(a recent prayer letter received from John & Marcia Riggs, Zambia)

Once again we blinked and another year flew by. We saw a lot of positive changes in 2022. After nearly three years, the COVID 19 restrictions were lifted in Zambia. No more wearing masks to meet in church services. No more masks to wear in stores. And most of all, no masks on the 16-hour flight to the States. What a blessing that is!

More importantly, we saw positive spiritual growth in our churches in 2022. Cornerstone Baptist Church in Ndola, the church I am pastoring, had its best year since we started it. We had several step up into leadership roles at Cornerstone. We had seven saved this year and thirteen baptized.

The other churches we started also saw spiritual growth this year. Grace Baptist Church in Ndeke, Ndola started a new work in Kamafwesa, a small village on the outskirts of Ndola. Pastor Webby Bwalya reported 35 saved at this new work. Calvary Baptist Church in Kabushi, Ndola has started two new works. One in 2021 in Twapia, and one in 2022 in Chichele. Pastor Honeson Kabeshi reported 45 saved in these two preaching points. A young man out of Bible Baptist Church in Kaloko, Ndola has started a new work and Cornerstone Baptist Church in Buntungwa, Luanshya has started a new preaching point.

Our youth camp this year was administered by men I have been training over the years. It was a blessing to stand back and watch them do the work. In all of our churches, we had 210 saved and 75 baptized. Praise the Lord for a great year of positive spiritual growth in Zambia.

One thing we rarely do is come to the States just for the holidays, but this year was an exception for several reasons. We were able to have a Thanksgiving meal with Marcia’s siblings on Saturday after Thanksgiving. Marcia lost her eldest sister, Debbie, earlier this year after many years of fighting MS. I was able to see some of my siblings while we were in New Castle, IN as well. We presented a portrait of our pastor and his wife, Doug and Meagan Keppel, that Cornerstone Baptist Church in Zambia had made to commemorate their visit to Zambia in April this year. We spent some time with our daughter and son-in-law in Southern Indiana and attended some basketball games and piano recitals of our grandkids. One of the greatest blessings of 2022 was witnessing the birth of our 10th grandchild. Our grandson Ellis is just perfect.

Thank you for partnering with us to reach Zambia for Christ.