DEAR FRIENDS,

“Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD. Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God, Praise the LORD; for the LORD is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.” Psalm 135:1-3.

We are very thankful to the Lord for Nicole’s health. A few weeks ago, she was in severe pain due to her back and knee problems. She cried sometimes, especially in the nights. She has been walking with difficulty with two canes. We cried out, many of you prayed, and some helped financially for the medical aspect. Truly, the treatment is very expensive as the doctor told us, but the Lord is providing through His faithful children as you are. In fact, we are so astonished to found out that one injection for the knee called SYNVISC ONE cost 185.000 CFA which is about $370. She continues the treatments, but we thank the Lord that the pains are no more severe as they were a few weeks ago. She starts walking slowly without using a lot the canes and sometimes she walks with only one. The back pains, too, are not as much as they were. She is wearing knee protection every day. The treatments continue and we thank the Lord that we still have some money for that.

There is a saying: “A thing started well ends well”. Sometimes, I do not think this saying is true; but it is true with us this time. The first academic year of our Baptist Bilingual School Shalom ended well. We did not see any child or any teacher who was seriously sick and not finish the school year. We are so happy for the result and for what the teachers did. All the praises belong to the Lord. We are planning to add three more classes for the next academic year of 2022-2023.

We had a short but very necessary visit from my younger brother from Switzerland. It has been a long time we have seen each other. It was a great blessing because he is also a believer in Christ.

The church of Temple Shalom was blessed to have another new baby. She was presented to the Lord Sunday on the 12th of this month.

We had an opportunity to start a new ministry in a nearby Government High School two months ago. Though we are not allowed to hold a church service in any of the Government School in the country, sometimes some school principals allow Bible lessons and prayer time programs in their schools. We thank the Lord that two teenagers from this school started coming to the church. We had a good discussion time with them last Saturday when a part of the Timothy Group visited them during our door-to-door evangelism. Please, pray for their salvation.

I heard some believers saying that door-to-door evangelism is no longer necessary these days because people are so occupied with social media. I do not think they are right. The Lord commanded us: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8. I think this commandment of the Lord is still functioning in our days. As you know, we may be rejected sometimes, but we believe that the Lord will be glorified through our efforts. We thank each one of you so much for standing with us in this Great Commission. Yes, the Lord will be honored through us all.

I had to drive about 470 km one way on the 3rd of this month for teaching and had a baptismal ceremony in one of the villages in the South part of the country. Fourteen people were baptized Sunday morning the 5th of this month and we participated in the Lord’s supper for the first time in this church. It was a blessing and a joyful day.

May the Lord continue blessing you all and using you greatly for His glory.

In His Service,

Paul & Nicole ASSIGNON