Holden Family Update

July 2010

Sowing the Story

Hello, everybody! Thanks for your prayers. We’ve now completed our formal language training in French (although Allison begins a three week summer session on Monday) and then we truly will be finished. Both of us tested well and God has faithfully increased our abilities in French each month. Of course, we realize we have so much to learn!

Another amazing way that God has responded to your prayers is in how He has worked in my (Tim’s) dad’s situation.

As you recall, my dad has been on a lung transplant list for a few months and in failing health. On Friday,

July 2, he got a call telling him there was a lung available. After multiple tests were run, the surgery went forward that afternoon. A week later, his body is responding well to the new lung — in fact his doctors are astounded by his rapid recovery! We praise God for this, while at the same time praying He comforts the family and friends of the one who died and donated this organ. Please continue to pray for my dad to grow stronger because of this miracle.

We also ask that you continue to pray for our apartment search. The process of finding an apartment in Paris is more formidable than we imagined. For every decent apartment for rent, there are 10 people who want it. We have to be out of the school apartment by August 5. Please ask that the Lord quickly will open a door for us in the place He has already chosen for us to be. We know He will act!

Along those lines, I have been reading Hebrews 11 in recent days. In verse 8, the Word says: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." This process of finding an apartment is a little like that. The image below is something I have had in my mind for many years. A pitch-black sky with millions of stars shining down on this solitary man, Abraham. This man hears God’s promise and simply believes. We so look forward to finally starting our ministry among West Africans. In our next letter in late August, we will begin to describe the people we are meeting in our new neighborhood. Thanks for your prayers and friendship!

Tim, Allison and Silas