In November and December God blessed His work in Littleton, New Hampshire! The church officially began when the Christian and non-Christians met in the living room of Burger’s house, November 5. The sermon that Sunday was “Why Another Church in Littleton?” The sermon was about restoring the New Testament church. There were five non-Christian visitors who met with us! These five plus one more, have continued to meet with us. What a great beginning to planting the Lord’s church in Littleton! As with most congregations, the attendance in December has been down with most of the visitors being out of town.
We had been looking for a good public location where the church could meet and again, the Lord provided. The most outstanding building in Littleton is the Opera House, which was built in 1894 and is still the building for public events. The three main streets in Littleton converge at the corner where the Opera House sits. We rent a room (The Tower Room) in this building each Sunday for two hours. The cost is only $25.00 a week. (A picture will be sent in a separate document).
Lancaster and Littleton
As you may know, there is a little congregation in Lancaster, NH about 20 miles from Littleton. They surprised us with a check for $1,200.00 to pay for our first year’s rent! Since Littleton’s worship service is from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., we leave our worship service and go to Lancaster to worship with them as we did before the church was established in Littleton. The Lancaster congregation has seven members. Because we are both small in number, we continue to work together to evangelize and to encourage one another!
Prospects
Those who worship with us have come from two main sources – House to House – Heart to Heart and from Scott Johnson, a member of the Lancaster congregation, but who works in the Littleton Post Office. We mail 1,600 copies of HH-HH to homes in Littleton. When Carrie and Bill received the first issue of HH-HH she called me stating that she loved the paper. They were present at our first worship service and have continued to be very encouraging in our work. She is a “Selectman” which in New England towns means that she is on the city council. Not only that but she is a State Senator from this district. She and her husband are very spiritually minded people. I haven’t been able to study with them one-on-one yet because the Holidays and the fact that they have been out of town to be with their daughter and grandbaby who was born in December.
Recently, Weezie and I attended a Christmas dinner at the Senior Center in Littleton. There were 10 to 15 tables set up with six to eight people at each table. When we sat down at our table and I introduced myself, a husband and his wife immediately said, “Oh, you are the man who sends out HH-HH.” I was surprised that they remembered by name in connection with that paper. They said they loved the paper. When I said we were here to start the church of Christ, they said, “We are strong Baptist,” but at least we have established a friendship, and they are supportive of the paper.
The other prospects came from Scott Johnson who invited a co-worker at the Post Office to come to the first service in Littleton. She did and she brought her boyfriend. We have been studying with them most Thursday evenings in our home.
The third prospect comes from Tilton, NH where he met David Rollert, the preacher for the Lakes Region church which meets in Tilton. Soon after they met, Chase, the prospect, moved to Littleton. We have been studying with him. Unfortunately, he recently expressed his doubt that we have an accurate copy of the Bible. We have not been able to meet to discuss that topic. I’m hoping that we have not been able to meet because of the holiday schedule. Please pray that he will allow us to give him evidence that we have an accurate copy of the Bible. Of course, we ask you to pray for the other prospects – Carrie and Bill – John and Emily.
We ended 2023 on the greatest note! John and Emily were baptized. We are so pleased that God brought them to us and that they had hearts who love God and a mind that was willing to be taught even though it went against what they had believed was truth before. Our prayer is that God will lead other truth-seekers to us. Their conversion goes to your credit for all the financial and prayer support you have given us. We are thankful to you and to the opportunity we have to work in this part of the country! (Their picture is shown on the last page)
Door-Knocking
Each month HH-HH sends us a list of “New-Comers” to Littleton. Some of these are really, just people who have lived in the area, but who have changed addresses, but we are happy to talk with them. We put together a nice little gift box and deliver them to these people. We have had over 50 of these contacts since July.
Bible Classes
We enjoyed having our “Tuesday Night Evangelistic” Bible classes for six weeks in October and November. Although we didn’t have visitors from the community, we did have a visitor: Nathan, a Christian who lives in Vermont, but who works in the Littleton Post Office. He attended because Scott Johnson invited him. We really believe he was encouraged though those classes. He worships with a small congregation in Vermont.
About the middle of January 2024, we plan to begin these classes again. I’m hoping that we can use these as a “mid-week” Bible study for those who attend our Sunday worship services, since we don’t have a Bible class on Sunday.
The church in Lancaster asked me to teach the book of Act in the Sunday morning Bible class. (They were already studying that book when I arrived). Also, on Friday nights I have been teaching a couple in the Lancaster church some Personal Evangelism lessons. They want to learn to conduct one-on-one Bible studies.
For several years, I’ve been going to Bear Valley extension schools to teach the book of Revelation. I had the privilege of going to the Philippines in October and then to the school in Lilongwe, Malawi in December. The Bear Valley schools are training over 1,000 preacher a year!
Support Request
As we are about to enter a New Year, it is time for us to again ask you to continue your support through prayer and finance. Thanks to all who gave a one-time contribution for this year and for those who supported us monthly. If you made a one-time contribution, we ask you to consider making it a monthly support, but we are also be pleased if you choose to give a one-time support.
Thank You
If you have had enough interest in our work to read this far, thanks for the interest you have shown. We could not do this work without you. Whatever God accomplishes through us, goes to your credit. It is very humbling to realize that you have enough confidence in Weezie and me, that you will give your hard-earned money to support us.
We trust that you had a very Merry Christmas with friends and family and we pray that you will have a prosperous New Year and that you will abound more spiritually than monetarily in 2024!
Your Missionaries to Northern New Hampshire,
Wayne and “Weezie” Burger
