August 2009
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the wonderful name of the Lord. Hoping this letter finds all well with you and yours. Becky and I have just returned from Africa and what a trip. Becky stepped in a hole at the Mission one night and sprained her ankle. At least that is what we thought. Two weeks later when we got back to the USA, her foot was still paining her so she went for x-rays and found out it was broken in 2 places.
One tough Mama. Becky sends out her love and greetings.
The trip started out in July when we arrived in Nigeria to be a part of a Soul-Winning Conference already in progress. Missionary Mark Holmes asked both Dennis Anderson and myself to be a part of it and man was it wonderful. Teaching and training Pastors, then soul winning on the streets and then preaching at night. Had a wonderful time and I think the final total of salvations for the week was well over 500 confrontational soulwinning decisions. People everywhere, lost without a Savior. Another blessing was to be able to train National Pastors in the Word and see them so excited about the Lord's Work. We are hoping that a partnership can spring out of our time there in Nigeria.
Then it was off to Botswana to visit the work there. We were able to lead a few people to the Lord but we encountered some serious problems with the Pastor there and found out that he was in open sin and refused to repent. After days of trying to show him where he was wrong, we had to break fellowship with him because of the sin and open rebellion against God's Word. Going from a high in Nigeria to the low in Botswana was difficult but God must be honored and obeyed. We are still hoping and praying for the Pastor in Botswana to repent and come back to the Lord. Our fellowship with Missionary Bob and Esther Geinheimer was awesome and they are such wonderful examples of servants of the Lord.
Arriving in Malawi next was such a blessing. As we got off the plane in Blantyre, i began to witness to a man named John and in a few short minutes John was bowing his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. Dennis and I traveled out about 168 Km from the Capital to teach and preach at a small rural school and orphanage. The local Pastor there had arranged for us to teach and preach several days. Over 70 Pastors came in for training, and we had over 300 people in attendance. We had 81 receive the Lord as their Savior!!!!! What a time!!! It was like being in Zambia years ago as the people walked for miles and miles to come for the teaching. Three of the Pastors walked all the way from the Country of Mozambique. The roads were rough, the area remote, the skeeters buzzing, but what a time we had with the Lord moving on the hearts of the people.
Then it was off to Zambia. We were supposed to go to Tanzania but had no transport. Instead we sent two of our Men from the Mission and they spent several days on the road with breakdowns etc. but finally reached the Conference in Tanzania. Many were saved and many baptized. There was also a Conference going on in the Congo where Henry Lunda was teaching and preaching. Many many souls were saved as well. We had Becky and a few women from Alabama come over to teach in the VBS and over 1600 kids came to the Mission. We had visitors from the USA and 2 Missionaries from the USA, one to Children, Dr. Jerry Pertell, and Missionary Jerry Harmon, missionary to Puerto Rico. The attendance was down a bit in the adult Conference with only 2700 adults attending. So the total attendance was over 4000 but we had a wonderful time around the Word. Over 400 children saved with 51 adults and 11 deaf were saved as well. Had another 80 plus baptized and encouraged the Saints to keep on keeping on for the Lord.
Thanks go out to all who helped in feeding the Nationals at the Mission this year. What a blessing. Thanks for all the prayers and support. I might be having a knee replacement by the time you get this letter if the heart Doc lets me. Just know we love and pray for each of you. God bless you and may this be the year the trumpet blows. In Jesus name....
Bobby & Becky Bonner
IAM Ministries
