March/April 2013 Report

Dear Ones, In pagan religions, the idea of God is often an impersonal force that is simply waiting at a great distance, not directly involved with humans, and void of emotions such as humans feel. The portrayal of the God of the Bible, on the other hand, is of a Father who loves His children and whose eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). Further, according to Genesis 1:26, God created man in His own image. Emotions are a great portion of the make-up of humans, and a careful reading of Scripture will show that God experiences every emotion known to man. Do you wonder how He feels when His children do wrong, when they completely turn away from Him? ... How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? ... My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred... (Hosea 11:8). May we never be guilty of bringing such pain to the heart of our Father.

Betty (Mrs. J.C.) Choate

(Continuing the work begun by J.C. in 1962) 708 Burton Drive Winona, MS 38967 662-283-1192 email: Choate@ WorldEvangelism.org Web site: WorldEvangelism.org gospelgazette.com

Looking Back... It has been a busy time for the team here in the States, as well as for our brothers and sisters overseas. Perhaps you have noted already that Bonnie has been having health problems: gall bladder surgery, then blockage in the bile duct, and biopsies to try to determine what was causing the blockage. Because of her situation, she was not able to accompany Louis when he went to Guyana in February for three weeks. He has created a new emphasis in his part of the work: to help with maturing the churches, leaders, and preachers in Guyana. During this visit, he conducted seminars, reaching Christians from 72 of the 92 known churches throughout the country. Bonnie had surgery April 4, and was in the hospital in Jackson for ten days. We are deeply concerned that the blockage was diagnosed as pancreatic cancer. Sixty percent of her pancreas was removed, along with about 20 lymph nodes, part of the small intestine as well as part of the bile duct, and some nerve endings that were affected. She is to begin chemotherapy toward the end of May. Bonnie and Louis do everything together, and both of them are of critical importance to the over-all work, so we pray for the success of the treatments and for a full recovery, according to Gods will. The Bates left for Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and India on March 20. Even though the days were fully packed with work, all the flights and stops along the way went smoothly, so they had less stress than is sometimes the case.

Sponsor: Liberty Church of Christ 689 Highway 25 Dennis, MS 38838 662-454-7362 Co-worker with Wayne and Janet Barrier Byron and Gaye Nichols Jerry and Paula Bates Louis and Bonnie Rushmore Justin and Leah Hopkins Allon Brumley

Global Harvest

The Voice of Truth International

 During their absence, Barbara Wright of the Huntsville, MS church came over to help with deposits and computer entry of the checks for the work. She is such a blessing, to be able to help out while Bonnie was in the hospital and recuperating, and I was the only regular to take care of calls, packing book orders and doing the invoicing, and keeping up with communication with folks here in the States and overseas. It was a busy time! Work Outside Winona Concerning book sales, the proceeds go into the Publications account, to be used to pay for upcoming printing. This year weve had to reprint some titles, and there are new ones in the layout stage. We did receive the shipment of Wayne and Janet Barriers book, Missionary Stories. I think anyone would profit by reading it and would be inspired to do more to reach out to people who are looking for the truth. We have had good response from brethren, ordering tracts that we are printing. Several were reprinted last fall, and others are already out-of-stock. When Vol. 9 of Global Harvest goes to the printer, we anticipate increasing the number of tracts in our list to a round 100 titles. Of course, we are sharing these in English with brethren overseas, packing some in any of the boxes we prepare for containers. They are also being translated and printed in India and Myanmar in the local languages.

Barbara Wright -- thanks for a lot of help!

The work place bags ready for the PO

Steven Gill, with his new (and newly converted) wife. Steven is a preacher student at Heritage University, a convert of Gene and Madolyn Gibson, at the Student Center in Morehead, MS. Since his own conversion a few months ago, Steven has taught and baptized 26 souls! His sincerity and zeal are of the old school of evangelists.

Vinay David, one of the three speakers on our weekly Hindi TV program.

Overseas From Francis, concerning the Hindi TV program: I wish we had started this program much earlier, since its dealing with the majority of the Hindi speaking population here in India. Though, at present the coverage of our channel is not everywhere in India, but still its covering a good number of places, and we have been told by the Shubh-Sandesh Channel people that the coverage is scheduled to spread to other parts of India. The people are really enjoying our programs since they get to hear the one true Gospel of the Bible through 3 different speakers, that is, Sunny, Francis, & Vinay. In regards to the fourth Tuesday of each month, and your suggestion to have a questionand-answer program, we havent started it yet. Maybe we can arrange that later. The responses to the programs have been encouraging and positive. As soon as we finish speaking on TV, our cell phones ring with people requesting Bible correspondence courses, Hindi Bibles, requests for prayers, and wanting to know more about the Church of Christ. Many people during the week message us on our cell phones with their mailing addresses, requesting Hindi Bible Correspondence courses. The follow-up is pretty much handled by

Vinay, and he is being quick in dispatching and mailing things to people. He is doing a good job, and we appreciate his help. I believe if we have an additional Hindi weekly program, it would be fantastic since that would give us more responses, and more time to share the Gospel with the people living in the Hindi belt area where very less work has been done in the past, even by Catholics and denominational groups. I am thankful for the response to our appeal for funds for this program and also to make up what was lost from past contributions. I will give a fuller account separately. [BBC] From Rajanayagam in Tamil Nadu, India I hope and pray that this mail finds you and all other WE partners, including sister Bonnie, in good health and in good spirit. This is to let you know about the 16th Bible Camp that concluded on 8th May 2013. It was a good camp and as always we had a gathering of more than 450. Yes, it was the usual crowd, but at the same time it was an unusual crowd that we really didnt expect due to the political situation that prevailed in that week. One of the political party chiefs was arrested by the government of Tamil Nadu, which caused a riot situation in the north where our camp site is. Buses were operated only during daylight hours for at least 10 days. Usually, we arrive at the camp site in the previous night but, due to the situation, we could arrive only on the next day, 6th afternoon. We had much concern about the attendance and we expected only about 250-300 this year but, to our surprise, we had 450 plus and that was great. Thank God for the zeal of the saints across Tamil Nadu and neighboring states. Above all, we had 15 baptisms, especially had 3 souls from the place where we started a new congregation in the recent past. Please continue to pray for them. Family Matters In the last report, I had a picture of a bobble head given to our youngest son, Brad, in recognition of his years of service with the software company, SAY Media. I am thrilled to include a photo in this report of his appointment as one of the new deacons in the Tri-Valley church in Livermore, CA. He has also helped to facilitate one of the adult Bible classes in a series of lessons, so he is stepping into new territory in his Christian walk. Of course, I am proud of him and of his family, and am thankful that they are an active part of the church. In early March I made the trip through Searcy [stopped off to spend Wednesday night with Steve and his family, and to attend Bible class with them with the Westside church] on the way to Yukon, OK. The occasion? Sheilas husbands nephew [Brad May, son of Richard and Jeanna Lynn May] was marrying his sweetheart. Of course, that necessitated the gathering of the family Sheila and Rob, with Stephanie and her two little ones: Riley and Jack. I was happy to be there for the wedding, but my PRIMARY JOB was the great-grandmothering

Above: tracts printed in India in English and Tamil. Brad, left; and second from the right, below, with the other newly appointed deacons for the Tri-Valley church.

Riley, just turned three!

Little Jack Kessler

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you (John 14:18). [Angels are] ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation... (Hebrews 1:14).

The Gospel is our mission. The world is our home.

Update on the Afghani Family

Mrs. J.C. Choate World Evangelism P.O. Box 72 Winona, MS 38967

Non Profit Organization U. S. Postage Paid Permit No. 12

Change Service Requested

In the previous report, I had told of an Afghani family that had been converted through World English Institute. After it was not possible for them to emmigrate to New Zealand, and their funds were exhausted, their WEI teacher communicated this report: They were stranded and had only two options: Turn themselves in to a refugee camp in India and stay there a year or two, or return to Afghanistan and danger. They prayed with many tears, asking God to guide them. Bravely, they returned to Afghanistan. He hid his family in a city of millions while he checked out the situation. Once again, God intervened. John Marks close friend was chosen to be police commander of their home province. He promised John Mark he would protect him. He sent for his family and rented a house on the other side of town. A month after his return, he baptized his sixteen-year-old son. Soon after, one of the Muslims he had convinced to take the WEI course was secretly baptized. The new convert was afraid to tell his wife, possibly afraid of her family. John Mark went to see him and said, Tell your wife! John Mark, being who he is, has begun once again talking to people about becoming Christians. He knows the dangers he is in. He knows! But he continues to teach. When we believe in God, he will protect us. So dont be worried. Please continue to pray. BC

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that needed to be done while others were participating in the dinners and other functions that would run more smoothly without the presence of little ones. It was a special opportunity to meet little Jack for the first time, and to begin to establish a rapport with Riley. The middle of April, Darla and Sheila came for a week! Darla drove the nine-hours alone from Augusta, Georgia. I was very appreciative that Dave was willing to let her do that, and to batch for those days. Sheila flew in from Ketchikan. Rob was preparing for the 10-year tests that doctors have to take, so it was a good time for her to visit. We had hoped to see Steve and family during their stay, but our schedule couldnt mesh with his exams/grading pressures. On Friday after the girls arrival, I was to take part in the India Mission Conference in Florence, AL, so we drove over for that. The spring greens and the dogwoods along the Natchez Trace were beautiful. Friday was the last day of the lectures, so we missed most of the speakers, but what I heard seemed to show an evaluation of methods being used, and an awareness that there must be greater focus on maturing the church, rather than concentrating for the most part on baptisms. Our World Evangelism team is signed up to host the Conference next year. After the lectures, we drove to Corinth to spend the night with Don (J.C.s brother) and Betty Choate, and their What a fun-time! We played UNO via Facetime daughters, Michelle and Janet. The cousins rarely see each with Brad and his family! I wanted a picture: the other, so the time together was special. And they had a WONscreen shows the California bunch; Darla is on DERFUL dessert, for which I got the recipe. Come to see us the left, Sheila on the right, and Im in the middle and I will cook it for you! God bless you! Betty I mean, the mirror!