“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.”
A big event in our two Faith Baptist Church Arabic ministries was the visit of Pastor and Mrs. Elie Wardan from Lebanon for nearly one month. The Lord used this visit to fire up the believers for the work of ministry. He led 20 souls to a profession of faith in Christ. He came with names of friends and relatives from people in Lebanon to personally visit while he was in Sydney. He returned to Lebanon with names of unsaved relatives and contacts to visit in Lebanon.
The hand of God is on this faithful couple in the spiritually-barren North that has been the burden of our hearts all these years. Pastor Elie told me with emotion, “Never think that your ministry in North Lebanon is over; It is very much alive!” I feel no credit, but it is so true that God can use our unworthy efforts to blessing even though it may happen many years later. The t0p photo of this growing and vibrant church shows the happy congregation welcoming them back into their midst. I had the privilege of planting the first Gospel seed in the heart of a fifteen-year old boy whose son, many years later became the present pastor. A Lebanese pastor nurtured and guided the ministry of Pastor Elie for years. Now, as labourers together with God, all of us rejoice for this beacon of light and light in a dark place.
A difficult legal issue involving the buildings on the Good Shepherd Conference Centre property in Lebanon was created in 1974 through bureaucratic corruption and the chaos of civil war. Thanks to the prayers of God’s people and the unfailing faithfulness of our almighty God, the problem is now solved! Many problems require persistent prayer over a long period of time, forty-eight years in this case!
One year ago a pastor from Peru saw our Bible History survey books in Guatemala. We agreed to print 1000 each of the Old and New Testament books. The bottom photo shows some of the 70 Peruvian missionaries and pastors holding our Spanish version of our Bible History Survey books. Some of these serve in the Amazon jungle churches of eastern Peru. These books have also been printed and are available in Ecuador and are being used in jungle churches. Yesterday we spoke with the Peruvian pastor who wanted to thank us personally. We can’t give them a “cup of cold water,” but we have been given the unique privilege of providing them helpful resource books and you have been a part of making this possible. We will have time in heaven to meet people who have been blessed by our smallest and most unworthy efforts to help them!
It was a blessing to attend the graduation service of the Sydney Bible Baptist College and see 17 students who were in the class using our books and DVD lectures. Our church in Sydney ran the course on a Tuesday evening during the 2022 school year. We pray God will give us some more USA churches to run the courses!
We are so thankful for all of you who play such a vital role in the ministry entrusted to us. We pray you will have a blessed and fruitful year in 2023. May the Lord bless you one and all!
Richard and Kathleen Hester
Email: hrichardhester@gmail.com Website: www.MissionaryOutpost.com
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