Pain and Gain

Dear Friends,

First of all I want to thank you for your prayers and encouragement these past few weeks since our last prayer letter. I know it has become a cliche to say that 2020 is a year like none other but one of the questions I never expected to ask my wife was “Does this mask clash with my suit?”.

This has definitely been a year that I would describe as both Pains and Gains.

Pains:  Covid-19 and Hurricane Sally:
On September 10th both Gayle and I were diagnosed positive for Covid-19. Many  of you reached out to let us know that you were praying, and we sincerely thank you for that. I have completely recovered and Gayle still has some mild symptoms of headaches and tiredness. We have been assured by medical professionals that we are no longer contagious and it is safe for us to be around others. By God’s grace I am back taking meetings and my calendar is booked for the next few months. 

Six days after we came down with Covid-19, Hurricane Sally made landfall in Pensacola, Florida where we are currently based. We planned to stay home and ride out the storm, but I received some calls from local friends that advised me that it would be a mistake to not evacuate. There were no hotels or shelters open to us because of our sickness. God always provides for the needs of His children, and a Pastor friend in another city opened his missions apartment to us. 

When we returned home a few days later, we were welcomed by water and mud damage both in the garage and house, along with power outages, no internet and the water being shut off.  But at least we were able to sleep in our own bed as we recovered from the Virus. The damage could have been much worse and I mention these “pains” only because I know that many of you love and pray for us and want to know what is going on in our personal lives. The truth is that these are minor inconveniences when compared to what is happening with so many other people here in America and around the world. 

Gains: New Churches: 
The past few weeks have seen some great opportunities for us to expand the ministry. God is still drawing people to Himself in some of the most gospel resistant parts of the world. We were able to participate in new church plants in four different countries where governments restrict and persecute Christians. One of the men we added for support is currently in prison and our support will be a great help to his wife and children. Three of the countries are communist countries where we have already been working, the fourth is the country of Belarus which is a land in great need of the gospel. I personally know the national pastor that we are helping there and have complete confidence in his integrity and love for Christ. 

Children’s Homes:
I am happy to let you know that by God’s grace we have completed the Children’s home in Myanmar. The building is beautiful and will be greatly used of God in the lives of orphans and poor children. Many will be saved and trained to serve God there. On behalf of Pastor Paul VanHre and the dozens of children that are being housed and educated, I want to say thank you for giving towards this worthy project.

Our focus is now on helping Pastor Ning Wungkhai finish the orphans home in India. We have raised enough money to acquire land and lay the foundation. Now we can proceed with the construction of the building. Thank you to those pastors and individuals who have given towards the India orphanage. 

If any of my pastor friends would like to make this a Christmas project I believe the Lord would be pleased by helping these poor and needy children. Please contact me if you would like more information. 

Showers of blessing and revival:
We are now helping 68 church planters, 3 Bible Colleges, and 2 children’s homes in 17 different countries. These national workers are human and they face the same difficulties and spiritual warfare that you and I do. Some of them have been separated from any personal missionary contact for several months. Many have been harassed and at least one has been imprisoned. 
By God’s grace they are not giving up, they are continuing to labor in their harvest fields and I am hearing reports of scattered showers of revival blessings. 

• Sri Lanka: A 4 year old church had 330 people in attendance and 160 people saved in a recent service.

• Pakistan: 79 Adults saved and 46 baptized. 

• Vietnam: 3 new churches planted. 

• China: many being saved in spite of increased persecution.

• Laos: New churches being planted, Christians reaching out to the poor and needy and seeing several saved. 

• Egypt: A local congregation was able to purchase their own meeting place. Our ministry was able to help.

• Camp: A missionary couple had to return from China and is now starting a Children’s Camp that will reach into Asian countries to bring children to the USA where they will be exposed to the gospel. Our ministry was able to help.

• New Field: My son-in-law and daughter had to leave China but God opened the door for a unique and innovative ministry in Africa. 

I could go on listing many other things that are happening, but I don’t want this report to be a book! 

Suffice it to say that no matter what is happening in the world around us “the Word of God is not bound”. God is very much at work in our world today and it is our great privilege to be involved in what He is doing!
God bless you and thank you once again for your love, prayers and support.

Dwight & Gayle Tomlinson
Barnabas1040.com
Email: dtomlinsonlbc@gmail.com 
USA Cell: (949) 880-9415