God’s work in Amiens
The ministry in Amiens is doing well, by God’s grace. I have been preaching a series of sermons on the doctrine of Ecclesiology, as the believers all come from various church backgrounds. Though there have been fewer requests for Bibles, we still rejoice as we were able to provide 22 people with God’s Word during the months of March and April.
Practical Training
In April, Damaris was able to follow a Biblical Counseling seminar via Zoom. This has been a tremendous blessing to her as it is her heart’s desire to help others. It is sad to see so many people around us struggling and facing terrible difficulties, not finding any solace or justice from this world. So, please pray for the Holy Spirit to stir their hearts and for them to be open to listening to biblical teachings.
Youth Ministries
That same month, during spring break, our church organized its first VBS in our building in Amiens. “The Pilgrim’s Progress” was the chosen theme for the week. Children were able to listen to the story of Christian shared by Susan Abbett. Though we expected more children to be present, we only had three. This was a bit disappointing, but we were, however, encouraged by the participation of several believers from our little congregation who helped in various ways. E***y and R*****a both helped with the activities and snacks, while Adam and Joshua presented skits representing a lesson from the story.
In May, we had the visit of a group of believers from Northern Ireland, on a bike trip to visit France.
Furlough
In May, we had our end-of the year cookout for Bible Discovery Club children and parents. We enjoyed good times with L***s, P**l and their parents T****s and H****e; A**l, his brother M**c, their parents and a German exchange student staying with them, and of course Carey, Susan and Joshua Abbett. We are thankful for the work God has done in the lives of these children. Pray with us that we may have more opportunities to share the Gospel with the parents.
You may know from our previous letter that we are currently on furlough. Though we had prepared everything for our trip, we had an unexpected issue the day prior to our departure.
As I was checking us in on the airline’s website, there was a problem when I entered Damaris’ passport number and information. I remembered that since she only has French citizenship, she is required to obtain an ESTA from US immigration to be authorized to come in the country. Without this document it impossible for a foreigner to enter the United States even for a short period of time. We already had an ESTA that was still valid for this trip.
However, when reading the ESTA, I realized that the passport number on the ESTA didn’t match because Damaris had renewed her French passport since, meaning the document was no longer valid. In panic mode, I rushed online to obtain the document, which can take up to three days to process and obtain. I filled in the info, paid the fee and waited for a confirmation email. The first one I received detailed the transaction. It is then that I realized that I had paid three times the regular fee and that the website I had gone to wasn’t the official one.
Some websites lure people by looking very similar to the U.S. government’s, and what you actually pay the most for is their services to send your request to the U.S. government. As horrible as this is, it wasn’t the worse yet. After going back to that website, I found out it was piggybacking on one of those unofficial sites… You can imagine how bad I felt. I immediately contacted several believers to ask for prayer. Within 30 minutes, the request was officially approved, and we obtained the official ESTA. We praise the Lord for His answer to our prayers regarding this, but we also ask you to pray for protection over all the sensitive data that was given through the application, and that there would be no identity theft resulting from this.
On the road
The following day, May 31, our coworker Carey Abbett drove us to the airport in Paris. We had a very pleasant journey from there to Copenhagen, Denmark, where we enjoyed a short layover, and then took a second flight to Chicago. At our arrival at O’Hare, a brother from our sending church picked us up and brought us to Pastor Cowan and his wife’s house in Rochelle, Illinois. They generously opened their home to our family for about a week. Then Pastor Cowan graciously drove us to Missouri so that we could pick up a minivan for the rest of our furlough.
Lord willing, by the end of August, we will have reported to 13 of our supporting churches and presented our ministry to 11 new ones as additional support is needed.
We are extremely thankful for the warm welcome we have received during our travels in June. We have been blessed in so many ways that our hearts overflow with gratitude for God’s provision and protection.
We thank you for your precious prayers for our family and for the ministry God has given us. In Christ, Jeremie, Damaris, Adam, Abel & Anthony Dodeler