By David Prairie
October has been a very encouraging month for our pre-field journey. We saw an increase in support of about $420/month, which brings us up to about 35% of our goal. Our prayer for November would be to see that double. If we could get $840 in new commitments this month, that would put us at 45% by December 1. Please pray that we would begin to gain this kind of momentum with our financial partnerships.
In addition to these commitments, we contacted a variety of churches where we hope to be able to make presentations in the future. Please pray that these contacts will turn into meetings, which can turn into financial partners.
Our home church, Grace Baptist here in Chattanooga, conducted its annual missions conference in October. We shared our plans for Moldova with a class of seniors at Grace Academy and heard from one student who shared that he also wants to spend his life teaching the Bible. Praise the Lord for raising up more teachers of his Word! We also were able to give an update to our church. I shared from Isaiah 35 how the nations one day “shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God” (v. 2). That is our primary motivation for going.
I continue to lead our youth ministry at GBC by preaching weekly and overseeing multiple discipleship groups. I am also currently teaching a Sunday school elective on “Life in the Local Church.” In early November, I’ll help lead a retreat for our students where we will discuss the theme “Depraved Yet Delivered.” I’m excited to have several of our younger adult leaders help me teach the sessions at that event. Please pray for many students to participate and to benefit from our time away. One fellow youth leader and I have also taken up podcasting recently. Once a month we publish a topic related to youth ministry. If you’re interested in these discussions, simply search “David Prairie” in the podcast portion of iTunes or on Podbean.
Please also pray for the inevitable transition that will take place as I step out of youth ministry at some point in the future. Pray for me and for our students, as well as for our church as it seeks my replacement. Of course, pray also for whoever that will be. Pray for our church leadership, as we are working through other transitions in leadership as well.
Our three oldest children continue to do well in school, and our youngest enjoys staying home with Brandi during the day. Brandi is currently taking an OT survey class as part of our pre-field prep. She has already completed a Bible study methods class as well.
The Imago Dei church plant in Chisinau, Moldova is now about a month old. Please continue to pray for our national partners there who are overseeing that work, and for the people to whom they are ministering. Pray that we would be able to join them soon. We are hopeful to move next August, but we are dependent on the Lord’s provision through the generosity of his people for that to become a reality. Pray with us toward that end.
As always, if you are able to join us as monthly partners, please visit abwe.org/give and search for “Prairie” on that page. If we can meet with you to discuss more about this opportunity, please email dprairie@abwe.cc. Feel free to pass our information on to other individuals and churches who you think might be interested in learning more.
Prairie Quests 
Thanks for the update!
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