Greater Portland Baptist Church

Bernard Sylvien: March 2006

Dear Fellow Believers in Christ,

As the weeks have passed by many circumstances have come and gone. Some appear to be good while others appear not to be so good. No matter what may come the Lord is certainly in control of them all. With great disappointment the ministry that was being held in Tera Cora had to be stopped temporarily due to circumstances beyond my control. There were things going on which should have never taken place and finally some more is coming out to the open recently.

There are some changes that will have to take place and one such change is the location that it was currently in. Finding a different location can be a bit difficult but it is possible with the Lord's direction. I will have to see the Lord's will work out of this situation but in the meantime I will continue the teaching and visiting ministry I had with the hosting church on this island.

I recently had the opportunity to meet again with some contacts I had not seen in over a year and did return to church once again. Pray that this time they will be faithful to the services and for a desire for real spiritual growth to take place. All too often there seem to be a sense of laziness or a lack of desire for spiritual things and this is a cause for concern among some. Remember me in prayer, that I will be bold to open my mouth to share the Word of God with someone on a daily basis. I have made great progress using this language and therefore better able to explain biblical truths but still have room for improvement.

Words that sound a little similar is still a challenge for hearing and understanding and so requiring more practice with it. Many native speakers have told me that they can detect a great improvement now as in comparison with a year ago. I must say however that the visits I have been doing since coming here especially in the hospital has had the greatest impact in my use of this language. I can remember the early days of this and now I believe I can now move forward to better improve on its more difficult areas.

Since my last letter, I have had second opinions concerning the results of the MRI that was done last year. It is confirmed by a neurosurgeon that the problem does exist and a decompression of the nerve is normally required. Due to the fact that I am not in much pain while on these medications the choice would be up to me. At this time I am not sure that I should go through this surgical route since it is not an emergency but wait a little longer as this is the other option and probably the better of the two.

In His Service,
Bernard Sylvien