May I please have 5 mins of your time? It would me the world to us.

Hello and greetings in the Lord,
    

You know I can still remember the excitement, nervousness, and resolve we had on another July like this one 9 years ago. We were a newly married couple who had gotten to the point that we had to say, "Here we are Lord, send us" earlier that year or there would have been no peace in our hearts, and now here we were carrying through with that commitment.

    Everything we owned was spread out on my parents' yard. I must say it was quite a site.  All of our furniture, appliances, our vehicles and our household items were all there set out for sale. It was an odd and yet interesting experience as people came through combing through our things, not seeing the same value in them the way we had.

Whoever paid $100 for our bed that had cost $700 less than a year earlier, got a great deal. You could not tell it by their attitudes because they seemed pretty miffed to have paid that much. Looking back I should have kept it, it would be another 6 years before Heather and I would own a box spring and mattress to sleep on again.  All we did keep were some personal affects, books, and a computer that we were packing and shipping to PR ahead of us.

  

 We had no idea what laid ahead but we knew the Lord was leading us to go and that is all we needed to know. I will say that first night as we arrived in the house we were to live in for the next year with things scattered about, nothing but our luggage, and needing to clear a path to get to a place to sleep, was an eye opener. I could see in my young wife's face that look of "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Still she and I made it through that night and several far harder ones than that one over the years.  Honestly the first year was pretty rough for us for many reasons but we made it through.  It was very much a time of growth, dependence on the Lord, and a coming together far stronger than our first year of marriage had brought us and still that cementing together has lasted and grown only stronger through the years. (Heather and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary soon on Aug.30th 2013.)

    Here we are now 9 years later, me and my beautiful wife and our two beautiful

children. We are still on the mission-field and today like so long ago feeling excitement, nervousness, and a resolve to serve the Lord no matter what. We have seen and done too many things to name. The Lord has preserved us through so many hurts, losses, and difficult times and He has blessed us with so many amazing life changing experiences.

    We have walked the line of faith for years, each month we have trusted and waited for the Lord's provision. It is true that we have struggled to pay the bills many times from that first day in Ponce until now but at the same time the Lord has also blessed us with perfectly timed relief as well.  Often we have had just enough to pay all of the bills and coast through until the next month began. There have been those times that all the bills have been paid on time and we were able to set some aside for the next month, and then there have been times where past due bills were mounting and we would begin to wonder if we had been forgotten. Thankfully each time help would come from the most unexpected places.

 We have not been the type of ministry that sees large donations that come in regularly or many small donations that would come in each day and yet the Lord has provided and taken us to so many places, introduced us to so many amazing people, and provided for us in so many amazing ways, we could have never imagined 9 years ago at that yard sale in my parents back yard what all the Lord had planned.

             We have seen hundreds come to Christ, traveled to Africa three separate times, started two churches in PR, traveled back to the states on 3 furloughs and seen our ministry go from a handful of people meeting in a school class room in 2005 to now having close to 50 New Day branches around the world. Our online ministry reaches into nearly 100 countries with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we have a weekly Monday night Bible study that airs live each week for all who want to participate & every month we help to make sure that the orphans in our ministry in Kenya have food to eat.

We will never truly  know what an impact this ministry is having in the world this side of eternity but we know it is the Lord's and He is doing a tremendous work and we are grateful to be a part of it.

      I guess in some ways this July is much like that one we had 9 years ago only now it is not the material things that are being combed through. With so many other concerns, is the work we are doing for the Lord still seen as valuable?  Do people not see the same value in this ministry work in the way we do? Is it something else?  All of these changed lives, all of these amazing things the Lord has done  and is doing, and yet at the same time we were past due on our rent, we had to cancel church this last week because we could not afford the gas, and the number of personal health needs, vehicle repairs, and past due ministry bills continue to grow.

       Those faithful gifts that come in each month are coming still but the special gifts that we also depend on have all but dried up for the moment and we have really been affected by it these past couple months. I guess I kind of feel like my wife did on our first day on the Island, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Still I know we will make it through this too like we have all the rest in the past.

       I would like to say to all of you who have stayed with us these past 9 years, who have stayed up praying for us during the hard times, gave what you could, even when it was not easy, took the time to write us, made the effort to call us, or to send us an email, I want you to know that each time was a tremendous blessing and encouragement to us that has kept us going.

     We have been told, and indeed we have considered, moving on to something else when our hearts had fallen or the way has gotten very hard, much harder than it usually is. Looking back however at each of those times I can see now how much wonder, joy, and peace the Lord had brought to us ,even in the midst of those times, that we would have missed out on had we not stayed the course.

    Despite what some may say the Christian life is not a series of mountain top experiences. You must also go through the valleys so you are better able to be used by the Lord as you continually learn to trust in Him more. Maybe you too have come to one of these points in life when things just seem too hard, too hurtful to stick with what the Lord is leading you to do, or to do so cheerfully. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Gal. 6:9

     When you find yourself like we have  a few times over the years asking God, "what have I gotten myself into"  just know you are not alone and more importantly that God is going to bring you through it. We know that He will not just because we hope so or think that He should. We know it because He has said He would in His word, and God can not lie.

    If you have read down this far I truly appreciate your resolve to see things through and I  am hoping I can ask just one or two more things of you to do before you go on with your day. For this ministry to continue, and continue to grow, it is going to have to have more support.

1.)        We need to expand the number of people and churches that know about and would be willing to support this work in whatever ways the Lord would lead them. If you have been a friend of this ministry and are already familiar with all the Lord has been doing through New Day please share this letter in places like facebook and twitter, with your email contacts, friends, churches, and small groups so that they can also learn about all that the Lord is doing through this ministry and pray about getting involved.  If you have received this letter from a friend please visit our web page at http://www.newdaycm.org and learn more about this work and see if He is leading you to join Him in it.

        

2.)       It has been 3 years since our last furlough and we are now planning to return this fall to the states. As of yet we do not know everywhere we will go, where we will stay, or even what we will drive. All of these thing we are praying about right now. We need resources now to get us through the next couple months here in Puerto Rico and we need to start planning for where and when we will travel to share. If you have been a friend of this ministry or you are just hearing of us we would like to hear from you and to make plans to come and share with your church or small group in the coming months.

 Please call us at: 1-937-307-0694, email us at: newdaycm@yahoo.com or write to us at:
New Day Christian Ministry PO Box 801438 Coto Laurel, Puerto Rico. We are willing to go anywhere that will extend the invitation for us to come.


3.)    All of the churches we have started over the years are in poor, mostly unreached areas. They do much on their own but they also need help. There is a tremendous amount of ministry taking place every day and an abundant amount of opportunity for mission trips for anyone willing to go.


4.)    We need prayer! We need pray each and every day. If you are willing to pray with us and for us please contact us and let us know. We do have a prayer ministry and we would love for you to be a part of it. You can begin by visiting our prayer ministry page at: http://newdayprayer.blogspot.com

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this long but very important letter to us about this work. May God richly bless you and make you a blessing.

God Bless,
David Ingram
New Day Christian Ministry
Isa. 43:18-21

For the pdf printable version of this letter use the following link: http://www.newdaycm.org/furloughandsupport.pdf

 

For the pdf (text only) printable version of this letter use the following link: http://www.newdaycm.org/furloughtext.pdf