Dearest Friends,
BELLS, WHISTLES, AND FIREWORKS!!
We are blessed to announce that our new website is up and running thanks to the hard work of David White and Aaron Stewart. It is beautiful!! I am also grateful to my oldest son and his wife, Josh and Teresa, for their gift of so many incredible pictures. Please visit the site and read our stories. Please ask the Lord to use our new website to help many people learn about the work with the children that God is doing all over the world. The web address is https://theagapepuppets.org
RAIN, RAIN, AND MORE RAIN
When we arrived in Ireland, it seemed more like a day in February in Georgia. From Dublin, we drove north to a place near Ballynahinch. As I stood outside Sam’s home, I listened to the roar of the wind. It was raining and cold. It has been like this absolutely every day this summer. We really need you to pray! All of our shows are outside on the streets. If it is raining, we will not be able to do what God has brought us here to do. We are counting on your prayers for support!
LIFE AND DEATH AND HOPE
Tonight we watched a BBC program about the life of a missionary to the Congo, Bob McAllister. All of us were so moved and challenged by the life of this missionary as he reported on his adventure in the Congo. He spoke of the terrible loss of life that happened during the Simba Rebellion. He saw his best friend executed, even as God preserved his own life. By God’s grace, his wife and children and so many others’ lives to tell stories about God’s rescue. The program chronicled his return fifty years later to the places in the Congo where many of his friends had given their lives for Jesus. We heard about his wife’s best friend who was stabbed with a spear and thrown in a river. Before she sank beneath the waters, she raised her hands to heaven and said, “Glory to God!” As Bob stood in that place and prayed, he said something that I wanted to share with you. “We are meeting here to remember how our missionary brothers and sisters died here….Our work now is to remember those who died and see that the work of the Church is not finished until the whole world hears the Word of God.”
This story made me cry; it really touched my heart. I kept thinking about his family and their sacrifice and how much they love Jesus. I want to love Jesus fearlessly and go wherever He tells me to go. I want Leslie, Drake, Garrett, and Kelsey to always hear God’s voice and do what He tells them to do. Bob McAllister was faithful to the call God gave him. Please ask God to make us faithful to our call, to tell the children of the world about Jesus!
DAISIES, SHEEP, AND A LONG WALK
I got up early this morning for a long walk. I saw the most beautiful flowers and enjoyed the sheep that were grazing nearby. I needed to get alone with God. I wanted to thank Him. I came home from the summer trip quite ill and spent five days in bed. All summer, I felt the struggle in my body to make it do what I needed it to do. Always God is faithful. Always God takes care of me. Last Friday, I was told that I have COPD. That is why I needed to get alone with God this morning. Gratitude always gives me strength. I am asking the Father to make me strong so I can tell His stories on the streets of Ireland. I trust that He has a plan and a purpose for this latest piece of news. I believe that in the absence of my strength God more clearly gets the glory for what He allows me to do. It has to be all Jesus, because I have no strength! Thank God with me that He is blessing me with the opportunity to lean harder on Him.
In Jesus,
Linda, Garrett, Kelsey, Drake, and Leslie