News from the Francises May 2017

Dear praying friends,

It seems that retirement has made me lazy (or even lazier) about writing!  

During our first few months since I retired on January 1^st, there wasn’t much activity. Just getting used to the idea of retirement! Some house hunting was involved (we will be moving into our new home on May 19^th), and Lise and I have enjoyed taking care of our grandson James two days a week.

In April we spent ten days (two weekends) in Chibougamau, visiting the church there.  It was good to revisit our friends there, and to be able to serve in my old church. The Chibougamau church is struggling, but as one of the members said, “Our church is far from dead”.  Four new people have been added to the congregation, and I had the privilege of baptizing one of them, Gilles Beaulieu, while I was there. The church still manages to hold “Breakfasts of Hope” occasionally. (These are evangelistic breakfasts, at which unsaved people always attend).

Together with deacon Dany Ste-Croix, baptizing Gilles Beaulieu

In September we are returning to Honduras for a couple of weeks to revisit and encourage groups that are continuing and reproducing the ETBIL training. It has been encouraging to hear about groups continuing, and a good number of groups in Siguatepeque, El Progreso, and La Ceiba either have completed or about to complete the 13 courses of First Principles. (A big graduation is planned at the Convention in January). Many of these will be beginning the larger BILD courses, which lead to a Bachelor in theology. All of this is church based. Once again, while I helped initiate the groups in these places I mentioned, these courses had begun in Honduras well before we went there. My role was to give a boost to this, to help out in some of the places where it was happening already, and to help get it started in new areas.  What gives me special joy is to see new men become church leaders and pastors as a result of this training.

This group from El Progreso has finished all 13 books of First Principles. They will be graduating along with others at the national Convention next January.

Another trip is planned early in 2018 if funds permit.

In the Fall I will be teaching a course on inductive Bible study in the church in Chateauguay, every second weekend.  I am also translating into French a course on Apologetics (Defense of the Faith) that I had prepared in Spanish some years ago. There are 106 pages, and some difficult language, so it is going slowly.

In the meantime we have been attending Église Baptiste Évangélique de Sherbrooke, in the Rock Forest neighbourhood of Sherbrooke. We attend a local cell group on Wednesday evenings. 

Exercise comes from walking our half-husky, half malamute – Muki – three times a day.

Please pray for:

     1.       Gilles, the new believer in Chibougamau.

     2.       That the leaders and potential leaders in Honduras will continue with their training, and will reproduce that in other lives.
     3.       Our next trip to Honduras, that we can make good use of our time there.