September 3, 2007

Dear Fellow Laborers,

We hope this finds you enjoying the Lord's blessings. This month has been encouraging in many ways. Yesterday we had a good day of worship. One of the blessings is that Veronique, a lady who was saved a few months ago, expressed her desire to follow the Lord in baptism. So, later on this month, we will have a baptismal service.

Let me share with you the highlights of Veronique's testimony. Four and a half years ago, Veronique moved to Tournefeuille from northern France. To put it mildly, her life has been chaotic. She has three children, ranging in age from 25 to 31, and each has a different father. Her marriage to the last child's father ended in divorce after twelve years of marriage. We met Veronique about a year ago when her sister brought her to a lunch time Bible study. She came two or three times, showed an interest, and then we did not see her for many months. Suffering from chronic arthritis, overweight, and depressed, Veronique spent spent months in a clinic. Her problems continued after leaving the clinic and she decided to commit suicide. She carefully planned the details and the day of her death.

Her sister, who has been attending services with us for over a year, knew nothing about her sister's plan to end her own life, but God and in His providence moved Miriam, her twin, to give Veronique an excellent, straightforward, hard hitting book about death and judgment. The book is the fictional story of the death of three young people. It is saturated with Scripture properly used. Miriam, Veronique's sister, gave her the book on the day preceding her scheduled suicide. Veronique spent the entire next day reading the book. The evening, instead of killing herself as she had planned, passed from death to life. I said to her, "You actually did die in Christ the day you had planned on committing suicide and now you have new life in Christ." Soon, the Lord enabling, she will follow the Lord in baptism to show that picture exactly.

Yesterday, Judy, Amanda, Angela, and Wendy spent the Sunday afternoon planning the children's Sunday School lessons for the coming year. What a joy it is to have believers growing in the Lord and serving. Yesterday morning, Joachim taught the adults as he is now doing once each month. This is the on-the-job training. Joachim and Angela have now studied through a number of the books of the Bible with Philip and Amanda and meet with Judy and me for discipleship as well. They show good evidence of spiritual growth.

We have had good Bible studies this month also. We are also encouraged by what God is doing. On Thursday evenings we have a Bible study in the city of Mazere, which is about one hour away by car. This study is held in the apartment of a lady who is a believer and works for the local library and museum. The believers who come to this Bible study are really beginning to understand what Jesus meant when He told his disciples, "You are the light of the world." They are putting it into practice.

A young man came to the Tuesday evening Bible study in our home for the first time a couple of weeks ago. As far as we know, no one who participates in this Bible study is a believer. This young man has many questions and stayed over to discuss them.

Thanks for giving so that we can serve the Lord here. Rejoice with us in these blessings and keep praying. God is at work.

Serving with you,

John and Judy Hatcher