April 1, 2002

It is a delight to share with you how we have been encouraged by the work of the Lord around us during the past month. As you read, praise Him with us and continue to pray for the manifestation of His grace here.

In our last letter we mentioned Amelia, a lady with whom we had just begun a Bible study. Five days later we were blessed tremendously. Though we usually meet in Amelia's home, on this occasion she requested that we hold the Bible study in our home. When Amelia arrived, she displayed a noticeable calmness of spirit. As soon as she was seated she said, "I want to let you know that I have accepted Jesus. Last Sunday, when I awoke at my parents home on my 40th birthday, I knew that it was something that I needed to do". She then expressed her to desire to pray with us. As she poured out her heart to the Lord, our hearts were filled with gratitude for what God had done. With no prompting she confessed that she was a sinner, asked Jesus to fill her life, and thanked Him for bringing her out of darkness into light.

We have been studying the gospel of John. When, as is the weekly practice, I asked her what questions she had over the chapters she had read, she said, "This makes a lot more sense to me now." Since then, she has completed reading the gospel according to John and we are now studying the book of Acts. She is talking to her co-workers about the Lord and greatly interested in their salvation. She regularly attends services at the church we attend in Toulouse. However, at out last Bible study she said, "Why don't you start a church?" To which we answered, "That is our plan." She had many questions about how a church of the Lord works and seems delighted to be learning. Pray that the Lord will give us wisdom that we may do exactly what He desires. 

Judy continues to study the Gospel of Mark with Yolanda each Saturday while I tutor her son in English. They have now progressed about halfway through the Gospel. She always wants to continue on long after the hour that I spend tutoring her son, so Guillaume (William) and I go outdoors and carry on some sport activity while they continue to study. Pray for the Spirit of God to give her spiritual understanding and faith. 

The number of the young people coming to the evangelistic outreach on Sunday evenings has exploded. During the month of March, we had about four new participants each week. Nearly every week has been a new high. We have now had 40 different young people come this year. One of the ladies who comes to our Thursday Bible study was at the home of a friend Sunday afternoon. While she was there, several young people called to invite the friend's son to the "Rock Solid" meeting. The friend, who is unsaved, said to Ruth, "You Christians are all alike trying to push your religion on people." The son was at the meeting for the first time that evening and came home expressing how much he had enjoyed it. This gave Ruth a great opportunity to witness to her friend. 

I'll close with just one more note of praise to God and His perfect ways. About two or three weeks ago, Judy Newlin called with an interesting report. We lived in the Newlin's home in the city L'Union during our first year in France. A lady had just called Mrs. Newlin wanting her child to "receive religious training, but not from the Catholic church". The caller thought she was speaking to Judy Hatcher. She is a friend of a couple (Claude and Alexandra) that we have not seen for 2 years. This was one of the couples that responded to the invitation we distributed in the neighborhood inviting people to exchange English for French. This unknown lady called because Alexandra had told her that Judy Hatcher's husband was a pastor. When we first met this couple, they asked what we did. We then had to explain to them what a pastor was because they did not know what that was (Alexandra has a master's degree). Nothing had come of our contact with the original couple and we had assumed that nothing would come of it. This has opened the door for this missionary (from a Baptist Church in western Michigan) to start an evangelistic outreach to children and brought some new ones to an outreach to young people. 

Keep praising the Lord and praying for France!

Rejoicing in the Lord,

John and Judy

French family prayer and Bible study partners

Singles Bible Study