Dan and Elizabeth Canavan: March and April 2006
Naill, an Irishman who comes to the midweek service, is an interesting fellow. His dad was led to the Lord by a man he met on a trip to Northern Ireland. The family moved from Dublin out into the country to try to start a church while Naill was young. Over the years, the dad has led most of his large family, including Naill, to Christ. After graduating from university, Naill moved back to Dublin and played Gaelic football for the Dublin team . Shortly after we came back from furlough, Naill started coming to the midweek services. At first, his attendance was sporadic, but now he attends regularly. He does not come to the Sunday services because he goes back to the country to be with his family and to help promote the outreach there. Gradually, Naill seems to be absorbing sound doctrine and is growing in the Lord. I found out recently that many times he leads the "talk" they have on the weekend, and he often reuses what I preached on Wednesday night. He also encouraged his brother, Paul, and his young family to start coming on Sundays. Paul’s family has over 1 hour to drive to get to our church and seems to be growing in the Lord also.
Michael, the dad of a young girl on our street who is friends with Becca, started coming to me with questions about religion. This is amazing because Michael initially forbid Shauna to come to church or play with Becca for quite a while. He is a mature man going back to school for a degree and was troubled by the secular influences in his education. Michael has been on the prayer list on and off for a few years. In the last month, he has come back to me several times to discuss various issues. Recently, the Lord gave an opportunity to give him a clear gospel witness. Michael asked some good questions and it seems the Lord was working in his heart.
The next day, another neighbor family allowed us to share the gospel with them. Michael and Jisling, parents of two boys Andrew and Caleb play with, had us over for tea and dessert. We had their family over for tea and dessert a few weeks earlier. They kindly returned the invitation and the Lord opened the opportunity to witness to them.
By enabling us to minister in Dublin, we are reaching people that would never hear the gospel otherwise. Without a sound gospel preaching church, they would never heard the glorious gospel of Christ, or never had a chance to become established in the faith. We were so excited to have 4 unsaved people in the Easter service. Each heard a clear presentation of the Gospel, and one, Jing, is seriously considering salvation.
We have been notified by our landlord that he wants to sell the duplex we are renting from him. This will probably mean a substantial increase in rent to remain in the area where we minister. When we first came to the outskirts of Southeast Dublin, it was a moderate area to live in, but that has substantially changed. Buildable land is now over $5,000,000 an acre. A ½ acre plot with two houses on it a few hundred meters away from our home recently sold for $4,000,000. This situation creates a lot of stress for the work that is being established here and our ability to continue to live close to the area we minister in. Although we would prefer it to be otherwise, it is appears that we will need to return to the States for a few months in ‘07 to raise additional support.
The Lord truly is doing some great things. We have never had so many opportunities to witness and serve as we now have. Please continue to hold us up in prayer.
Prayer Requests:
1. Salvation – Michael and Norine, Michael and Jisling, Jing, Christina, Yang Li, Ali
2. Growth – Man Juan, Michael, Ian, Adore, Daryl, Ricky, Finian
3. Our family – Andrew, Becca, Caleb, Beth & Dan
In Christ,
Daniel P. Canavan
