. He spoke with Tim for several hours that morning, and came to church that evening for our mid-week service. Please continue to pray for Antonio. Pray that God would do a work in his heart and life and draw him to Himself.

Last Sunday, again we saw God answer our prayers. I preached the morning service and the Lord truly helped with the difficulties of the language. We had another visitor for the service (Regis), which was a great blessing.  Regis grew up in an Assembly of God church in Toulouse and is very confused in his spiritual life. Please pray that if he is not saved that he would understand who Christ is, and trust Him as Savior. We have visited with Regis on a couple of occasions and he has shown real interest, but has not been able to understand the divinity of Christ.

Last week, we were at the camp that we help with during the summers helping to get things together for the camps.  They will be beginning in the next couple of weeks. We will be at the camp this week for several days.  Please pray that we will be able to accomplish all that we need to and that God would protect us as we work.

Thank you for your faithful prayers.

I just finished writing our latest prayer letter. If you would like to take a look at it just follow the link below. Please continue to pray for our ministry here in France that God would use us to reach others for Christ.

June09PrayerLetter

Sunday was a real encouragement to us all. We had an English couple visit the church for the first time. They called and asked where we were located exactly on Saturday evening so that they could come for the service Sunday morning. They said they heard about the church through the local paper. They had seen one of the articles about the church and decided to come and visit the church. Please pray that when they are in France that they would visit the church regularly. They do not live in France permanently, though they do have a house about fifteen minutes from the church.

On Monday, we had a church picnic since it was a national holiday here. It was great having all of the church family together, but it was also a time of great encouragement because we had invited several contacts who were not saved and they also came. The English couple that visited the church on Sunday came, another couple who are Scottish and unsaved came, and a family that is French, also unsaved, came as well. We truly had a great time together. It was a big step forward in the lives of those who are not believers to come to a church function. All seemed very open and happy to have spent the afternoon with us all. Praise the Lord in how he is working in these people’s lives. Please pray that those who were there on Monday would trust Christ as their Savior, begin living for the Lord, and coming to church.

Last week seemed to fly by unbelievably fast. Along with our normal responsibilities there was another camp that we were involved in and at which I spoke during a morning session. The camp was for single believers. It was a true blessing to see other young adults desire to serve God in their lives. Many of these people do not have anyone that they can fellowship with that is their own age in their churches. Please pray that they would continue moving forward for the Lord.

Last Wednesday evening, we went back to see Frederick and give him the Bible that he asked for. That evening, we waited for about 45 minutes for him to return home, but he never showed up. This surprised us, since it was him that asked that we would give him the Bible. Thursday morning, right after the Bible stand, Yann and I went out again to his house to see if he was home or not, since he had told us that Thursdays was his day off. When we got there, he again was not home, but his girlfriend was. We spoke a little with her and told her who we were, after which he quickly told us that they had already discussed between themselves that they did not want a Bible or anything else from us. It was amazing to see the difference in attitude between Frederick and his girlfriend. Please pray that though it appears that the door has been shut that Frederick would remember the gospel message that he heard.

Please also continue to pray for us as we knock the doors here in our area to announce the gospel message.

We started the evangelistic conference on Saturday evening thinking that we would not have any visitors this time. About twenty minutes into the conference a visitor came in with one of the ladies (Jacqueline) that comes to the church every now and then. Praise the Lord that He answered our prayers and we had someone come for the conference. The visitor’s name is Miriam. We were able to give her a Bible and a tract that explained the gospel and speak with her a couple minutes Saturday night after the conference. Sunday morning, came as a big surprise for us, Miriam came again and was there for a part of the morning service. Praise the Lord that this lady has shown some interest in spiritual things. Please pray that she would read the Bible that we gave her and the tract and understand the Gospel message. Also, for those who understand a little French if you would like to watch the video of the conference follow the link below.

Monday, we went to a city next to Saint-Gaudens along with two men from the church (Yann and Michel) called Montréjeau. We went to take a look at the market there in the town and see if it would be possible to setup our Bible stand on Mondays. The market is a very nice market with quite a few people. Please pray that we would receive permission to setup our Bible stand. We were instructed that we would need to write a letter to the mayor of the city asking for permission. We were also told that receiving permission would probably be difficult since the mayor is not very open to religious things. Please pray for wisdom and that the mayor would have an open heart so that we can setup the Bible stand.

Monday evening, Yann and I were able to head back to Miramont to continue knocking the doors there in town. God again answered our prayers and prepared the way for us as we went through the town. On a couple different occasions the Lord allowed us to explain fully the gospel message to people. Two of the people we met were teenage boys who were walking down the road. Both are gypsies and have some religious background, but both admitted that they were lost and heading to hell. We were able to explain the gospel message to both. Please pray for these two young men. We also were able to speak with a man name Frederick. Frederick was very open to what we were saying. He even admitted that if he were to die that he would like to have his relationship with God in order. Please pray that as we go back on Wednesday evening to give to him a Bible that he would be maybe ready to trust Christ as his Savior. It would be a great joy and encouragement to see someone come to Christ through the outreach of our church here in Saint-Gaudens. Please also pray that as we continue the door-to-door ministry that we would come in contact with others who are ready to hear the message of salvation. We will be heading out again on Wednesday to knock more doors.

http://ebbc31.free.fr/conferences.html

Spring has finally settled in here in southern France. We have the windows open in the apartment and are enjoying a breeze blowing through the house. The snow is also slowly melting off of the mountains, and we are beginning to see their true shape again. Praise the Lord for Spring. This coming weekend we are having another evangelistic conference. The subject of the conference will be: “How to find true happiness.” Please pray with us that God would send visitors to listen to the message of salvation. Please pray that the posters throughout town will attract people to come and listen to the conference. We have had an evangelistic conference each month since September and the last one will be next month before the summer break. As you are out and busy this weekend, please remeber to pray that God would bless this effort to reach the lost.

Well, the last couple weeks have been a little slow. We both have been sick with either a cold and now what seems to be hay fever. I have never experienced hay fever, but since starting to take allergy pills things are going a little better. Please pray for us that we would be back to normal soon.

On another note, we are getting ready for another evangelistic conference coming up next weekend. We are beginning to distribute invitations for the conference. Please pray that we would see people come to hear the message of salvation. The theme of the conference is: “Why does God allow suffering.” Please also be praying for me this coming Sunday. I will be preaching again at the church plant. Pray that God would allow His message to flow out of my mouth in French.

We will also be involved in another camp coming up at the end of May. I will be speaking at this camp about missions. Please pray that God would also begin to work in the hearts and lives of those who are coming. This camp will be for singles who are saved. Praise the Lord, that he has allowed us to be used of Him while learning the language at the same time. God has placed us exactly where we need to be. A place where we can learn the language, and immediately put it into practice. Praise the Lord for His wisdom.

This past week was extremely busy for us. Last Monday, we had an Easter picnic at the camp for the area churches. It was an encouragement to see and meet other believers from the different churches in the southwest of France. Monday evening was also the opening for the Easter camp. It was fun and tiring all at once to be running around all week with the teenagers. I also got a chance to speak in one of the Bible lesson times,which was a blessing. On several occasions last week, the kids at camp made statements saying that they were the only Christians in their schools, or the only other Christians that they knew were the ones in their churches or at the camps. It is a difficult time for these kids, and even more so because they truly do not have many christian friends around them. Camp ended on Thursday afternoon with everyone heading back home.

Even with the end of camp Thursday, it was a busy day again. I got up early to head back into town to spend the morning at the Bible stand. It was a beautiful day and a lot of people were at the market. We distributed quite a bit of literature and were able to speak to some people. One man from Madagascar seemed to be more open than the others. He took several different pieces of literature and said that he might come by again. Please pray that he would come back so that we can speak more with him about his need for Jesus Christ.

On Saturday, I was out at the camp again helping to clean up from the Easter camp and work on a trailer that is used for the ministry here. Tim (the missionary that we are working with) and I were able to strip it down to the frame. The plan is to use galvanized metal instead of wood when putting it back together so that it will not rot away. Saturday evening we also had an evangelistic conference at church. We had one visitor. The visitor had already come for several of the other conferences. Please pray that we continue to see others come to the conferences. For this conference, we put up posters around town and handed out invitations. The conference also was in the local paper. We will be having conferences in May and June. Though at times it does not seem like we are seeing much fruit from the work, we do see small results. Please pray that all the small results would add up to a soul saved.