Dear Friends and Family,
“I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren” Genesis 24:27
This testimony of Abraham’s servant to God’s providence and grace aptly describes the multiplied mercies showered on us since our spring letter.
Your prayers and gifts for ongoing ministries in Yuma and your hospitality and generosity throughout distant missions meetings, March through May, 2008 greatly furthered our Lord’s Cocopah work on two fronts simultaneously. Our sole regret this month is having allowed the intensity of camp and VBS work, tribal youth home legal questions, multiple repairs on church vehicles, and family health needs to delay this heartfelt note of gratitude.
Thank you Brother Richard Zakrijsek, Stephen Veldhuis, and Jared Gray for your invaluable help with church projects and Cocopah ministries in March and April. This freed us for our first lengthy deputation trip since Lydia’s birth. Our 9000 mile odyssey in a 1993 Minivan began March 9 with just enough gasoline for our first Arizona meeting and ended by our Lord’s grace all expenses paid at First Baptist Church of Edgewood, New Mexico May 28.
Praise the Lord for protecting Dawn, Lydia, and Silas from potentially explosive young people and helping them carry on Sunday School, Bible clubs, and ladies’ ministries the entire month of May. Meanwhile friends and churches in Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Tennessee rewarded my solo trip there through truly humbling kindnesses and generosity.
THANK you all and P.T.L. for blessing six weeks of missions meetings with enough special gifts to prepay Camp, and V.B.S. expenses for the first time ever. This was after doing major repairs on both church vans. We are trusting new churches from this trip and others from upcoming October and November conferences to replace lost supplemental income Dawn received prior to her Kentucky missionary work through April 2008.
BLESS the Lord for Lydia’s successful eye surgery June 16-18 at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She recovered quickly enough from eye muscle repositioning to monitor fourteen other teen campers with Bernice and Gabriel Stokes., June 23-28. She also monitored the junior campers June 30-July 4, and contributed much to VBS, July 6-11.
THANK the Lord for taking care of vehicle problems that threatened to cripple us halfway to Alpine, Arizona, June 23. The grace that saw us safely the final 280 miles to Camp on Wheels’ mountain site bore glorious fruit the next week in repentance from sin, professions of faith and surrender to the Lord of many young teens. P.T.L. for growth and dedication to Him by Isaac, Jonathan, Lydia, Silas, and teens from Maranatha Baptist Church who accompanied us to camp. BLESS Him for signs of growth in all 23 campers. Pray for true conviction and repentance by Darryl, Dillon, Eddie, and Gabriel Salazar - a virtual gang of Cocopah teens.
Dillon and Darryl returned to church with unbelievably improved demeanors as soon as they could following their dismissal from camp for violence. Eddie and Gabriel, teens from lost native and catholic homes, paid much better attention to the remainder of camp. They along with some fifty others heard the gospel and clear preaching on consecration and growth each night of Neighborhood Bible Time July 6-11. Allison, Chris, Devona, Happy, Leta, Michael, Reina, and Timothy profited much from Bible Time. They are normally out of contact with us in foster homes or simply not allowed to attend our regular services.
PRAISE our God of all grace for safely filling our bus and both vans for NBT services and for professions of faith by Christoferson (“Happy”), Gregory, Jonathan, Reina, and Tyrus. THANK Him also for decisions for baptism and surrender for service by Darnel, Ezequiel, Delsie, and others.
THANK YOU Heritage and Maranatha Baptist churches for your help locally, and God bless each of you elsewhere for the fruit of your prayers and sacrifices this summer. Thanks so much for also remembering the following needs:
- Comfort for Ashley, Delsie, and Kelsie’s families in the loss of their uncle July 23, 2008.
- Better control of 14 y.o. Andrew’s diabetes.
- Sister Betty’s diabetes and congestive heart failure.
- Dawn’s vasculitis and heart irregularities.
- Further improvement in Bernice’s health.
- Malicious opposition by Desiree at the Cocopah Nazarene Church.
- Moral sins of Cheryl, Lori, Robert, Adam, and other professing Christians.
- Follow-up of summer decisions and Marlin since his move to California.
- Annual I.B.I.M.I. conference August 14-16 and subsequent church construction projects.
- Gospel services and Ladies's Craft Day with missionaries to Germany, Wayne and Patrice McCray, August 17th and 23rd
- Lydia’s final preparation for West Coast Baptist College Sept 1, 2008
Gratefully yours in Christ,
Michael, Dawn, Lydia, and Silas Veldhuis
