Greetings from Paris to all our brothers and sisters in Christ. We hope that this letter finds you well and growing in the grace of God. The following is our July report. It was a month marked by celebration for the good work that God has accomplished.
Our family is doing very well by God’s grace. In July we were visited by my wife Mayra’s family in order to celebrate our daughter Beatriz’s sixth birthday and spend a few days with them. They had a special time with our girls. One of the difficulties of being a missionary is that we are far away from home and family.
At the beginning of the month we had the great joy of receiving new members into our congregation and of baptizing two new converts–Christian and Claire–on a beautiful Saturday morning. A church that is located in a village nearby and outside of Paris lent us their building and grounds in order to celebrate the baptism. We sang hymns together, heard a sermon on the meaning of baptism, listened to the new members share their testimonies, and baptized Christian and Claire. It was interesting that in both of their testimonies they mentioned how brother Paul Washer’s sermons (on video) played a role in their conversion. After the baptism we shared the joy of having lunch together on the grounds.
After fellowshipping with the church and the visitors we had our general assembly later that afternoon. As a congregation we evaluated our yearly goals and saw how the Lord has blessed us. The members also testified to the progress of our “elders in training” and each one was given the responsibility of presenting reports about the main areas of our church. They did a good job. It was a busy weekend, but a good one. On Sunday we were surprisingly blessed with a high attendance. Most of our people were present along with some visitors. It is a blessing that we keep receiving visitors even in this summer period of low expectations. Please pray for our visitors to build roots in our local church according to God’s will.
We continued with our Sunday expositions in the early chapters of the book of Exodus. The book was encouraging to us as we considered on one hand the weakness, fragility, and small beginnings of Israel and it’s leaders; and on the other hand God’s gracious determination to love them, free them, and make them grow. We gave special consideration to God’s perfect balance of holiness and grace in His fatherly treatment of Israel and us. After the services, we also continued to have lunch fellowships outdoors in the beautiful gardens of Paris. This is another pleasing feature of the warm weather of summer.
At the end of July we had the privilege of receiving HeartCry coordinator J.T. and his wife. It was great to fellowship with them. J.T. shared his wisdom with us in our elders meeting and also preached a powerful message in our Sunday service. It is always great for our church to see how well connected and well cared for we are by receiving the visits of members and coordinators of HeartCry. It was very touching to hear J.T. say that HeartCry prays for our church every week. Our members are also very encouraged that our “elders in training” are going to spend some time with the HeartCry staff in September.
Finally, July was also a time to settle into our new meeting place that we are renting. As I mentioned before, we expected to stay there only during the vacation period, but the place seems to fit our needs. We now have a place to congregate in the mornings and evenings, and the price is a third of what we were paying. Please keep joining us in your prayers because we are still waiting for the final approval of the pastors who are over the facility to determine if we can rent long-term.
It is always great to have your company in the field.
Blessings from the Pelosi Family.
David, Mayra, Beatriz and Catarina PELOSI.
