Monday, May 25, 2009

May 2009 Update

Dear Ministry Friends,

The primary focus since our last letter has been two-fold. First, the All Ireland Tract Outreach to get the Gospel into every home. This has been a great opportunity to get the message that “Jesus Saves” into the homes here in Ireland. So far, this has produced seven contacts for our church. There have been many more when you add in the other missionaries’ contacts. Across the country so far five have trusted Christ as Saviour. Currently, I have two that have started Bible studies seeking to understand Jesus Christ and the Bible. I saw a report this past week from an Irish paper that reported church attendance up by 30%. This was attributed to the recession. We have had two ladies visit our church over the past five weeks. One has not come back because it just wasn’t what she was looking for. The other lady professes to be a legitimate born again Christian who has just moved to our part of Ireland. She seems to be delightfully excited about the Lord and spreading the Good News. Thank you to those who have given financially to the Outreach. The funds have come in and the finances for the project are complete. Praise the Lord!

The second major issue is with regard to our annual immigration status. We are due to expire in July. So, I went ahead to begin the process early to find out if we would be granted another year. This required another letter and plea to the Justice Department. I received a phone call from them informing me that they were going to allow us another year here in Ireland. I now need to see my local immigration officer to get an updated registration card to take us into July 2010. Do continue to pray for a long term approval decision from the Justice Department that would eliminate the uncertainty of missionary ministry here in Ireland.

On another note, there has been a huge increase in the number of suicides among young people here in Ireland-around a dozen this year so far, as well as an increase in the UK. A UK coroner is launching an investigation into chat room sites. “Mr. Walter said he is ‘desperately concerned’ about the chain of young suicides - and of the connection to teenage social network sites such as Bebo and MySpace.” Satan is very active doing what he can in these last days to destroy the lives of people. My prayer is that we be busy doing what we can for the cause of Christ in reaching out to lost and hurting people.

May the Lord find us faithful,

Don and Lisa Thatcher & Family