Monday, March 4, 2013

Email Update 03-04-13

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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

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Email Update 01-14-13

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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

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Email Update 12-11-12

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Hello Everyone,

I haven't updated in awhile and thought I would send a quick note out. Being that it's the end of the semester and the holiday season, life has been even busier. From a personal standpoint, we were blessed to be able to have Amy's parents visit us for Thanksgiving. They actually came in the weekend before Thanksgiving, not knowing how Amy's work schedule would be since she works in the college Bookstore. It was great to be able to see them and we had a great time.

After they left, it was Thanksgiving week which is a busy week on campus. There are so many holiday activities and work to be done. We had some friends over on Thanksgiving and had a big "Family Dinner" together since we couldn't be with our actual families. Everyone pitched in and it was a great meal.

Once the holidays were over, reality set it in again. The semester was drawing to a close and project deadlines were right around the corner. It was a busy couple of days. I did manage to squeeze some phone calls into the mix, but I'll talk about that in a bit. Right now, we are in the middle of Final Exams. Amy has already had one, we both have our Hebrew exam tomorrow, and my last exam is on Thursday. We would certainly appreciate your prayers during this time. Undergraduates students are permitted to leave this Friday, while Graduates need to hang around for work on Monday and Tuesday as the Academy still has school.

By 5:00 PM on Tuesday the 18th, we should be on our way home to Pennsylvania. It's a 16 hour drive, and we are praying that it will be uneventful. You never can tell at this time of year, especially traveling through West Virginia.

On the ministry side of things, once we get home we'll be presenting in three churches. We're looking forward to being with them, especially since many friends and family attend these churches. I mentioned earlier that I squeezed a bit of phone calling in during our busy past couple of weeks. One of those days was extra profitable as I was able to book 4 more meetings. It may not sound like much, but with classes and work, that's fantastic for us. Now more than ever, I look forward to finally graduating being able to begin our full-time deputation ministry. We're often so limited in what we can do, but we praise the Lord for the opportunities that we do get.

Speaking of opportunities, our sending church has been gearing up for the holiday season with a heavy schedule of special events. This past Sunday was our adult Christmas program. I privileged to have a part in the program as I played one of the servant's to king Herod. I had a blast and the program was a great success thanks to God and His blessings. This coming Friday and Saturday, we'll be putting on a live nativity on our church property. Amy and I will participate as cast members. CD's of the Christmas story will be handed out to each car that comes on to the property. We won't have any lines as the CD's will explain what's going on in the scenes.

Will you pray with us that God will use this nativity to bring someone to a saving knowledge of Christ? This is our burden and our heart's desire. This is our church's focus and purpose for having a nativity. We want to do everything we can to share the gospel with the people of our community.

We appreciate each and everyone of you. Your prayers and support mean the world to us. Thank you so much.

In Christ Alone,
Traver and Amy Freeman

PS. Because of our busy schedules, I am not planning on sending out a December prayer letter, instead the next prayer letter will be a Dec.-Jan. prayer letter. We will resume monthly letters in February.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Busy at Work

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A couple weeks ago we were involved in two major events at our sending church, Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church.

I would have posted this sooner, but I just haven't had the time. It's project time at seminary. Amy's parents are coming for a visit at the end of next week and we've got to get our projects done ahead of time because most of them come due the week or two afterwards.

Two weeks ago we had a ladies luncheon as an evangelistic outreach. Our church has taken this year and tried to focus more of our efforts on evangelistic outreach (inreach actually). We desire to bring unsaved friends, family, and coworkers to saving knowledge of Christ.

We can all talk to them about Christ at work, but let's be transparent. Sometimes that's hard because they don't want to hear about it or it causes a strain in the relationship because they get upset at us. Outreach meals and events give us the opportunity to bring those friends to a free meal and to hear the gospel presented in a dynamic message.

We helped setup for the luncheon, but our main responsibility was watching the children so that ladies could hear a clear presentation of the gospel without distraction. We work with the children on a usual basis, so when the call went out for someone to watch the children, we volunteered. Myself and our Sunday School superintendent watched the older kids while Amy and some college girls took care of the nursery. No photos from this, sorry.

The following week was a church work day. I love church work days. It's a time where I can get out, do something beneficial for the church, and get my hands dirty all at the same time. To a guy, there's nothing like putting the gloves on and getting some manual labor done. It's a workout, helps the church, and gives you that strong sense of accomplishment when the work is done.

Amy worked inside organizing the youth/children's closet (A MUCH needed
 task, trust me). We also had a breakfast on the grounds that morning. We always love every opportunity that we get to fellowship with our church family. We love our church and privileged to be a part of Pine Forest Estates Baptist Church and the work that God is doing there.

Freeman Email Update 11-7-12

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Hello Everyone,

I just finished up our latest prayer letter and wanted to send that to you all. I also thought it was an appropriate time to give you an update on what's been going on. With everything that's happened, I think we need a reminder of why we are here and what God wants from us.

With all the news media and social media, it's easy to take our eyes off of Jesus Christ and off of the prize. As many hearts are heavy, may we remember that Jesus said "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Peter took His eyes off of the Lord and focused on all the circumstances of life around him, and he began to sink into the roaring water (Matthew 14:22-33), but when he focused his eyes back on the Lord, immediately Christ reached down and saved him. Direct your eyes to God and remember why we are here.

We're here to serve Him, we're here to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and it won't do us any good to be downhearted. Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again, I say, Rejoice. Jesus Christ is the solid rock and on Him alone I stand! Are you standing on the Rock? May we allow this event to not drag us down, but lift us up and fuel a fire in our hearts to do all that we can for God. Ephesians tells us that the days are evil and that we must redeem the time. Let's use every opportunity we have to serve the Lord with all of our hearts and stand in that evil day, having done all to stand. Standing with the full armor of God and His Word as our sword. Fight. Press toward the mark, toward the prize of the high calling of God. If you do that, you'll never go wrong.

Attached you'll find our latest prayer letter. I won't say much else than that. We've been rather vocal on our blog this month. If you would like to read any additional updates, please go to www.shalltheyhear.com

In Christ Alone,
Traver Freeman
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