July 23, 2007 Update

Dear Friends,

The summer is quickly passing by! We have had a few exciting things going on this past month. The first Sunday in July was a special Sunday for us at Anchor Baptist Church. I conducted my first baby dedication for David and Hannah. They had a little boy at the end of April whom they named Samuel. It was a very special time especially for David because his parents came from India to see the baby and spend some time with David and Hannah. It was a joy to get to know David’s parents and to hear their testimonies of salvation from many years ago as a result of a Canadian missionary going to India. As a result David was able to grow up in a Christian home. We also had made plans to collect a special offering to help with a building project for David’s home church back in India. They need to expand the auditorium of their little building. They have the block walls up but no roof, windows or doors. We were excited as our little group of about 30 people was able to give over 1100 Euros to help with the building project! We finished off the day with a wonderful luncheon afterward.

We have two different full color tracts totaling 10,000 pieces that have been ordered, custom imprinted with our details and shipped out. They are due to arrive any day now. We are looking forward to using these in our outreach.

Yesterday, I started a program of going through an “A to Z” discipleship program on Sunday evenings with the folks. I think it will certainly be a great asset in grounding the believers in the Truth of the Scriptures. It will also enable me to gain a better understanding of where everyone stands as we try to produce a solid core of believers in the church.

We are thankful for your love and prayers.

May the Lord find us faithful,
Don and Lisa Thatcher and family

June 2007 Prayer Letter

Dear Ministry Friends, June 2007

Three years ago this week our family boarded Delta Airlines Flight 128 headed for Dublin, Ireland to begin our ministry on the foreign mission field. Many things have transpired in three years all of which we thank the Lord for allowing us to be used in His service.

Well, the day finally has come and gone for the big move to Waterford. After checking on prices to rent a truck for a couple days, mileage, fuel, time, etc. along with the advice of our sending church pastor who visited us in March, we decided to have a moving company move us. The cost was not that much more then doing it myself when all the extra costs were added up. With our family of seven we were able to live a normal life right up to the morning of the move. The men came about 9:30, walked in began taking things out of the cupboards, wrapping the dishes, taking the pictures off the walls, boxing everything up and had it all on the truck by 3:30 that same afternoon. They then delivered it to our house in Waterford the next day. It would have taken me over two weeks just to box things up and then several journeys three hours each way to deliver the stuff along with fuel at about $5.75 a gallon! We thank the Lord for the good advice and encouragement from our pastor. I am not fond of moving at all, but this was the least disruptive along with the least amount of stress on our family. Thank you for praying and thank you for those who gave to help with the expenses of moving.

Waterford is much smaller then the big capital city of Dublin, and life will be different down here. In our everyday dealings with people so far we have found it to be more difficult to inter-relate in several ways. Do pray for God’s strength, wisdom, grace and help in all aspects of settling in to our new community and ministry situation. We do have a place to meet in a function room at a local hotel. The Lord has provided us with a brand new full size Yamaha keyboard. Two different full color personalized tracts are on order, and plans are being made to move forward for the Lord in the work here in Waterford.

May the Lord find us faithful,
Don and Lisa Thatcher

Please take note of our new address along with our new phone number:

4 Palm Drive
Grantstown Village
Waterford City, Ireland
Email: thatchers@bimi.org
Phone from Ireland: 051870939
Phone from America: 01135351870939