September 1, 2005

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We hope that this finds you enjoying the Lord’s blessings. We are getting along well. Judy has been back a week after spending most of August with her father who is quite ill with cancer and her sister who is caring for him. Our attendance has been down because many were away on vacation.

One of the ladies who has been coming to services with her two sons from the time we started them is moving away. She was concerned for others and brought them with her to services. Her husband, who earlier claimed to be an atheist, came with Ruth several times before they moved. Ruth was saved and baptized before we met her but had been out of church for some time. She began coming intermittently to our first Bible study and as she grew in the Lord became very faithful. We will miss her.

During the month, I had weekly Bible studies about 65 miles from here in the Pyrenees Mountains. These proved to be very profitable. While there I became acquainted with some folks from the Toulouse area that may be good contacts for the future here.

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of sharing clearly what we believed with our neighbors across the street. This past Sunday the lady was telling Judy how they appreciated our discussions and then said that shortly afterwards they saw a special on Brad Pitt that told about him being raised in a Baptist family. Well, that was news to me. This month has given me that opportunity to become better acquainted with several folks in our area and we are looking forward to what God has in store through each of the contacts.

So, after six years in France we continue to proclaim the Good News. We are thankful for the blessing of being able to bring the Gospel to this country that is so spiritually needy. We are thankful for the doors that God has opened in several areas of the country. We look forward the day when churches in many towns and cities exist because the God has multiplied the seed that has been planted. We thank God for you because He uses your participation to meet our needs. To Jesus Christ be all the glory.

Serving with you,

John and Judy Hatcher

Philip and Amanda Hatcher and family, who work with John and Judy Hatcher.