September 22, 2004

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The past month has been one of many opportunities as the Lord has continued to open doors of opportunity for witness. This includes totally new opportunities, re-connections to people that we have witnessed to in the past and more in-depth discussions of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those with whom we have been having Bible studies.

On September 11, we had the opportunity to present Christ in a very public way to a number of guests at the wedding of Thierry and Amelia Dosque. They were actually already married but wanted to have a public Christian ceremony. This lady was saved two and a half years ago. Her mother sat next to me at the reception and said, “I want to thank you for the part that you have played in the great change that has taken place in Amelia’s life.” Her parents are unsaved and at first were quite skeptical of her faith.

Lindsey, a friend of Amelia’s for many years, told Judy, “I have never seen anyone change so much before my very eyes.” A number of people mentioned that they were touched by the service; that they had never been at anything quite the same. Amelia’s life might be scripted somewhat in the same fashion as the woman who met Jesus at the well in Samaria. We hope that many people come to Christ through the witness of Amelia.

Ruth, a saved lady who comes to church and Bible study has a friend who is lost and afraid of religion. Benedicte, was reared Catholic and is terrified of getting caught up in something like the Adventists with all of their rules and regulations. Her mother-in-law is from Columbia and a 7th day Adventist. Ruth told Judy, “She is afraid to come to your house because she is so afraid of being sucked up into a cult. But, she loves cinnamon rolls and I told her that you could show her how make them.” So, Ruth brought Benedicte with her and they made sweet rolls along with Judy and Amanda. She told Amanda that she had a lot of French children’s books that she would like to give her. About three days later she showed up at our house with the books and when Judy invited her in she readily accepted. As they shared coffee she poured out her history and the Lord just opened the door for Judy to be able to witness to her. Ruth is going to invite her to study the Bible study with Judy.

A couple of weeks ago, Judy was just getting ready to leave a local park when a lady stopped by the car and enquired, “Aren’t you the lady who taught English at the public school?” Judy got out of the car to speak to her. Judy recognized that she was one of the teachers in whose class she had taught. She informed Judy that she was now teaching a different grade but thought that it would be good if Judy would come and teach English to the second grade as she had done a couple of years ago. Judy promised to meet her at the school. In short, Judy is now back at the school donating her time to teach English to 2nd graders. They wanted Judy to teach in the more advanced grades, but she can’t because it would have to be a paid position and our visa does not permit that. When Judy did this previously, it helped tremendously in getting us known in the community and opening doors to be a witness.

Abigail, our oldest granddaughter, is now going to preschool two mornings a week. This has already opened doors for Amanda, her mother, to witness to new people. Delia, who lives with her family on the next street over from us is one of these contacts. She is from Singapore and her husband is French. Today, Amanda told her about Sunday services which include children’s Sunday school classes. Delia showed a great interest in coming and bringing her daughter.

Sunday, as Amanda and Philip were leaving our house after Sunday service and lunch, Jean-Luc and Mireille, new neighbors from across the street, came to chat with us. They asked us to come over for coffee. We stayed until we had to rush off for our evening meeting. This appears to be a good door of opportunity. Judy is meeting with the lady during the week.

There are others I want to write about, but I must stop before this becomes too long. We are thrilled to be “salt and light” here. Pray that our salt will taste like Christ and that we will not put our lamp under a basket. Thanks for your faithful support and prayers. God is answering prayers and your giving keeps us here on the front line. May God bless you as “salt and light” in your community.

Blessed in Christ,

John and Judy Hatcher