The Sheppards—Missionaries to Liberia November 2022 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

Hello from Liberia!

As we move into this year’s Thanksgiving season we realize again how good God continues to be to us. First we are thankful to have another quarter of Bible school classes in the rear-view mirror. As is the norm, the teachers always learn more than the students, but we thank God that the students did seem to learn as well! Nancy created a Social Psychology class using the book of Proverbs as a base. When she was in high school at Maranatha Academy in Wisconsin, her Bible teacher taught a unit study from the book of Proverbs, defining the wise one, the fool, the scoffer, etc. All these years later Nancy was able to do something similar for this class.

We are now teaching classes on “Church History” (Mark) and “Liberian English–Past and Present” (Nancy) using John-Mark’s Liberian dictionary as a text. (Click here if you are interested in getting one.)

We are also thankful God continues to bless our hospitality ministry. We have had a wide variety of people share our table. While for privacy reasons we are not able to say names, we are thankful that God continues to bring people to us so we can “wash the feet” of believers and bring the truth to unbelievers. During the rainy season our yard has been alive with beauty, some parts of which can become centerpieces for the table.


	Next, we thank God for the completion of a home summer-school program that Jonah shared with his friend Nathan. Jonah (age 14) is now an eighth grader at Cyber-Ed School of Excellence. We are blessed to see how fast he is growing and how strong he is getting.


	Our weekend ministry continues to be varied. Recently we visited New Life Baptist Church, a church plant with whom we worked extensively about ten years ago. Back when we started, there were many very serious issues to work through. In past visits we have seen increased stability, but now we are seeing real numerical growth as well. This was truly encouraging to us, and we give thanks to God for working in this church. This brings to mind Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Along with most of the rest of the world, inflation has hit Liberia hard. The difference between Liberia and other nations is that it is already one of the more impoverished countries in the world. The people have day-by-day challenges to have enough food to eat. One of the worst aspects of this is the increasing price of rice, Liberia’s staple food. A few years ago, a 25 kg. bag of rice cost U.S. $14. Recently the price has gone up to about U.S. $23. Needless to say, there is restlessness among the people. Since at the root of Liberia’s civil war was a rise in the price of rice in 1979, we and the rest of Liberia find the present situation very unsettling. For the FrontPageAfrica story (below), click here.

Please pray for the following requests:

Pray that God would meet the needs of the Liberians during this world-wide time of inflation and insecurity.
Pray for continued growth, both numerically and spiritually, in the student body of the Jake Memorial Baptist College.
Pray for strength and wisdom as we minister.
Pray for stability in Liberia.
Pray for Jonah’s physical and spiritual growth.

Finally, we thank “God upon every remembrance of you” (Philippians 1:3). May God continue to bless and strengthen you!

In our Savior's service,

Mark, Nancy and Jonah Sheppard

Serving with:

Baptist Mid-Missions
Box 308011
Cleveland, OH 44130-8011
http://www.bmm.org

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