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
29 August 2003
Dear supporting friends,
As I took out the kitchen trash last night, I noticed that
it had turned considerably cooler all of a sudden. We’ve had a record breaking
summer heat wave this year, so we’re certainly not complaining. The cool night
air made me think of Jeremiah 8:20, "the summer is ended." But our
summer has been much better than the prophet’s, for we have had five saved!
We left for camp on the first Monday of this month; I was
a bit apprehensive about having so many Korean kids going who do not speak
English very well. Some of them understand fairly well, but have difficulty
expressing themselves. One of the Korean boys was in from Korea for a few weeks
visiting friends. His English was virtually non-existent. What was I going to do
with these kids during evening devotions? How could I be sure that they are
understanding me, and if they had a spiritual need, how would they convey that
need to me? The Lord was going to have to take care of this situation. Indeed,
when we are weak, then He shows Himself to be strong. And He did.
Jehovah-jireh once more comes to the rescue. He provided a
Korean university student, Gi Kim, a fine young Christian fellow who came with
another church to help run the Powerpoint program during the evening meetings.
Gi was more than happy to act as my interpreter for the week. Thank you, Lord!
After the evening service on Monday, one of our lads came
to me between the service and our evening devotions wanting to talk to me about
being saved. He had made a profession of faith once before, but knew in his
heart that he really wasn’t trusting in Christ, and wasn’t ready to do so at
that time either. I talked with him a bit, and prayed with him, and let him go.
The next evening after the invitation was given Daniel
came to me wanting to talk. The Holy Spirit had taken another 24 hours to work
His convicting power. Daniel’s faith was now in the resurrected Christ, and
trusting the Lord as Saviour was the natural thing to do. This is a fourteen
year old kid who doesn’t have the greatest home life. His whole attitude has
changed about spiritual things. Praise the Lord for His saving mercy!
Wednesday evening we had another great service, and during
the invitation the oldest grandson of our late brother that I mentioned in the
June letter came to me and said that he needed to be saved. He too, was supposed
to have been saved previously, but he wasn’t feeling very good about that
whole salvation experience. I suspect that it was one of those "everybody’s
getting saved, I better, too" scenarios. Anyway, I dealt with Callum about
his soul, and in his twelve year old way he called upon the Lord to save him.
Glory to God! Two boys in two nights trusting Christ as Saviour! Can it get any
better than this?
Yes, it can. Thursday evening was Korean night. During the
invitation 3 of my Korean lads snuck up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.
I knew that I needed Gi more than ever now. I went to get him to help me, and
Esther, the twelve year old cousin of one of the Korean boys, found me and said
that she needed to talk to me. So while Gi talked to two of the boys, Esther
surrendered her life to whatever way the Lord would see fit to use her. It had
never occurred to her that the Lord would be willing to use a girl like her. She
is a sweet kid with many talents. She just needs some direction. After praying
with Esther, I went to talk to Joseph, her cousin, while Gi was dealing with the
other two boys in Korean. Gi led them to Christ, and then he spoke with Joseph.
Joseph said that he had been dealing with a burden of sin for about a year. He
had tried to read his Bible but it didn’t mean anything to him, so why bother
with it. Gi talked to him about a relationship with Christ who could take the
burden away and help him to understand God’s Word. After a while they prayed
in Korean, and Joseph’s tears over his sin turned into rejoicing for us all
that he had come to trust Jesus as his own personal Saviour.
On the way home from camp Patti asked the kids what they
liked most about camp. Usually we hear responses like "football," or
"the Gong Show." These kids said, "The services." Talk about
getting your heart blessed!
It is my blessed privilege now to get to disciple these
kids, minus the one lad who returned to Korea. Daniel is even thinking about
Bible College. Brethren, my cup runneth over.
Thanks to all of you who make it possible for us to
minister here on this needy field. We appreciate you and so does our Lord.
Yours for souls this side of the Atlantic,
Tom and Patti Wheeler