Dear HeartCry,
First, I thank God for his grace and mercy on me and his guidance in my ministry in the past month. The greatest joy in this pilgrimage has been to grow in grace and to know more of God’s love both in times of gladness and grief. To God alone be the glory and praise forever! I am always grateful for your faithful partnership and support to me and to the ministry. Thank you for your concern and prayer for the works here. I believe that it’s a divine appointment and God-given opportunity for us and that God is with us always (Matt. 28:20).
By the grace of God, it’s been five months since our church was founded in May. We as a church have witnessed the guidance and work of the Holy Spirit among us in many ways. My congregation has now a clear understanding of biblical purpose and roles of a local church. They continue to value and delight in meeting together, fellowship with each other and enjoy hearing the word of God continually. We praise God that Christ is the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2), the founder of the church (Matt. 16:18), and that he will complete what he began in our life and ministry (Phil. 1:6). It’s such a blessing to shepherd the flock of God with the promise of the
“unfading crown of glory”
that will be given by the chief Shepherd himself (1 Pet. 5:1-5). And I rest assure of His guidance for our church and look forward to that glorious day when I meet my savior and he says “Well done” (Matt. 25:21,23). Please pray that this would be a model church for generations to come.
I also thank God for providing me opportunities to preach the Gospel to many outside my church in the past two weeks. It’s harvest season in my region and my co-workers and I are leading thanksgiving services at different churches which also allows us to preach the Gospel to many unbelievers in those villages. There are three more villages where I am scheduled to preach and teach in this month to many Lahu animists as well as to Christians. Please pray for my health and for the trips planned; and also for our next hospital visit in late November.
I’ve also been encouraged by the reports of the other two HC missionaries I am over in this region. They have visited five animist villages and preached the Gospel to hundreds of them at harvest festivals. They are faithfully serving the church and proclaiming the Gospel in their own villages too. Please continue to pray for them that there would be more healthy churches by their ministry and that the Lord would send more labourers to the fields (Matt. 9:37).
Last but not least, please pray more earnestly for us and for the Gospel works we are called to do in this context. Many times we struggle and fail in many areas. The work is more than our capacity. But thank God with me because His grace is ever sufficient and His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). God bless you all.
In His service,
JHW (October 2017)
Timothy began working for HeartCry in 2015 and assists with the work in Asia. He is married, has eight children, two sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.
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