Fall Update

From the Wrights

BONJOUR!

I hope that you are doing well by God's grace. It has been a while since our last update so let me give you some highlights since August. We really appreciate your partnership in the ministry as we continue to put ourselves to the work of planting a church in our neighbourhood here and all the amazing opportunities of evangelism and discipleship that go into that. I'm going to give you a more specific update on our church planting vision in the near future.

Thank you so much for taking these prayers to God as you read this and as He brings these to your mind!

- Geoff, Jillian, Haven, Elijah, and Samuel

IMMIGRATION

November has been a very stressful month for thousands of people trying to immigrate to Quebec, including us. You may have seen me share about the language test I passed. This was great news because the two requirements for us to become permanent residents here were: 

• 12 months of full-time work
• and the ability to speak French.

We were suddenly disqualified along with thousands of others who were counting on this process. But, we are amazed how God has shown his sovereign control even with this immigration policy. After a big outcry from tons of students and professionals in our situation, the ministry of immigration paused the amendments and then eventually reversed them! This. is. amazing!

We are blown away by this answer to prayer. Would you please pray for our application as it is bring processed this week! 

FROM I.C.E. TO ICE

Our immigration process has really opened my eyes to the thousands of immigrants and refugees who are resettling from political and cultural crises around the world. I am blessed to be a citizen of the U.S. My friends from other parts of the world would dream of living in the U.S. and I have grown to really appreciate this privilege. 

I'd love for you to hear our friend Clarence's story. Just recently Clarence (originally from Liberia) ended up in Montreal after being removed from the US by ICE agents in Kentucky. Just over a month ago Clarence was on his way to work when he was suddenly pulled over. That same day he was on his way to a detention centre in Chicago where he would be held for 5 months. (You can listen to his full story here through this podcast interview)! It's an incredible story of how God used him in the detention centre to preach the Word and share the hope of Christ with many others in his same situation.

Clarence arrived here with almost nothing but he and another friend he met at the emergency shelter downtown, Josephine, have already started giving back to the community with such generosity. When Clarence and Josephine met a woman who didn't have a bed for her and her three kids Clarence was quick to give away the only air mattress he had so they could have a place to sleep. Clarence has been volunteering at the YMCA shelter helping immigrants and refugees fill out their paperwork. Josephine has been coordinating with another organization to help refugees find the furniture they need for their new apartments. Just last week we helped them to find an apartment on our street for a muslim woman and her daughter (pictured above).

Pray for these families caught up in the challenges of immigration as refugees and asylum seekers and our ministry with those who are right in our neighbourhood. Pray also for the work of Clarence and Josephine and that they would find a longterm apartment for themselves by the end of next month.

MY FIRST QURAN

Last week I received an amazing honour from my friend Bashar. I have mentioned this neighbour from Syria before who has become a great friend to our family. Last week he and a friend gave me an English translation Quran that I am beginning to read to know and love my muslim neighbours better. I asked Bashar if I could share a word from him that he would want people to know. He writes, “Islam is a religion of peace, love, and good treatment…” Bashar loves to hear about America and would love to visit some day! I thank God for the great conversations we have shared about life and faith.

You can pray for him and his family and that he would know and love Issa (Jesus) more through our friendship.

DIVINE APPOINTMENT FOR JILLIAN

God’s ways are incredible! He is at work in amazing ways and sometimes we get a front row seat to see the handiwork of it all. Last month Jillian got to experience this first hand through a divine appointment right in our home!

It started when we realized we needed someone to come look at our dryer machine. Jillian found a guy to come clean out the vents and just hearing our kids names (Samuel and Elijah) started a conversation about the Bible! He said he had just gone to church for the first time in 10 years and has been meeting Christians left and right for the past two weeks! He said to Jillian- "I keep looking for God and He just keeps showing up!" 

It just happens that the church he went to is our sister church and a partner in our ministry. And, he only happened to go to church that week because the week before God told his girlfriend to go to church. 

Jillian encouraged him in God’s calling through this and equipped him with a personal copy of the Gospel of John. This couple is now meeting with our friend Dustin, going to their church, and growing in the gospel.

OUR FRIEND FROM QATAR

I have shared with some of you about our friend from Qatar (met him at the train station in my neighbourhood, he has come to hear me preach at church, and loves hanging out with our friends and hearing about Jesus). Last weekend, we invited him to our church’s baptism party. It was an exciting night to hear people’s testimony of lives changed by Jesus, see their commitment to following him, and then celebrate new life. He loved the party and felt awed by our celebration of God’s grace, he was even moved to tears during some of the testimonies! As he looked around the room he said "I wish I could take a picture of this and just hang it on my wall." What he was trying to articulate was the beauty of Christ's church celebrating Jesus and the work He does in hearts and lives. Praise God!

Just this week we went out for dinner with a couple of our friends and are making plans to read "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus" together as a group! Please pray for him as God is clearly at work in his heart!

NEIGHBOURHOOD PARTY

This might have been the highlight of our summer! We did a huge neighbourhood party in front of our house in order to meet, know and love more of our neighbours.

About 50 people came out to meet each other, grill some food, and even our mayor stopped by! Our city councilman, Pulkit, has really become a friend and helped out a lot to throw this neighbourhood party.

Pray for our neighbours and relationships in our city!

FAMILY LIFE

Haven is doing great in kindergarten. It is all in French and she is really embracing it! Elijah is silly and sweet and loves the extra time he gets with Jillian when Haven is in school. Samuel is now 7 months and trying to crawl! He's amazing and we are still praising God often for how He sustained his life. 

Jillian is eager to learn more French and plans to start classes this Winter. She was enrolled to begin evening classes this Fall and unfortunately her course was cancelled just three days before it was set to begin. Pray for her as she learns the language!

ONE THOUSAND CHURCHES

If you want to get a better idea at the God-sized vision for church planting and Spiritual revival in QC, as well as the unique history and nature of this mission field, please check out this book written by our friend and pastor, Brian Stegner. Click the link below to get a copy of the book!

PRAYER REQUEST

As partners in ministry I want to draw a focus this month on our need for prayer and hope this will be a creative and powerful way to do that together!

Part of the "Montreal identity" is our area code, 514. In an effort to concentrate our prayer together for this city and mission field I would LOVE for you to set a daily alarm or reminder on your phone to pray at 5:14pm! Even more, I think it would be amazing to memorize a passage of Scripture to pray over us each week or even daily!

• Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden."
• OR, Acts 5:14 "And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women."

Not only would this be a beautiful petition to our Lord but would serve as a tangible reminder of your faithful prayers and partnership with us.

In addition to God's work through your prayers we are also thankful for your financial support to our ministry. The fruit we share to God's glory has eternal value and we are eagerly yet patiently following where God calls us. Click the button bellow if you would like to contribute financially to our ministry! 

Thank you and God bless you,