Happy New Year! We pray that each of you had a great holiday season. During the month of November, we continued ministering to the people here in Bequia while preaching and teaching through the characters of the Bible. On one of our Sunday evening services we celebrated everyones’ birthday by having cakes and desserts, attendance was over 50 in the church and outside. All of them heard a clear gospel message by a local pastor here and we are praying that over time we will see more results.
My brother-in-law and sister, Robbie and Amanda Leonard, Missionaries to Fiji, came and spent a couple weeks with us before Christmas. Robbie was able to preach for us and another pastor on the island during that time. Also while they were here, we were able to set up in the harbor with Pastor Mitchall of Gospel Light Baptist Church and hand out over 150 bibles, John and Romans, and invitations to both churches. Please pray for those that we were able to give bibles to. We have already had one family come to the church that received a bible and hope to see more. Also, please keep the Leonard family in your prayers as they continue on deputation to Fiji. You can learn more about their family and ministry at leonards4fiji.com .
December and January really pick up the tourist season here and since then we have seen a little decrease in attendance due to people having to work. This has allowed us some time to work with people one on one. One of the things we have encouraged our folks to do this year is to read through the Bible, so far we have read through 4 books of the Bible.
**Looking ahead: Our tent meeting in Paget Farm is scheduled for March 11th - 23rd, Evangelist Chris Hewitt will be preaching the meeting for us. Last year we saw 4 professions of faith and attendance around 50 each night. This year we are praying that we will have over 100 each night and that God will work in hearts during these meetings. We are also working on scheduling another tent meeting on April 8th -13th with Pastor Mitchall in the harbor area, but we are still waiting for permission to use the field. Will you please help us pray for these meetings?
The tent that we were able to get last year has proven to be a great help here in the island and we are looking forward to using it even more. Because we bought it used and the climate here, the ropes that were on it have started to fall apart. We have purchased new straps for the tent, a few extra stakes (some were stolen), and some sound equipment. We are estimating the cost of the tent meeting this year to be about $2,000. We have encouraged our church here to give and if you would like to help please let us know.
** UPCOMING FURLOUGH Please continue to pray for us concerning our furlough starting in June. We are scheduling meetings to raise our support to continue the work here in Bequia and to reach out into the other islands here in the Grenadines.
David Ballinger Family