TOM and PATTI WHEELER
WBF Missionaries to
WALES

Field address:  Tom Wheeler   52 Penylan Close   Bassaleg   NP10 8NW   Wales, UK
E-mail address: prediger61@hotmail.com
Sent by: Tabernacle Baptist Church     P.O. Box 252     Crane, TX 79731

31 January 2009

Here it is a month into the new year and I still haven’t written 2008 on any paperwork yet, which is not like me at all. And I know that a lot of people are glad to see 2008 in the rear-view mirror, but I’m just looking forward to 2009. The Lord has been faithful to us in the past, and since He never changes, I anticipate a 2009 full of blessings. Besides, we’re a year closer to a certain trumpet blast that will be music to our ears!

I mentioned in the last letter that we were required to get background checks for anyone who might be involved in a Sunday School ministry. Well, five of the seven submitted have been successfully completed, and we went ahead and launched the Sunday School two weeks ago with the other two checks pending completion. We’re not getting a huge response thus far; I mentioned to someone the other day sort of tongue-in-cheek that maybe the Lord is giving us a chance to work the kinks out of our Sunday School programme. I pray that we are de-kinked right soon.

It is hard to believe that this coming April it will have been six years since we finished our last furlough. That means that we need to start planning ahead for the next one. The previous year-long furlough, as I look back on it, was in some ways counter-productive. Therefore, next year (2010), Lord willing, I would like to schedule appointments for early January through late March, packing as many meetings as I can into those weeks. I know that some churches schedule a year (or more) in advance, so I’m not going to wait until later in the year to get the process rolling. If you’d like for me to report to you this time around in person, we’ll have to be working on a first-come, first-serve basis; it simply will not be possible to be with everybody in twelve weeks.

One more thing: some very generous people gave what I KNOW were sacrificial Christmas offerings to us back in the autumn. I’m not going to embarrass anyone by calling names (you know who you are); I just want to let you know that this new grandpa appreciates you making it possible for me (and grandma) to go for a short visit after Christmas to Nebraska to hold little Grace Haven, and see her parents too. Thank you, again for your thoughtful generosity.

Serving sinners, saints, and the Saviour in the old world,
Tom and Patti Wheeler