Hi all,

We have been thanking the Lord for a really good month for answered prayer, including our prayers for the India elections. When the moderate Congress Party won 5 years ago it opened a 5 year window for the Gospel to be preached in India, but it seemed like that window was coming to an end with the closing in of the national elections. However we serve an awesome God, and we know that the powers that be are ordained by God, so we prayed accordingly despite the odds and lo and behold our God, the God of heaven and earth answered. Congress won the election and opened the door for another five years for labourers to be sent into the harvest, so please “pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). Here is a link to more info about the election.


We are continuing to pray for Sri Lanka, and our people there who will be ministering to refugees who have lost loved ones, homes and don’t have adequate food or shelter, and who will be asking “what will we do, where will go?”. Read a bit more on Sri Lanka here.


Highlights from my last few weeks in the office included en envelope delivery:-


…having the whole Thrasher family in the office to do name data entry:-


…God answering prayer and bringing a veritable army of volunteers for a day:-




In regards to homelife I have already managed to annoy my neighbours by playing my guitar too loud too late at night, keeping a 9 year old boy from his sleep. I am hoping that a small Lego set will serve as a suitable peace offering. It was fun going to a toy shop again! Though it wasn’t quite the same as when I was younger, all the toys are different and expensive.


I really thought that I was a big eater, but I have really found my match in my housemate and landlord James Belham! Check out his daily breakfast:-


We now have living room windows! Two guys came and fitted them and did a great job:-






We have also been breaking up concrete in our back garden and I had the job of taking it – about 2 tons – to the local tip, much to the dismay of my car’s suspension!


Without a cooker I have been experimenting with the slow-cooker and I have become quite smitten with it! It’s quite handy and versatile, and because you can set it going one night and eat from it the next evening it kind of feels like someone else is cooking for you.


Oh by the way this is Elijah Kirik, Brian and Mindy’s well behaved 10 year old:-


Thanks for reading, please keep praying for us as we serve as unprofitable servants doing our duty, while marvelling that the God of the universe would call us friends.

JP

I have moved house! My address is now 50 Etty Avenue, Tang Hall, York YO10 3TL. The scaffolding is no longer there, and the tiling has actually been finished, but I haven't yet taken a current photo.

My room is probably the only clean room in the house! James has been working to prepare it for me, and I am very grateful. The house was left full of furniture, a lot of which is still in very good condition, so I have been blessed with wardrobe, desk and drawers...

...and the Kiriks gave me a single bed - which when taken apart fit in the back of the Almera! I was lookin through the kitchen utensils and I was like whoa, how many does THIS huge pot cook for...?

We had a great Sunday service this morning, Dave spoke from 2 Peter, about taking head not to fall away, if the heavenly realm (the angels), the earthly realm (Noah's time), cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) and a prophet who spoke God's words (Balaam) could slip away, how careful should we be? It was also Dave and Nancy Sylvester's 25th Wedding Anniversary so we had a bring and share, and some goodbyes to this semester's bible college students. I heard another new song this morning which really blessed me:-



Oh, I mailed something by mistake last week, if anyone finds it arriving at their door please return it to the Gospel For Asia UK office:-

Thanks for reading!

Angie has now left and I am flying solo doing her role, still rather uncertain about most of the processes I do. The notes we made are fairly extensive and I am heavily relying on them. I am quite tired and overwhelmed, but working in an office for the Lord all day is just bliss!

My house is ready! It even has hot water now! No cooker yet but that just means I won’t have to spend time cooking. I am just waiting on someone with a big car to be available to take the single bed that the Kiriks are giving me over to the house. James my landlord has been diligently working on it after work.

Brian was on Genesis TV last night talking about the persecution of Christians in India. I watched online and found it stirring and challenging. He is actually at the Christian Resource Exhibition in London all this week, with someone additional to do every day of it. Please pray for his health and energy as he serves the Lord.

We went to the lake district on a retreat a few weeks back, just after the crazy conference season and it was a real blessing. We some time in a house by a lake, had some great fellowship and I got to know the team a little better. We had a local pastor called Russell Freylick come and teach, who had an amazing testimony of how the Lord saved his life. He read Psalm 24 and talked about having clean hands and a pure heart, and then he taught about having peace, finding the old ways as Jeremiah says instead of new ones. We often try to escape to quite places like the lake district (!) to find peace, but then once we leave that place our peace is gone again, peace only truly comes through having peace with God. We often also lose our peace by making God’s work our burden, forgetting that it is HIS work. That was a Saturday night. On the Tuesday Jeff Cuozzo of Calvary Chapel Spring Lakes came with his worship leader, who was also called Jeff. Before singing Jeff read Psalm 24 (!) and then we sang “Give Us Clean Hands” (which I have added to my playlist). Then Jeff Cuozzo shared, and one of his points was that often we make God’s work our burden and we lose our peace (!). I sensed the Lord was speaking to us, which I always find startling, and comforting.

We covet your prayers for our office, we have a lot of work and not enough staff, and it’s not money we’re trying to make it’s souls we’re trying to win. We praise the Lord that we have too much work to do, it’s a huge blessing, I just wish I could multi-task better!