April 4, 2008

Dear Support Team Members,

The month has passed very quickly, but we have seen God do a number of things. The most exciting was the salvation a couple of weeks ago of Clement du Frenne. This young man of about 19 years had come for quite a while with his parents and then dropped out last summer. Then "out of the blue" he came to talk to me and indicated that he had had a spiritual battle going on for nearly a year and had been trying to fight it in his own strength. He recognized that the problem was pride and surrendered his life to Christ. He has already asked to be baptized and is meeting with me twice each week for discipleship.

During the month we have had a number of first time visitors at the Sunday meetings as well as Bible studies. One Sunday we had to have an additional children’s class to accommodate all who came.

Amanda, Angela, Judy and Wendy are presently preparing for Vacation Bible School, which will be taking place in a couple of weeks. The children here have a vacation from school in late spring and we have found that this is the best time to have Vacation Bible School. This has been very effective in the past years and it looks like we are going to have the largest attendance ever this year. It is a joy to see the Lord add new workers each year as He builds the church here.

Just today, I spoke with Pastor David Mitchell of Mount Calvary Baptist Church through Internet. This church is in the middle of a Missions Expo this week. Recently we have had correspondence with Kristy of Emmanuel Baptist Church of Irvine, KY. She is working with the young people and youth in the church to get there eyes on the mission field. To each of you who are involved in similar things we say, “Keep up the good work.” How important it is to get the eyes of our people, especially the young ones, on the ministry God has given us. Please, contact us if we can help you in any way.

We are praying that the Spring Missionary Conference sponsored by Thompson Road Baptist Church will be the best ever. We greatly enjoyed our visit with this church during our recent trip to the USA.

May the Lord fill each of you love, joy, wisdom and strength as you walk with Him and do His will this month. Thanks for your prayers and faithful support.

Serving in France,

John and Judy Hatcher