Newsletter

Some years ago, while working in Denmark, I accepted an invitation to join some young people in handing out literature to the public down town. I was quite surprised to see how many people said “No, thank you”. When asked if they belonged to a church, they would respond that they were Lutherans but they had no interest in reading anything religious. Those that did accept the little magazines were primarily foreigners, mostly Hispanics or Romanians. In Scandinavia, as well as some other.     

Dear Brothers, Sisters and Family,  

     It matters where we look with our eyes and it matters what our hearts are focused on. Many have set their eyes on the world, on wealth and on self, and it isn’t helping them find true happiness. Where did Jesus focus His eyes? Always on His Heavenly Father. That gave Him courage and a clear understanding of His purpose.

About 4 months ago, while in Guyana, I had plans to go back to the U.S. to take care of some appointments and other work related issues. Right then, at the airport, when I was about to fly North, I got a phone call about the borders closing and the airports and all the transportation being shut down.

When I was 25 years old, I was called by the General Conference to go to three places and one of those places was Chiapas, Mexico. We got into the airplane with two daughters and landed close to the Clinic and School of “Bella Vista”.

Greetings from Bolivia, South America. About 3 weeks ago, as I was on my way north for a speaking appointment in the U.S., I stopped in Brazil and Guyana to spend time with the team there and then planed on going on to Puerto Rico, Miami and Tennessee.

Along the way I heard that due to the virus that borders were closing and I decided to contact the people I had appointments with and they said “We believe that this may be a long term situation, and are praying about it. Please can we move these meetings to a later time?”

“The country is going to close down here in Bolivia,” said my son-in-law Richard over the phone. “Since there were irregularities in the voter reporting system, the citizens are going to blockade all roads nationwide until another election is held.”

“You’d better get enough food for the workers to last a while,” I replied “as well as gasoline and diesel in case the electricity shuts down.”

“This is Pastor Leo Ranzolin from the General Conference,” said the voice. “We are sending you three calls…”

After wrestling with God until about 2 am, at age 18, I finally made my commitment to completely surrender my life to Him and gave Him total control. My focus changed from preparing to make money to preparing for the mission field.

Soon after I recorded “Even at the Doors,” I received a phone call from a dear friend with some kind advice, “David be careful. I am afraid you will be left on an iceberg all by yourself and that could hurt your ministry.”

I thanked him very much for his kind call, but assured him that I have been there before, and if you are doing what God wants you to do, it has never hurt our ministry when called to stand alone. Obeying God might lead to distress and suffering, but always results in a blessing. Even martyrdom is used by God as a blessing to save others. Their blood was seed for other conversions.