Dear Prayer Partners, January 2023
We want to thank you for your continued prayers throughout the Christmas season and New Year. Thank you also for the beautiful cards and gifts we received from many of you. Our year ended with a flurry of activity. We returned from our furlough and jumped right into the many activities associated with celebrating Christmas. Our program was unique in that several of our ladies had readings from the perspective of varies women that would have experienced the first Christmas. Sherry worked with our youth to present music as well as directing the ladies with their parts. A new activity for Steve was helping the police department with the Toys for Tots distribution. After the busy month, we were able to visit with family for a late Christmas in Indiana.
The New Year brought a new theme for Hualapai Baptist Church “Rend your Heart” from Joel 2:13. Our focus is on personal revival and a closer walk with God as we purpose to confess the sin the Holy Spirit reveals to us. At the close of the service New Year’s Day a ten year old girl that is being fostered by one of our church regulars received Jesus as her personal Saviour.
Our community suffered several losses of members this month. Steve ended up officiating funerals two days in a row. Tragically, on the way to the cemetery, a family member fell out of the back of the pickup truck transporting the body and died at the scene. This family does not come to our church, but one of the members is a close personal friend of Steve’s whom he has witnessed to on numerous occasions. The gospel was clearly presented again during the funeral the day before. We pray the young man who passed away during the funeral procession received the Lord as his Saviour!
In family news, Mom DeFord turned 80 January 10. Our family joined Steve’s two brothers’ in Prescott where we presented Mom with scores of cards that had been sent in from across the country. She has some travel plans this year, so we all chipped in and gave her some much needed luggage. Now she’s ready and eager to visit the grandkids and great-grandkids!
As we write this letter we are preparing to leave (with my deacon, Melvin) for our mission trip to Israel. Lord willing we will be flying out Tuesday, January 31 arriving in Tel Aviv February 1. We appreciate your prayers as we purpose to be a blessing to our young missionary family serving the Lord among His chosen people.
For God’s Glory,
The Steve De Ford family