July 2007*

Dear Friends and Supporters,

As we write, our hearts are full of joy and gratitude to the Lord for His unfailing goodness to us in so many ways. We trust that you too, are enjoying God’s goodness each day and find many reasons to thank and praise Him.

HOME AGAIN:

It is wonderful to be back in NZ again! We returned in March, having completed six years in the Philippines. Our house in Tauranga has been sold to the tenant and we have bought a new house that will be very suitable for our needs. Both transactions were made without agent’s fees - a real blessing from the Lord.

NEW RESPONSIBILITIES:

Winsome has been appointed as Manager of the SOWERS office so has spent considerable time there lately. She is grateful for the Lord’s provision of a new part-time worker to help with some of the administrative tasks.
John has been appointed Regional Director for Asia, which will involve periodic trips to the Philippines and Nepal. Please pray with us in our desire to revive the work in Hong Kong, as the Cheah family is no longer working there with SI. Visits to China and India are being considered.
Please include this in your prayers too.

NEPAL – SECOND VISIT:

During May and early June John made a four-week second trip to Nepal with Jesse C. from the Philippines. First, a two-day Level 3 seminar was held for nine of the Level 2 graduates who were trained in November ‘06.
Please pray for these new Level 3 Sowers, that they will now conduct Level 1 seminars on their own.

Then, three Level 1 & 2 seminars were conducted in three different locations. The first of these was a very rural setting in the hills – a one-hour journey by four-wheel drive jeep from pastor Nabin’s church. What a blessing to have transport when pastor Nabin said the trio would need to walk for several hours! The church and the house where they stayed were amidst rice fields and on the edge of some jungle.
Twenty-two eager students were trained and at their practice open-air meeting five people professed salvation. At the end of this seminar the trio were fortunate to be able return to pastor Nabin’s church by jeep, in spite of the heavy rain the night before.

Both Jesse and John were asked to speak at a leadership seminar that Nabin had organized for leaders of his church and three daughter churches. Some of these leaders had walked for many hours to attend.

The next seminar was held at a church surrounded by rice fields about 20 kms from the city of Nepalganj, a few kilometers north of the Indian border. Fifteen students attended. We were accommodated in a believer’s home where we were cared for very well. Temperatures here were probably 40+ degrees. That made the concrete church like an oven! The cooler evenings were much appreciated.

The urban setting was a refreshing change from the rural places where a certain amount of ‘roughing it’ brought its particular trials and testing, although this city is congested, polluted, noisy, dirty, dusty, etc! John preached after the worship service on the subject of discipleship. Three women responded to his altar call for first time decisions for Christ and for recommitments for those who felt the need to be better followers of Jesus Christ.

After the first visit in November ’06 Nabin told us that seven new people were attending his church as a result of the open-air meetings. John asked him to identify any of these who were at church so he could take a photograph. There were three adults with children. Another woman was at church the previous week. Praise the Lord for this fruit from the preaching of the Gospel in public places using the sketchboard.

Please remember pastor Nabin in your prayers as he translates the counseling booklet and the student’s manuals into Nepalese and pray too, for the funds to print these once the translation work is completed. Nabin has a wonderful vision for Nepal. He wants to see a SOWERS team in every church! God is leading him to be involved with SI on a full-time basis some time in the future.

PHILIPPINES:

We don’t have a lot of news from the Philippines at present, but we have received some emails from Norsie. Please pray for him and his family as they find things difficult financially. He is finding it is not easy to arrange seminars so please pray that church leaders who have said they want seminars will schedule them soon. If he can arrange and run two more Level 1 & 2 seminars, Jesse has agreed to recognize him as a Level 4 Sower. Some of you have been praying for the Luzon Working Committee of which Norsie is a member and some have asked for a picture of them.

Please visit our web site to view it. This is a picture of the inaugural meeting we had with them all before we left Manila in March. From left to right: between us, Ismael (Smile) J, Chairman; Apollo T, Treasurer;
Norsie L; Jesse C, National Director just visiting from Cebu; and Ester G, just visiting. Ester is the widow of former Director, Philip and is a Board member. She now lives in Manila. Two members were absent: Isachar L and Efren T.

DEPUTATION:

Now that we are based in NZ we are available to visit churches to report
on our work with SOWERS in the Philippines and Nepal. We have some pictures to show, a DVD and a promotional display to promote the ministry of SOWERS International. If you would like us to visit your church, please contact the SOWERS office or us directly. We would be glad to make some plans to visit you.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Our contact details will remain as follows until we are settled in our new home: C/- SOWERS Intl, PO Box 897, Tauranga, 3030. You can reach us by phone at: 07 577 0037 (SOWERS Office), 07 578 9443, or 07 578 2748.

With our love and warmest greetings and sincere thanks for your faithful partnership and prayers.

John and Winsome Edwards -