Good days here visiting people, including a former pastor on Monday. The Lord gave opportunity today to speak a few words to two LDS missionary girls at Temple Square. The trend is their use of biblical terminology, though with different meanings, and their eager agreement with my statements of truth. For example: “Jesus is the Son of God.” But the Bible first tells us of an eternal God—unchanging, with no beginning. And the title “Son of God” as used of Jesus refers to His deity, to the fact that He is of the same nature as the Father. I will never be a “son of God” in this sense.
Encouraging prayer meeting in Marysvale. Tomorrow we drive to Denver.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Requests for Prayer: 19 August 2010
Please pray for an immigration situation affecting a family in Greenville.
We would also appreciate prayer for this next week's schedule.
Sunday (22): The Lord's blessing as I present the work in Uruguay and preach in Idaho Falls.
Monday (23): Safe travel to Roy, Utah.
Tuesday (24): Good fellowship with men in Kaysville.
Wednesday (25): Safe travel to Marysvale and profitable visit there.
Thursday (26): Another day of travel (to Denver).
Friday (27): J flies to SC.
Sunday (29): Meeting in Westminster, CO.
We would also appreciate prayer for this next week's schedule.
Sunday (22): The Lord's blessing as I present the work in Uruguay and preach in Idaho Falls.
Monday (23): Safe travel to Roy, Utah.
Tuesday (24): Good fellowship with men in Kaysville.
Wednesday (25): Safe travel to Marysvale and profitable visit there.
Thursday (26): Another day of travel (to Denver).
Friday (27): J flies to SC.
Sunday (29): Meeting in Westminster, CO.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Return to Alberta
Monday: Soldotna to Anchorage for p.m. return flight
Tuesday: Anchorage to Fairbanks. Attended evening Bible conference service.
Wednesday: Fairbanks. Attended evening prayer meeting.
Thursday: Fairbanks to Whitehorse, Yukon.
Friday: Whitehorse to Buckinghorse River, B.C.
Saturday: Buckinghorse River to Edmonton, Alberta.
Sunday (today): Taught S.S. in Edmonton. Gave update in Calgary during evening service.
On Thursday heated noodles and made coffee by the road east of Kluane. Met two men from Calgary who, by their own admission, have been “heathens” for some seventy years. We would not convert them, they told us. We are in Calgary tonight and have been reminded of the need for the gospel here. It is right to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers to Alberta. Time is as short as summer in the Yukon, where autumn colors are already visible and the fireweed is nearly gone.
Tuesday: Anchorage to Fairbanks. Attended evening Bible conference service.
Wednesday: Fairbanks. Attended evening prayer meeting.
Thursday: Fairbanks to Whitehorse, Yukon.
Friday: Whitehorse to Buckinghorse River, B.C.
Saturday: Buckinghorse River to Edmonton, Alberta.
Sunday (today): Taught S.S. in Edmonton. Gave update in Calgary during evening service.
On Thursday heated noodles and made coffee by the road east of Kluane. Met two men from Calgary who, by their own admission, have been “heathens” for some seventy years. We would not convert them, they told us. We are in Calgary tonight and have been reminded of the need for the gospel here. It is right to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers to Alberta. Time is as short as summer in the Yukon, where autumn colors are already visible and the fireweed is nearly gone.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Summer 2010 Report
Dear Friends,
We thank you for your part in sending us to Uruguay, and we thank God for His gracious, ongoing work in you and in us. Though we do not yet know the date of our departure to South America, we believe that each day brings us closer to ministry there. While we ask you to pray that God would send us quickly, we do value these days of preparation and service among North American churches.
In the middle of June, I left South Carolina with Jonathan Blumer, a new friend from another church in town. Four days later, following planned nightly stops, we arrived in Alberta, where we presented the future ministry in Uruguay in two churches. During this week we also attended a pastors’ conference in Saskatchewan. Deborah and Elizabeth flew to Alaska, where we joined them by car. We began July with a trip to Fairbanks for meetings in two churches, one of which is currently home to a surprising number of our personal friends from college. We enjoyed the renewal of friendships and the making of others. Jonathan remained in the Fairbanks area to help with this church’s camp ministry, while our family traveled to a series of meetings in places that generally receive comparatively fewer phone calls from missionaries requesting meetings. Our time in the Alberta and Alaska churches was very encouraging to us, and each church has taken some part in sending us to Uruguay. We’re thankful for this answer to prayer.
In addition to weekly preaching and teaching responsibilities, God has also given us a glimpse into the nature of ministry in this part of the earth. The harsh environment, the history of native peoples and homesteaders, the continued remoteness of certain villages, the forces behind the ongoing arrival of immigrants from Outside, and the universal and total depravity of man create a complex picture whose only hope is God’s intervention. Indeed—and I write this for the sake of the wide variety of friends who tend to receive these reports—your only hope to be rightly related to your Creator is the intervention already accomplished in the Gospel. That is, that Jesus of Nazareth, who is rightly designated as “Messiah” and “God,” became the sinless substitute for those who will acknowledge their own sin and flee to Him for mercy.
After wrapping up our longer travels for the summer, we will continue to visit churches in the Southeastern U.S. during the coming months. At the end of October we anticipate the arrival of our second child. We thank the Lord for this, another answer to prayer. Our future co-workers, Matías and Kristine Espinel, are expecting their first in January. The Lord is always good, but we can say that we have experienced His kindness to us in exciting ways this year. Thank you for your prayers and praise on our behalf. I close with several specific requests for prayer:
Increased knowledge of and love for God and His Word
A fruitful second semester of Bible institute classes in Uruguay
A safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery of our second child (due the end of October)
Salvation of believers’ unsaved spouses and of other contacts in churches we have visited
Our parents’ and families’ ongoing ministries in South Carolina and Uruguay
Wisdom concerning planning of future meetings, travel, and ministry
Our arrival in Uruguay next year with co-workers Matías and Kristine Espinel
¡Qué Dios les bendiga ricamente! May God richly bless you!
John Mark, Déborah, and Elizabeth Steel
We thank you for your part in sending us to Uruguay, and we thank God for His gracious, ongoing work in you and in us. Though we do not yet know the date of our departure to South America, we believe that each day brings us closer to ministry there. While we ask you to pray that God would send us quickly, we do value these days of preparation and service among North American churches.
In the middle of June, I left South Carolina with Jonathan Blumer, a new friend from another church in town. Four days later, following planned nightly stops, we arrived in Alberta, where we presented the future ministry in Uruguay in two churches. During this week we also attended a pastors’ conference in Saskatchewan. Deborah and Elizabeth flew to Alaska, where we joined them by car. We began July with a trip to Fairbanks for meetings in two churches, one of which is currently home to a surprising number of our personal friends from college. We enjoyed the renewal of friendships and the making of others. Jonathan remained in the Fairbanks area to help with this church’s camp ministry, while our family traveled to a series of meetings in places that generally receive comparatively fewer phone calls from missionaries requesting meetings. Our time in the Alberta and Alaska churches was very encouraging to us, and each church has taken some part in sending us to Uruguay. We’re thankful for this answer to prayer.
In addition to weekly preaching and teaching responsibilities, God has also given us a glimpse into the nature of ministry in this part of the earth. The harsh environment, the history of native peoples and homesteaders, the continued remoteness of certain villages, the forces behind the ongoing arrival of immigrants from Outside, and the universal and total depravity of man create a complex picture whose only hope is God’s intervention. Indeed—and I write this for the sake of the wide variety of friends who tend to receive these reports—your only hope to be rightly related to your Creator is the intervention already accomplished in the Gospel. That is, that Jesus of Nazareth, who is rightly designated as “Messiah” and “God,” became the sinless substitute for those who will acknowledge their own sin and flee to Him for mercy.
After wrapping up our longer travels for the summer, we will continue to visit churches in the Southeastern U.S. during the coming months. At the end of October we anticipate the arrival of our second child. We thank the Lord for this, another answer to prayer. Our future co-workers, Matías and Kristine Espinel, are expecting their first in January. The Lord is always good, but we can say that we have experienced His kindness to us in exciting ways this year. Thank you for your prayers and praise on our behalf. I close with several specific requests for prayer:
Increased knowledge of and love for God and His Word
A fruitful second semester of Bible institute classes in Uruguay
A safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery of our second child (due the end of October)
Salvation of believers’ unsaved spouses and of other contacts in churches we have visited
Our parents’ and families’ ongoing ministries in South Carolina and Uruguay
Wisdom concerning planning of future meetings, travel, and ministry
Our arrival in Uruguay next year with co-workers Matías and Kristine Espinel
¡Qué Dios les bendiga ricamente! May God richly bless you!
John Mark, Déborah, and Elizabeth Steel
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Sterling
Helping each evening this week with a vacation Bible school in Sterling. Pat Garwood's parents (Barkleys) helped to start the church in the 50's. The one-room schoolhouse she attended still stands across the road. Please pray for the Lord's work among neighborhood kids and for good contact with parents.
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