August 2026
“And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” —Acts 3:8
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” —Psalm 139:14
What a blessing to breathe, walk, stand, speak, see, think, move, read, write, and especially to know God our Maker and our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour! I am celebrating my dependence on the Most High, the Almighty, my King and Redeemer. I was so thankful to Him to be able to get out of bed on the Lord’s Day, July 5th. For me, July 4th, the 250th Anniversary of the signing of our nation’s Declaration of Independence from England, was a Day and Night of Prayer.
I thought I was going to go to a picnic and remember that great event, giving thanks to the Lord for His mercies and blessings upon America, but I started having trouble with a nerve in my back in the morning and at mid-day I got stuck in almost one position, being unable to move hardly any direction without excruciating pain. I’m thankful I wasn’t alone and could be dragged to my bed where I remained more or less immobilized for the rest of the day and night. I could just barely adjust my position on the bed without the pain. As I had some other troubles through the night my prayer intensified for the Lord’s grace and deliverance. I was thankful for His loving chastisements, but wondering how long it might continue. I pleaded for His pardon, thanked Him for His forgiveness through His blessed gift of Christ’s Righteousness and Atoning Blood, and asked that it might please Him to enable me to join our congregation in Missouri the next day, if His will, to hear and see our son Josiah’s missionary presentation before worship.
In the middle of the night, it seemed a very distant dream, but I knew the Lord could do it if He pleased. Praise the Lord, in the morning Cheryl was able to hold a cane for me by which I slowly, gently, and very carefully pulled myself up from lying at the edge of the bed to a sitting position, and made it to Sabbath School, walking carefully with the cane and human assistance. Josiah gave a wonderful presentation and no one was more thankful to be there than I was.
In ten days we were scheduled to return to Chile. By the Lord’s grace and in answer to much prayer my back improved a little each day and by the day of our flights I was “walking, and leaping, and praising God” through the airport. Psalm 139:14 was much on my mind on our “Independence Day” as I was reminded of our complete dependence upon the Lord, and even our great necessity of His mercy, lest we should be in great pain. Truly, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” and He is my utterly complete Sovereign; the lesson was emphasized again: without Christ I can do nothing. Let us wait upon Him for every need and every blessing as we work!
INDEPENDENCE OR DEPENDENCE?
And what of our beloved nation and country? May our Independence remind us of our Dependence. Many colonists came to America with hopes for greater religious freedom. The Mayflower Compact echoed the voice of the Magna Carta. The LORD and His Holy Word were prominent in the Colonies, the Gospel was freely proclaimed throughout the land, and blessings from above were showered upon the inhabitants thereof. One of the glories of America was its recognized dependence upon the Lord. A Day to give Him thanks became a national memorial, and when victory was won over tyrannical oppression, the people looked to God their King. Truly the greatest greatness of America was not her independence so much as her dependence upon Christ and His grace. His Church flourished under faithful preaching, and being strengthened, the Gospel was sent abroad to a world in need of the Light. May we ne’er forget— ‘tis the LORD gave us our Independence from an earthly king, that we should forever serve the heavenly King in faith and prayer and love. May He graciously fix this latter blessing in your heart!
Dear Praying Saints,
After a short furlough, we are very excited to be back on the field with our congregation and much work to be done, though it has rained almost every day since we arrived. We had blessed visits with many of you in the U.S. (sadly, not all) and it was a blessing to introduce our son Josiah as our newest missionary colleague. The sunshine was a blessing and it was difficult to leave at the start of summer and arrive in winter.
NEW PARTICIPANTS
We have had several new repeat visitors in our worship services in recent weeks, and our Wed. evening Men’s Bible study has continued to grow. In the Bible study, we are about halfway through G.I. Williamson’s “The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes” which is available in Spanish. Pray for Abner, a pastor’s son, who attends a different church, but has been very glad to be learning our faithful Biblical doctrine; and for Francisco, who has begun attending this study more recently and at times still pleads the case of those who hold an unbiblical soteriology. Our average age is also decreasing, now that Joaquín, Isaac and John-Baptiste are also participating!
On the Lord’s Day it has been a joy to receive Solange and her family. Please pray for her husband Josué, who has attended several times, that he may free himself from work on the Christian Sabbath more often to attend and receive the needed blessings. His mother Edith began attending more recently as Solange has also brought her children in the afternoon to our Bible Class, which Isaiah is teaching as Julio is away for a month. Their niece, Michelle, has also begun to attend. They do not have their own transportation so, between Víctor, Julio, and the rest of us we pick them up in Santa Clara as well as Luis. Please pray that Luis’ daughter Cony will begin to take an interest in the Gospel.
This past Lord’s Day we also had a fellowship and held a brief evening service in the home of Luis (#2), Noemí, and Alexander, which is about 25 minutes away. This Luis, who is 74, is recovering from a recent operation, has several additional tumors, and is awaiting the results of a biopsy.
MORE PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray for the Lord’s guidance and provision for the organization of our congregation with Elders and the constitution being prepared; for preparations for membership classes and another conference soon; translation projects; and for a new Hymn-Psalter project Isaiah plans to begin working on. Pray for Julio who continues making good progress in his seminary studies and, of course, all our ongoing services.
Our son Josiah and daughter Sarah are in Kenya as I write, the ICCC Congress having ended today, traveling soon to Kericho where they plan to hold a two-week Bible camp in August. We are excited that Josiah has been appointed by the IBPFM to serve as a missionary helper alongside of us here and also in other VBS and camp settings as the Lord gives him opportunities. Please pray for his plans to help with our educational cooperative here after returning in September, Lord-willing. Josiah is looking forward to visiting churches in Greenville, Charlotte, Collingswood, and Baltimore soon, before heading back here. Anna and Sarah will be staying with their grandfather; it is very good to have Geneva here again.
I have begun a sermon series on the Church. Christ has loved His people and given Himself for them, and we must love them too. He is building His ekkleisía upon Himself. We believe He will be glorified through His congregation on the earth and in heaven . . . “one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:4-6).
We need a larger meeting room, so we also expect to have another project going soon—an addition to our meeting house. Please pray that all will go well with this!
BRICKWORLD AND CHICAGO
Our Lego Artists found expression at the Brickworld convention again (all of us, in fact), and we had the pleasure of making several new friends there. Several of our creations (MOCs) are pictured above. Geneva and Isaiah created a very special Exodus video of the Egypt builds on which our seven older artists collaborated. The Scriptures are heartily read as the builds are displayed with night lights . . . when you have 15 minutes to enjoy it (and be sure to meditate on the sacred history), you can find it at Youtube.com/@durandstudios. It would be a good activity for a Lord’s Day afternoon! BTW, if you’d like to use YouTube without ads and tracking, you could download FreeTube at: freetubeapp.io.
It was also a pleasure and a blessing to visit our brethren at The Church of Christian Liberty in Arlington Heights, give an update on our work along with Josiah, and minister the Word to the congregation again. You may be familiar with their Christian School and publishing ministry, Christian Liberty Press, which has been a great blessing to home educators for many years.
Thank you very much for your prayers and support! We pray that the Lord is guiding and blessing your service to His Name in your families, congregations, communities, work, and outreach!
Yours in Christ’s Service,
Paul & Cheryl, Geneva, Isaiah, Katie, Faith, and John-Baptiste Durand