Let’s Magnify His name!
Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings to you in His name!
On a Sunday, sixteen years ago today, Gine and I welcomed our second biological son: James S. Benjy. My friend Patrick Yager and I were on our way to go to church in Milton, IA. It was my first time speaking there. He was born in the early morning hours. It would take me almost three weeks before I could hold him in my hand.
Today he is 16. He can be classified as a classical introvert. He is smart, focused, studious, disciplined and caring. I was able to wish him a happy birthday using a social media, but I long to hearing his voice and to wish him a happy birthday. I am now in Oklahoma at the home of two wonderful friends and partners in the gospel: Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Sharp. They treat me like a king.
We moved into our newest church building in December 20 of last year. Since then we have had the privilege of welcoming a number of people into the family of God. Last Saturday alone nine of them were baptized into Christ. It seems like every Sunday at least one will surrender to Jesus. It is great what God is doing there at Living Water in Gonaives. Many of you have sacrificed time, money and physical energy to see this building completed, furnished, electrified and painted. We appreciate the fact that you have made it possible for people to worship in a comfortable and beautiful environment and for the gospel to be preached there on a regular basis, just like Luke and Branson Barnhill were doing last Sunday. You know, He does pay back.
For many years now, during all the school year, many of you have made it possible for us to feed children of the school and workers of the mission one hot meal a day. That is over seven hundred meals a day. You have also made it possible for our kids to be learning in a wonderful environment: large classrooms, several play grounds like soccer fields and a basketball court. These things are a blessing to many: parents, students, teachers, people of the community and even people living elsewhere. On a number of occasions they have solicited the use of our campus. They always appreciate having facilities like ours to do their activities.
Another thing that I want to bring to your attention in this e-mail is my new truck. It is a Toyota Hilux 2015. I know some of you started raising your hands to magnify God’s name for this. Brother Rick Rios of Alaska is certainly one of those people. Brother Bob Stacy and Erick Boehmler of Alaska are doing the same. All of you who have used my old Forerunner has a story to tell, especially in the last three or four years. But we should all also remember how we always made it to our final destination. Sometimes it required some laying on hands, but it made it. Brother Mitchell and On His Path have decided to replace it with this nice truck you see. My family and I are very grateful to them and to God for that.
The fencing of the farmland continues. As you can see, cactus and barbed wire play a big role in that. We are securing the land so whatever we plant in the next few weeks can be safe, and we can enjoy the produce of the land. So far we have not had rain in Gonaives. But we hope that God will give us a successful well, and hopefully some rain also, so the land can start feeding people and funding the ministry.
Don’t you think God deserves to be magnified for all those blessings named above? Well, in case it slipped your mind, the word “magnify” is of Latin origin: Magnus, a, um (reading magnus, magna, magnum). It means great, big or grand. So when we “magnify” God’s name, we talk of His Greatness, His Grandor, and His Bigness. We talk of the things that He has done and only him could have done. Like setting up an appointment for me with the brothers and sisters of Mowrystown, OH last week> He managed to get me just a few miles from where they were, blocked every other activitiy and made it possible for brother Ken Croll to drive me to Chris. He made it possible for me to enjoy a great Sunday with them and several CMF brothers and sisters. I thank my Great God for Chris and Witney Gobin, his wife and their wonderful two girls.
Let us not stop magnify His name all the days of our lives, for He is GREAT!!!
In His service,
Salonique Adolphe and team