New Hope Northwood

Dear friends and family,

Thank you once again for standing with us, in spirit, in prayer, and financially.  We are a team, and we could not be here without you.

We are doing well as a family.  Melissa and I continue to press on in language and culture study.  It is encouraging to look back on what we have learned, but it is often daunting to realize how much we still need to grasp.  Our kids continue to pick up language as they play with the children here, and they are also making progress in school.  The first week in June we will head out to civilization for a week.  We will attend our annual conference with the other missionaries working here in our region.  We look forward to seeing friends and re-connecting with our partners here.

At this time, I would like to draw your thoughts to a man called Leonat. He lives here with us, and he is close to death.  He is an outcast of the village here, even his own family doesn’t want to be bothered with caring for him in the hospital.  His situation is critical.  Please pray with us as we attempt to share the gospel with him.  We don’t have all of the right terminology, the Scripture passages we need have not yet been translated, I am not at the right level in the language, and there are many other reasons why this might not work.  However, we do know that God loves this man, and that God wants him as one of His children.

I was reading in John 1 this morning, and several verses  came to mind in light of this situation.

John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,”

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Ask God with us, on behalf of Leonat, that we may be able to communicate with this man what he needs to understand to believe in His name.  Pray that we may be able to convey the Truth, inadequate as we are, so that this man may see the grace of God for the first time.  We are trusting that God will use our weaknesses for His glory among the Siar people in this situation.

One other person I would ask you to pray for is our daughter Eve.  She is sick with a high fever right now, and we do not know what she has.

Thanks again for standing with us,

Jonathan and Melissa,
Zoe, Caleb, Eve, Olivia, and Levi

Romans 1:5 ” through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,”

From: jonathan_jackson@ntm.org
To: melissa_jackson@ntm.org
Subject: Levi David Jackson
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 10:13:59 -0500

He’s here!  Our son Levi David arrived at 2:34 am on December 3rd weighing 9 lbs. 6 oz. and measuring 21 inches long.  He’s a big boy, and we’re glad he didn’t come any later!  We arrived at the hospital near midnight, Melissa’s water broke at 2:26 am, and Levi was out 8 minutes later.  He came out face down, so we believe that he turned while she was having contractions.  I know many of you were praying for this, thank you.

On Sat, 11/28/09, Dan Haynes <dhaynes@ebm.org> wrote:

From: Dan Haynes <dhaynes@ebm.org>
Subject: Prayer Update for December 2009

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in
Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every
place.” 2 Cor.2:14

The Thanksgiving holiday is over but may gratitude to our Lord rest in your
heart. As we approach Christmas, can we echo the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor.
9:15? “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” It is because of God’s
gift of His Son Jesus that Mark and Dan recently made “manifest the savor of
His knowledge” in European Russia and in Siberia. They spoke in four cities,
in 14 separate messages to share how the gospel affected their lives and
those in Africa.

Nov.8-10 From Boston to Zurich to Moscow to Irkutsk, Siberia took over
17 hours flight time through 13 time zones. Mark and Dan stepped off
Siberian Airways to -7*F.  Praise God for the Cottles, American missionaries
that Dan was in Bible College with 30 years ago. They graciously received
them into their lives and home. A night’s rest was sure nice after about 50
hours of sleeplessness (barring catnaps)!

Nov.10-13 The Cottles showed their place of ministry, teaching in the
University and serving in a small Baptist church. They helped us over
jet lag and introduced us to Siberian weather, customs and food.
Highlights included two days for official registration, visiting the
world’s largest fresh water lake – Baikal, buying souvenirs and
touring the local markets. They saw ice fishing as Stewart shared his
experience in March pulling fish through a hole in ice 9 feet thick.

Nov.13-18 They arrived in Novokuznetsk, Siberia for a 3-day conference.
They joined Natasha Vins, responsible for organizing the 14-day excursion
and Dr Jackson, President of EBM with interpreter Stephen from Latvia. There
were 3 or 4 Russian pastors that spoke also. The Russians exhibited  joyful
hospitality and love for the Lord. Dan and Mark saw the new jet- propelled
boat for river evangelism and fellowshipped  with a 75 year old father of 13
children and 108 grandchildren. Most of these are in the church. Our hostess
had endured 3 years of prison camp under communism for teaching the Bible to
children. Dan and Mark saw huge steel factories and strip mining of coal.
The night before departure, 20-25 adults came for a send-off. Over an hour
was spent talking about mission involvement. In conclusion, everyone knelt
in prayer led by 7 or 8 volunteers.

Nov. 18-19 In Moscow, Mark and Dan covered the large part of a 3 hour
service in the Baptist church. Most of the folk were elderly. If only time
would allow each one to tell of the years believers survived as an
underground church before the fall of communism.  Mark and Dan saw Red
Square, ate at MacDonald’s, watched the changing of the guard at the Kremlin
and traveled by Metro, city bus and endured traffic on part of the 75 mile
+/-Moscow loop. 12 million people live in the city, about 80% in high-rise
apartments.

Nov 20-23   Dr. Jackson began his long re-entry to the US on Friday. A
13-hour train ride to Kazan brought the other weary travelers to their final
place of ministry. They spoke at a Bible College Friday night, attended a
big church wedding on Sat, preached the Sunday a.m. service and youth
meeting in the afternoon. Other highlights included a tour of Russia’s
largest Islamic mosque. Around half of Kazan’s 1.5 million people are said
to be Moslem.

We are most grateful to you who prayed and donated to make the trip
possible! Please pray for our last meeting on December 6 at NE Baptist
Church in Millerton, NY. We also covet your prayers as we prepare for return
to Mali probably in January. Security issues are still unsettled. Have a
wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. And may God cause each of us to triumph
in Christ during 2010!!   Dan and Marsha

My Dear Friends in Christ,

Greetings in the precious name of our great Savior & Lord Jesus Christ.

Just a brief update; I am doing real well & busy with the ministry. When I left the States in February this year, I was in the 80% mark of my support. Since then, I have dropped dramatically to18%. That is huge & has had its effects on me & the ministry but I can honestly say this, I love the Lord & I continue to serve Him faithfully.

I’ve been doing both my local church (Dayspring Baptist Church) & my WOL duties. I help care-take (teach & preach), in church since we don’t have a pastor at present. With WOL, I’ve been teaching & servicing Bible Clubs.

I was hoping to come back to the States next year to raise more support but it seems I won’t be coming until 2011.

I think of you folks all the time & I pray for you with your families & your ministries. God’s grace is ever sufficient, He is sovereign & He is good all the time. Amen!! – Psalms 65:1-13

Much love & prayers,

Stanley Kone

2 Cor. 3:5
Hello Everyone,

This month we are in the midst of processing paperwork, purchasing tickets, and gathering supplies to head back to Papua New Guinea.  Today we took a family trip to the police station so that Melissa and I could get a thumbprint for our applications for Renewal of Existing Work Permit.  This needs to get back to PNG by next Tuesday, so please pray for that!  We have been able to purchase tickets from Boston to Los Angeles, and then on to Brisbane, Australia, but have not yet bought the last two flights into Papua New Guinea.  For this, we need to wait for the arrival of our son near the end of this month, so please pray for this situation as well.  Also, we are working to gather supplies and spare parts for various things needed to live and work there.  If you’re interested in helping with this, please let us know.

Jonathan and Melissa Jackson,