June, 2004

 

Dear Pastor, Friends, and Church Families,

 

For those of you who have all four seasons, the coming of Summer may be a non-event. But for us here in Ireland, it is so welcome! We don’t have it as bad as folks in the Artic, but the coming of a good long exposure to sunshine does a person good! Obviously, the same is true for the soul! Just as we so look forward to Summer weather (however short as it may be here), so too do the people here yearn for some Son-shine! Many, many Irish people have never experienced the salvation that is found in surrender to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord – they have only known the cold, damp ways of religious ceremonies and empty prayers. My family and I by the grace of God, have now been in Ireland for TEN WONDERUL YEARS! We have endeavoured to expose as many people as possible to God’s glorious Son-shine, and it has so helped and transformed so many lives! Ten years, two churches, 91 souls saved, 50 baptized, 5 years of Bible Institute, and so much in-between! And it is all because of three things: Our God’s grace in calling us; our determination to fulfil that calling; and a lot of financial and prayer supporters! Thank you so very, very much!

 

Church Anniversaries. June is our Anniversary Month here in Ireland. Blarney celebrated its Tenth anniversary, and Mallow, its seventh! The folks in both churches are a testimony both to the grace of God, but also to the high price attached to being a Christian here! Europe is closing to the Gospel fast, and we need more church-starters, and more souls saved and trained in Europe before it is eternally too late! What are YOU doing for Christ?

 

A Great Mission’s Conference in March. Currently our two churches here are supporting four missionary families, and are looking forward to supporting a fifth family, who will be with us in September to present their field. The Christians here faithfully support missionaries just as you are, because that is how the world is won – EVERYONE, including the Irish Christians praying, giving, and going!

 

Men’s Retreat 2004. I can’t begin to tell you how I look forward to our annual Men’s Retreat here in Ireland. Men and teenagers from a few churches in Dublin gather with our men in a rented youth hostel surrounded by mountains to hear preaching, fellowship, eat, pray together, and climb mountains! And this year was spectacular, especially as we studied the life of Noah and how he saved his family!

 

Soul-Winning Club. God has enabled us to begin a club in our church in Blarney specifically for the purpose of training our folks how to be confident in their soul-winning efforts. And boy, has it paid off! Seven people have gotten saved over the last 10 weeks! The folks in the training time are so excited, and hungering to do more with their lives!

 

Family Activities. Nita and I got to get away for a week for our 19th wedding anniversary in May, and what a blessing – it reminded us just how much we need each other! The weather was perfect, and our two churches here were in good hands as our men, Martin and Kevin preached and cared for the folks here.

 

Prayer Requests

•              Upcoming Events to pray for! Holiday Bible Clubs in July, Youth Camp in August, and Friend Day in September!

•              Keep praying for Marlene who has bone cancer, that she has a miraculous remission!

•              Pray for several people who need to get saved: Ann Marie M, Dina O’M, Sandra O’C, Devon M, Brendan F, Martin and Celine C, and Paul H (most of whom are unsaved family members of our church people).

•              Please continue to PRAY for us to be able to buy property here in Ireland, and that the Lord would supply the necessary monies to make it happen! AMEN! We are consistently putting away money for the eventual purchase of land, but need the vision to see it through!

 

As always, May God bless you all mightily – We love you!

Bro. Craig Ledbetter and Family