Hello friends and family!! We hope October came to a fantastic close and November with an amazing opening for you! Shall we start?
Our team leaders, Eric and Lisa Purcell, meet with us every Tuesday night for fellowship and team time. The past couple of time we've been talking about conflict within a developing community. AH! I know, something that is never a subject to be excited about...in fact, my tendency is to pretend it won't ever be there. But that isn't reality, now is it? So we've been going over a lot on how conflict comes about, where the roots of it are from, how to approach it and deal with it. Our take, as a team, on how to deal with conflict is learning a healthy way of going about it when it comes up. Satan is real good in this area, I'd even go so far as to say he tends to be an expert in getting his foot in the door of conflict. And our team wants Satan in no part of the ministry God has set us out to do. We know there are mountain tops as well as valleys in the life of ministry, especially being on a team, and we want to make sure we maintain the heart of bringing Him glory through it all.
It's been great to meet with Eric and Lisa every week, and even more than that at times. I know my heart is being humbled in taking things slow as a new team in a new area and...well, just starting things all new. I believe God loves situations like this, one where he has full control of molding and laying out the ground work. It is hard at times to not just want to jump into something and not putting as much prayer into as it deserves. So, needless to say, we as a team have been praying and asking God for an opportunity to become more plugged in with the community and a good timing to do so. Recently we have been blessed with that opportunity! SO EXCITING! There is an elementary school in the community called Yates, and they have been wanting to a garden project of some sort. So Eric went to the woman in charge (I can't remember her name, forgive me!) and asked if there was a need for some extra helping hands. She said yes and couldn't wait to give us more details. So we will be meeting with her soon and finding out more about what we will be doing. This project will be taking place in the spring of this next year and we will be helping the community out by making boxed gardens for yards of people in Gifford Park. As for more details...I will have to get back to you on that after we meet with her.
Going on...
Jared and I, outside of our team, are doing well. Something, again, that can be in prayer for us is our search for our next place to live. We have been praying fervently about this move and have felt God opening our eyes into a house to rent. We would love to live in a house and we are even considering the possibility of having someone else live in the basement. So we're in the market for a house that would have a basement apartment-like attachment to it. It would be much appreciated if you, readers, would be in prayer with us on this matter.
As most of you know, Jared is working at Jimmy Johns and I am not working but instead focusing on schooling this semester. Mind if I rant and rave for just a minute? I want to tell you how big of a blessing God has been to us, me especially, through blessing Jared with an amazing work ethic. I don't know if many of you know Jared very well, but let me just say that this man is an amazing work of our Lord. He works hard to support our family, no matter how difficult the day or what is going on outside of work...he has Godly way of working hard, and works hard to bring glory to His name no matter the circumstance. I am a blessed wife!
While Jared is at work, I am usually at home doing school work. And trust me, there is a lot of it to do. I'm currently in just 3 classes, two are online: Church History (online), World Religions (online), and Church Growth (off campus, but not online). I don't usually like online classes, but this semester has been a blessing for my spiritual and intellectual growth. One class in particular, church history, I have been challenged to look at the history of the church and the generations before us. As someone in my generation I know that I have a tendency to rag on the older generations and all the things I think they did wrong. But I have been convicted lately on my attitude towards such thoughts. God has opened my eyes through this class to see the hard work that our older generations laid for us. Yes, they had mess ups...but we're human. And the beauty of it all, in the midst of mess ups the older generation helped in teaching us to get back up, wipe the dust off, and continue on the journey. I appreciate those of you who have dedicated your life to ministry and continuing on the journey of ministry and then handing the baton off to us, the next generation. If you are reading this and are of an older generation, please hear our hearts as we thank you for all that you are doing and have done.
This weekend, the 5th and 6th, Jared and myself are going to Topeka, Kansas to do music for a church as well as share what we are doing in ministry right now. So it would be FANTASTIC if you could be praying with us on that as well! Also! Our nephew is almost here! Michael and Leah Struthers (Jared's sister and brother-in-law) expecting little Declan to be here any time now. Please be bathing them in prayer with us as we pray for them and their next step in life.
Again, we thank you readers for praying with us and for us. You mean so much to us and we are so thankful to have people like you in our lives! Blessings be to you, friends!
