October, 2011 Update

Dear Friends and Supporters,

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” Psalm 8:3-4. I write this letter on the heels of a trip to Colorado. While there, I was able to witness some of the marvelous majesty of God’s handiwork. One thing that struck me was the beauty of the canyons and rock formations jutting out of the ground. These formations, while beautiful, are a mark of sin on the world. As far as can be surmised, most of these formations are a result, either directly or indirectly, of the flood found in Genesis 6-8, when the tectonic plates pushed against each other resulting in mountains, valleys, canyons, etc. Yet God took these scars of sin on the earth and made them a thing of immeasurable beauty! Our God does the same for a human being. He can take the scars of sin in a person’s life and turn them into a beautiful testimony of His work! Only our God can turn something so “ugly” as a scar into a thing of unsurpassed beauty.

God has been good to us as we continue to travel and seek our monthly support for the work in Brazil. Thanks to His provision we now have 57% of our support raised! We have traveled, since our last letter, to the states of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio and Colorado; and we still have meetings scheduled through Thanksgiving. We thank the Lord for safety through these travels and many miles on the road. We are currently scheduling meetings in 2012 to present our burden for Brazil in churches around the United States. Please pray both for continued traveling mercies and additional support so that we might leave for Brazil quickly!

In this letter I would like to focus on how important every contribution is to our work. In today’s atmosphere of economic downturn and political turmoil, even God’s people are not immune to the effects of the world’s scene. Christians and churches alike are struggling to maintain their basic necessities. At such a time as this, every church’s contribution and every individual’s contribution to the cause of missions is vital. One church can give more than another, but none can do it alone. Working together, they put a missionary on the field. In the same way, individuals working together can reach the same common goal.

At this point in our ministry, we are approaching our 5th year on deputation. While at one time that was unheard of, today it is all too common. So many people believe that they cannot do anything to help because they do not have enough to offer. Consider this. Of the missionaries that I know raising support, each one on average, picks up a supporting church at a rate of about 1 every month and a half. At that rate it takes 6 or 7 years for a missionary to start his ministry. Right now, we lack 43% of our support tobe in Brazil as full-time, church-planting missionaries. To reach our goal and close that gap, it would take 21 more churches supporting us at an average of $100 a month to put us on the field. Individuals today generally cannot afford a $100 a month commitment. However, $20 a month may be more reasonable. At that rate it would take 105 individuals to put us on the field. Churches and individuals working together could do that even more quickly. Perhaps it would take 11 more churches and 52 individuals or any combination of the two.

We would like each church and individual to pray and ask God if He would have you to partner with our ministry in reaching Brazilians for Christ. Together the task seems much smaller and more doable. We know that God has a timetable, but I fear we as Christians are falling behind His timetable for financial fear. While missionaries today take 6 and 7 years to get to their field, people are dying in their projected fields having NEVER heard of Christ’s unfailing love! In the five years that we have been raising support, 6,500,000 people have died in Brazil! That is the entire state of Indiana! It is also more than all of the people in the Brazilian state of Paraíba where we will work! How many of those could have heard the gospel sometime in the last five years? Please pray with us that God will move us there quickly to begin our work.

For any individuals that would feel led to share in our ministry, all donations are tax-deductible. Any donation can be made payable and sent to the Gospel Preacher Association and marked for The Harmans. The mailing information for the GPA is as follows:

The Gospel Preacher Association
P.O. Box 465177
Lawrenceville, GA 30042

You will receive a tax deductible receipt from our Mission Agency and regular updates from us through letters, e-mail, and other forms of communication. This way you will be better able to gauge the effectiveness of your investment in Christ’s work.

Again we would like to thank all of those who DO support us, both through prayer and finances. Together, we WILL continue His work! May we all continue to reap fruits for our labors.


In His Service,


Jon, Tonya, and Kyle Harman

Update

“Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.” I Chronicles 16:8. This is truly the task of any missionary. We are to first THANK God for who He is and what He does. Secondly, we are to tell what He has done for us to others. If we are truly thankful to God for what He has done for us, then we should naturally want to share that with others. In doing this we will be able to show others the reason they should give their hearts to Christ.

So much has happened in the weeks since our last update that it would be impossible to share it all in such a brief post. First, we have continued to share our burden for the people of Brazil in churches all over the eastern part of the country. We have driven almost 11,000 miles in the last three months alone, and God has kept us safe every step of the way. We are sitting right at 50% of our support! We’ve been told that once you reach 50% the support comes in much quicker. We are praying that this is the case and that we will be able to leave for Brazil by the end of 2011.

God has also given us another ministry, just in the last week before I finished this letter. Tonya and I heard of two exchange students that had come to the United States with only a temporary home to house them. They are attending a local Christian School and needed permanent homes by Thanksgiving to avoid being sent back to their countries before the end of the school year. Tonya and I agreed to go through the process and were approved. Jaime, who is from Colombia, South America, is now living with us until the end of May or the first of June. Please pray for Jaime as he completes this school year and travels with us on deputation. Pray that he will learn much about the Lord Jesus Christ and desire to have a personal relationship with Him before he leaves us.

God also gave us another great blessing about a month ago. Tonya, Kyle and I had travelled to a Missions Conference near Spartanburg, SC. During one of our afternoons, between services, we went to a park in Spartanburg. I lost my wallet at the park. The next day we went back to comb the park looking for the lost wallet. While there, we met a young man by the name of Jake. Jake is 15 years old and wanted someone to talk to. He has had a very rough family background. He is currently living in a situation that is not ideal and his mother is dying of cancer. Tonya and I were able to spend about two hours talking to him and sharing Christ with him. He did not get saved at that moment, but we gave him a gospel tract and a prayer card and prayed for him. When we got home, on Monday morning he called asking for prayer about some tough situations. He then called our sending church during the Wednesday night service looking for someone to pray with him. Our pastor talked to him and, again, shared the gospel with him. This time it took hold and he trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior. Praise the Lord with us over this soul, which was lost and is now found! Also, as if this were not a big enough blessing, my wallet showed up in the mail in an unmarked envelope with everything still inside! GOD IS SO GOOD!

Please continue to pray for us as we endeavor to share the love of our Lord, Jesus Christ and share our burden in churches. Pray that others would desire to partner with us, both through prayer and finances, in our desire to share Christ in Brazil. We know God has a purpose in keeping us here for the moment, but we believe He will take us soon to our country of calling. Pray for our van to keep going all the miles we will travel in the days and months ahead. So far it is running well with only minor maintenance. Pray for us to reach the 60% mark by our next letter and for 100% before the end of next year.

Thank you all for your prayers and support of our work. May God continue to bless each of you as we labor together!

Almost half way!

Well, we have stayed busy these last months. We have been on the road from New York to Florida and continue having meetings to present our work. We are still hopeful that we will pass the 50% mark of our support by or before the end of the year (we currently have about 49%)! If we could get that number up to about 60% by January or February, that would REALLY go a long way to getting us both (Jon and Tonya)on full-time deputation. Pray that some of the churches we have been in would catch our burden for Brazil and feel led to support us in that way.

We still have a few meetings left between now and the end of the year. Pray for prosperous meetings, for souls to be saved, for hearts to be encouraged, and for people to feel a great burden for getting the gospel out to a lost and dying world. Pray that we will continue to stay faithful as we continue to long journey of deputation and not be discouraged. We KNOW that God has a time-table for us to arrive in Brazil and we want to follow that, though we can become impatient at times.

Thank you to all of you who continue to support us through your sacrificial giving and your prayers. Please feel free to look us up and follow us on Facebook as well. Just look for "Jon Harman" and send a friend request. I keep that updated much more frequently than the blog.

Continued Blessings

Well, we have had a very busy month of August and are in for an even busier September. We visited a church in DeLand, FL, on the first Sunday of this month. This church happens to be about an hour from some dear friends of ours, so we spent some time with them that weekend as well.

The next week we spent getting ready for a celebration of my mother and father-in-laws' 40th Wedding Anniversary. That was a great time of seeing family on both sides and thanking God for a wonderful testimony in the lives of Tonya's parents. Please continue to pray for Tonya's mother, Lois McLain, as her health has not been the best. We are trusting God to take care of her.

Jon was also able to spend some time continuing his class on soul-winning at our sending church (in between meetings) and continue his Portuguese classes as well. We also were able to present our work at a church in Wellford, SC, and had a great time with the folks there.

This coming week Tonya's best friend is getting married in Ohio, so she and Kyle will be attending that event. Jon will drop them off and then continue on up to Indiana where he will present our work in two churches there. In September we will be in churches in North Carolina and Alabama. Pray for safety as we travel and for some of the churches that we visit to partner with us by supporting us financially so that we can leave quickly for the field. There is SO much work to be done there. We currently have 48% of our support and are praying for at least 6 or 8 more supporting churches by the end of the year. Keep praying and we will keep you posted. Thanks!

God is good!

We are so thankful for a busy and productive last few months. We have been visiting churches from New York to Florida and helping out in a summer camp. We had four children saved during the two weeks at camp! Praise the Lord! We also spent a week at the GPA National Camp Meeting, which was a great time of encouragement and refreshment. Now we are preparing to do some more traveling to Florida, South Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, Maryland, and of course North Carolina over the next few months. Pray for safety and that some of the churches we have visited and will visit will decide to partner with us financially. Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

New Year

I certainly must apologize for not updating our site sooner. We have been quite busy since Christmas started. Still, that is no excuse.

To start, we had a wonderful start to the new year. We have been traveling and speaking in a number of churches. We have already visited churches in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina. Jon had to purchase a car in September of this last year because his other one "gave up the ghost." In 6 months we have put 16,000 miles on it. Over the next 6 months we expect to put more than that on it. God is opening doors for us to speak in churches and present our burden for the country and people of Brazil. Continue to pray for us as we travel.

God is opening up opportunities for us in other ways as well. First, our church, Temple Baptist Church in Lewisville, NC, asked Jon to be a deacon in the church with the understanding that it will be a short-term commitment. Jon agreed and has been blessed with the opportunity to serve the church that has served us for so long. Also, we have been asked to help out in a summer camp in Virginia for two weeks during the month of June. We look forward to getting to work with young people and impacting their lives for Christ. Pray that God will work on hearts even now preparing them and us for those two weeks.

Kyle continue to grow every day. He is now walking (running) and beginning to say words like "daddy", "mama", "thank you", and even "amen" when we pray! He surprises us every day with something new he has learned. We thank God every day for him and that he is strong and healthy.

We thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We look forward to the day that we can leave for Brazil and begin reaching souls there for Christ. Over the course of this last year we saw 15 people saved and look forward to more this year.

Thanksgiving

Well, it is Thanksgiving time again. However, if we look at the Scriptures, we see that it is ALWAYS time for THANKSGIVING! I Thessalonians says "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Also Ephesians 5:20 says, "Giving thanks ALWAYS FOR ALL THINGS unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Let us not forget to be thankful IN everything and FOR everything each and every day!!

Also Pray for Jon as he travels to Florida this weekend for a meeting in Winter Haven, FL. Then next weekend we will be leaving as a family for a church in Dothan, AL the following weekend. We appreciate your prayers as we stay very busy seeking our monthly support to go to Brazil. Pray that many of the churches we will visit, as well as some of those we have already visited will feel led of the Lord to invest in this work so that we may move to Brazil soon and begin the work of winning souls to Christ!