Christmas 2004
Our Dear Friends,
Firstly, we wish you a very Happy Christmas and trust that you will have a happy and healthy New Year!
These past Months have been full of exciting opportunities in a variety of settings.
We want to record our thanks to God for all His goodness and to thank you for standing with us in prayerful support.
We have of course been very mindful of those of you who have had “Hurricane” experiences and assure you of our love and prayers as you seek to rebuild or repair and get back to normality. We know that some of you suffered greatly and we were deeply moved by what we saw on the television and in newspapers as well as in telephone and e-mail contact.
We were in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, when the announcement came that “Frances” was heading for the Bahamas. Based on information and advice from the Travel Agent we left for Nassau early and holed up with Matthew and Wendy. Thankfully, they suffered no structural or water damage. Our departure for the UK was delayed but our thoughts and prayers were for those who had suffered in any way.
Prior to our leaving Marsh Harbour we had spent an extremely happy Month at New Vision Ministries where we renewed friendship and fellowship with many old friends some of whom had been in our congregation when we were at Calvary Bible Church in Nassau (1972-78) This was our second Month long visit to NVM as we had been there in 2002. What a joy it was to minister to this growing congregation who were so attentive and appreciative of the Word of God and to visit many in their homes and places of work. We greatly enjoyed the ministry of the New Vision Vocal Band. The people showed their love for us in a variety of ways, not least in providing us with many wonderful meals. (excess baggage!!)
We had only been home a couple of weeks when, along with Rachel and her boyfriend Tristan, we flew to Switzerland to attend the bi-annual Global Outreach Mission European Conference in Les Diablerets. This was a very wonderful time of fellowship with outstanding ministry, music and reports. It was good to meet with such a variety of people in diverse ministries, all seeking to extend God’s Kingdom in the hearts of mankind.
In July David had the privilege of speaking at the Bible Teaching Week at Gerston Chapel, Paignton, South Devon. He chose to speak on four of the Seven Churches in the book of Revelation. The attendance was excellent and the feed back very encouraging. He was able to conclude the ministry on three Tuesdays in October.
Because our ministry is widespread (about 60 churches in the UK) and often to smaller congregations we wonder if we are being fruitful. Recently, a young man re-entered our lives after many years and told us that he had been saved through David’s ministry in the early sixties and called into full time service through his ministry in the early eighties. He is now a full time Evangelist with The Faith Mission and serving the Lord in our area!
Kathryn too, has had much encouragement especially in the Children’s work on Monday nights where she not only reaches the young but, has opportunity to visit their homes. God is using her among older women too as she shares “The Word” in Ladies meetings, visits the local Hospital and offers hospitality.
We also use a newspaper called “Good News” which is evangelistic and clearly sets forth the Gospel in testimonies and other interesting articles. We distribute fifty copies along our road and David supplies another five people who do the same in their area of the City or surrounding villages, at present 340 copies. Please pray for this ministry.
Our next BIG event DV, will be the homecoming of Matthew and Wendy for Christmas. They celebrated their second wedding anniversary in July and were last home in October of 2002. This will be a glad and happy family re-union!!
So again, We praise Him for all that is past and, trust Him for all that’s to come!
With very many thanks and much love,
David, Kathryn and Rachel Cole.