January Missionary Update

Update from Phillippines

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Rishel Family – Burkina Faso, West Africa

Dear faithful ministry partner, Cheik is a 14 year old boy in the village of Noumoundara, Burkina Faso. He is the grandson of the chief of this village and was born into a Muslim family. One day, one of our circuit riding preaching teams went to his village and told Cheik about Jesus Christ. As the preachers kept coming back to his village, Cheik began to understand that Jesus is more than just a good person. Jesus is the Son of God. Soon, Cheik put his faith in Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Cheik began coming every week to the Bible studies and began to bring his friends with him. Today, Cheik is enrolled in a discipleship course that allows him to continue to experience spiritual growth firsthand and is one of the most faithful members at the village work in Noumoundara. Daniel was living in the Northern part of Burkina when terrorists attacked and destroyed his village. Feeling lost and hopeless, Daniel fled to Bobo with his wife and one-year old daughter to try to find a safe place to live. By God’s grace, Daniel met Pastor Isaac and began to come to Victory Baptist Church. There he heard of a God that loved him; and found a church that could help him during this difficult time. Today, Daniel and his family are settled into their new life in Bobo and are faithfully serving at the church. These are just a couple of the new people that I was able to meet, and whose testimonies I heard on my most recent trip to Burkina at the beginning of December. By God’s grace, the churches are continuing strong and the pastors are still faithfully preaching the Word of God : God is continuing to save souls and add them to His churches! We praise God for what He is doing there in Burkina Faso and for the chance we had to go back and visit! One of the main reasons for this trip back to Burkina was to participate in our annual World Evangelism Conference. Every year, the churches get together for a time to celebrate what God has done in the past year and also to be exhorted and motivated for the year ahead. This year, the conference was held at Victory Baptist Church, our second church in Bobo. Members from the first church in Bobo and the three village churches (Finlandé, Kouentou, and Noumoundara) all came together, as well as a few of the pastors from some of the other churches throughout Burkina. God gave us such an encouraging time of preaching about evangelism, praying for the works and needs throughout Burkina, and planning together for the future. Below are a few of the highlights from the conference: • We were able to present and pray for the new teams of LPCV, the circuit riding preaching ministry to the villages. This year, we have twelve men that are participating in this ministry. A service of the World Evangelism Conference Presenting the new teams for the village circuit riding preaching ministry • We had a special time of evangelism in sector 23 of Bobo, where Pastor Augustin has started a new work. Over fifty church members came together for a time of evangelism and we were able to spread the Gospel throughout this sector of the city. There were several professions of faith made that day. We ended the time of evangelism with an evangelistic soccer tournament near the location where Augustin has been holding Bible studies. • On the last day of the conference, we collected our annual World Evangelism Offering. This is a special offering that the national churches take up to support the host church in starting a new work. This year, they collected over $300! We praise the Lord that these churches in Burkina, though they might not have much, are willing to give to help reach their country with the Gospel! The conference was just one part of our trip. We were also able to spend a lot of time with the pastors, hearing reports from their churches and encouraging them in the work that they are faithfully continuing to do. We were able to finalize many of the plans involving the school, as well as help Pastor Bationo with his preparations to start a new work in Bobo. This new work will be on one of the lands we have already been able to purchase for future churches (we will share more about that in a few months). We thank God for the wonderful trip and ask that you continue to pray for the work there in Burkina Faso! After getting back to the Unites States, God allowed us to spend a wonderful time with family for Christmas! We have enjoyed, especially the kids, being able to be around grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins during this time. We were so touched by the kindness of many of you to send special Christmas gifts to our family and the ministry. Thank you for those acts of love! We pray that you had a blessed Christmas with your family and friends. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support for God’s work here in Burkina Faso! We greatly appreciate your faithfulness and we are praying for you all. God bless

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Garcias- Honduras

January 2024 I’m sure everyone is saying it, but 2023 sure did go by fast! It was a great year for us and by the end of January we’ll be able to say that we’ve been here for a whole year We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. This was our first Christmas to not spend time with our families in the States, but it was a great opportunity to start some of our own traditions. The average Honduran tradition seems to be to stay up late on Christmas Eve, set off lots of fireworks, eat good food, and have tamales on Christmas day. We got to spend part of Christmas Eve with a Honduran family from the church we attend and had a blessed time with them. While this is not Sofia’s first Christmas, it was the first one since she’s been old enough to anticipate, and anticipate it she did. On Christmas morning, after we read the biblical account of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2 (which, per her insistence, Amber and I have read to her dozens of time throughout the month of December), the first thing Sofia wanted to do was to give her baby sister the present she picked out for her. As we begin this New Year, let us all be grateful throughout the year for the gift of God’s Son Jesus Christ. who is the Savior given for all people.  One of the last blessings I received in 2023 was the opportunity to preach a message in Spanish at the church we go to, Lighthouse Baptist Church. I told my wife before I preached that this is what God made me to do and be. As much as I may enjoy my hobbies, good food, or spending time with my girls, there is nothing like sharing the gospel and goodness of Christ.  I am blessed to be called to preach, and am looking forward hopefully to start our first church plant before the end of 2024.  We are still waiting on our residency to go through. Please pray that our paperwork would all process and there are no more set-backs. From a human perspective it feels like every slow-down that can happen has happened, but we know God’s hand is upon this process. Now that the holidays are over, we hope to see some more progress. Thank you for another year of your prayers in 2024. Serving Christ, Andrew and Amber Garcia

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Broyles to the Balkans

Dear partners in ministry,What an encouragement is the assurance that we have in our Savior Jesus Christ! We have been purchased, born again, and washed in the blood of the Lamb.  Romans 8:37 reminds us that we are more than conquerers through Him that loved us. With this assurance we can enter into the new year boldly for the Cause of Christ! Remembering God’s Goodness- As we look back over last year there are countless times when our God showed himself faithful to our family, but I do want to highlight a few. Last March God gave us another little girl, Scarlett, and what a blessing she has been. Last year also the Lord allowed us to lead people to the Lord, but one in particular was our daughter Audrey! There is no greater joy for a parent than to see their child repenting of their sin and trusting in Christ for Salvation! Also, we see the goodness of our God through you in your faithful prayers and financial support, and for that we are so grateful. Language Classes- This month we started Albanian language classes. Both Paty and I have started classes and have been enjoying speaking and studying the Albanian language. We know there will be a lot of work and time put into learning, but we are excited for the opportunity that God has given us to begin classes. Looking Forward- Our desire this year is that of Paul in Philippians 3:13-14 “…and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Some of our goals would be to arrive in Albania, rent and set up a house, continue language classes in Albania, start creating relationships, etc. For this to happen please pray for the U.S. Government to process our documents more quickly. Also, our greatest desire and prayer is to see souls come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! Our God is faithful, and we saw all throughout 2023 how He is able, and will take care of us. We are greatly looking forward to this year and all that God would have us do for Him! Here to preach the Gospel, The Broyles