TOMMY and LINDA RALEY
WBF MISSION OFFICE
MISSION DIRECTOR

JUNE 2008

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for Linda.  She did well with her gall-bladder surgery and is almost completely recovered.  The doctor was pleased at how well the surgery went.  I am also doing well in my recovery from hip replacement surgery.  There is still some lingering soreness, but this will eventually go away.   I will be able to travel now with little or no difficulty, and I am looking forward to being in churches for mission conferences and special meetings.  I have been busy in the Mission Office, but I really prefer to be visiting churches.

I have been invited by our missionaries in the UK to come for a missionary retreat in Wales in July (July 6-9).  Please pray for me as I prepare messages for this meeting that the Lord will use me to be a blessing and encouragement to our missionaries.   I will also be able to be in some of the churches while there.  It is a special blessing to be able to meet and fellowship with believers in the different countries we have been privileged to visit.  Sometimes there is a language barrier, but there is never a love barrier – the love of Christ bonds believers together.   On this trip to Wales there won’t be a language barrier (if they can understand my “Texan”).

Please pray for us as we prepare for this year’s Candidate Seminar and Mission Family Retreat.  The seminar will be held here at the office from July 23 to August 1, 2008 and the Retreat will be held August 4-7, 2008 at the Minnetonka Christian Camp in Clayton , Oklahoma .  Each year Tom and Bernice Crites do a wonderful job of hosting our missionaries at the camp.  It is a time when the missionaries on furlough and deputation can take a few days to relax and be refreshed spiritually and physically.   The Seminar is a time when we help the missionary candidates prepare for their deputation and field ministry.   We are glad to invest many hours in preparation and teaching to help them get started in a good and positive manner.  Pray that the Lord will bless those who will be candidates this year.

Linda and I wish to express our thanks to you and our praise to God for the way He has provided our needs through His faithful churches.   Some churches and many individual Christians are sacrificing in order to continue to support their missionaries.  God will not forget this labor of love and He will reward you for your faithfulness.  It is our privilege to represent your church in reaching the lost in the regions beyond.

  Tommy and Linda Raley