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Grace Prayer Bulletin #43

We have recieved the following letter from Noble D. Vater, missionary to Porter Rico. This is being sent to those that I believe have some interest in praying for me and for the Iglesia Bautista Bereana (Berean Baptist Church) of San Juan, PR and the ministry the Lord has given us. We greet you all by the mercies of God. He is incomparably great and glorious. It is my hope that this finds all of you doing well by the grace of God.
It has been some time since I have written. I had wanted to write down some end of the year reflections and send them sooner. I include a little here along wit some information on the ministry and requests for prayer.
In looking back over the past year there is little I can say that I have not said to several of you before.
I am thankful that, even though there have been some recent concerns and a decrease in the attendance at the services (around 60 rather than 70), the Lord has held us together here during the trial we have gone through with my wife Charlotte’s sickness and death.
The Lord has made me see many of my own sinful weaknesses through all these things, yet al the same time I have also been able to see His goodness and experience His grace and strength toward me. I am thankful that I was able to care for and be with Charlotte right up to the end, and that she accepted that care with such grace, patience and uncomplainingness. I am thankful for the way our children accepted this and for the legacy they have received from her.
Eternity seems far closer now than it ever did before and the need to live by faith in our Lord with a living hope in His promises, fed by His covenant mercies in Christ.
As an aside, a sermon I preached in Spanish in memory of Charlotte has been translated into English and I can e-mail anyone a copy, or send you one by regular mail if you wish. If anyone wishes to make further copies they may.
In the ministry at church I have begun a brief series on the ten commandments in the morning worship service. This was pretty much all I lacked in a series begun quite awhile ago basically following the Shorter Catechism. As far as my Sunday night plans: the firs tone of the month is our communion service ( I had been using meditations from the letters to the seven churches, and now have begun to look at select parts from Revelation); the second Sunday night of the month is evangelistic emphasis; then I want to lead the church toward recognition of a deacon or deacons, which process I started a year ago and ran into problems. Later this year I hope to get back into sermons from the prophet Isaiah.
In Sunday School, we are finishing up some lessons from the life of David which have been led by Jose Curet and Sigfredo Polanco. Efain Girau, our deacon, will soon begin a series following Lamar Martin’s classes on the interpreting the Bible.
I am finishing up the class for those interested in becoming members. We are ready to receive 3 from that group, and have some hopes of another 4. We are praying the Lord would give life to others or solid evidences of His grace and credible profession of faith.
Most of you received a letter about my plans to minister in Haiti helping out pastor Francisco Guzman. There was a meeting which I was able to attend in Santo Domingo planning for the Haitian ministry. The dates are set for March 10-15 and the subject given to me is the doctrine of the Scriptures. I also need to be prepared to preach 3 times. That is going to be a challenge., considering what I heard about the problems there. The response to the appeal to help with books for Haiti has been good and I am thankful for those who have been able to help or who have promised to help.
The Lord willing my daughter Rebecca will be married Saturday, February 6, to Craig Chaneck, a member of Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, N.J. I plan on flying up tomorrow the 4th. On the 7th Pastor Pinero has invited me to preach morning and evening at North Bergen. I will hang around in that cold weather till the 11th hoping that maybe Cynthia will give birth to their 4th child a little early (the due date is February 13). If I don’t see my next grandchild then, I hope to see "it" in March.
1. Please pray for the mission to Haiti and all of us involved in it --Guzman, Seno, me, the translator Jan Pierre Kawas, and whoever else. Remember these things in the light of the present political unrest there.
2. Please continue to pour out your prayers for me as a man and pastor, that God would be glorified in and through me and His church here.
3. Pray that the Lord would guide the church in selection of another deacon or deacons, and that there will be unity, peace, and concessus.
4. Pray for the conversion of sinners and edification of the church.
Yours by the mighty grace of God,
Noble Vater

Grace Prayer Bulletin # 43

A ministry of The King's Chapel