Dear Partners,
Kathy and I spent a joyful and thankful holiday with part of our family. High on the list things we are thankful for is the impact that that our family is having in the work of the Lord. In addition, we thank the Lord for our health. Kathy is back to full strength. She did her three-mile, hilly walk this morning. She’s beginning to grow hair. She’ll continue to receive one of her chemo drugs, by infusion, every four weeks, until April, and she’s on a daily pill, for at least five years. Neither of these have caused any side-effects.
We thank the Lord for the continued opportunity to be
involved in the lives of missionaries who serve on the front lines of ministry.
As I recently told the folks at our home church, “Since most of our ministry is
pastoral, most of our prayer requests are unspoken.” Here are some items I can
share. They are representative of what we do.
·
In the last year we’ve been privileged to have
several missionary families in our home.
·
I recently traveled to a US city to meet with,
and encourage, a missionary family.
·
We try to stay in touch, where and when we can. Recently
that included traveling to the other side of the Virginia to a funeral, and
will include a trip we’ll make to North Carolina to attend, and celebrate, the
graduation of Stella, a graduate and employee of PIU. She’s receiving her
Master of Library Science degree. We want to encourage our missionaries by
encouraging their key partners, so sometimes our ministry reaches beyond our
immediate LMUSA family.
·
We recently attended a week-long gathering at
LMUSA headquarters in New Jersey. I and the other “codirectors” were challenged
to think bigger, as each of us works with our missionaries in a region of the
world. My focus, in that regard, is the English-speaking USA, including the
Territory of Guam.
·
Every month I get to host an online meeting. We
listen, encourage, pray, and give thanks.
·
I currently serve as a consulting member on the
Liebenzell Mission USA Board, and as a LMUSA representative on the Pacific
Islands University Board. Kathy and I served for 4.5 years at PIU.
Kathy and I are very thankful for the support—prayer,
encouragement, and giving—that we receive. We don’t draw any salary from your monetary
support, but it does pay for our ministry expenses, mainly travel. Thank you. In addition, we are aware of
missionaries and ministries around the world that are worthy of support. If you
are looking for an ongoing ministry to invest in, send us an email or give us a
call. We would love to share some good options with you.
We wish each of you a Merry and Christ-exalting Christmas. “The
Son of Man [Jesus] has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke
19:10) Certainly, we should praise the Lord for that. We should also be
committed to the continuation of that task (2 Corinthians 5:20). Thank you for
helping us do our part.
By His Grace,
Howard & Kathy Merrell
2106 S Carpenter Drive, Covington VA, 24426 / (540) 620-8429 / hmerrell@liebenzellusa.org
Here is our support link: https://lmusa.org/give/hk-merrell/
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