Olympic fever has finally died down here in New Zealand and all of the racing for "corruptible crowns" is finally over. Two of NZ's three gold medals were won by a swimmer with an earing and a ponytail from Dunedin named Danyon. All of this may not seem very significant to you folks, but as Danyon's picture was splashed across all of our newspapers for two weeks and the fellow was treated as a national "idol," I was reminded of a Friday night on the streets of Dunedin three years ago when I had the opportunity to give this fellow a tract and a very brief witness - of which he was not at all interested. Although the crowds are not keen to watch us run the Christian race or to cheer us on, praise the Lord that when we cross the finish line Jesus will be there waiting to give us a reward that can't be lost, stolen, corrupted or pawned!!!! We continue to appreciate your prayers for the Williams' family as we jump the hurdles, trade punches with the enemy and race against the clock in the battle for the souls of men and women in New Zealand!

THE NEWS:

1. The tract project continues to be blessed of the Lord. The first big batch of tracts (24,000) will have gone out by the time you receive this letter. Another 33,000 will be going out the first week of September. Thus far the Lord has provided 49% of the necessary funds to get out the tracts that need to go through the postal system. We would ask you to please do not stop praying:
   
   
   
   1. that the Lord will bless his word as it goes out; and
   2. that the Lord will bring in the remainder of the funds needed to put out these tracts.
   
   
2. One major answer to prayer we had this month concerned the customs tax owed on the tracts - we did end up having to pay it in the end. However, the Lord graciously allowed the church here to claim it back from the tax department and our claim was accepted - AMEN!
   
3. Last month we asked you to pray for a young couple named Dean and Joanne and another lady named Donna to come to church - they still have not shown up. On the church front, we had four first time visitors in one of our Nelson services, but other than that it has been pretty quiet - ie. too quiet. We are still knocking doors, visiting, passing out tracts and witnessing, but we have not seen the spiritual victories in the hearts and souls of needy Kiwis that we would like to - please pray for the Lord to open hearts in Blenheim & Nelson.
   
   
4. We are officially on the air! As mentioned last month, the Lord has opened the door to get some decent Bible preaching and teaching on a regional television station. As of
   this letter we have been on the air for three weeks (Sunday mornings 9:00-noon) and the station was even able to find a sponsor for the programmes so there is no cost to us! Please pray for this outreach to bear fruit.
   
   
5. Health continues to be an issue for the folks in our churches. Shirley, as we have mentioned before, has bone cancer and has already lived three years longer than the doctors said she would. She seems to have markedly improved over the past two months but continues to be in need of your prayers. Sheila is a mum in our Blenheim church due with her fourth baby in November - she has been having thyroid and gestational diabetes difficulties and would appreicate your prayers. Lyn is a lady in our Nelson outreach undergoing some serious heart problems at the moment. Where we are such a small group, such health problems tend to be a very serious concern among the folks - thanks for lifting these sisters up before the Lord.
   

Early August has seen a marked improvement in everyone's health around our household - we are grateful for your prayers in this regard. The worst of winter is finally over and the cherry trees along our street are just starting to blossom. Caleb is just fixing to turn six and start first grade; Luke is two weeks away from turning four and somehow managed to beat me fair and square in Chinese checkers last night; and Grace just turned nine months old on Sunday and celebrated with her first intentional crawling effort during the opening hymns of our morning service. Debby is always busy as mum, home-school teacher, Sunday school teacher, pastor's wife and lately as gardener. As we keep pressing "toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," your prayers continue to be a constant blessing and necessity - Thank you!


Only Because of His Grace,

The Jeff Williams Family
Field Address: PO Box 484, Blenheim, New Zealand
Telephone/fax: 64-3-577-9981
E-mail address: jeffwill@voyager.co.nz
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