Dear Partners in Ministry,
God is so good!! Looking into the precious face of our 3 ½ - week old baby girl brings utterances of tremendous praise to God. Now I can truly understand the correlation between the taking care of a newborn baby and the supporting of a newborn Christian. I have to say I would much rather be discipling a new Christian than changing a smelly nasty diaper, but the rewards of the snuggling and smiles from Eliana are priceless.
Monthly Support Update:
The date of departure has been set for January 15, 2005. With the new supporters obtained, we are now at 90%. The month of October is packed tight with mission conferences and meetings in California. With the promised support from past meetings and possibility of support from California we are praying fervently that the 100% will be reached by the middle of November.
Baby Update:
For those who did not get our e-mail updates, here is a synopsis of the birth of our beautiful baby girl. Eliana Grace was born September 3 at 8:47 AM. She weighed 7 lbs 4 ozs and was 18 ½ inches long. Praise the Lord she is healthy and the prettiest little girl in the whole wide world. (Of course we are a little biased.) Please pray for her continued health as we travel to California for a month of meetings.
Ministry Update:
Keith Stensaas tells me Opus (one of the seminary guys starting a work in Lukya) is doing wonderfully. They have had great visiting opportunities in the town and have seen many come to Christ. Please continue to pray for Opus as the church is formed in Lukya. I have had some great preaching opportunities this month. It is such a joy to have teenagers approach me after a meeting and share how God is directing them to serve on the foreign field. Maybe we will see some of them in Africa someday.
At a church we were in this spring, Kristy gave her salvation testimony about how as a child she made a profession of salvation but later could only remember getting baptized, not getting saved, so she got assurance of salvation. We visited the church this week, and the Lord allowed us to hear of a wonderful blessing. A lady said the Lord had worked on her heart after the spring service and caused her to realize that she had not been saved, only baptized, and she accepted Christ after talking with the pastor. Praise the Lord for how He uses us to bring others to Himself!
In His Service,
Tony & Kristy Applegate
tony@theapplegates.net / kris@theapplegates.net
CURRENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
Money for airline tickets - $3,500; To be a blessing in our upcoming meetings; Money for Container - $4,000