Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making.”

September 7, 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the Lord’s faithfulness. It just dawned on me that I have not written a letter this month to update you on what God is doing here. I have been affected a bit by sciatica the last couple of months and it is difficult to type at the computer. So, I have gotten out of my regular routines. This is not all bad. God uses all things for His glory! Thank each of you for the regularity of your giving and praying for us. Each of you is also living life in a physical body on a fallen earth and it is not always “a piece of cake”. We really do appreciate your faithfulness and pray for you.

One of the things that I can do is walk. So, I walk and walk. Besides keeping me in shape it also opens up doors of opportunity. During the past few days I have had a number of good conversations about spiritual matters and about what we are doing here. These have been with people that we know and whose path I crossed as I walked or new people that God has brought into our lives.

During the month of August we have had unusually well attended meetings. Normally at this time of the year many are on vacation, but this year seems to have been different and we have had excellent services and Bible studies.

Normally we do not have youth outreach meeting in August because there are few young people at home. However, our granddaughters were in contact with many of their friends who were already back home so Philip and Amanda decided to host an “early” youth meeting. We were all thrilled by the 14 young people who came and participated. About half of these are unsaved and from homes where there are no Christians.

This Bible Study in Mazere started around 2004 when John & Judy started driving down about an hour from their home to have weekly Bible Study with Douceline.

In addition to this Bible Study, Douceline also now leads two evangelistic Bible Studies with other ladies.

I am enclosing a couple of pictures of the Bible Study last night at Mazere which is about an hour south of us. You will see that we are eating. Douceline, the young lady in whose home this outreach started turned 43 yesterday. In the last couple of years some of the folks who were invited by Douceline asked if they could host it in their homes. So, this Bible study now rotates among 4 homes. You might find this strange, but it actually is a blessing. When members of the group host, they take “ownership”. They are more likely to invite their friends to their home. This study first started about a dozen years ago when Judy and I started driving down weekly to have a Bible study with Douceline, a believer who had just moved from our area to a job in Mazere, who knew no other believers in the area and was very discouraged. In addition to this Bible study, this single lady now leads two evangelistic Bible studies with other ladies.

There are multitudes who need Christ so we just keep sowing; asking God for wisdom to do so effectively. Our church in Tournefeuille is now reaching out to 7 other communities.  This is not much when you consider the fact that there are about 35,000 communities in France that need the Gospel. We sow in hope and God produces!

May the Lord richly bless you,
John and Judy

John and Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.com

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