Missionary Letters

Trevor & Hannah Martin - Power to Change

Engaging The Campus


Just as Jesus had compassion on the crowds, Laura and Kayla looked at their campus and knew they needed to do something.  They worked hard to rally other Power to Change students to join them to engage the campus in spiritual conversations using a tool called 'Perspective Banners'. The Banners lead people through a conversation of their views on the nature of God, meaning of life, state of human nature, view of Jesus, and source of spiritual truth. It is rare opportunity for people to have deep yet open conversations on campus, and many people shared how much they appreciated the conversations. 

Kayla is with Aman and Kat in the picture above. Aman and Kat are on the Laurier varsity basketball team.  They took time out of their very busy schedule of school, training and competition to have conversations with people. In taking this step of faith, they not only got to talk to people that day, but also learned how to have deeper spiritual conversations with their friends. We are excited to hear what opportunities God brings for them to have conversations with their friends. Please pray for these Christian students as they continue to find ways to help their friends take their next step towards Jesus. 


PRAYER REQUESTS

1) For Daniel, a Laurier student, who is recovering from a stroke and heart surgery this past semester. Plus his mom who also had a stroke not too long ago. 

2) For Jared and Carissa, new staff on the Waterloo team, who are building their support team so they can be full-time on campus in September!

3) For Amelia who has been having nosebleeds almost every night. It is interrupting her sleep which has been impacting different areas of her life. 

Do you have a a prayer request? Please drop us a line and we'd be happy to pray for you.


FAMILY FUN

Robert & Susan Martin - Kingston Prison Ministry

Dear friends,
 
We are rejoicing in the splendour of the changing of seasons and the new life springing up around us.
Of greater splendor is the sacrificial death of our Saviour that brings newness of life to each and every believer in Him. Furthermore, Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee of ours!  What an incredible hope we have because of Him.

"But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died."
1 Corinthians 15:20 

The Lord is continuing to provide opportunities to have meaningful contacts with those whom society has rejected because of their unfortunate choices. 

A recent contact is Kevin. He was raised in a faith-based family and was involved significantly in his church. His parents taught and lived the example of what it means to be honest and hardworking. In his twenties he had a serious accident, which caused him to doubt God’s goodness and it was at this time that he allowed the world to squeeze him into its mold. 
 
His lifestyle steered him in the direction towards crimes, which eventually brought him to prison and this has humbled him immensely.  He has acknowledged his errors and sin. Through Bible study he is seeking God’s wisdom and strength to honour his senior parents and reconnect with his adult children. 
 
Kevin values our attempt to understand and support him on this journey. One on one visits and prayer times together are often bathed with tears.
Kevin is one of several individuals in similar situations. We know God loves and cares deeply for men like Kevin and we have seen the lifechanging results of the gospel in the hearts of men who have humbly repented and come to trust in the Saviour. 
 
Thank you for praying for us. We are grateful for your interest and support of our ministry to men in prison. We need His grace and wisdom to accomplish His will for His glory. 

May God bless abundantly in each of your lives as well.

With love in our Saviour,
Robert and Susan


Our mailing address is:
Prison Minstry, Kingston
PO Box 20051
Kingston, ON K7P 2T6


Charlotte Martin (Power to Change)

In just over 2 weeks our 2023 mission trips will be starting. We have about 33 students and 21 staff going on four different trips. Although we didn't hit our goal of sending 50 students, we know that God has a different perspective on numbers and that he can do mighty things through small numbers.

In a season where it feels like we are getting small results or little return for our efforts to mobilize students on mission trips, the following story is especially meaningful to me.

In 2020 Sarah was excited to go on our Desert Rain (DR) mission trip. She had almost finished raising her funds to go and then the pandemic hit and all our trips were cancelled. For two years we couldn't send in person mission trips. We hosted digital mission trips that allowed students to learn about the countries and cultures we work in internationally and engage online with students from those places. Sarah participated in our digital mission trip two years in a row and God continued to grow her heart for DR. In that time Sarah graduated from her undergrad and started a teaching degree. This summer Sarah is finally getting to go to DR. Here is her journey in her own words: 

"During undergrad, I prayed and longed for an opportunity to serve and partner with God in global missions. Three years ago, God answered that prayer by opening an opportunity to go to Desert Rain. While an opportunity to go in person was canceled due to the pandemic, God still provided me with an opportunity to reach his people virtually in 2020 and 2021. Little did I know that God would also break my heart for a nation and for people that I had never even met. During that time God has helped me to understand that being on missions is not weighed by trips or ministry but is a kingdom centered lifestyle. As I continued to pray for the nation, learn about the people and their faith, I felt a growing burden and the leading to go in person."

Thank you for your partnership in the work of mobilizing students to care about God's global work and to go. Praise God that it is not in our own strength that we mobilize students but God is always at work and what a pleasure to be a part of what he is doing. 

The last 8 weeks have held a lot of travel for me. Here are some of the different groups I got to spend time with.

Supervisors meetings at the end of February

Crisis Management Training in March

P2C Leaders Hub later in March.
The picture at the start of my update is also from this time when I went on a hike to a beautiful lookout with some women.

Russ & Meredith Martin

Inviting The Global Church Into God’s Mission

How do we invite the global Church into God’s mission? That is one of the key questions our team asks every day as we seek to resource and equip followers of Jesus with simple and easy to use tools to reach their world.

In our work with the Lausanne Movement, our team has been busy creating content along the lines of the fourfold we champion:

  • The gospel for every person.

  • A disciple-making church for every people and place.

  • Christ-like leaders for every church and sector.

  • Kingdom impact in every sphere of society.

In 2022, our devotional plans on the YouVersion Bible App increased 129%. We now have over 100,000 subscribers to guide and journey with, including subscribers from all continents!

Our plans are for you and are found here: https://lausanne.org/devotional-plan 

With family life stabilizing and the kids in school, Meredith has joined our team in a part-time capacity doing work on our websites and providing project management for design work. She’s a bit nervous getting back into professional work, but doing a great job.

WBC Friends, without your faithful partnership guiding people at this scale could not happen. Thank you for the part you play in leading the next generation of missions in a digital age.

Recent Highlights
A. Our two Student Council reps
B. Our blond footballer
C. April Fools + Birthday surprise for Russ

Gord Martin - Africa trip report - April 11 at Lincoln Road Chapel

Greetings to you all. 

I am planning, with Yonatan, to give a report on our recent journey to Sudan and Ethiopia to visit Eritrean refugees. 

In person at Lincoln Road Chapel, 145 Lincoln Rd, Waterloo, ON, April 11th,   at 7:00 p.m.

and by zoom, click on https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89055708565?pwd=L3JUSk10RWJwQng2QWREMGZNdkZjUT09