Dear Friends,
We pray God’s blessings over your life this new year! One of
the most challenging Scriptures in the Bible for me, and perhaps
for you as well, is the passage of Scripture where Paul tells us to,
“Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16). He also tells us, “To give thanks
in all things” (1 Thess. 5:18). With all the chaos and all the
difficulties that each of us has gone through in our lives, in our
families and in our jobs the last two years; how can God ask us
to thank Him for these things? These are thoughts that all of us
must deal with as we go through life following our Lord and
Savior. Many times, we do not understand what God is up to in
our lives by allowing such difficult circumstances. However,
what I have learned from the Lord through times like these is to
trust His sovereignty and to trust His goodness. God’s Word tells
us that, “a sparrow does not die without God knowing
it” (Matthew 12:7). It also tells us that God, “has every hair on
our head numbered” (Matthew 12:7). The Bible also tells us that
God, “holds all of our tears in a bottle” (Psalms 56:8). If God
know all these small details of our lives, how much more He
sees and understands what we are going through when we pass
through difficult times. Our God is a good Father (Romans 8:15)
who has promised us that He “will work all things for our good”
in our lives (Romans 8:28) no matter what the circumstances are
that we may be passing through.

As you read in the last newsletter GCOMs Christmas
outreaches went well in December in Acuna, Mexico but
unfortunately, I left Mexico with a tickle in my throat and in
several days, we were all sick with bronchitis. After more than a
month of battling bronchitis, we are finally all coming out of it.
Joshua and I have been working on year end donation receipts
through this challenging time and you will soon be receiving
these in the mail. Sorry if they are a little bit later than usual!

In mid-December, Four Winds Trucking from North Dakota,
picked up a semi-trailer full of ministry supplies from Canby, MN
and Omaha, NE to bring to Laredo, TX. From there a forwarding
agent friend, Alejandro, crossed all the Gospel tracts, booklets
and Books of John into Mexico for distribution. Other ministry
supplies that we will soon cross into Mexico are used steel and
used wood for church construction, blankets, clothes, windows
and doors for churches, a car for a needy pastor, blessing bags,
chairs and many other miscellaneous items. These 16 pallets of
literature have gone to Belize, Guatemala, Mexico and to Dallas,
Texas for distribution. We may distribute some of it in Austin, Tx
as well. To get the literature to Guatemala people put the
literature in bags and a pastor crossed the bags of literature by a
wooden raft over a large river into Guatemala for distribution.

We have been helping a church in Ensenada, Mexico to put a
roof on its church. The Omicron virus has affected the completion
of the Yaqui Church near Obregon, Mexico, and other projects we
have in central Mexico. We received a call from a close pastor
friend from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico warning me of the dangers of
returning to Mexico as virtually everyone was sick. The hospitals
are full and unable to take new patients for days. There are many
restrictions throughout the city and churches and outreaches
could only have ten people in attendance and any meetings had
to be outside. Please pray for protection over the people of
Mexico and that I will be able to minister in Mexico again soon
personally. Meanwhile, we work through our contacts in Mexico
to spread the Gospel in areas where there are no restrictions.
This is the advantage of this opportunity to spread literature
throughout Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. The restrictions of
the various countries do not affect the ability of churches and individuals to spread God’s Word. The distributors go out in many small groups all over the city or town with God’s
Word and so God’s Word is spread without restriction.

Also, while I am unable to go into Mexico, I will be working on
the book that God has put in my heart to write telling about
God’s protection for us and working through us in Mexico. We
hope to be able to get everything set up to set up our GCOM
Child Sponsorship Program.
Thanks for all that you do to help GCOM to impact souls for
Christ throughout Texas, Mexico, and Latin America. We treasure
your faithful prayer and financial support, and donation of
ministry supplies for Mexico. You and your family are always in
our prayers! We so treasure your partnership with GCOM!

In Christ’s Love,
Rev. Kevin, Sylvia and Joshua Rosendahl

Dear Friend,

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ ” Romans 10:14-15

Thank you for bringing the Good News to the children of our island state! January is the height of summer ministry here in Tasmania, and we have been rocked by a large wave of COVID. This is only the second real “wave” for Tasmania so it’s a lot for people to get used to. However, that has not stopped ministry. While the number of children coming to events has suffered, God has come through time and time again, and new children that we have never reached before have come to both of the holiday programs so far. In both cases, adults (and a teen) had to be out due to catching COVID or being in close contact, but God raised up others at the last minute so summer programs haven’t had to miss a day! With so many businesses and other kids’ programs having to close due to staffing shortages, this is an act of God! Our summer ministry teacher training was held on Zoom, but this provided an opportunity for workers from clubs to be held in different parts of the state to attend together. It’s great to still be able to put technology into practice when you need it.

A few stories: At City Park, a Muslim child came along. I explained to the Mom that we would have a story from the Bible. Mom said she was ok with that. She had an appointment to go to. Of course, we will be glad to be a place for the child to be.

At City Park, two new children from an African country who had been separated from their Mom were finally reunited as borders opened in Australia. One of the first things they did after getting settled into their new home with Mom was to come to holiday club and build with Lego. I couldn’t really tell if they spoke English or not yet as they were very quiet. I pray that they will begin to feel assured in their new country and that we could be a little part of that.

After club at City Park one day, a couple of the Christian children stayed around to help me record puppet skits to be used in the Devonport holiday club the next week. They were being missionaries even though they couldn’t come with me to Devonport.

At Devonport, the puppet team that was to perform the skits with me was out due to COVID. However, a couple little girls in the club were eager to do puppets themselves, so I got them to be part of the puppet team. One of them had been to club in previous years, and I saw her growing in her leadership ability.

At Devonport, we had a little boy from London who was visiting family in Tasmania. He seemed a bit antagonistic to things from the Bible, but I am thankful that God allowed us to plant some seeds. For those who aren’t involved in children’s ministry during this time, I’d like to ask for prayer for strength for all the behind-the-scenes things that need to happen to keep ministry running in a safe way for the children. The two most time consuming of these for me is sanitizing all the Lego every night after club as this takes a couple hours of my evening and putting craft packets together for each craft so kids can have all their own materials in their own little plastic bag. These things are well worth it for children to hear the Gospel and meet together in person, but I would ask for prayer that I once again find joy in doing these smaller, necessary tasks.

Praise and Prayer: ·        

Praise that God is sovereign over all things and has seen fit to continue to allow us to share the Gospel and teach in person. ·        

Pray for next week’s Lego holiday club in George Town as this is a new geographical area for the ministry some of you have been praying about for a while. ·        

Pray that children would come along as foundations are laid for ministry there. ·        

Pray that children would be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ in George Town. ·        

Pray that God keeps the workers free of COVID this week so that no one has to be out next week.

In Christ for the children,

Stephanie

The Holy Spirit opens and enlightens the Scriptures to us. When I was reading the Bible very first time in my life after my salvation, I found some places in the God’s Word to be more enlighten than the rest. I found two verses that especially touched my heart. It was from Phil. 3:13-14 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I remember that day well, that when I reached Philippians, I prayed and told God that I would like to serve Him like this. At that time, I wasn’t clearly understanding what world missions are or who are missionaries but I had it playing again and again in my heart. It was just a heart full of gratitude to the Lord for what He had done to find me in this world. And, desire in return to commit my life to Jesus.

ESL, Omicron and Men’s Club
The omicron has finally reached our areas. That means that we won’t be able to start our classess as planned. As of now, a two week delay is projected. In reality it may resume later. Please pray for preseverance of seed of the gospel in the hearts of our students.
Well, we may not do public classes but we can do unpublic! We planned to hold two “extra” meetings of our Men’s club. Those of you who follow our letters probably learned that it has become “everyone’s club”. “Men’s club” is now just a name and everyone is invited. Pray for creativity, boldness and opportunities to share the gospel, for hearts that are softened and willing to accept Christ as their personal Saviour.

Final Thoughts
We have a pressing need to pay for our webhosting services this month. It’s a $280 pay and we humbly bring it to the Lord who provides.
We can’t express how thankful we are for your help interceding for us, and for your love, support, and encouragement to our ministry and family. Thank you!

You can make tax deductible contribution to Ufa Bible Ministries which is recognized by the IRS as a 501c3 non-profit entity. Make checks payable to:
Ufa Bible Ministries
PO BOX 1761, Columbia, SC 29202

Looking back and excitement ahead!
“The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24

Greetings loved ones! We thank God for you, and hope
you had a wonderful, cozy, healthy Christmas! We pray your new
year will be better than 2021!
Every December, we cannot help but look back on the
previous year and then eagerly look towards the year ahead. The
past 12 months have been very humbling. We saw the beginning
of a shadowing process in Navan/Dublin with Lighthouse Church
that lasted a year (officially starting September 2020). As
September 2021 came Chris put the final touches on the brand
new church website/app he had been working on. He also
completed a 40 page illustrated training manual for the portable
church set up and tear down process. It certainly was a time of
stretching, serving, learning and growth! It did not turn out to
look like what we thought it would. However, that tends to be the
way the Lord works sometimes. Our interpretation of what God
said sometimes looks different than His ultimate intentions. Gods
ways are always higher than our ways! That is why staying close
to the Lord in prayer is so very crucial!!

The year we spent shadowing really helped us realize
something very important. We learned who we are and who
aren’t. Our Irish mentor Sean Mullarkey, lead Pastor of St.
Mark’s Church and national leader of Christian Churches
Ireland confirmed this in our meeting with him. Chris did not
know what I knew even before we took the plunge, that He was
already ready to be the Pastor God has called him to be. Yet, I also
knew that he needed the shadowing process. So it was an
important step that needed to be taken. It was important for him
to help again with video productions, tech support, and creating
the process for the set up/tear down of every future church plant
Lighthouse will have. It was important for him to lead a small
group again. It helped him regain confidence. This season was
good for his morale, because it reminded him of who God created
him to be. I’ve always known he was ready, he needed to know it
in himself, and this process really showed him that. Praise God!

This chapter also helped us as a couple. It’s amazing
that only through this shadowing process could we have had
the breakthrough that came in our relationship. It
strengthened us to remember that we are a team and God has
called us to do this together. We know He will bring the people
He has set aside for this work, but we needed to do this as a
team. I am 100% behind Chris and I have never been more
excited in all my life to follow him! It’s exhilarating!
As autumn died down, we knew that God was pulling
us back home to Galway. We could no longer deny it. We
connected with all of our mentors, both on the US side and the
Ireland side asking them for wisdom. They all said the same
thing, “Get ye back to Galway!” So with this confirmation and
encouragement, we had to go back to Pastor Jamie to let him
know our plans. He was not happy to see us go in the least, I
truly believe he had about 10-15 year plans for us on the Dublin
side, but we knew we needed to get back home.

It was then that we became very intentional in our
Galway church plant focus. We started fasting, praying and
seeking God for the next steps. God spoke to us, as He always
does and He asked us to do the honourable thing and meet with
every Pastor whose church is on the outskirts of Galway to
inform them of what this next season will look like for us in city
center. That took us all of October and November to
accomplish. Then, Finally we heard the Holy Spirit say,“Rest”,
as the next season is just on the horizon. To say we look to 2022
with eagerness and excitement is an understatement!

Beloved, THIS season is what we have been waiting
for, for over 20 years! God is faithful, He has called us to it, and
He will do it! We could NOT have gotten to this point without
you! The BEST is coming and we can’t wait to share it with
you! We will indeed need more American churches and
individuals to want to partner on the ground floor of this city
center ministry and church plant. Please pray for that! We will
need to raise a decent sized budget to rent the space in Galway
city center and work out of. It’s a BIG prayer request. It’s a
HUGE amount that we simply do not have! But we remind
ourselves, this is not OUR church or ministry, it’s GOD’S
church and ministry. So if He called us to it, HE will provide
for it! God has shown us a vision of our church in Galway City
serving the homeless, reaching college students, presenting the
Gospel message, starting Alpha courses and small groups. We
long to baptize people, raise up healthy and impactful leaders,
and pray for the Holy Spirits power to transform lives! Will
you continue to take this adventure with us? Pray for
provisions, pray for protection, pray for unending possibilities!
We love you, we thank God for you! We couldn’t do this without
you! Happy New Year! All our love, The Johnston Family

Prayer Requests
We would be honored if
you would pray with us
concerning:
Please pray for this next
season of ministry. Pray
the Lord leads us in every
step and detail.
Please pray for the space
in town that we are meant
to find that God has set
aside for us.
Please pray for the
individuals and churches
that God already has set
apart to help with the
ground floor of what God
is doing.
Please pray for provisions,
protection and endless
opportunities to advance
the Kingdom of God.

Support Information
If you would like to team
up & contribute to this
important mission, please
make checks out to:
Hope Ireland Missions
229 W. Exchange St.
Crete, IL 60417
(Chris & Larena Johnston
on the memo line)
Simply go to:
www.hopeirelandmissions.com
& click on “donate.”