Refuge

Greetings from Luanshya!

September was a good month for the Source of Light Bible Correspondence School. We enrolled 18 new students, distributed 239 lessons, corrected 225 lessons and awarded 26 certificates of completion. Several of our older students have actually come to the end of the course material. We still see them coming into the library to read and study the books that are on the shelves. Mr. Mubanga, who is 64 years old, is the first to start the new series "Light From The Old Testament." Mr. Mubanga lives two hours away by foot in an area known as Mpongwe. He makes the trip twice a week to deliver his course and pick up his new one. He uses the lessons as source material for the messages he preaches in his rural church. Please continue to pray for brother Mubanga and over 3,500 other students registered with the SOL ministry.

The College and Career class will conclude the study of Daniel this coming Friday with chapter 12. They will be looking at the Great Tribulation and the Deliverance of Israel. The group will be taking a break after the conclusion of this series until January as many will be going to their family farms to prepare the ground for planting season while others return to their homes for the holidays. During the time
slot where we ordinarily have this class, we will be showing a series of films on the Return of Christ.

One of the local churches here in Luanshya has asked me to consider coming to teach on "The Lord's Supper". There is often confusion and sometimes conflict over exactly what the Lord's Supper represents and how it is to be conducted. The Apostle Paul had the same situation in Corinth and he spent almost an entire chapter admonishing the believers on the proper attitude, mode and procedure for remembering the last
supper that Christ had with His apostles. I look forward to the opportunity to teach about this command that the Lord left for His people.

The hot season is upon us. Temperatures during the daytime hours have climbed as high as 120 degrees. There have been a number of reported deaths in our town due to heat stroke. This is also the time when many people take their own lives because of weather conditions and young people have taken their lives from the pressure of school exams. October is known as "suicide month". It is for that reason that we spend so much time with our young people letting them know that there is someplace
that they can come for refuge. Please pray for our community at this time.

Last week I had an opportunity to meet a pastor from a church in South Africa. He was talking with a group of church members and he asked the question, "Can We Be 100% Sure That We Have Eternal Life?" I smiled because I knew the answer. Sadly, he did not. He said, "While we have the assurance that the Lord loves us, we cannot have 100% assurance that we have eternal life." What hope can this church leader possibly give to his flock? After his talk, I spoke to a few of the members of the congregation and explained that I did have 100% assurance and shared with them John 10:27-28 and 1 John 5:13, along with many others. Some people have asked me if we are working with "unreached people" here in Africa. We do not know what the classification is for "unreached" may be, but we are reaching people who have been reached with the wrong message. Thank you for making this possible by your prayers and financial support.

In His Service,
Patrick & Sherry