1 Tim. 4:10 “ For to this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially those who believe.”
Dear Saints,
Greetings to you all who love us in faith! (Titus 3:15) Praise the Lord!!!
The church life in Islamabad in the past months has been filled with many uplifting events.
- Towards the end of September last year, sixteen (16) local brothers from different localities in Pakistan had a training in Islamabad. The general subject was on “An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery before His Appearing”, which was a re-speaking of the 2023 Summer Training messages.
- Three brothers from Dist. 2 received a burden from the Lord to propagate in the municipality of Wah Cant and in the city of Taxila, around 30 km. (19 miles) northwest of Islamabad. Thus, in the last week of September they started visiting families there. On Nov. 24th, they baptized 3 saints from Wah Cantt. (See the attached picture.) They have been having a group meeting starting this year. (See the attached picture.)
Taxila is a vast historical site that includes a
Mesolithic cave and the archaeological
remains of 4 early settlement sites, Buddhist
monasteries, and most importantly, the church
that Thomas the Apostle established in this
region.
- There are now 2 communities where saints meet in the city of Faisalabad, an added golden lampstand. Four (4) saints from Islamabad were able to join in the first Lord’s Table Meeting at the second place.
- In early October, we had a short time of fellowship with our Pakistani trainees attending the full-time training in Malabon, Philippines when we attended the LMA conference in Manila. Raj also attended the ITERO conference.
- Our annual National Blending Conference was held in Karachi on Nov. 18 & 19. The general subject was “Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming.” There were around 215 saints that attended the conference. They were very delighted to see some visiting brothers from abroad joining us: Bro Ken Mooney from Munich, Germany/Ilinois, USA and 4 brothers from Gaoshiong, Taiwan.
The visiting brothers did not only attend the blending conference, but they also visited several individual families, groups of saints and even the meeting halls in Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad ((Bro Ken), and Karachi (in the picture).
- In Islamabad, there’s a Korean- speaking family with 3 teenaged children that we have been meeting at their home for the past 4 months. They have been in the church life in Korea for many years. In fact, the sister even finished the full-time training in Seoul.
We started having the Lord’s Table at their
home on Fridays. They are not able to join our
regular meetings because of some security
protocol.
- On Dec 1, seven (7) saints from the 5th district were baptized. Four of them were a family, 2 were a couple, and a sister. It was such a happy occasion. Praise the Lord!!!
- On Dec. 9 our young people had their annual outing. However, it was different this time because before they went to a park, they all met at the meeting hall in Dist. 2 and spent time in prayer and fellowship as well as getting to know one another. Furthermore, each group of young people from the different communities exhibited their enjoyment of the messages they studied.
- We had our own Winter Training from Dec 23-25 in Dist. 2, but this time it was held on the rooftop of the meeting hall, in a big tent. There were 115 saints that attended, including 2 families from Taxila. One of these 2 families (husband and wife) was baptized at the end of the training.
The saints enjoyed the messages, the sharing,
and the consecration time.
The children also had their own meeting ,
but they also had an exhibition of what they
had learned, in front of all the saints.
- On Jan. 12, around 50 core members of the church in Islamabad spent some time in prayer, so that the Lord could gain the increase He desires for the year 2024.
PRAYER BURDENS
Please pray for these matters:
1) Some families will receive the burden from the Lord to propagate and migrate to other cities, especially to Faisalabad.
2) More families will be added, and the backslidden ones will be recovered.
3) The Lord will show us another community where He wants us to go for gospel preaching.
With much grace,
Raj and Meldy
(Translated from Google Gemini)
