Baby Eliza is Born!
Dear Friends and Family,
This has been an exciting year, as we got to meet our first child on March 8th! Both Anna and baby Eliza are healthy and doing great.
Our budget has been raised since November, and we’re still plugged into a local church plant. That church, Fountain City, has rebounded from COVID stronger than before! Many missionaries to the Philippines, including ourselves, are waiting for the borders to open up so we can get back to breaking down the borders of people’s hearts. There is a lot of tension in the Philippines right now. Travel restrictions from one city to another are very strict, and many lives have been uprooted without proper work. We appreciate all your prayers for them.
Just last week we were at both a funeral and a wedding. It’s a weird feeling to mourn with one family and rejoice with another just a couple of days apart, but God has been reinforcing to us that we are appointed to live, die and then face judgment. Janice Cooley, who has gone to be with the Lord, is now reunited with her husband. She has left behind some beautiful family members who could still use your prayers and encouragement. She lived a long life serving in ministry, as well as a life of missions in the Philippines. Both Otho and Janice will be missed.
It breaks my heart to think of people I’ve encountered whom I didn’t share the Gospel with, and who may never get to hear a genuine presentation of the Gospel birthed from the love we carry for the world. At yesterday’s service, we poured out our hearts for the lost and shared how each of our lives will “echo in eternity,” a quote from the movie Gladiator that holds so much truth. Our family, including our newest little missionary, is ready to spend our lives reaching the lost near and far.
I urge you to take that leap of faith with us and share the Good News, even if you don’t have all the answers. People’s lives really do get changed through prayer, and you too can be a witness to God working miracles. When we pray, we get to see miracles. In the same way, when we go out on a limb and speak of the peace Jesus has given us, we get to see the lost come into the Kingdom of God.
Because they haven’t heard,
Justin & Anna Gilpin