Prayer Letter
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November/December
Dear Friends,
Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
It’s always exciting to face a new year and the challenges and triumphs it may present. What a perfect year for Jesus to come back. I’ll be looking for my Savior in the clouds, but until then taking God’s words to Scotland is sure to keep us busy while the battle wages on.
In last month’s prayer letter I mentioned that we were in need of a sponsor and running out of time in finding one. We asked you to pray that God would do something and I am happy to report that God has heard and answered that request! I received an email in December from a missionary in England who is already well established as a sponsor and I am currently working on gathering and sending to him all the required documentation. Because his part of the sponsorship process is already complete, we should be able to go to the mission field sooner than expected. It is not an issue that he is in England because both England and Scotland are part of the U.K. Once I’ve sent the documentation and receive a sponsorship number, I can apply for a visa at the embassy. All this should take another six to ten weeks, depending on processing times. Just pray that all goes smoothly.
Also, we figured our support level in mid-December and found it to be at 84%. We need to raise another 16% by the time we leave in March, and we believe God will provide. Please pray that the rest comes in.
Thank you again for prayer concerning the old motorhome we have been travelling in. We are back in Ohio now and have no need of travelling in it again as we are basing out of here for our last few meetings before we leave. We put a total of 10,000 miles on it with no major problems. However, I must praise God for delivering me from a potential ‘major problem’. On a hot day in Texas, I was on my way to a propane filling station in stop and go traffic the whole way there. The engine was heating up the entire time and must’ve had some oil leakage on it. When I arrived at the propane place I had to wait for someone else who was filling up too. As I waited, I left it in park with the engine running. Being only about twenty feet from the man filling the customer’s tank, I was very alarmed at the smell and sight of smoke when it began to spew out of the ‘doghouse’ lid over the engine compartment between the driver and passenger seat. Thank God the bolts were not in the lid to secure it. Also, I happened to have a water bottle on hand to extinguish the good sized orange flames that leaped out when I opened the lid. If it were not for the grace of God, I would be Texas Toast right now. Needless to say, I afterward got in a great witness on the lost Catholic man who filled the propane!
Please pray for many souls to be saved this year, for our continued safety, and that God would show us exactly where He wants us to live as we look for a house to rent in Scotland.
God Bless,
Bro. Vogelpohl
July/August
Dear Friends,
Luke 8:5-8 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Life has become exponentially busier in the past two months since baby Sam has arrived and homeschooling has begun, but God has met all our needs. We’ve been able to travel as a family to meetings on the east coast, and also Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Thanks to yours prayers, we have a pretty full schedule through the rest of this year and will be heading out in a few days on a journey that will take us all over the northeast and south until 2012. Please pray for our safety as we travel. A couple weeks ago, the Lord provided for us a 1988 class A motorhome. It is exactly what we need for our travels and we are excited about living on the road again. It seems to run strong and function well for a 23 year old, but every rusty nut and bolt could use some prayer. I took it in to the nearby mechanic to have the running lights rewired last week. This mechanic is very ‘old school’ and does everything at half price or better. I’ve known him for over a decade and he was always grumpy, cussing and swearing, and seemed disinterested when I would give him tracts or try to witness. He asked me what we were doing with the motorhome and I used the opportunity to explain deputation and that we were on our way to take the gospel to Scotland. I was a little taken back when he replied, “People sure need the Lord”. I asked him if he had accepted Jesus Christ and he said, “I was not always a believer but I am now”, and started to tell me about how the Lord got his attention. There was an obvious change in his character. This news not only brought joy to my heart, but reminded me not to get frustrated by seemingly vain attempts to reach some individuals. You never know when the seeds may sprout, just keep watering. Pray that Mr. Herrick would grow in the Lord, and likewise pray for Nick, a young man who got saved in a missions conference in Pennsylvania. After I gave my testimony and preached, the young man who brought Nick to church asked him if he wanted to get saved. Nick said that he did, and the assistant pastor led him to Christ. It was a great encouragement to see someone get saved at a missions conference.
Thank you for prayer concerning the booklet of prophetic fulfillments in John that I mentioned in the last prayer letter. It is becoming more of a long- term project now, but out of this effort, the Lord pointed out some things in Isaiah 53 and I put together a tract entitled, “Is Jesus Really the Christ ?” I know it sounds funny, but it is titled this because it is intended for skeptics. I plan on meeting a lot of them in Scotland. It’s not really a ‘one-size-fits-all’ tract, and it’s not really a ‘gospel for dummies’ tract, but if read carefully by a skeptic that is honest, it shows that only Jesus could meet the criteria required by the prophet Isaiah for someone to be ‘the Christ’ that would bring salvation to the world. It also shows just how literally the New Testament accounts line up with what Isaiah actually said, especially in the King James Bible. I was able to have these made for about ten cents each, after shipping, and have provided a ready-to-print PDF document of it on our website (www.light2scotland.com). Just click the Downloads link at the top of the page to view and print the tract. The profit collected from the sales of the bagpipe CD we made earlier this year was enough to provide us with ten thousand of these tracts.
God Bless,
Bro. Vogelpohl
May/June
Dear Friend,
Romans 5:1-5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
This prayer letter was ready to print a week ago, but I had to change some details due to a ‘special delivery’ on July 6th! Samuel was born ten days before his due date weighing in at 7lbs, 1oz, and 21 inches long. Everything went perfectly and the boy is in perfect health. This is quite miraculous if you consider all that my wife was going through last year. Thank you for all your prayers during Angie’s pregnancy and praise God for His goodness!
Meetings in May and June took me to Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky. Support has increased slightly and slowly, but surely. Several other meetings were cancelled and had to be rescheduled for later this year. Please pray that the Lord would guide us to the right churches.
Among some of our newest supporters is a man who was born and raised in Edinburgh, the city where we plan to start our ministry in Scotland. He visits lost family members there a couple times a year and has a great desire to ensure that the message of Jesus Christ returns to his native land. This is very encouraging to us and humbling to think that a man who has been there and experienced it believes in the cause enough to entrust an American like me to carry out the task. Much like several other people I met in Edinburgh on my survey trip, he reminds me of the Macedonian man who said to Paul, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” (Acts 16:9)
We would also ask for prayer about a sponsor into the country. A few missionaries in the U.K. have offered to sponsor us, but new legislation has made it necessary for them to meet certain qualifications in order to sponsor someone into the country. We were recently informed that one of these qualifications is that the sponsoring party must produce an annual income of five thousand pounds. This means that an established church rather than an individual missionary can sponsor someone, making it more difficult to qualify. There is a lot of paperwork involved for the sponsor and the whole process could take a few months, so please pray that the Lord allows all to go smoothly.
Having a new baby around is sure to present new challenges with travelling to the meetings we have scheduled for the next few months as we have no travel trailer, but we’re trusting that the Lord will provide suitable accommodations. We’ve been living in our house that’s been up for sale for quite some time now. There are few potential buyers in this rural location but we believe the right person will come along. We will no longer need it by August and would appreciate prayer for a timely sale.
In the last prayer letter, I mentioned that I’m working on a booklet to hand out in Scotland that shows fulfilled prophecies in the Gospel of John. This has been going well, but I’ve only been able to work on it ‘here a little, there a little’. I just need to have it finished and ready to go by the time we move to Scotland. Meanwhile, pray that the Lord would give us some fruit for our labor here as we try to serve Him, and especially for potential fruit in Scotland among lost sinners with whom God is dealing.
God Bless,
Bro. Vogelpohl
January/February 2011
Dear Friends,
Luke 12:29-31 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
It is always an amazing thing to see how the Lord provides through the strangest circumstances. A couple weeks ago I preached on the street with the guys from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Georgia. A black preacher stopped his car and handed a man in our group two brand new Ben Franklin bills! He said it was because he appreciated what we were doing and insisted that the man take it, then drove away. The man told the pastor he wanted to put it in the pan on Sunday and the pastor told him he would give it to the missionary if he did. The Lord has a way of surprising you, encouraging you, and humbling you, all at the same time. My only comfort in receiving money like that is knowing that it is not for me, but for the people of Scotland and our future ministry there.
I had a good conversation for about an hour with a young man in Pensacola, Florida last week. He is a philosophy major who was raised Catholic. He said he knows Catholicism is false and has been looking for truth from philosophers like Soren Kirkegaard instead. He has a friend who is trying to allure him into Satanism, which doesn’t surprise me, as modern philosophy is the road that leads to it. I have studied up on this religion for liberals quite a bit because this is a very typical mindset among the youth in Scotland. He seemed to be an honest skeptic and was willing to consider everything I said. This conversation took place on the street in front of the house of a friend of mine. My friend Tim said he would look for him to pass by again. Pray that Tim would get a chance to witness to this young man again and that God would do a work in his heart. Pray likewise for a Muslim hotel manager in Tennessee named Jawed. This man was very kind and also very open to what I had to say. He said he is not very religious but keeps the ten commandments posted in the lobby of his hotel and is trusting his own goodness to save him.
Please pray for Jeff Smith, a missionary in Scotland who’s battling cancer. He has a very rare type of cancer and has just started chemotherapy treatments that will continue until June. I stayed with this missionary when I took my survey trip and he was a great blessing. He’s been winning souls in Scotland for eighteen years and is now in real need of prayer.
My wife, Angie, is doing very well with her recovery and is no longer wearing a neck brace at all. She still has no pain other than muscle soreness in her neck. Travelling can be difficult because her blood pressure needs to stay down and being in the car for long periods of time tends to make it rise pretty high. The fact that she is pregnant also complicates the blood pressure issues. Please continue to pray for her and also our baby that she is carrying. She is scheduled to have an ultrasound on the 16th to find out if it is a boy or girl.
Having played the Highland Bagpipes at just about every church I’ve been to in the past two years, some of you have asked me to make a CD of hymns. I’ve been working on this here and there for almost a year now and it is finally finished. The name of it is Amazed By Grace. I am very pleased with the quality of the final product and it was well worth the extra time and effort. We want to use the sales profits for Bibles, tracts, hymnbooks, and other materials that we will need in Scotland. If interested, you can find ordering information at our website www.light2scotland.com.
God Bless,
Bro. Vogelpohl
November/December 2010
Dear Friends,
Acts 1:11 “…this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
We have been able to get out quite a few gospel tracts during this Christmas season and my wife has been able to share her testimony of God’s grace on numerous occasions with other women just about everywhere she goes. It usually starts when they ask her about why she wears a neck collar, what happened, how it feels, etc. This opens the door for her to testify of the Lord’s power not only to rescue and heal, but to save from hell. People are becoming more open than we might expect them to be and it almost seems like there is a ‘feeling in the air’ of the Lord’s soon return. As they are reminded of the first coming of Christ at this time of year, they are at the same time confronted with the reality of His second coming in these perilous times. I left a tract with an employee in the fishing department at a Bass Pro Shop, and as I passed the department again ten minutes later, he flagged me down and had something he wanted to say. He informed me that he had read the tract and said, “I need to do that.” I gained my senses after the initial shock, asked him a few questions and witnessed to him for a little while to make sure he understood. I asked him if he would be willing to pray with me and ask the Lord to save him right there in the store. He said, “Yes” and started to bow his head but noticed a co-worker watching nearby and declined to proceed. The devil had him cornered that time, but I trust that the Lord is not through dealing with this man. His name is John . He was raised Roman Catholic, has recently been through family and financial problems, and told me he thought God was trying to get his attention. Not sure if I’d ever see him again, I urged him to call on the Lord Jesus on his own, but I do not know if he did. Please pray for his salvation and that I might get another opportunity to speak with him.
Thank you for continuing to pray for the healing of my wife’s neck and a full recovery. She is doing great and has little soreness now in the muscles, and is slowly regaining the movement in her neck. Although she has some pain on her right side, she can now do everything she was doing before the accident and for all practical purposes she’s fully recovered already. Please continue to pray that there would be no further complications down the road. We have found out recently that she’s pregnant with our fifth child! It could be our fifth boy or our first girl, only the Lord knows at this early stage. We will be happy and honored with either. ‘Morning sickness’ nausea is giving her much more trouble right now than the broken neck is, so please pray for that and also for the baby’s health.
Praise the Lord for recent support increases from churches in Texas and Alabama. I’ve been busy on the phone for the past two months trying to catch up on scheduling for next year. The Lord has been faithful in giving meetings and I now have most of my calendar full for 2011. Most of the meetings are within a ten hour drive from our home base in Toledo, and I am planning on driving to these in our minivan. We are, however, considering replacing the truck and camper that we lost and would ask you to pray for the Lord to give us wisdom about His will concerning this. We plan to leave for the field by January 2012.
God Bless,
Bro. Vogelpohl
Support Address:
Hope Baptist Missions
6250 South Ave.
Toledo, OH 43615
Contact Information:
(419)344-1206
September/October 2010
Dear Friends,
Romans 15:4-6 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to thank those of you who have recently taken us on for financial support as we have just crossed the 50% barrier! It has been our goal from the beginning to reach the field before the year 2012, and that is now looking like a real possibility. Please pray that the Lord will provide the second half shortly.
Praise the Lord for a successful removal of my wife’s halo! What freedom and liberty she now feels after six months in a torso to skull metal brace. Her neck bones are now far along enough in the healing process that she does not need it. This removal of the halo, however, was preceded by two days of another trial in the hospital. She had a strange rush of blood in her neck that caused her to be light-headed and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The first test results made the doctors think that she had 30 to 40% blockage in her carotid artery and that a torn section of the artery’s lining was causing a clot. This would have been pretty serious and would call for another surgery to fix. People started to pray and they did some more testing the next day. The final results showed no clotting no need for surgery. Other than the soreness in her neck muscles that haven’t been used in so long a time, she is in no pain, but please continue to pray for her full recovery.
The Lord has been faithful through all these trails since the accident to give a great amount of comfort through the scriptures. I was reading my Bible at Fort Parker State Park in Texas during the morning hours on one of the days she was in the hospital. At that point I believed they were going to have to put a ‘stint’ in her carotid artery to keep it from clotting. The thought of another surgery was another grief of mind. I read in Isaiah and came through the place where God said that His word “shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” I paused for a minute to think about that verse, and just then, a park ranger pulled up and wanted to tell me something. He said that he had an opportunity to witness to his partner in the truck the day before because they noticed the verse on my back windshield (Rom 6:23). I handed him a gospel tract that he could pass to his partner later on. He started to tell me that he was not only a Baptist, but also that he was saved (a combination that’s becoming more difficult to find these days). As we conversed, I noticed that he looked like he was of native-american descent. He walked away and I started to remember the story of Fort Parker. They say it was a pioneer fort but the old stone memorials indicate that it was a Baptist missionary effort and was only fortified to protect against Indian raids. In 1833, John Parker and his family left Illinois to start a church in Texas, which then was Mexico. In 1836, a band of Indians massacred this settlement, killing five, severely wounding others, and taking some as slaves. One of these slaves was the famed 9 year old Cynthia Ann Parker who later married a Comanche chief and never returned to white man’s ways, much less to the faith of her fathers. Another lady from the settlement watched them torture her six month old by tying it to a rope and dragging it to death behind a horse. As much as the modernists try to make the history books to tell about a ‘peace-loving, pipe-smoking’ people, really they were more like ‘sister-scalping, brother-sacrificing’ because of the gods that they served. What a high price to pay for those missionaries that never saw one convert. Yet here we were in the middle of today’s Texas Bible belt and here was a man who is the fruit of their suffering right before my eyes! Only because we have a God whose living word does not return void, accomplishes what He pleases, and prospers in the thing whereto He sends it.
God Bless,
Bro. Vogelpohl
Support Address:
Hope Baptist Missions
6250 South Ave.
Toledo, OH 43615
Contact Information:
(419)344-1206
Last Updated (Wednesday, January 04 2012 21:07)