Email Update 10-25-2013

Hello Everyone,

We've had a busy, but exciting couple of weeks. October is Missions Conference month all around the country. We are currently in the midst of a conference in Johnston, Rhode Island.

This is the fourth conference we have had the privilege to participate in. We've been in Texas, Canada, and Connecticut for our other conferences and will finish up with a conference in Indiana, plus we will be participating in another church's missions emphasis month.

We've seen God do a mighty work through these conferences. We've seen souls come to know Christ, lives surrendered to missions, large financial gifts given, needs met (both physical and spiritual) whether large or small, and hearts set on fire to serve the Lord.

In our current conference, the Lord has spoken to my heart each night and I have been encouraged to trust Him more and to give more of myself, my time, and my money to Him. I know that God is working in our midst and I would like you to pray with us. Please pray that God will touch the hearts of others concerning their giving, not only of their money, but of their lives.

Amy and I pray every day according to the Scriptures, and I hope that you will commit to praying this as well, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:38). We have a God who hears and answers prayer and we continually pray that God will raise up someone in this church, and in the next church, and in the next one, who will give their lives to Him.

We may not see the fruit of it, but we trust that God has allowed, and will continue to allow, us to plant the seed of missions in the hearts of people all over this country.

Praises in the Spotlight 

Additionally, I would like to say thank you to those churches who have recently taken us on for support. We are currently at 27% of our support in just 5 months. They say the first 20% is the hardest, and with that behind us we will continue to trust the Lord for the rest. Please continue to pray with us that God will allow more churches to partner with us.

I wanted to update you that our schedule for next year is continuing to fill, just 3 more Wednesdays for our time in February down in the Pensacola area, and 2 Wednesdays in April and 1 Sunday in July when we will be in Pennsylvania. Once we fill all of those spots, we will begin working on August-December which we plan to spend out west in Utah, California, and everywhere along I-15 in between.

As always, we appreciate you all so much. We heard a powerful message last night that reminded me yet again how your prayer support truly does mean so much more to us than your financial support. Your financial support allows us to do earthly things like eat, purchase supplies, and pay for a building, but your prayer support allows us to do spiritual things like see souls saved, lives changed, and many other wonderful works of God.

We desire to pray for you as you pray for us, many of you have asked for prayer from us in the past and I wanted to remind you that we are always here for you. We may be in another state, and eventually, another country, but we are only a click away. Truly from the bottom of our hearts, "Thank you!"

In Christ,
Traver Freeman


(P.S. We share this missions-loaded picture with every church, if you don't know what it means, either wait until we come to your church, or feel free to ask and I'll share it with you.)

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Traver's Ordination

This past weekend, September 28 & 29th, 2013, I was ordained by our sending church,
Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church, in Pensacola, FL. The questioning council was held Saturday from 8:30-11:00 and the actual services was Sunday evening.

The day of the questioning, I was more than a little nervous leading up to it as I paced back in forth in the fellowship hall snacking on the goodies that were set out for everyone. As it came time to begin the questioning, Amy was able to sit with me for a brief moment as she gave her testimony and then she took her seat with my mom in the pews behind me.

The following 2 1/2 hours were some of the most humbling hours of my life. Everything I knew (and thought I knew) was thoroughly questioned. We went through my doctrinal statement which I had prepared. Most of the questions were practical application of the beliefs listed in that statement. I was relieved when it was finally over.

Sunday was the easy part. We sat and listened to a charge to the candidate (me) from Dr. Karl Stelzer, one of my teachers from school who was on the ordination council. Then there was a charge to the church from our pastor, Mike Davis. The night concluded with the church ordaining us to the gospel ministry.


Here are some more pictures from the evening:

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Email Update 09-23-2013

Greetings!

Fall is here and September is just about over. Where has the time gone? I repeatedly find myself not knowing what month it is as we've been extremely busy on the road. Since our last email, we've gone from California to Florida to Texas to Louisiana back to Florida.

We've been in some awesome churches. We've seen a few more take us on for support and others that would like to in the coming months. God has richly blessed us.

Two weeks ago we were in a Missions Conference in Texas. It was an amazing conference and God's power was clearly evident. Four young men came to Christ that week and God used me to lead one of them to Him. We also saw two men surrender to missions that week, one young man having grown up in that church. We pray daily that God would send forth more laborers into the harvest and it is always thrilling to see God answer that prayer.

We have two more conferences coming up in just a few weeks. One is in Ontario, Canada, and the other is in Connecticut. Please be in prayer for God's continued work during these conferences.

We are continuing to schedule meetings and God is answering prayer there too. We are still seeking to fill our February calendar in the south. We have two Sundays and Wednesdays still open. February is quickly approaching and so I ask that you would continue to prayer for those dates to fill.

This Saturday and Sunday I will be ordained at our sending church, Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church, in Pensacola, Florida. Saturday morning will involve a 3-4 hour long counsel meeting that will basically be an oral test of Bible comprehensive knowledge from several pastors in the area. I would greatly appreciate your prayers at this time.

Remember to keep your heart up and eyes focused on God. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Let us not be weary in well-doing. Let's press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You have the light that a dark world so desperately needs. I hope you will be that light in your communities and that you will help us take the light to Australia.

Your servants in Christ,
Traver and Amy Freeman

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Email Update 09-02-2013

Hello everyone,

Attached you will find our newest prayer letter. It covers two months as I didn't have the time to send one last month.

These past few weeks we've been on "vacation" of sorts. We have spent some time with Amy's parents while visiting in California. It's been relaxing, but that doesn't mean we completely stopped working. I spent every morning calling churches until about 1 PM (4 PM on the East Coast), which was as late as I could possibly call and hope to reach someone.

On average, I scheduled one meeting a day. A couple of those were missions conferences, a few were Vacation Bible Schools, and several others were those Wednesdays I told you we were trying to fill. Only five more to go in 3 months and then we'll be completely packed. I've also begun contacting churches in Florida for February (We want to stay out of the snow if at all possible!).

While visiting in California, we've attended several churches, though many of them are not currently taking on any missionaries at the moment. I have not begun calling churches and mailing them our information packets yet, but our goal is to fill January and next August with churches in California. Will you pray that God would lead us to the right churches with whom He would have us partner?

We also have a few open Wednesdays in November that I am attempting to fill with churches in Indiana, however, we don't have any time in our schedule to book more next year. Would you pray for wisdom for me as I don't want to turn down an invitation to present in a church, but I am really only looking to fill a few spots this year as we don't know where we will be in the fall next year as of yet.

God is good! He has blessed us with wonderful success in scheduling meetings and I know He will continue to provide the financial support that we need. Thank you for your prayers and support. You are greatly appreciated! God is answering our prayers and blessing our ministry.

In Christ,
Traver and Amy Freeman

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August-September Prayer Letter

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Email Update 08-19-2013

Greetings all,

We have had a busy and exciting past couple of weeks. Summer has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Schools have been starting up again, but for once, we're not a part of that! It's so exciting to finally be done with school. We're looking forward to what the Lord will accomplish during the coming months.

Two weeks ago we helped out with a Vacation Bible School. This was our second one of the summer. This one was Australia themed, just for us. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun at the same time. I taught the Bible lesson and Missions Story while Amy assisted me and helped out wherever else she could.

The gospel was clearly presented each and every day and the kids were challenged to place their trust in Jesus Christ. On Thursday, Amy was able to lead a young girl to the Lord. Praise God for His work and saving grace!

Last week, Amy went home to Utah to visit her parents while I attended BIMI's Church Planting School. It was fast-paced week with loads of information. I enjoyed hearing the wonderful testimonies and instruction from the directors and look forward to the day the Lord allows us to put it into practice.

I have had little opportunity for making phone calls during these busy weeks, but God blessed through the many pastors who contacted me. Every Sunday in our March-May schedule has been filled. We will now begin scheduling Wednesdays and moving into June.

Our goal for next summer is to schedule a VBS almost every week. We have a couple lined up, but nothing officially scheduled as of yet. Would you pray with us toward this end?

We trust that God will connect us with people and churches that He desires for us to partner with. The coming weeks promise to continue to be busy for us as we have a Missions Conference at the beginning of September and two (possibly three) in October.

I know it can be easy to get "weary in well doing." But let me encourage you to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." He is more than worthy of all praise and honor. Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him is our reasonable service in light of His great sacrifice for us.

As always, we desire to be a part of your lives and ministries as much as you are a part of ours. If there is anything that we can do for you or pray for you about, please do not hesitate to ask.

In Christ,
Traver and Amy Freeman

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Email Update 7-25-2013

Hello everybody,

Sorry for the delay. It's been about a month since I last emailed. Attached you will find our July prayer letter. (Button at the bottom of the page. Please let me know if you cannot open this.)

As a side note before I got started with the update, we have purchased a new vehicle, a Hyundai Santa Fe mid-size SUV, and thank you for your prayers and a special thanks to those churches who raised some funds to help with it's purchase. It fits all of our stuff perfectly and gives us plenty of space. More will be said about that and pictures will be included in our August prayer letter.

My final class finished Tuesday afternoon and I couldn't be happier about that. No more classes, no more homework, no more tests. It hasn't completely sunk in yet, but I'm sure it will when September rolls around and we're not in class and everyone else is. I'm not sure when I'll get my degree, but I assume it will come in the mail. Thank you so much for all your prayers!

Since we last updated you, we've been in three churches. Additionally, we will be in a church this evening in Pittsburgh, PA and another this Sunday in Glen Burnie, MD. We ask for your continued prayers concerning our support.

We know it's tedious because you'll be praying the same prayer for the next year and a half, but your prayers and support are extremely important to us and we greatly appreciate your co-labor in our ministry and hope that you'll continue fervently in prayer on our behalf. Please be in prayer for God's leading for these churches on whether or not to partner with us to reach the people of Australia.

We've been rather busy scheduling meetings as well. I haven't been keeping an exact count, but I've emailed around 150 churches in Pennsylvanina, and have made around 700+ phone calls to those churches. So far, we have scheduled 8 of those churches, filling up all of our available Sundays in March and April of next year. We will begin filling Wednesdays as we can and move month by month from there. We also have about 15 churches who are interested in scheduling us, we just need to call back in a few months when they are putting their calendar together for next year.

The Lord has been blessing our efforts and I know that your prayers have been effective. Let us not be weary in well doing. The Bible tells us that Moses went to God and interceded on behalf of the people of Israel and God heard him. James tells us that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

A pastor once told me that he has his watch set to go off at 3:33 in the afternoon. The reason for this was to remind him of Jeremiah 33:3 which says "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." I hope that you will pray with us. But more importantly I hope you will praise with us. Will you pray for God to do great and mighty things? Then let's praise God together for His amazing goodness.

In Christ,
Traver Freeman

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Email Update 6-25-13

Greetings!

You'll have noticed we are trying something new with our email updates. Hopefully this works and you all receive it without issue. If anyone has any problems please let us know.

We've had an awesome couple of weeks. Last I wrote you all, we had just finished up BIMI candidate school and were hitting the road.

We traveled 6 hours from Chattanooga, TN to Salisbury, NC where we had a great time with folks there. I was privileged to teach the teen boys Sunday School. Later that night, we shared our testimonies and presented our ministry. I was a little nervous at first because my projector died on us, I tried 15 minutes to get it working without success. I literally dropped down on my knees, laid my hands on it, and prayed. It started working! It took every ounce of restraint not to interrupt the choir practice by shouting "Praise the Lord!"

After our presentation, I was able to preach. At the conclusion of the evening, the pastor called for a missions committee meeting in the middle of the service. It was our second church of our pre-field ministry and they voted to take us on for support. Praise God for His goodness!

The next day we immediately set out for Wilson, NC three hours away. That week, we helped out in a Vacation Bible School. I had the opportunity to lead several children to Christ. A total of 20+ children placed their faith in Jesus Christ that week. Check out this link to our website for extra details: http://www.shalltheyhear.com/2013/06/sonwest-roundup-vbs.html

That Sunday, I was able to teach Sunday School for the teens and we shared our presentation in the evening service. It was such a blessing for us to get to know the people better do to Vacation Bible School. You all know that one of our deputation goals is building relationships and working with this church all week allowed us to do just that.

So far, we have been to three churches and two have taken us on for support. We've only been going full-time for three weeks and already we are at 15% support. God is good! I hope that you will continue to pray for us and that you will consider supporting our ministry.

I frequently share that we, as Christians, ought to be expecting great things from God. Mark 11:22-24 instructs us to place our faith in God, and that through faith, we can move mountains. In Matthew 14, Peter didn't experience God's power by staying in the boat. He walked on water because he had faith in God and His power then acted on that faith. Through God's grace, we will continue to see God's power in our lives.

If there is anything that we can pray for you about, please let us know. We care for you and desire to be a part of your lives.

Your servants in Christ,
Traver and Amy Freeman

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SonWest Roundup VBS

"Howdy Y'all! Yeehaw!" That's what I could be found saying numerous times over the past couple of days. We recently finished up an awesome week of the western-themed SonWest Roundup Vacation Bible School with Tabernacle Baptist Church in Wilson, NC.

We were privileged to work alongside the folks at Tabernacle to help make their year of Vacation Bible School a wonderful success. There were over 100 almost every day with the highest day of attendance bringing in just under 120. If I remember correctly, over five days, 170+ different kids were in attendance.

From the very first day, the gospel message was clearly presented and an invitation given. That first day, I was blessed to be able to lead two young boys to Christ. Later in the week, God gave me another opportunity to help one boy place his faith in Jesus Christ for his salvation. All total, 20+ children placed their faith in Christ this week.

My main responsibility was running the van ministry and sharing the missions story each day. On the side, I assisted in a very rowdy 5th and 6th grade class which had close 50 children in it each day. Amy helped me on the van, and worked in both the craft room and kitchen, lending a helping hand wherever it was needed most.

Throughout the week, the children took a penny roll offering and raised over $200 for Amy and me. We are truly blessed to and thank God for His provision.

On the last day, there was an ice cream party, horses, goats, and hay rides! It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work, too. It was sad to see it come to an end, but it meant some much needed rest for us.

That Sunday, we continued to minister to the folks at Tabernacle and had a great time forging relationships that will last a long time.

Since then, we've already received a request to help in Vacation Bible School from another church. We love Vacation Bible School and if you are interested in us helping out your church, please do not hesitate to contact us at 724-331-5296 or australia.freeman@gmail.com

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June Prayer Letter

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Email Update 6-7-13

Hello Everyone!

I hope that this email finds you all doing well and serving our wonderful Lord. He is so amazing! Attached you will find our latest prayer letter. We will be returning to the monthly format from this point forward (since our schooling has finished), and I'm so glad that I did. I could barely fit everything for one month, and I had to take out the pictures. I hope that you will take the time to read it as it is different from our emails.

This month we reached 100 contacts on our update list. I wanted to say thank you for your help in reaching that mini-milestone. You're a special group of people. You've got a direct line of communication with us. You have shown a personal interest in our ministry. You receive updates and prayer requests that others don't get and you get instant access to our prayer letters before the printed copies arrive in churches. Additionally, we are encouraged because we know that you specifically are praying for us. We greatly appreciate that and we don't take it for granted. Thank you.

This past month, we packed up all our things and officially became "homeless" as we mentioned in the letter. We are renting a storage unit in Pensacola to store all of our stuff rather than carting it back to Pennsylvania (which my mom would not like!) and carting it back to Pensacola again before we leave for the field. We will need to ship all of our luggage, furniture, and appliances to Australia via shipping container. We decided it would be more time/cost efficient to leave everything in Pensacola.

As I sit here typing, we just finished Week 2 of BIMI Candidate School and hold our certificates of completion in hand. We have had to constantly remind ourselves this week that we got a head start, and that we're just beginning. All of our friends are reporting they are at 60% support or 80% support.

We are at 10% support, but we should be at 0%. We should have just finished Week 1. We should have 0 meetings ahead of us and a bare schedule, but we started early so that when we graduated from Seminary we'd hit the ground running. Praise God we have a busy schedule through December of this year. I hope that you will pray and partner with us that we might raise our support quickly.

I don't want to say too much more about Candidate School because that's for next month's letter!

Ahead of us we have three meetings in North Carolina and a Vacation Bible School. Please pray for God's power. We will be door-knocking Monday afternoon and I will be teaching the mission story all week. I'm not sure what God has in store, but I pray that He will give us opportunities to serve Him so that He may be magnified. He is the reason why we serve and He deserves all the glory. I hope you will praise Him for His goodness and grace to you today.

If there is anything we can do for you, please send us an email. We are here for you. Thank you for praying.

In Christ Alone,
Traver and Amy Freeman

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April/May 2013 Prayer Letter

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Email Update 5-10-13

Greetings Everyone!

Attached you will find our latest prayer letter. I usually get these out at the beginning of the month, but I wanted to make sure a special event made the cut. On Wednesday, May 8th, Amy graduated with her master's degree in Bible Exposition. We give God all the glory for this amazing accomplishment!

I still have one more class to go in July. Last summer, we had the privilege of going to Australia to help the Maldoff's for three weeks. Because of this, I missed two classes I was required to take. I made one of them up at the beginning of last semester. However, the last one is only offered in the summer. Being able to serve the Lord in Australia that summer was far more than worth it and I gladly pushed off graduation for that opportunity.

We are gearing up for an action packed summer. We will be helping two churches with their Vacation Bible Schools. This past week, I practiced one of my Australian lessons with our children at our sending church. Dressing up in full safari gear, I took the children into the outback looking for kangaroos and learning about what God can teach us through them. We're excited for what God has in store for this summer.

As I mention in the prayer letter, June 2nd marks our first meeting on full-time deputation. We are in a church almost every Sunday from that point until December. Please be in prayer that God would work in lives, that we'd be able to be a blessing and help to churches, and that we would raise our support in an efficient and timely manner. We know that with God, all things are possible.

Your prayers and support mean the world to us. Thank you so much for the encouraging emails, kind letters, and wonderful gifts that you have given to us. You are a vital part of our ministry.

In Christ,

Traver Freeman

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One Missionary at a Time

"Ye are the light of the world...Let your light so shine before men..." (Matthew 5:14, 16). We were blessed to be able to be a part the missions conference at our sending church, Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church. This year's theme was "Sending light into the world one missionary at a time." I was able to help out by putting my design abilities to use in creating our name badges for the conference.

We began our week on Wednesday with a brief skit. Our focus this year was emphasizing the importance of our responsibility in world-wide missions. Almost all of the missionaries featured are, or were at one time, members of PFEBC. The skit featured each of the missionaries who are currently members, including Amy and I, as well as a representative for the church with respect to our missions trip to Canada this summer.

The need of the countries of Peru, Australia, and Canada were presented. Then certain church members, representing those countries, stood up and cried out "Will someone bring us the the bread of life!" Then, each of us stood and professed God's calling on our lives to take the bread to those countries. We had a physical loaf of bread which we broke and gave out. It was a powerful presentation and a great way to kick off the conference.

Each night we had a series of messages from a variety of individuals. Our keynote speaker was BIMI's Caribbean director, Gary Sprunger (pictured right). Brother Sprunger is a member of PFEBC and is sent out of our church. The messages were focused on the Biblical basis for missions, the importance of the sending church, and the responsibility missionary. Messages were concluded on Sunday with an emphasis on Faith Promise giving.

Sunday morning, I challenged the young adult Sunday school classes to be open to God's leading. God does not call everyone into full-time missionary work, but I believe, with all my heart, that He wants each and every one of us to be willing if He calls us. That evening, we had an international dinner before the service.

Then in the evening service, each missionary showed a brief presentation and shared God's burden on their hearts for their country of service. At the very end, God's power was evident as the lights were turned off. In the darkness, our pastor broke a glow stick. He asked us to consider the darkness of the world. Then gave each missionary a glow stick. The light began to grow.

A call was given for anyone in our church to come forward and take a light if God had called to be missionary. One young man answered the call! I wanted to shout out loud in praise to God! Then additionally, pastor asked anyone who would be faithful in praying and giving to come forward and take a light. Family after family left their seats and began to turn on their lights. Lights filled the auditorium. What was once darkness was flooded with light. The picture here does not accurately show the amount of light in the room due to the abilities of the camera, but you can see just a portion of those standing.

We had a great time this week. It is now my prayer, that the commitment of our church to be faithful in doing our part for worldwide missions will be a lasting commitment. I pray that it is not a commitment easily forgotten, that God's work will be accomplished, and that many souls will come to place their faith in Christ. May our light, through Christ, bring hope and light into the darkness.

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February/March Prayer Letter

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Email Update 03-04-13

Hello Everyone,

Attached is our latest prayer letter. I do apologize for not sending many email updates over the past few weeks. With the rush of excitement of Christmas now past us, we've settled into work and class once again. As I mention in the prayer letter, the next big event for us is our church's mission's conference in April. Up until then life is pretty usual. We have class and work every, and I make phone calls when my schedule allows it (which is Tuesday's from 8AM-9AM). Also as I mention in the letter, God has been extremely good to us concerning those phone calls.

Once we finish in May, we will have no shortage of excitement. Our contracts end on May 24th and we have a meeting scheduled the 26th. We've had multiple requests and opportunities for meetings and mission's conferences during the school year, however we've had to turn them down because it'd be quite difficult to commute from Wisconsin or Indiana or whoever the church might be when we've got work and school each day. Unless someone would be kind enough to hire us our own private jet, we wouldn't make it.

Last semester we did quite a bit of visits to churches in the community during Sunday nights. We do plan to do some more visiting this semester. Last semester 3 of the 5 churches we visited allowed us to schedule meetings with them. I hope that you will pray with us that this semester will be as profitable.

As each day goes by and graduation grows closer and closer we are even more excited about what God has in store. But we also appreciate where we are now and thank God that we are able to continue studying for His glory and honor.

As always, know that we appreciate everyone of your prayers and that we couldn't do it without you. Your care and support are a continual encouragement to us.

Thank you!
Traver and Amy Freeman

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December/January Prayer Letter

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Email Update 01-14-13

Hello Everyone,

Attached is our latest prayer letter. It includes the months of December and January. I was not able to get out an individual December letter due to Projects, Final Exams, and the holiday season. I am entertaining doing the same thing with the February/March Prayer Letters. We do not have much scheduled. We will mostly be doing drop-ins and making phone calls. The next big event on our calendar is our sending church's Missions Conference in April.

Graduation from Seminary will take place on May 8th and our work contracts will expire on May 24th. It is at that time that we will begin full-time deputation. We have several prayer requests centered around the time we begin full-time. The prayer letter covers most of those details.

School begins in a week's time and it is our final semester. We are excited that the end is finally in view. The last time I was in this position, looking at only a semester left before graduation, I made the choice to stay on and get my master's degree. That meant another 3 1/2 years and I was only half way done. This time I can finally say the end is near. It's been a great experience, and I'm even more excited for this semester as I'll be taking the second half of Hebrew and also Life of Paul. Amy will be taking Biblical Theology and History and Preservation of the Text.

Amy and I had two weeks off over the Christmas holidays and two Sundays. We presented in three churches during that time, keeping it pretty packed. We enjoyed it and we pray that we were able to be a blessing to those churches. We look forward to being able to work with more churches in the future. Australia truly is a needy country whether they think so or not. It truly is an unreached people group, though most don't think of it as one. We are excited about what God has laid before us and we're praying that others will catch this vision and passion that we have to take the gospel to them.

I trust that you will pray that prayer along with us. Know that you do mean the world to us. Your prayers are important to us each and every day. We could not do it without you and your support.

In Christ Alone,
Traver Freeman

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