Courtesy of my mom, while we were in Arkansas in early July:

Wow, three months goes fast. Here's a quick update on the highlights.

1. We've now been in Toronto for six months. What a fantastic place to live, a fantastic place to sow the seed, and a fantastic bunch of Christians to know, to love, and to work with! Just started a new Bible study this last week with a Chinese fellow who is searching for truth, and there appear to be more study opportunities on the horizon. I give thanks to God and my fellow brethren for these blessings.

2. We have two new family members in Christ: Jim Lacey and Danielle Jager. Praise the Lord for washing them clean of their sins through faith!

3. Trip to the U.S.: Got to see the complete sets of both sides of our immediate family. Good times!

4. Colton turned 6 on 7/10. Wow, my 2nd child is SIX. That was fast. Next up: Maura turns (gulp) 9 on 9/4.

5. I was asked to preach during a weekend gospel meeting in Wellandport, Ontario (about 2 hrs away) towards the beginning of June. What a great congregation! My family was so encouraged to get acquainted with them.

We had a big day yesterday ... went down to Wellandport for the last day of their VBS, then took in a few hours at Niagara Falls before heading back to Wellandport for a cookout and singing at Mike and Sherry Stephens' house.

Pics of Niagara below.

Here are some pics of the birthday girl (and her sibs)

Ivanna Bach obeyed the gospel this past Tuesday afternoon here in Toronto; we give God the glory! Ivanna and her husband Stephen come from a denominational background and have quite a bit of familiarity with the Scriptures. They realized that their former practices were inconsistent with what they read in the Bible, and in their search for the Lord and his kingdom they stumbled across Chuck Bartlett's phone number a couple of weeks ago (Chuck is the other evangelist working here with the East End congregation). After several hours of Bible study, Ivanna became convinced that her previous baptism was not a Scriptural one, and now we rejoice with her in that she has finally died with Christ and had her sins washed away! We're hopeful and prayerful that Stephen is not far behind :)

Please pray for our new sister, and for the congregation, that we help our three new young siblings in Christ to grow (see below).

More great news! ... Saturday night around 6:30PM, Sandy Chen had her sins washed away in baptism, being "raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised [Jesus] from the dead." (Col. 2:12) As she came out of the water, she said something to the effect of, "This is the BEST day of my life"! We're so excited to welcome two new members into the family of God (see post below); please pray that they continue growing from babes to maturity in Christ.

[Oh, and for those who were wondering below whether or not John's wife Sunny went by the name Sunny Sun, the answer is ... I don't think so :) From what I've heard, Chinese women typically do not take the last name of their husbands; they keep their 'maiden' name. I don't know Sunny's family name though.]