First Congregational Church

Here are some excerpts from recently-received Missionary letters. You'll find the full letters on the bulletin boards in the fellowship area.

Please keep these missions in your prayers.

From James and Molly Goossen, missionaries with Avant Ministries (formerly Gospel Missionary Union) in Nova Russas, Brazil.

Dated May 10, 2004 ...

"On May 6 and 7 Molly had her 4 month checkup. Her kidney function is excellent and her pancreas continues to perform wonderfully, PTL!!

"In March, James and Ivan went to Brazil to host a ministry team for a church in Canada. The objective was to systematically evangelize the town of Sucesso.

"As we all dreamed about a Radio Station, from early on, one of our requests was that God do it in such a way that only He could get the glory. This is happening... On May 20 our deadline is up and James and Ivan will be going down to do all the legal transactions.

"Late Breaking News Flash! As of May 14th, all the money needed for the AM 780 radio station has been received! PTL!"

From George & Kathy Ellison, missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Dated May 12, 2004...

"What a privilege to be home for the birth of Jim (their son) and Amanda's twin daughters. We praise Him that mother and babies are doing fine!

"We arrived back in the USA before we had originally planned due to the imminent birth of the twins... We know that God has had us in the palm of His hand and that we needed to come home just at the time we did. We arrived in Minneapolis on 1-11. Less than 12 hours later, I (Kathy) was driving George to the emergency room... And on January 23, he had surgery for an enlarged prostate.

"About the time we left Ethiopia, I (Kathy) began to have lower abdominal pain. The only thing I could think of was uterine cancer, one of the possible side effects of the cancer drug I was taking. I had all the tests necessary to find any cancer, but I had none. Praise the Lord! ...A CT Scan showed that I had gallstones... So he scheduled surgery March 9.

"We waited until Kathy's final doctor's appointments before making plane reservations to Ethiopia. We were unable to reserve any space available before June 1... As I began to read the visa, I realized that there was a major change in it... It is vaild for two years, be we will have to leave the country every three months... This change really hit us hard. It has ramifications for us and our colleagues."