March Prayer Letter
Dear Pastors and Praying Friends,
The last several months have been a real whirlwind of activity for us. Ever since we took on the leadership of the church in Limavady along with the church in Derry as well, we have been extremely busy.
On Sundays, we leave the house at 9.30 AM, drive 30 minutes to Limavady for the 10.30 AM service, drive back to Derry for the 12.30 PM service, and get home by about 2.30 PM. After lunch and a short nap for the kids, we leave the house at 4.30 PM for the 5.00 PM Sunday school in Derry and 6.00 PM service. After the service, we drive another 30 minutes to Limavady for the 8.00 PM service, and get back to our home in Derry at about 10.30 PM.
Monday is usually our day off as a family. We have a prayer meeting and Bible study on Tuesday evening in Derry and on Wednesday evening in Limavady. On Thursdays, I try to visit one week in Derry and the next week in Limavady. Friday nights are usually taken up with either entertaining a family at our house, a youth meeting, or some special church function. Saturday mornings, we go out soul-winning, and most Saturday evenings we try to leave free to prepare for Sunday.
Our schedule keeps us busy, but we would not really have it any other way. We love doing what we are doing. We love seeing God work in the lives of people. We love seeing Him answer prayer. We love being able to do it all as a family. I am so thankful for my wife Teri and how she is so supportive in all of this. She and the children are faithful to go to all the services, and Teri does her best to visit, disciple, and lead the ladies in both churches.
In January, we started a training course called “Sharing Your Faith” written by a missionary to China (www.projectchina.org) out of our sending church. We have been going through this during our midweek Bible studies with the goal of preparing our people for our special door-knocking and soul-winning emphasis this summer. Please pray that God will give our people boldness to share their faith.
In February, we were blessed to have several visitors from America. Micah Buck and Donald Rush from South Haven Baptist Church in Springfield, TN came over for about 8 days to help us do some work on the church buildings. They were a tremendous blessing and helped us with a bunch of things including painting walls, putting up chair rail, and building and carpeting two platforms. Also, it was encouraging to have Anne Lunde and Jennifer Armstrong here for a few days from Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, GA. If you are interested in coming on a mission trip, please let us know at snode@intoalltheworld.net.
In March, we had special services with Bro. Tony Howeth, who is a good friend of ours and deputation director with Macedonia World Baptist Missions. He preached Tuesday through Friday night, a youth meeting on Saturday night, and five times on Sunday. Mrs. Stacey spoke to the ladies at a Mother/Daughter Tea on Saturday. God really moved through the meetings. We had 8 first-time visitors come to the meetings and a high of 39 people in attendance. Bro. Tony was a huge blessing to us. If you are looking for a man of God to come preach for you who has a burden for souls, love for people, and passion for God, then let me encourage you to get ahold of Bro. Tony Howeth.
Please pray for the Irish Tract Outreach coming up in April, when a gospel tract will be mailed to every home in Ireland. Thanks to those who already gave for the outreach. There is still a need of €8000 ($11,000) to finish paying for the outreach. If you would like to have a part, please mail your check to “Macedonia World Baptist Missions” and designate “Travis Snode – Tract Outreach.