UPDATE FOR FEBRUARY 2008

Kingsley led worship! Back in February 2005 we introduced you to Kingsley Ezeguee from Nigeria. This young brother lives just 15 minutes from us and works in our area and brings a breath of fresh air and joy to us. We have treated him and his other Nigerian friends to meals in our home. He was prepared for Christian ministry in one of the Bible schools in his native country, but since he was just beginning to learn to speak Italian, he could do very little at first. Whenever he was called upon to pray in the assembly or asked to preach, Harold translated his "Nigerian English" into Italian. Now, however, he is quite fluent in Italian and accepted to lead the worship. Our people were patient and pleased that he could use his gifts in this way.

Because he comes from the Ibo tribe in Nigeria, he links up with other Ibos who have migrated to Italy to work. He shares an apartment with three Muslim young men his age. He courageously encourages Ibos to talk about their faith, and invites them to come along with him to worship with us. He has brought Catholics, Evangelicals and even a Muslim from Bangladesh.
February sickness. Even though Enid and Harold took their influenza shots back in November, they came down with varying degrees of flu. Enid had stabbing pains and fever for two or three days, while Harold just felt weak. They had to cancel two Bible studies, but seem to be back on their feet.
Enid has a small cookbook. A missions committee, working on a missionary fair for their church, requested the missionaries to furnish four or five recipes typical of their country of service to create a missionary cookbook. So, Enid put together several for Italy. They are delicious. Need we say more?
Matthew Commentary. Work is proceeding slowly on Harold?s Matthew studies. These he inserts as sermons preached here in Matelica, between other sermon series. He shares printed copies with some of the men who will be preaching. It is very interesting to see what use they are able to make of Harold?s work as they preach the material back to Harold during their own service in the Matelica church!
Thanks Debbie! Debbie Alwardt, of the Southern Heights Christian Church in Lebanon, MO, has faithfully served as forwarding secretary for many years. We are deeply grateful for what she has done and is as a trustworthy Christian servant. She?s the kind of friend "you could entrust your checkbook to", literally! We have watched her children grow up and rejoice in their accomplishments. Thanks also to Mike, her husband, who has worked quietly behind the scenes to take care of this beautiful family.
Thanks Dan! For those of you who receive our Newsletter, maybe you did not know that Dan DeNeal of Hoopeston, IL, is the professional printer who adds the finishing touches to our Newsletter and prints it. He then ships it to Debbie and she affixes the mailing labels, sorts and organizes everything according to postal rules so that the mail will go out.
Thank you all! With friends and help like you, the Lord has been able to make use of our efforts to encourage Italian Christians and become a point of reference. Some younger missionaries even call Harold "Gandalf". You have prayed, we have worked and the Lord is praised!
Pray for our lost calendars. Every year our people distribute calendars with a well-written Christian message for each day. These are appreciated by their non-Christian and Catholic friends. Our order for these got tied up in the Christmas rush complicated by a lengthy and crippling strike by truckers. We believe our order (and that of a lot of others!) is tied up in some postal warehouse. Would you pray that these tools for evangelism may be delivered, and more critically, that the Christian gospel may be proclaimed in one more way that is appreciated by its recipients?