Earlier this month, a man began attending the Sunday morning services. During his second visit, we spent an hour after the service going through the plan of salvation. He left the service without trusting Christ. However, later that week we had the privilege to see him accept Christ in his home after Pastor Fraser discussed salvation with him again! Another sequence of opportunities this month that has left an impression happened while we were out soulwinning on a Thursday. We met three separate individuals who ended up discussing with us the subject of forgiveness: an atheist, a Muslim, and an agnostic. God used elements from each conversation to build on the next one, ending with the very tender-hearted and searching agnostic. Pray for this young man, that he would trust Christ!
Each Sunday this month there have been visitors from either the live stream or the church website: some saved, some lost. We praise the Lord for bringing them our way!
Our church brought fifteen teens to the annual teen camp this year. Evangelist Brent Sivnksty from Indiana preached and there were four young men who trusted Christ with many decisions from the young people. It was the highest camp attendance in many years, showing the growth of the churches across New Zealand.
Later in the month, my (Josh’s) parents, Steve and Donna Szwarga, visited for an eight-day trip. Within those eight days, my dad had the opportunity to preach in a service, Bible study, and the Bible institute, and also go soulwinning. The highlight of the trip for them (well, second to seeing the grandkids and Alyse) was the connection they made instantly with the church family and Pastor Fraser. Another highlight was Dad praying over and dedicating the Matamata church building.
The first of two prayer requests topping our list currently is a busy month of travel in May. Several preaching engagements have us traveling for most of the services through June 9. The second request is for a large-scale print project that is in production for the Matamata church plant. More details will be given in the future, but it can be labeled as the “Gospel of John Project” in your prayer list. Specifically needed is prayer for wisdom and timing of printing and shipping.
God’s providence is evident each week because of your prayers. Even in this short time we have served here, a volume could be written of the events which God’s providence has allowed us to witness.
Thank you for praying,
Josh, Alyse, Bentlee and Raelynn Szwarga