Dear Praying Partners,

I can’t believe that we are already heading into the fall. Summer just flew by, and Denise and I enjoyed the weeks that we were able to spend with Aiden. We packed so many adventures into such a short period of time and enjoyed every minute of it all. Aiden is growing and has just turned 12. He truly is a sweet boy who loves the Lord.

As we come into the fall, I am looking forward to traveling with one of our National Pastors from our homeland of Cote d’Ivoire. Pastor Arsene just recently had his interview with the American Embassy and was approved for a visa. This is the first time in over 17 years that we have had one of our own pastors that we work with in Cote d’Ivoire get to visit Stateside. We are excited to have him and travel for six weeks this fall.  Pastor Arsene just finished up with his first summer camp for the orphan children and the under-privileged children. They had over 50 in attendance for the week with 37 of them accepting the Lord!!! What a tremendous blessing and rewarding week. All the hard work put into teaching these children from the Word of God for the week truly paid off.  God so good!!!

In addition, Pastor Emmanuel shared with me that our renovation project on our large church in Bouake was finally completed. This building is 32 meters long and 18 meters wide. A huge undertaking. We were able to put a new roof on it, re-stucco and repaint it, build new doors, put in a new ceiling, and tile the building, along with purchasing new chairs. This church needed a facelift as it was built back in 1998. God is so good, and we appreciate everyone that has helped us make this possible. This is such an encouragement to our church people.

Our evangelism team has been kept busy holding open-air evangelism meetings in strategic areas that we have targeted for new church plants. We are seeing an outpouring of men, women and children coming to Christ through these efforts. Truly a blessing from our Lord.

Looking ahead over the coming 6 months to a year here in Cote d’Ivoire, the needs that are staring us in the face are daunting and are as follows:

Pastor Arsene is in need of $1000 to finish paying off the church land and an additional $10,000 to put up a church.

Pastor Pacome is in need of $10,000 to put up a church building for their new church plant.

Pastor Janot has the land but we need $10,000 for his church building.

Pastor Benjamin needs $2200 to purchase much-needed church property in his area.

This is all truly very overwhelming for us, but we serve an Almighty God, and we are trusting and believe He is able to provide for each of these needs.  Our ministries are expanding and growing and with that comes the need of church buildings. Please prayerfully consider helping us with these projects. This can only be accomplished as God’s people come together and join with us in helping meet each of these needs. Listen, prayer warriors, this is an exciting challenge to have as we see His ministries expanding to new areas.

FAMILY NEWS:

We appreciate all your prayers for Denise. God is so good, and Denise continues to work hard towards a more normal, healthy life. She continues to accomplish water rehab 3 times a week striving to strengthen and increase her daily steps. She still has to use her wheelchair to get around for periods of time but is working on strengthening her daily steps. Realize she went from 15,000 steps a day down to less than 1000 daily. Every day is a struggle, and she is trying to push past the new norm she is dealing with.

Aiden, on the other hand, is growing into a young man who truly loves the Lord and is listening to Christian music. He just turned 12 a few weeks ago and is starting 7th grade. He is such a sweet boy and loves his time he is able to spend with us. We are so blessed.

We thank each of you for your faithful prayers and support of our family and our ministries in Cote d’Ivoire and heading up Faith Ministries International.  Please continue to pray for our support level as we are still in need of $1200 a month of additional support to recoup from our covid years. Any additional help in this area will greatly encourage us. Thank you, Prayer Partners, for your encouragement and faithfulness.

 

With Much Love,

Jim for the Arnold Family