July prayer letter

Dear praying friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

UK Trip
We thank the Lord we were able to spend a month in the UK. The plan was to have some holiday time and visit our parents. As the Lord would have it, my father (in photo) passed away while we were there. Many people noted that it was God’s timing that we should have been in the UK before my Dad passed away, be there for the funeral service, and still have some time afterwards with my Mum and other family members. We praise the Lord my Dad was ready to go and we are confident we will see him again when our Lord returns or calls us home (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Thank you to all who communicated expressions of sympathy and for your prayers for the family circle.

Coagh Baptist Church
Please pray along with us for my home church: Coagh Baptist. It has been several years since pastor David Scott retired and though he has been helping with visitation, preaching occasionally, and such, the church needs a full-time pastor. It has not become clear whom the Lord would have minister in that capacity so we are asking the Lord to guide the members as they seek His will.

Work at Kagoro
Now that we are back at the seminary, the stacks of assignments to be marked are calling out for our attention. The new semester starts in mid-August so we need to get ready for that. Thirdly, we have been asked to take part in a conference organised by one of our students. That is scheduled for 6-8th August and is about four hour’s drive from here. Pray we would know what the Lord would have us say at that conference, for the event itself, and for safety in travel to and from the conference venue.

Thanks again for your prayers.

David and Debbie Colvin

Prayer letter, March

Dear praying friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus.

Thank you for being a source of encouragement to us through your faithful prayers and financial support.

The Chad outreach was successful. They were kept safe on their long journey and had the joy of seeing many come to faith in Christ during that time. Pray for good discipleship of the new believers and that the students would continue to have a vision for mission and evangelism.

Paul

Paul , one of our students who went on the Chad outreach, has a gift for evangelism. While he was on his practical assignment with a church last June and July he led five people to the Lord. Last semester, the young man he was discipling introduced him to a lady who was dying of HIV/AIDS. Paul led her to Christ a few weeks before she passed away. While in Chad, he discovered that the man assigned as his interpreter was not born again and Paul led him to faith in Christ. When I get discouraged in the work here, I remember students like Paul who make our work a joy and privilege (Heb 10:24). Please pray that Paul would continue to develop his gifts and that the Lord would use him to win others.

Evelyn

Another source of encouragement is the visit of friends. Evelyn, from Windsor Baptist Church, visited us for a week in February. As well as being blessed by her company we were blessed by her lemon meringue, cinnamon scones and other goodies which are NEVER on the menu in Kagoro!

Daunting Tasks

Teaching the largest classes we have ever had is a daunting task. David has 75 in one of his classes and I have 80 in one class and 70 in the other. We would really value prayer not only for the teaching but also for the marking.

I (Debbie) have been made chairperson of a committee to create a five-year development plan for the seminary. Pray for wisdom in our discussions and decisions.
Jos

Many people lost their lives as a result of religious conflict in Jos in the middle of January. Please pray for the success of the relief effort as many also lost their homes and all their property. Pray too for peace to reign in Jos and the nation as tensions are still high.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Debbie and David Colvin

Prayer letter, August 09

Dear Friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus.

Praise

Praise the Lord with us for all His help in the past few months. Once the semester ended, David was able to concentrate more on his studies and completed his dissertation. Thank you for praying him through this process. We each taught an exhausting three week intensive module for the part-time students, managed to finish our marking and then enjoyed a few days rest in Jos in May and in July which has helped to recover our strength.

Challenges

More challenges are ahead as we prepare for the new semester beginning 17th August. Two new staff members have been appointed and it’s likely that there will be more staff changes by the end of the year. Please pray for the new staff as they adjust to their roles and for the rest of us as we adjust to a new dynamic.
Both David and I have been given new courses to teach. I will teach Old Testament Introduction and David will teach Acts and Pauline Epistles. Preparation for these and our regular courses will keep us busy.
David is back in the Registrar’s office and is happy that his predecessor left everything up to date. Pray for strength and wisdom for David as he is once again fully involved in administration.

Parents’ anniversary

Praise the Lord for David’s parents who will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in September. We plan to be with the family for that special event and will spend three weeks’ leave in NI. Pray for us as we have extra classes to compensate for those we will miss and also that we have special times with our families during our break.

Thank you for your involvement in this ministry through your prayers and financial support. Second Timothy 2:21 is the denomination’s theme for the year. Let’s pray we will be useful to God as we live for Him.

Thanks for your prayers.


Debbie and David Colvin

SIM-UK, Wetheringsett Manor, Wetheringsett, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 5QX
SIM-UK Irish Office, Unit 1, Ravenhill Business Park, Ravenhill Road, Belfast BT6 8AW

Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of Jesus our Lord.

Toyota Camry

We thank the Lord for the provision of a 2002 Toyota Camry. It was manufactured in the US and shipped to Africa. One of the great things about this car is the air conditioner. That makes the trips more comfortable especially during this hot season. It also has automatic transmission and cruise control which make driving easier (For those who helped: Phil. 4:19).

Changes

To improve security, SIM has built a wall around the two missionary houses on our side of the road. The wall gives us a little more privacy and stops chickens, goats and other creatures walking through our gardens in the dry season looking for things to eat.

Concerning administration at the seminary, I have not returned to the registry since I am still working on my dissertation. A Liberian colleague, Momolu Massaquoi, will continue as acting registrar for now. Debbie is helping in the library one morning per week. We praise the Lord the library has 18,000 books now. Though this means we have fewer administrative duties, we are kept busy teaching since our classes are large this semester.

Missions week

We had a good missions emphasis week at the seminary. The speaker was Stephen Baba, the director of the Evangelical Missionary Society (EMS). Before taking on that job two months ago, he was the pastor of a missionary-minded church in Abuja which fully supports 30 Nigerian missionaries with EMS. Our students who went to Chad late last year also gave a report of that trip and we thank the Lord that hundreds of people responded to the gospel. Pray for their walk with the Lord and that more of our students will be open to serving in missions once they complete their studies (Is. 52:7).

Prayer letter distribution

We want to thank Ian Strachan for being willing to help with the postal distribution of our prayer letter.

Thank you for your prayers.

David and Debbie Colvin


SIM-UK, Wetheringsett Manor, Wetheringsett, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 5QX
SIM-UK Irish Office, Unit 1, Ravenhill Business Park, Ravenhill Road, Belfast BT6 8AW

Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus.

PRAISE

As we near the end of our extended time in the UK, we have many reasons to praise the Lord and would like to list a few: 1. We thank the Lord that our college fees were provided in full. 2. The four-star accommodation we have been using is great. Praise Him. 3. Throughout this time, we have had access to two vehicles provided freely by relatives. 4. It has been good to have had extra time to spend with family and friends. Renewing fellowship with our main supporting churches has also been a joy. 5. Our support levels with SIM have been high so we thank the Lord and all others who were involved in meeting that need. 6. During this time we have been able to attend some conferences such as Mandate, New Horizon and Keswick (see photo links). It has been great to have had these opportunities to worship at such events. God is Good (Nahum 1:7).

PLANS

We are planning to return to Kagoro Seminary on 19th January 2009. Please pray for the preparations and especially that visas will come through okay. You are invited to a farewell service for us at the Ballynahinch Congregational Church on Sunday evening 28th December.

As usual, there are some things to be done before we leave. I am still working on my 20,000 word dissertation and would like to have that finished before we travel. Debbie is teaching First Peter in six evening classes at the Belfast Bible College and also leading a Bible study for a group of ladies at Coagh Baptist Church.

SARAH YOO

We just heard that one of our SIM colleagues at Kagoro, Sarah, has returned to Korea. She has been battling with malaria throughout this year. It looks like she will not be returning to Kagoro. Pray for her. She will be greatly missed at the seminary. By the way, the Seminary is still looking for someone to teach New Testament who has a doctoral level qualification in that area. Pray the Lord will send us someone with that training (Matt. 9:38).

As ever, thank you for your faithful prayers.

David and Debbie Colvin

Contacts (until we leave): Tel 02887752120, Debbie 07810203459, David 07833145995

Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus.

Studies

Both of us are studying at present. David is working on three modules at the Irish Baptist College and I am taking a three-month course at the Belfast Bible College. This time around, David’s subjects are Romans, The Pastoral Epistles, and more work on the Study Skills module. (He is pictured here with some other students and staff at the college.) My course is a post-graduate certificate in theological education and I am the only British person in the group!

Blog

We have set up a blog. Our prayer letters and monthly updates sent out by email will be ‘posted’ to the blog and we will add some other items from time to time. Please feel free to visit the page which is available at davidanddebbie.blogspot.com.

Security at Kagoro

Since we wrote last year, SIM has been working on improving security for the missionary housing at Kagoro. A wall has been built to surround the house the Shelly family are living in and apparently a wall is also being constructed to surround the house we use. This should help but ultimately we depend on the Lord for protection and encourage you to keep on praying for that (Psalm 91:2).

Keswick Convention

We have never been to the meetings at Keswick but since we have the opportunity this year we decided to attend one of the weeks. The organisers of the conference have kindly made accommodation available to us free of charge since we are missionaries.

We praise the Lord for His help in our deputation meetings. Please pray that we would know the Lord’s strength and wisdom as we continue to have opportunities to share about God’s work at Kagoro.

Thanks again for your prayers.