Dearest Friends,
HOPE AND FEAR
We have now travelled to Castlebar and Westport, in the West of Ireland. Yesterday, we set up on an outdoor mall and watched as the Father did a wonderful thing. So many people came and listened. The crowds were better than we expected and it did not rain. We are blessed.
These towns are hard places for the Gospel because people have 2 big problems here. First, they are very comfortable and live in such pretty places that it is easy to ignore your heart’s need. Second, most people here have heard about God all their lives but most would define being a Christian as being good. They do not know about Jesus as someone who died in their place to take their punishment for their sin and give them real hope.
As I told the stories yesterday, I looked into so many eyes that mirrored the struggle of their hearts. Some were smiling, some were not. Some were old and many were children, but as I looked into their eyes, I saw the same fight. Hope struggled with fear. Too many were too afraid to embrace hope, Jesus. I beg you to pray for these towns as fear rules too many people’s lives here. Recently, there were 3 people stabbed in this county and these events have shocked many people. Some who watched the puppets and listened to Reality yesterday confessed their fears to me. Ask the Father to use these events to show people their heart’s needs. Please pray that they will choose hope that they will choose Jesus.
HURTING PEOPLE
I am so surprised at how total strangers will come up to me and tell me their deepest pains. In Tralee, a father brought his 12-year-old daughter and 8-year-old twins to watch the puppet show. He told me that he was so happy that we were talking about Jesus. The Father was a Christian and hurting. His wife had died 4 months earlier at the age of 38. The children desperately missed their mother who was also a believer.
God’s Word says that “we comfort with the comfort that we have been given”. I have been given comfort, so by God’s grace, I was able to love that family in a special way. I told them Mike’s story, shared my certainty of heaven and spoke with them of the Father’s deep love and concern for them. Sam and I carry special books for children with us. We made them a gift of a children’s Bible and other Bible story books. I encouraged them to lean on Jesus and trust their Mom to a faithful heavenly Father, even as I trust that God loves Mike and me and has only good plans for us. Please pray for these children and their father.
PRAYER NEEDS
1. Please pray for a travelling organ builder, a German journeyman, that I met on the streets in Tralee after he watched our program. He does not know Jesus, but accepted a Bible and literature in German.
2. Please pray for dear lady that I met at a church. I always miss my dear grandchildren when I travel and so I helped and so I helped a mom with little ones. She thought that I was a blessing to herm but I assure you that she and the children blessed me more. Please pray for her husband to discover deep faith.
3. Please pray for mothers and fathers to stop dragging their children away from our shows. As soon as I say “Jesus”, they become offended. The children look backwards, still trying to listen, as they are dragged away. Please pray!
4. Please pray for Julie-Ann and Emmett who came to the puppet show yesterday. Julie-Ann spoke to Michelle while the puppet show was happening. She said, “You have what I have been looking for, not religion something real.” Please pray for them to trust in Jesus!
5. Please pray for 2 more outreaches in this area and our shows in Dublin beginning on Friday. We all want to be faithful servants and see many discover a relationship with Jesus.
In Jesus,
Linda for the team