Mike & Elva Farrell - France

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April 2009

Dear Friends,  

la famille
(family)
REJOICE WITH US!  We thank the Lord for the unexpected generosity of a French businessman in our church who paid our airfare to the United States so that we could spend some time with loved ones.  We welcomed our 7th grandbaby into the family!  Keegan Michael Zimmerman was born February 23rd.  We also helped Elva's dad celebrate his 80th birthday.  E-mails, the telephone, and Skype are all wonderful, but nothing compares to cuddling your newborn grandchild or getting a bear hug from your dad!

une esperance vivante
(a living hope)
Alive is our hope because living is our Savior!  Frederik, a Chinese university student who trusted Christ a couple of months ago, will give testimony of his faith in a living Savior by being baptized on Easter Sunday.  In addition to the baptismal service, we will have our traditional Easther Breakfast and Program.  This is usually our biggest Sunday of the year.  May many more find hope eternal in the salvation of their souls.   

cours
(courses)
Elva taught a modular course on Pedagogy at the French Baptist Bible College the last week in March. Mike will teach Major Prophets the first week in May.  This is the 15th year of teaching for Elva, and the 12th year for Mike.  What a special privilege to be able to minister to the Lord's future servants in this country.

une oasis
(an oasis)
Our annual French Field Conference with co-workers and a speaker from America is scheduled for the third week in April.  God has a way of using brooks, ravens, oil and flour rations, and supernatural angel food to get a little more mileage out of His servants.  That’s Conference!

 la chirurgie
(surgery)
PRAY FOR US!  A complication from Elva's surgery last August requires a corrective operation which is scheduled for April 8th.  Her stay in the hospital will last a week.  Our daughter, Emily, needs cataract surgery on both eyes.  The family doctor will write a letter of referral to an ophthalmologist, who will hopefully bump us ahead in the six-to-eight month waiting period for this kind of specialist.

comme d'habitude
(as always)
Thank you for praying with us for more French people to turn to the Lord, and that those who are already believers will walk with God in the light of His Word.  We need French people to shoulder the burdens of their own church.

les temps sont durs
(times are hard)
How many dreams has the economic crisis punctured?  Our dream of purchasing a larger church building is reduced to wishful thinking.  Nobody would be able to obtain a bank loan to buy our existing building, nor would any bank grant us a loan to finance a new project.  Not this year.  A key family in our church just announced their departure to another area of France for a new job situation.  They will be missed, and this is a heavy loss for the church.  Two stats explain the decline of any church:  the attrition rate and the level of erosion. 

le printemps est de retour
(spring is back)
Winter was long and cold, but now new life is transforming France into a garden.  May the Gospel work the same miracle in French hearts!                                     

Rejoicing in the Lord,
Mike & Elva Farrell & Emily

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