Tooth Tales – February 2020
Dear Friends,
The Lord has had us quite busy the last few months, for which we are very thankful!
The second week of December we attended a retreat in the foothills of North Carolina with other GFA missionaries. It was a good time of fellowship and instruction with many mission related workshops and presentations. We learned a lot and got to know some of the other missionaries from various fields a little better.
The timing of it helped us to begin preparing early for our trip that was coming up in January to Myanmar. It was our goal to be almost completely packed before we left for North Carolina as we wanted to be able to come home and enjoy Christmas with our family and know that we were ready to travel on the 7th of January. We’re grateful that our children and grandchildren live less than an hour away and that we can be together to celebrate birthdays and Thanksgiving and Christmas as a family. It is a great blessing to us to have a family that is so supportive of our ministry. We don’t know what we would do without their love and prayers!
January 7th came quickly and we headed off to Myanmar for a week of evangelistic ministry, reaching out to the Dawei people, a nearly 100% Buddhist unreached people group. They are a very resistant people for sure but their need for dental care won out over their disdain for Christians. Normally they would not listen to an evangelistic message, but they had no choice as they sat and waited their turn. Each day started with a gospel presentation by Pastor Job, whom we partner with in Myanmar. In addition, both of us shared our testimony of God’s saving work in our lives.
In each clinic location, there were some who, after hearing of God’s simple plan of salvation, were very interested. One was a village leader in a location that would not allow the Christians there to meet for worship services, another was a man whose brother and a son were Buddhist monks. He said he was very interested in Christianity but feared what would happen to him if he turned his back on Buddhism. At another location a woman told Pastor Job that she was so happy to hear this news of a loving Savior. It was exciting to see God’s Word doing its work in people’s hearts. The Bible tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We were so thankful that the dental care given was providing a hearing for the truth and a demonstration of God’s care for these people. We had asked prayer that ten people would be saved during our time in Myanmar. Although to our knowledge none were saved during our time there, many seeds were planted and, in God’s time, maybe some of these people mentioned will be part of that harvest.
On our last day in Dawei, Pastor Job asked Jack if they could have an impromptu missions seminar. Jack taught 3, one hour sessions on God’s faithfulness, spiritual opposition and on the need for outreach. Those we partnered with here labor in the midst of much spiritual opposition and the way is hard for them and they admitted that they really needed encouragement from God’s word. It was an encouragement to us as well to be reminded that it is God who triumphs in spite of all that seems to be against the spread of the gospel.
So we are home now after a very long trip back and although we are weary from all the travel we are so thankful for God’s good work in Myanmar. On the 28th of January we fly to Faith Baptist Bible College in Iowa for their “Refresh Conference.” We are looking forward to being refreshed by the excellent teaching and also representing GFA missions there.
Finally, we would like to ask for your prayers as we are preparing for ministry in a restricted access country the last two weeks of March. There are still many arrangements to be made and details to be worked out. We want to be in the very center of God’s will as we go, as we are totally dependent on His working to open doors of witness in this gospel-restricted place. Thanks so much for your help with this.
Sincerely in Christ,
Jack and Jennifer