Gord Martin - Vision Ministries Kenya

Good evening to all of you,

I was talking with Ishmael this afternoon. They’ve had a challenging month. Their son John, age 23 was involved in a pretty serious motorcycle accident, Molline (his wife) was diagnosed and hospitalized with Covid-19 last week, now home and doing better and then, the transmission of their vehicle  “acted up”. Nevertheless, they are pressing on. We had a very good talk today.

The five conferences begun in October were all finished by the end of November. They worked hard! Ishmael and his team traveled to five regions after we left, all of them quite far apart on roads that are not easy to travel.

A big thank you to all of you who prayed and gave to support the ministry in October. Of course one of the big stories was the story of the water project. Here are two short videos describing what happened there. This one is 1 minute long https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNJeZuDYMpc And this one is about 4.5 minutes long https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8b4pfBTo80 Impact Hope is on the verge of providing the necessary pump and solar panels.

We anticipate that VMK will continue their priority of Leadership Training but will engage in addressing more “social projects” as well. After the five regional conferences were over Ishmael and his team hadn't had enough. They decided to make a trip to the north of the country to visit a remote, nomadic tribe. See the attachment. This was a real eye opener to them. Ishmael said that he didn't realize there were people in his country still living under those conditions. He was deeply moved by what he saw and experienced there.

Just wanted to let you know what's been happening,

Gord Martin
Vision Ministries Canada

145 Lincoln Road, Waterloo, ON

519-501-5933 cell

www.vision-ministries.org

Trevor & Hannah Martin

Living Room Labour

Hannah's contractions started just a little bit on Wednesday morning. No big deal we thought, but took note. We had a midwife appointment that afternoon and labour did not seem imminent. But contractions continued during the day and into the night. We were hoping to have a good night's sleep and re-evaluate things in the morning. God had other plans. After trying to sleep for a bit, more steady contractions came and we called the midwife at 2AM. She came quite quickly to our house to check on Hannah. "You might make it to the hospital or you can have the baby here," she said. Hannah looked over at me (Trevor) with a look of uncertainty when i exclaimed "I'm ok to do it here!" Soon enough, our living room turned into the delivery room and our couch was the delivery bed. Just over an hour later, baby Avery came out weighing 6lbs 11ounces! Our family has been doing well, trying to catch some sleep and thankful that Avery has been healthy so far.

As we celebrate Avery's birth, we rejoice with you in celebrating the precious birth of our wonderful Saviour, Lord and King...Jesus!!!!!
Whatever season of life you are in, we share with you

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Trevor & Hannah Martin

It Was Such A God Moment!

"I was getting a manicure for my birthday and started talking to the woman doing my nails. I found out that she and her husband had just immigrated from Turkey and couldn't use their existing degrees so have decided to go back to school. She's in the same social work degree as me and we have some classes together! I talked about being a part of Power to Change and how we have bible studies, and she's really interested in coming to check it out. It was such a God moment! "

CC was so excited to tell Hannah this story during their one-on-one discipleship time. It was neat to hear how God was using her everyday moments to bring people one step closer to Jesus. CC is growing in her faith and it is exciting to see how Jesus is impacting all areas of her life. Pray for CC and her friend that they would continue to be able to connect and meet Jesus in deeper ways. And thank you for help students like CC to take steps of faith!

Snapshots

TL: Hannah's team and Trevor enjoying a meal together
TR: Trevor going horse riding at our staff retreat for the first time!
BL: Amelia's 5th birthday party!
BR: Amelia "helping" with the raking at Grandma & Grandpa's

Baby Coming Soon!

As you countdown to Christmas, remember us as well, as baby Martin is due on December 22! We are cherishing our time currently as our family of 3 and Amelia is very excited to become a big sister. Please pray that Hannah and baby would have a safe labour and that our first couple of weeks would go well.

Giving Corner

To make a special year-end/Christmas donation or setup a monthly donation, you can go to p2c.sh/thm, call 1-855-P2C-GIVE or feel free to reach out to us! Alternatively, some of you have asked us about a baby registry, so we made one that you can see below.

Thank you to all of you who faithfully support our ministry financially and/or in prayer. From our family to yours...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

A couple links you might like

1) Chris Tomlin - Christmas Day Song
3) Super Easy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Gord Martin - Kenya trip

Good afternoon to all the brothers and sisters at Wallenstein,

I want to thank you very much for the gift of $250.00 which you sent to our office for our ministry. A big thank you to you!

Since being in Kenya, Ishmael and his team have visited a new area which is inhabited by a nomadic tribal group. Ishmael said he didn't even realize there were people still living like that in his country. However he was elated at the opportunity to bring the gospel to them, they were most responsive! For a 5 minute video about our trip there, click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8b4pfBTo80

I have been working for some time with a core group of about 10 families in Ottawa that is hoping to launch a new Persian church plant there. The planter is a very steady person. I had the opportunity of meeting the core group a few weeks ago when I was in Ottawa. I was impressed with them, with their genuineness and with their readiness to launch this work in our nation's capital. They estimate that there are 10,000 Farsi speaking people in Ottawa. So far, there is no Persian or Farsi speaking church there.

On November 28th I spoke to the Persian Spirit of Truth church in Toronto. It was their first in-person gathering in a year and a half. I spoke to them from Psalm 126 which includes the words “we were like men who dreamed!” It was great for them to be together again!

I've also been working with an Ontario church in crisis. We are making some progress and I would appreciate your prayer them and for me.

Thank you again for your kindness and generosity,

Gord Martin

Vision Ministries Canada

145 Lincoln Road, Waterloo, ON

519-501-5933 cell

www.vision-ministries.org

Richard & Marina Haverkamp

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ at WBC,

We greet you in that name, which is above all names, Jesus, the sovereign Lord, and with the words of John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Wonderful words for the times we’re living in.

Next year, 2022, the churches in Belgium are celebrating. 50 years ago, the first church was started in our living room in Edegem, Belgium. This year, 2021 it is 50 years ago that we went first to Holland and then six months later to Belgium. Much has happened during those 50 years for which we praise God. And all those years WBC has stood with us with prayer and financial support. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your faithfulness during those 50 years. We praise God for your love and liberality in standing with us. No doubt, He, the Lord of the harvest, and the One we love and serve together will reward you in His own wonderful way.

We are no longer able to do what we used to do, but we’re still involved in the Lord’s work. I have sent seven messages to Belgium, and they have been listened to over 10.000 times, praise God. I am also by email or messenger in continual contact with folk, saved and unsaved, over there. And last week I received two emails, one from Germany and one from Belgium.

The one from Germany came from an organization called, "Konferenze für Gemeindegrundung = Conference on Church Planting. This organization started at least 30 years ago in Germany with a group of leaders who wanted to promote planting of new churches. They had heard of the growth in Belgium and asked me to be the speaker at their first conferences in West Germany, two times, East Germany, and Switzerland. Hundreds of workers, elders, deacons, missionaries, and others attended, and these conferences were really blessed and resulted in the starting of a number of new churches. They now wrote to me asking me to write a long article for their magazine to be printed next February. The purpose is to stimulate and inspire the younger generation to plant new churches. What a challenge and opportunity, I would ask your prayers for this.

The email from Belgium asked me to write a foreword for the gospel of Mark which was translated in the West Flanders dialect. The man who did the translating was someone mentioned in my book, “The God Who is real” named Tony. He ate some poisonous herbs and gave some to his little pig in the barn, which was dead the next morning, but Tony had nothing. He was converted and the change in his life was so great that his siblings noticed this and out of curiosity came to a Bible study and a number of them became Christians after some time, praise God. Tony wanted to reach more of his people in West Flanders (Flanders Fields) and so he translated Mark's gospel into their dialect. Pray that I may find the right words for the foreword of this book.

Marina and I continue to rejoice in the Lord despite difficulties and limitations. God’s grace is sufficient.

Many heartfelt thanks again for your Christian love, prayers, and financial support.

God bless you and keep you until we meet at Jesus' feet.

Loving greetings.

Yours, still in His service,

Richard and Marina.