“The souls that have been saved are well worth the suffering of dealing with my father’s stroke and the hardship of my bike injuries”

Greetings to you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As I have told many of you, the last few months our ministry has been going through many trials. My father had a severe stroke a few months ago, and we took him into our home to care for him. In spite of the stress of this, I continued my ministry traveling by bicycle, and within one month I was hit twice by cars while riding my bicycle. Nevertheless, God was faithful to send me young people to rescue me and take me to the hospital where I was treated for 3 days.

I can identify with the Apostle Paul when he said,” We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” 2 Cor.1:8-11

Thank you so much for your prayers! God has healed my body and we have faith that God will heal my father in due time. The ministry of Jesus continues on! We thank you for your support in prayer for the enlargement of our present church to seat six hundred people, but even now that is not enough room. Continue also to pray for the 23 house churches and for leadership as God increases the number of people coming to him— last year we had about 300 people attending, and now there are over 500!

In our culture, widows and orphans are very vulnerable, because their families do not take them in or help them. Many die quickly of malnutrition and disease soon after becoming homeless. So we have living in our church 21 orphans and 20 widows who care for them.  Some of these women fed and helped me when I was a young pastor, and it is my privilege to help them now in their time of need.  Kindly pray for us to have the means to help them—they depend on us for their food and all their needs each day.  Continue to pray for my wife and family as we continue to seek God’s wisdom to be faithful to His ministry to which He has called us.

     “Belated Christmas greetings and may the Lord bless you and your family in this coming year”,

Emmanuel’s family