Tuesday, January 22, 2013

January 2013 Prayer Letter


"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Proverbs 27:17


Our praying friends and family in the Lord,

Happy New Year from Bulgaria! We pray your holiday season was a blessed one. Every season with the Lord Jesus is blessed, and every place sacred. We thank the Lord for the blessings of 2012 and look forward with expectant hearts for the blessings of 2013.

This month my brother Zachary returns from America. The last few months we have concerned ourselves with finding a place to move into as we depart his house. Thankfully, we have found an apartment in Varna and will occupy it for the foreseeable future. While we are overjoyed to have the LeFevres back, we are saddened to relinquish this part of the work. The believers in Zlatna Niva and the churches under Zach's care have endeared themselves to us. In every home, in every service we are made to feel like family.

In mid-December we received our first snowfalls. After the first snowfall we made our way as usual to our northernmost meetings. While the roads were relatively clear in our village, farther north they were treacherous. At our first really rough patch of snow, all the believers, including Alish the national pastor, said to turn back. I persevered and made it through, albeit slowly. The roads cleared for a bit and then again turned bad. To me, this section looked worse than the last, and I offered to turn us homeward. Alish encouraged me to go on, as he thought he spied a track of shallow snow. We went on easily enough and soon passed through with no problem. Time and again en route to church that day, these scenarios repeated themselves: one fearing it couldn't be done, the other encouraging the attempt. Eventually we arrived at our meeting. The Lord blessed our perseverance and taught us all the value of fellow believers.

A week later we received our second snowfall. A foot of snow fell in less than 24 hours. However, due to fierce winds, we awoke to six- and eight-foot drifts across all the major roads into and out of the village. On our own little street a drift had covered Zach's minivan. I spent the better part of an afternoon shoveling a way to the main road to Shumen, only to discover it had been closed. While we weren't able to get to the meetings for several days, here and there believers gathered, sang and prayed and thanked God they were safe and sound.

2012 witnessed an abundance of answered prayers, both personally and for the work's sake. We saw whole families become believers. We saw errant children return home and turn to God. We witnessed more than 160 newly saved souls follow the Lord in baptism. We saw babies born and dedicated. And we watched saints depart this life for their eternal reward whispering the name Jesus as they passed. Please continue to pray for the work. Pray for more souls to be saved, for more men to be called to preach, and for the churches to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And pray for our family. The Lord knows all our needs and sees, and will see, to their supply. God is so good.

We love you all. God bless you.

Because of a living Saviour,

The William LeFevre Family

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