March 7, 2001

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.   (2 Peter 3:9)

Dear ministry partner,

Thank you for praying for us. We have some great news to share. Abigail had her second CT scan and the results showed a ventricle still larger than normal, however, our neurosurgeon is not concerned because she shows no signs of any developmental problems. No more doctor visits or scans are required! We will continue to measure her head to make sure it remains on the growth curve.  She is so precious to us and her smile keeps us in awe and thankfulness. Brayden just turned two. We're enjoying him talking and hearing him pray before dinner, "Ank you, Jesus, amen!"

Brock is in the middle of leading a four week Inductive Bible Study class with 9 men from our church. They are hungry for learning how to dig into the Word and apply it to their lives. It has been peaceful instead of the normal anxiety to prepare for the times. Brock has had more assurance from listening to the Lord, that He is working in their hearts and that He is in control of their growth. Please pray for the last two weeks and that, Brock and the men will 1) be drawn to study God's Word daily by a hunger for knowing Christ and His love more, and 2) that the more mature men will start discipling/mentoring the younger men.

Thanks for praying for Brock in his programming project to develop Internet software to help send missionaries overseas. It is helping to place, track and equip staff and students to go on 2 month long summer mission trips.  So far there are 750 people in the system who want to "...go and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:18-20). Pray for God to enable them all to go and for God to mercifully prepare the hearts of people they will witness to in similar ways to the following.

Last summer a group of students on one of the mission trips that went to East Asia, met a few nationals that had been searching for answers to questions regarding the building blocks of the universe.   Their Chemistry professor, friends, and other professors were atheists, so they decided to ask foreigners they met if they knew God and what He was like.  Using logic and this brief list- they set out on a year long quest...

1. There is a God and He is the Only God

2. He is Omnipotent and the creator of the Universe

3. He is completely just

4. He reveals Himself through creation

The national students had two other points that they weren't sure about but hoped were true:

5. God cares about them individually

6. He can forgive them for the evil (sin) they were guilty of.

The summer project students were stunned to see How God brought them to the other side of the world to meet these specific students to share Christ with them.  Not only that, but after their first meeting the nationals thought they would need a lot of time to make a decision about God, but they felt that God had spoken to them so clearly that it would be offensive to Him to wait. So they told the summer project team they each wanted to begin a relationship with Christ immediately.

It is stories we hear like these that continually remind us of God's passionate desire that none should be lost but that all should come to repentance - 2 Peter 3:9.  It also reminds us of how thankful we are for you and how the Lord has used you in our lives to enable us to keep on doing what we are doing to bring individuals around the world to Jesus.  We can praise the Lord together over many lost souls coming to know Him.  Thank you for your commitment to us in prayer and giving and most of all your commitments to the Lord to live for Him.  He is so worthy. We pray that you see more and more how He has sought you out just like those students in East Asia and how much He loves you.

God bless you and keep you in His care. We love you.

Brock and Sandi

P.S. Below is a screen shot of the online tool Brock helped build. WSN stands for Worldwide Student Network – the international division of our college ministry. The tool enables mission project leaders to:

·          View the account balances of students to help them raise their needed support.

·          Keep track of when the students get their passport, Visa, etc.

·          Click one button and automatically email their whole team.

·          View the team leaders manual online.

·          Our headquarters staff use the tool to automatically assign account numbers to students who are accepted. They also use it to coordinate travel and book their airline tickets.