Visitation Ahead

Dear Praying Friends,

With less than 24 hours before Sonya and I catch our flight out of Bordeaux, I need to get this letter off so that our trip can be covered with your prayers!

Sonya and Joella just got back from a quick trip to Paris so that Joella could try out for a contest to enter a preparatory conservatory to continue her cello studies. We believe God is directing in this way. Thank you for praying for our daughter. We taught Joella that there is only one person on the jury for whom she needs to play; it is her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Her desire is to make Him happy with how she plays. We just received word that she was admitted to the conservatory. The next phase of her adventure now begins.

Many people ask us how we are doing with all the problems in France. First of all, it is amazing how peaceful life is if you just turn off the news. Second of all, in order to be responsible Kingdom Citizens, we do listen to the news sometimes; and all we hear about are the elections in America! One man in our church said he thinks that the French press spends so much time on the elections in America because it helps them forget all about their own problems. To respond to the question of how are we and are we safe? We live our lives according to the spiritual principle of “We are safe in the palm of His hand.” This does not allow us to be careless; and there have been a couple of times we have changed our plans because of current events, but really, our lives go along unchanged.

On Sunday, we had our Thanksgiving Day service. Although we did not make an official invitation to our larger group including the kid’s clubs, there were several visitors that came for the first time. One Christian family who just moved here and said they would be coming back next Sunday and another unsaved family with whom we will continue contact after we get back.

The last few days have been a lot more busy than usual as I have been visiting with the men of the church. Undeniably, there was an issue concerning spiritual authority that has come up and it was beginning to interfere with our capacity to effectively minister. Our little group lacks greatly in spiritual maturity and as we council people, we find ourselves relying heavily on our experience from raising our kids. Please pray that God would give us love and wisdom, and that each person in our group would decide to let go of their sinful selfish ideas and commit themselves fully to the Lord; a REVIVAL! That is what you can pray for in our group. Thank you.

The impetus of these visitations was in regards to our support raising trip at the end of October. We are confident that things will fall into place in a way that will be honoring to God, however, we do not take it for granted, so please pray for our church in our absence. Sonya will be gone for 3 Sundays, and I will be gone for 4. Please pray for our girls, Sofia and Joella as well, as they will be holding down the fort all by themselves. Please pray for their protection and that nothing will go wrong in the house during our absence. We are very thankful for kind neighbors and several other people who have said they want to be available if the girls need anything.

We are very excited to be attending the following churches:
Emmanuel Mennonite – Doland, SD, October 16
Woodland Bible Church – Warroad, MN, October 22 and 23
Bethesda Mennonite – Marion, SD, October 30
EMB Country Church – Marion, SD, November 6

We will also be stopping by to see supporters in Kulm, ND; Winkler, MB; Minneapolis, MN; and Omaha, NE. If we have not yet contacted you and you would like to see us, please do not hesitate to contact us by email and we will do everything we can to come and see you!

We are amazed at God’s goodness in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for. On October 15, we will celebrate 28 years of marriage. We are thankful that God has allowed us to be in France for 23 years and to continue in this specific ministry for over 12 years. We are very thankful for your faithful prayer and financial support that has kept us here for that time. So many of you have been with us from the very beginning. We sincerely trust that God would richly bless you and provide for all your needs,

In Christ,
Kent and Sonya