Russ & Meredith Martin

God at work through #HACK2021

In early October, we asked you to pray for three things. Here's how God answered.

1. Meredith's Health
We asked you to pray for healing and restoration of her body.

Overall, she is doing much better and having less immune system issues. Her itchiness and skin flares have decreased a lot. We've been working on lowering her stress and she's been very disciplined to stick to a limited diet. Things are headed in the right direction. Praise God for these positive steps.

2. Indigitous #HACK2021
We asked you to pray for the effectiveness of teams working on spreading the gospel far and wide through accelerating Bible translation, streamlining missions information, and platforms for poverty alleviation.

1,223 participants from 113 cities and 34 countries participated. During the event Russ was able to drop in on a few of the cities via video conference. The passion for teams using their talents to create innovative digital experiences to help others follow Jesus was contagious.

- A team in the UK created an app to track prayer walking on every street in the country.
- The Dvash app, the Hebrew word for “honey,” was created by a team in Ethiopia to make it easy to read, study, and understand the Bible as well as share it on your mobile device in multiple local languages.
- A team in Panama created an online temperament quiz where users get to know more about themselves, see how Jesus is like them, and then engage with a relevant Gospel presentation.
- A team in Australia collaborated to create a trusted network for connecting local ministry workers to supporters in hard to reach locations.

Learn more about the top projects or watch the global celebration. It is such a joy to facilitate this global network of Christians passionate about bringing the gospel where it's not in their local context. 

3. Work Pass Renewal
We asked you to pray for an expeditious approval.

Unfortunately, we are still waiting. The thought of having to move countries in six weeks is a little frightening, but we continue to go about our daily lives, planning to continue to live and work in Singapore.

WBC Friends, this past month we have seen God at work in so many ways. We wish you could join our calls and see the names and faces of the leaders we serve and how they are innovatively brining the gospel to new places and spaces. Thank you for your continued partnership in leading the next generation of digital missions.

Photos below:
- Gwenyth turns 8!
- Dressing up as Canadians, eh, for international day.
- Meredith surprises her mom for a special birthday.

Youth for Christ Update

Robert & Susan Martin - Kingston

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us." II Cor. 4:7

We are simply humble jars of clay but the message of the gospel we have and carry to the world is the greatest of treasures.

It’s been a while since we have been in touch.  

We’ve had a summer busy with different responsibilities than usual.  We continue with the ongoing assisted living for Susan’s parents.  Her dad’s health is declining and we are endeavouring to keep him comfortable and cared for in his own home.  

We also decided that it was time to relocate. We put our house on the market, sold it the first of the summer and moved back to Kingston.  

A couple of weeks ago we had the privilege and fun of being involved in helping with an outdoor wedding. 

Most of all we wanted to let you know that once again we are beginning to return to the prisons for “in person” ministry. As of September Robert has been back inside the institutions and it has been great to see the men face-to-face again. Beginning in the month of October we will resume Sunday evening chapel services in four institutions as well as one on one visits during the week.  We praise God for these recent opportunities and truly hope they will be able to continue. Letter writing and phone calls have kept us somewhat in contact with these men but what a joy to return and see them.  

God’s Spirit reaches where we cannot go and we have been humbled to realize how the Holy Spirit is able to keep these men growing in grace and faithful in their walk with Him without our presence. God doesn't need anyone of us. He will get it done; He just gives us the privilege of being a part of it.  

They have the same “treasure” in their jars of clay! 

Please continue to pray for us and the men we minister to inside prison walls.    

Serving our Lord and Saviour together, 

Robert and Susan 

Our mailing address is:
Prison Minstry, Kingston
PO Box 20051
Kingston, ON K7P 2T6

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Raul & Jessenia Espinoza

Dear Wallenstein family,

There are exciting things happening at church these days. We wish you could be here and see and feel how it is at church on Sundays. It feels like the church is bursting at the seams. The last few Sundays we have filled our church to its limits and taxed social distancing as much as possible. It’s a good problem to have, right?

Carlos and Felipe (the elders at our church) have been doing Bible studies twice a week in a gated community close to Bastion where they meet with a group of Venezuelans who are hungry to learn about the word of God. A good group of them have also been coming out Sunday mornings and it is such a pleasure to have them with us.

We feel like youth group has caught a second wind again as well. Our youth leaders are excited and we have been planning more complex events- for example, “The Olympics”, where the youth had to compete with a series of games and the winners received “golden” medals (actually chocolate).

In a couple of weeks, Lord willing, many of our youth will be headed off to camp. This is to make up for the camp that was canceled in March because of Covid. Please pray for health and safety for campers and staff, and more than anything for hearts that are open to God’s word. We would love to have a group of youth come back who want to make their walk with Jesus real and who would be open to discipleship.

Personally, things have been a little difficult for our little family. Tiago got some sort of bacteria and we had to take him to the hospital for 5 days where he was treated for diarrhea and vomiting. Though it was stressful for us as parents, we were so thankful to see Tiago with a good attitude there. He laughed and played and ran around his crib as much as his IV would let him. Thankfully, he is back home now and acts like that whole ordeal never even happened.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our family and the ministry here. Sometimes we feel very far away, but we are grateful for technology to keep in contact with praying friends back home.

Kept in Him,

Raul, Jessenia and Tiago

Russ & Meredith Martin

A Grieving Child Finds Hope

"Social media is a waste of time and full of fake news and vanity," is a sentiment often relayed by well-meaning Christians.

However, for a young woman named Comfort from Ghana, social media was the entry point to the redemptive hope only found in Jesus at one of the darkest moments of her life.

Missions has always been about going where people are, and today people are online. Thus, our teams seek to be there to meet people, online, in their time of need. I (Russ) was able to personally meet Comfort on a trip to West Africa a few years ago. Watching her story will inspire you.

Most of our daily work is filled with mundane activities behind the scenes, but it is all done so that ultimately we are creating the digital pathways that enable people like Comfort to experience life change and in turn share it with others.

WBC Friends, as you watch this video, please know that the life change Comfort experienced wouldn't happen without your continued partnership in leading the next generation of digital missions.

Photos below:
- Meredith and Wyatt have a new hobby, a fish tank (and a fish)
- Father/daughter breakfast date
- Boys afternoon, ice cream and bubble tea