Dathan and Allison Marshall report “from the road” on their first meetings to present the ministry.
Dear Family and Friends,
Psalm 145:18 –“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”
Praise the Lord for a wonderful beginning couple of months of our deputation ministry! God has certainly proved Himself to be Faithful and the Provider of all we need. After being approved as missionaries in July through our mission agency, Gospel Mission of South America, we ‘hit the ground running’ with contacting local churches and designing all of our presentation materials. In the month of August, we had our first missionary presentation at Faith Baptist Church of Phoenixville, PA. Of course, Allison and I were both nervous, but the excitement of presenting the Lord’s work to His people made it completely worth it! Faith Baptist Church holds a special place in Allison’s heart as it was her home church for 8 years of her childhood life. We praise the Lord for the opportunity we had to share our hearts with the family of believers at Faith Baptist Church.
The next presentation that we had was this past Sunday at Twin Valley Bible Chapel in Narvon, PA. This is the same church that we had traveled with to serve on a work team in Argentina last October, so it was neat to have the opportunity to re-connect with familiar faces and share about a place where they have been. We hoped and prayed beforehand that our ministry to them would encourage them and lift up the name of Jesus Christ, but in turn, we were the ones who were truly blessed and encouraged by the body of Christ. To sum up our first two presentations of our deputation ministry, we have been given the privilege of sharing to others the name and person of Jesus Christ, and why He is the reason we have devoted our lives to full-time service in Argentina! Our ministry for Christ is just a small glimpse of what He wants accomplished by His people: to tell others about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Our goal each week is to visit two different churches each Sunday morning and evening, so that we can build on relationships and ‘put a face to the phone call’. So far, we have seen the Lord really using these visits to encourage pastors and church members, as well as giving us opportunities to share about Argentina with them. Please pray that people would respond to hearing the Gospel preached, and that people would be stirred toward our missionary endeavor. As we prepare to plant churches in Argentina, you could begin even now to pray for souls to be reached, for a church-planting team to be established, and for the nationals and American missionaries to work together effectively. Please also pray for more opportunities to arise for us to present in churches for the upcoming year, as we would love to fill our schedule. Again, we thank each one of you for your steadfast prayers and support! Our mission to be in Argentina is completely dependent on God and Him working through you. May God bless you for your faithfulness and devotion to prayer!
In Christ,
Dathan and Allison Marshall
