Dear Prayer Partners, June-July 2009 update
June and July historically have been two of the busiest months of the year for us and this year fit equally into that description.
VBS in June at Gilson Wash was very well attended reaching into the 60’s. One teen girl expressed her desire to be saved, but has not returned. Please remember to pray for her as the Lord brings her to remembrance that she will come into services and opportunity will be opened to talk with her once again.
The following week we traveled to the Hualapai Reservation to be a part of VBS along with Steve and Sherry. Our part of the VBS there was making Sno Cones. (Vital to desert VBS’s) Two young girls accepted Christ as their Savior that week. Both of these Vacation Bible Schools were taught by their own church members. Praise the Lord for mature Indian folk willing to take the responsibility of teaching.
June 26 saw the home going of Ethel Bullis. We thank each of you that prayed faithfully for her as her health deteriorated. She is home now relieved of pain and suffering. Amen! For those of you who have followed our little corner of Indian ministry for 30 + years remember the Bullis family as the very beginning of the Apache work. We started in San Carlos with a Bible study in their home. David recounted some of the memories of that time and the infancy of the Gilson Wash Baptist Church during a portion of her funeral service July 5. The Lord is so good to us in allowing us time to testify to His direction and leading even in a funeral service. We serve an awesome God!
This past week (July 20) we were notified of the home going of a friend and neighbor of ours on the Gila River Reservation. Teresa Santos lived next door to us for several years in Bapchule. We traveled there to see and visit with some of her family before her funeral. It was so good to see some of them that we had not seen in ten years or so. A number of her grandchildren were in the Baptist Indian Chapel School some twenty years ago, including one in Becky’s kindergarten class.
We have approximately ten weeks of travel, meetings, reunions, Mission Retreat, Homecoming, and Missions Conferences scheduled for August and September. As you remember us, pray for safety as we travel and that the Lord will use us to bring honor and glory to Him as we meet new folks and reestablish old friendships. We are looking forward to seeing many again that we’ve not seen for several years.
The annual IBIMI Mission Retreat is in Keokuk, Iowa this year August 13—15. We look forward to being with the missionaries and speakers that are planning to be there. It is always a time of refreshment, spiritually as well as fellowshipping. This will be Steve’s first year of directing the business and John and Carla Dunlap, our hosts, have a great schedule of activities planned for the missionaries.
Again we want to thank each of you that are such a vital part in the ministry here, financially and prayerfully.
In His love and ours,
Dave and Becky DeFord II Cor. 4:3
