Lately, we’ve been impressing upon
our kids that God answers prayer. In the last
year we’ve prayed for three very sick babies and
have been blessed to see God graciously work to
save them.  Last Thursday a small group
member came to the last day of his job at the VW
plant and providentially, incredibly, found a
job in another department–after months of
praying and looking. We have several Bible
studies because God has answered prayers.
Last Thursday, Tim got into a car accident, and
we again experienced God’s gracious answers to
prayers, not just ours, but many others’.

Have you heard the expression,
“Prayer works?” We’re not particularly big fans
of that one, because the implication is that
prayer is some sort of a magic formula to get
what we want out of God. To the contrary, prayer
reminds us how desperately we need our heavenly
Father, and how we base our relationship with
him on his gracious provision for all our needs,
including, most importantly, a Savior. 

Of course the inevitable caveat is that “we don’t pray enough.” Too true, sadly, stupidly. Yet we learn
and we grow, and we thank you for your prayers. How we need them!

Sports
Last month we mentioned that we were looking for
more players on Drew’s baseball team.  Well,
now we have 6 other boys from the neighborhood
going.  Tim drives 5 of them, and in the car
he shares Bible stories, based on Hebrews
11.  It’s been great to plant some seeds in
these boys, who often beg for a story. We hope to
see them grow into boys and teens who love the
Lord, not just baseball. 

Contacts

We continue to work with English on
Thursdays.  We’ve had some new people
coming, but usually only 1-2 men.  We’re
hoping to get off the ground studying the Bible
with G (who’s back) and Diego, our landlord’s
son, who has begun going to church with
us.  He made a profession of faith some
time ago, and God just hasn’t let go of him,
with various people making an impact in his
life.  We would love to see him truly
commit to knowing God and living for him.

Church Plant Update
We’re now starting meetings with the church
plant team, reading relevant Bible passages
together, going through a training course
together, and trying to form an identity and
vision.  Our first training meeting went
really well and we’re excited about the weeks
and months to come.

Help Wanted
Regular readers know that we rarely touch on
finances, but we really need to mention some
financial needs.  When EBM went bankrupt we
lost a sizable amount of funds in our account with
them which really smoothed over ups and downs in
monthly support.  That cushion is now
gone.*  Though some one-time gifts in 2012
allowed us to finish the year balanced, the
typical monthly giving to our account is about
$600 short of our needs.  In other words, we
are at about 90% of our monthly needs.  We
are so thankful for God’s provision and the many
individuals and churches who give to our
work.  But if God lays it on your heart to
join our financial support team, we would be
grateful.  You can follow this link to FIM’s
giving page to look at options.  Thank you!

* We may yet
receive something from the proceedings from EBM’s
closure, but when and how much remains to be seen.