dwight update 10/22
Dear Friends, Family and Partners in the Gospel.
“(We) thank God every time (we) remember you. In all our prayers for all of you, (we) always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Phil. 1:3-6.
We cannot thank you enough for the prayers and support we have received from all of you. God has continued to show that He is faithful and gracious to supply all our needs. Lillian was able to stay for two months and Don for one month in the US to help while our grandson Tristan was in the hospital with his parents for 6 weeks of leukemia cancer treatments- bringing meals, providing relief time for them and emotional support since they were basically in the hospital 24/7 providing care for Tristan.
FolIowing 6 weeks in the hospital Tristan then had 28 days continuous immuno therapy infusion. He got to be home during this time but went to the hospital every two days to get a new medication bag and weekly went for blood tests and Dr. visit.
Tristan is now free from 5 ft of IV tubing and a portable pump and has been starting to walk. He did 20 steps recently. He is currently in remission from leukemia but needs to continue treatments and will be in and out of the hospital for those.
We were able to join the Taiwan Covenant Churches as they celebrated their 70th anniversary in September. From the humble beginnings of Covenant missionaries planting churches in the 1950s to today when there are 57 churches and 13,000 members the Lord has blessed this church. Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to use the local pastors and lay people to proclaim the good news of Jesus. 5000 attended the celebration in Taipei.
We are excited to see our JCC church council stepping up in leadership and decision making for the church. Also, every week we seem to have newcomers now that visas for Filipinos have opened for new workers to come to Taiwan. We also praise God that our Filipinos members have been giving more to support a pastor. Bible studies are going well and people are growing in Christ.
Prayers and Praises
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We rejoice that Taiwan has finally opened up missionary visa applications. Pray for Pstr Jun Bonganay and his wife Beth who are willing to come pastor the Filipino JCC ( Jesus Covenant Church) in Taiwan. Pray that God will help them to get the necessary documents for the visa and they will receive their visas to come to Taiwan in a timely fashion.
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We will be leaving Taiwan the last week in July 2023 and will be retiring from the Evangelical Covenant Church’s Serve Globally mission’s department in February of 2024. Once we are back in the States we will be visiting all of you wonderful churches and friends that have supported us all these years to share what God has been doing and to give our thanks and goodbyes. Do remember that God is calling younger people from various churches to serve him in other areas in the world – so please prayerfully consider blessing them with your partnership after we move on.
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Oct. 23rd, 2022 is the 28th Anniversary Celebration of JCC. For Filipinos an anniversary celebration is a way to invite new friends into God's house to meet Jesus. Pray for all preparations which involve praise music and dances, testimonies and skit and food and for those who will attend. We thank God for His faithfulness to this church for 28 years.
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For our travels to the Philippines on Nov. 9-16. It has now been over 3 years since Don last visited because of Covid. We have also invited former Taiwan JCC members from other parts of the Philippines to join us at the JCC church in Pasig, Manila. It will be a time to encourage and also to say goodbye.
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Thank you for the continued prayers for Tristan tomorrow Oct.1 he will go back into the hospital for a few days for the next round of chemo-therapy. Pray for protection for his little body from the effects of the strong anticancer drugs.
Thank you all again. We could not have done any of this work without your partnership and God’s gracious hand of blessing. We pray God’s hand of blessing on each of your lives and your churches.
To God be the glory,
Don and Lillian Dwight