FOWLERS’ UPDATE FOR OCTOBER 2013

Bible study with interested readers. Two new families insist on our getting together for a home Bible study every week, usually on Wednesday. We need to have a flexible schedule with them because one of the men works different shifts each week. The other man has no job and no prospects for finding one that would support his family. He does odd jobs when he can find them. Italy’s economic crunch is hurting so many people who are already out of work or who fear losing their job, and others have given up hope of finding anything.

One of the women has a Pentecostal background; the other has been a Catholic catechist. This latter has so many questions because since she discovered our group, a lot of her questions about the Catholic Church have come bursting to the surface.

Harold’s passport. We took a fast trip to Rome to apply for a renewal of this document. Our permission to stay in Italy depends on a valid passport, so when this document arrives, we will present it to the authorities to update our residence permission. This makes vital the safe arrival of the passport in our hands, so that we can. Would you pray that Harold’s passport arrive? These documents are now printed only in the States and then shipped hopefully to their destination, so we are concerned about the passport’s safe arrival.

Roberta in Italy.  Our daughter, Roberta, and her husband, Jason Macallister, brought our grandson, Samuel, to visit us in Italy. They made it financial possible to go with them to Venice for several days. Believe it or not, it was our first real visit of this city. We sometimes wonder why they don’t fix the plumbing; there’s water everywhere! Because of this, they need canal boats and steamers to go anywhere from the mainland to the islands. We missed getting caught in the “high tide” but it came in as we were leaving. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip! Thanks, Jason and Roberta.

Thanks to North Joplin Christian Church. This congregation ceased operations on June 8, 2008. They wanted to continue to support their missionaries until all Church assets had been sold. This year they closed by giving a handsome severance package to the missionaries. So, in a very real sense, “even though [she] is dead, still speaks.” We wish to thank these dear people who have supported our work over the years (since 1964!)

Dedication. On the last Sunday of October, seven Nigerian believers came to our church not only to worship with us that day, but also especially to dedicate a baby to the Lord. We took the opportunity to depict this event as especially a dedication of the parents and their fellow believers who will be responsible for bringing up the child “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Three of the Nigerians live in our town, so we shall see what comes of this event.

Thanks to all of you who are praying for our work and making it possible to stay here and work.

Love from both of us,

Enid and Harold Fowler