The Jones’ Journeys
January-February 2006

"We don’t know who he was, he just came to my grandmother’s home in India one morning years ago and shared the Gospel with her. She believed and was saved that morning.” This was the testimony of a dear Indian lady as we sat at lunch with her wonderful family in Mississippi. Through tears, she shared her testimony of how her Hindu mother, father and many other family members had since trusted in Christ. Now she and her wonderful husband are raising their three sons to serve the Lord. It overwhelmed me as I thought about the Thai Buddhists that will hear the Gospel, be saved and then begin the process of winning their family members.

The last two months of deputation have been a great time for us. The Lord has given us the opportunities to see and do so many things. We’ve been in or through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, West Virginia, Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas. As I write this, we’re on our way to Minnesota before heading off to Pennsylvania and back to South Carolina! Praise the Lord for a full schedule!

Rejoice with us as we joyfully reflect on the great things that God has done:

1) Our support level continues to climb. We’ve moved up to 31% with two or three churches still considering taking us on soon.
2) The Lord has continued to meet our needs financially and we’re hoping to be able to pay off our minivan in the next three months. This will be 2 years ahead of schedule!
3) A church in Tennessee bought us a new set of tires for our van.
4) My uncle surprised me recently by giving me a nice set of used Ping i3 irons!
5) We now have our very own “blog” site where we can post information about our travels. For those interested, you can check it out at www.awsmissions.com/jones
6) We’ve been able to begin saving for our “Outfit and Passage” fund.

We’d be honored if you were able to take a few moments while you’re reading this and pray for these particular areas:

1) Please pray that the Lord “show Himself strong” on our behalf by giving us the opportunity to get to Thailand by this time next year.
2) Pray that the Lord will continue to provide the nearly $33,000 needed for our outfit and passage fund.
3) Pray for the salvation of a young man named Brad in Brooklet, Georgia.
4) Pray that the Lord would allow us to fill up the last 3-4 spots we have open in our 2006 schedule.
5) Pray that God’s people will give faithfully in churches we are visiting so the churches will have the ability to support us and other missionaries.
6) Pray that we would be a blessing and encouragement to the churches we are visiting.

We love you all and we couldn’t continue without your prayers. We can tell so vividly when people are faithfully praying for us—there’s a clear sense of the power of God resting on our ministry when God’s people are praying.

Thank you all and we love you! For His Glory,

Matt and Courtney Jones
BWM--Thailand

The Jones’ Journeys October-December 2005

Life in the Midwest has been great. The weather in Kansas is as unpredictable as a missionary’s deputation schedule! A couple weeks ago, the temperature was 65 degrees on Sunday morning, and by the afternoon, three tornadoes had touched down a few counties west of our home. By the following Monday afternoon, it was 30 degrees, and the ground was covered with a dusting of snow. Later in the week, it snowed another 10 inches while we were trying to move out of our house. Crazy!

Speaking of crazy, our first eight weeks on deputation have been great! We’ve visited some wonderful churches in Georgia, Michigan, central Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, and we’ve seen our support go from 0% to 28% in just a matter of weeks. We had a wonderful missions conference at our sending church, Calvary Baptist in Ottawa, Kansas, and they committed to supporting us at 22% of our necessary support. Here’s the exciting part: this was their first missions conference in the 60-year history of this church. It was also their very first Faith Promise commitment, and they were able to reach their targeted amount. God is good!

Rejoice with us as we joyfully reflect on the great things that God has done:

1. We’ve been planning to purchase a DVD player for our van for traveling, but in October, a wonderful family that we visited gave us one!
2. Our support level is climbing—this is a good thing, since I just finished my employment at Amazing Grace Baptist Camp on December 10.
3. We’ve been able to schedule and confirm 9 meetings in 2005, and another 44 in 2006. That’s a total of 53 meetings scheduled. Again, God is good!

We’d be honored if you were able to take a few moments while you’re reading this and pray for these particular areas:

1. Several of the churches we’ve visited have verbally promised to support us.
2. Pray that they will be able to start their support soon.
3. Pray that we will be able to secure another 8-10 meetings for 2006.
4. It’s our desire, if the Lord allows, that we be leaving for Thailand early in 2007.
5. Pray for safety as we travel. We’ve moved out of our home and we won’t be back to Kansas until late next spring.
6. Pray that we’d be able to raise our necessary support and passage funds. It’s amazing how much money is necessary to move a family of five to Southeast Asia!

Thank you for taking time to read our very first prayer letter!