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January 19, 2010

6.25

Posted by Joshua and Laurel under lessons, meetings, praise
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This past weekend, we ministered at Family Bible Church in Martinez, GA. We found the people to be excited about the Lord’s work and endeavoring to work towards a ministry of multiplicative discipleship. The pastor has begun discipleship with the goal of making disciple-makers. More American churches would greatly benefit by taking such a strategy.

After our meeting with the church was over, Andrew, a seven-year-old boy, helped me take some of our materials to our car. After he helped me pack some other things, we sat down and talked about legos and other nifty toys. As we looked through a catalog, he talked about the different toys that he had, what he was saving up for, and what he thought Athan, our 11 month old son, might be interested in. He told me that he had saved up $7.50 to purchase some additions to his toy castle. I had a good time talking with Andrew and was impressed by the focus he seemed to have on helping others, but before I left God used this boy to completely astound me with His ability to provide.

Having packed up all our belongings, I entered the boys house a final time to say goodbye to everyone. As I walked into the living room, Andrew presented me with $6.25 (out of his total savings of $7.50). What a precious gift. The whole drive home, I considered God’s working in this boy’s heart, God’s faithful provision through unlikely sources, and my responsibility to use God’s resources faithfully.

Laurel accurately compared Andrew’s gift to the gift given by the young boy in the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus miraculously fed five thousand men with the boy’s five barley loaves and two fishes. May the Lord use this $6.25 to spiritually minister to the youth in Romania as He used the little boy’s meager offering of loaves and fishes.

 

December 23, 2009

Prayer

Posted by Joshua and Laurel under lessons, praise, prayer
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Yikes! It’s been almost a month since I’ve posted on here. The busyness of the holiday season seems to have crowded out most of my blogging time. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep everyone a bit more updated soon.

Our family is currently in Ohio. We’re privileged to be with Joshua’s family for Christmas and thrilled to have a meeting at the church he attended when in college, Cornerstone Baptist, the Sunday after Christmas.

Early in December our sending church did a children’s Christmas program in which the children presented monologue testimonies from some of Community’s current missionaries. The paragraphs below are a copy of one of the testimonies from our family. We thought that you might enjoy rejoicing with us through some of the lessons that the Lord has taught us over the last two years.

We all know that God is good, that God is in control of everything and that God answers prayer, right? If you’d asked me those questions two years ago, I definitely would have said, “Of course God is good. Of course He is in control. And of course he answers prayer.” But you know, even though I knew I would say “of course” with my head, a lot of times, my heart was actually whispered slyly in the background, “Well, maybe He’s good sometimes, maybe He’s in control, and maybe He answers prayer.” The reason I know that that’s what my heart was whispering behind the back of my head-knowledge is because my heart was really skilled at a certain activity –worry.

I worried about a lot of things and trust me deputation provides lots of fuel for a worrying mind to keep at a slow burn. I worried about not having money to pay for a trip we had to take to the Emergency Room, about places to stay as we traveled, about putting my foot in my mouth, about the insensitive things people said to me or my husband, about maybe never being able to have a child, about what would happen if our ’89 Buick broke down and died, about no one wanting to partner with us financially because of the economic downturn, about Joshua or Athan or I getting Tuberculosis when we move to Romania, and the list goes on.

You know what? In reference to a lot of the above, there wasn’t much Joshua or I could do to fix those worries and many of them actually happened. We had to cry out to God and actually believe that He was good and in control. And guess what He completely provided for our medical bill, has always been faithful in providing us with places to stay, has taught me humility over that pesky foot that wanders up to my mouth so often, has taught us to care more about what He thinks than what people do, has given us four children –2 in heaven, 1 here with us and 1 on the way, replaced our dying ’89 Buick with a 2005 Toyota Highlander, and has again and again proven Himself bigger than the economy! We haven’t yet moved to Romania and none of us have contracted TB. I hope we don’t but if we do, I know the Lord can provide all we need in sickness or in health.

Now two years after starting pre-field ministry with my husband, I can tell you confidently with my head that God is good, God is in control of everything, and God most definitely answers prayer.

 

November 5, 2009

Praise

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We are excited to announce that some very dear family friends decided partner with us financially. We’re now up to 48.7 %. That is so close to the magic middle marker! Please keep praying with us that the Lord will see fit to provide 100% by December/January.

 

August 30, 2009

The Howertons’ Half-Day Off

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the young Howertons +1

the young Howertons +1

Last week, Brittany had the wonderful idea of offering to relieve Joyce and Baron of their kids so that they could enjoy some alone time. When we suggested the possibility to the Howertons, it was met with gracious enthusiasm. They hadn’t had time to themselves since December!

Thursday, our day with the six young Howertons, was a tremendous success. We played games, ate meals, took naps, and went to the park. And Joyce and Baron enjoyed some undisturbed eating and shopping.

good swinging

good swinging

Drew is part frog

Drew is part frog

Gina in Hailey's arms

Gina in Hailey's arms

Nate loves the camera.

Nate loves the camera.

Jane Batson is not a Howerton but is part of the family anyway.

Jane Batson is not a Howerton but is a temporary part of the family anyway.

 

August 22, 2009

VBS Success

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Prayer, planning, and hard work brought about a successful end to Bereea’s four-day VBS program. Paul, Joan, Avril, Dale, Paul Michael, Brittany, Hailey, and I helped in the smooth execution of Friday’s carnival. It was exciting to see the church minister to the young people.

Baron has been teaching a series on Sunday mornings about the church’s purpose in the world and how each member bears responsibility in that ministry. Seeing that truth take root in the lives of the people was a delightful experience.

How the church ministered:

  • Christina and Isabela both taught evening lessons.
  • About seven church members helped every night.
  • Four or five additional Romanians came to help with the carnival.
  • Baron and Joyce consistently threw themselves into the work.

Visual results:

  • Several new kids attended (including two neighbor children).
  • Forty kids came on Tuesday and Wednesday, and sixty attended Thursday and Friday.
  • All the young people took invitations for their family to attend church.
  • A few families expressed interest in attending church this Sunday.

We praise God for answered prayer and for the fruit already visible. We look forward to seeing how God uses the seeds planted this week.

 

August 16, 2009

The Week in Germany

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Thank you for praying for our time at BMW’s European Conference. The conference has come to a close, and the few missionaries who still remain here at Lindenhoft (the retreat center where the conference was held) will be departing tomorrow.

Each August, most all of BMW’s European missionaries attend this one week conference designed to emotionally, physically, and spiritually refresh the area’s missionaries. God blessed me with the privilege of attending this year’s conference even though Laurel and I are not yet on the field.

This year’s conference focused on prayer and was titled “Impact Through Intercession.” In addition to reinforcing the need for prayer, the sessions also examined several biblical passages and modeled how to use those passages as part of one’s prayer life. I found the instruction to be beneficial and intend to incorporate several of the passages into my own regular prayer time.

 

August 11, 2009

Safe in Munich

Posted by Joshua and Laurel under praise
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At 3:45 PM EST Joshua e-mailed to let me know that he and the Huggins sisters were safe and at last in Germany. They were supposed to arrive in the wee hours of this morning. Joshua didn’t provide many details of why they arrived so behind schedule, but it seems that their connecting flight in Washington D.C. which was supposed to take them straight to Munich was delayed and then rerouted to Chicago, and then the plane in Chicago was also delayed causing them to miss a flight. Somehow and somewhere they were delayed again and missed another connecting flight  before they finally were able to arrive in Germany. Joshua said if they hadn’t been so tired the repeat of delays, missed flights, and reroutings would have been almost humerous.

Because of the extra long flight, I imagine that it’s going to be challenging for the three to stay awake during the conference’s sessions tomorrow. Please pray that the Lord would provide unusual strength and attentiveness so that the three can glean as much knowledge as possible from the sessions. Thank you.

 

May 20, 2009

This and That

Posted by Joshua and Laurel under meetings, praise
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Small Daily Blessings: As I write this,  I’m enjoying hearing the spring birds sing outside of the window right now. We’re staying in Ohio staying with Laurel’s brother David and his wife Melissa. We’ll  be here for a for a week while Joshua helps out at at a church in Dayton. This is our second chance to enjoy spring in the last two months! Summer is already well on it’s way down in South Carolina.

Upcoming Travels: After this week we head to North Canton,  Ohio where we’ll base for about a month and a half, so spring may be extended even a bit further. We’re doing quite well with the support raising  in spite of the economy. If funding keeps the same pace that it has, we anticipate being in Romania this time next year or before. This summer we will be attending pre-field seminar. After the classes, Joshua will be going to Romania with three other people who are exploring the possibility of working with us. We really hope that they join us. One has already done some work with orphans in South America and is currently taking some classes on early child hood development and  special needs children and another has a masters degree in theater production and another degree in publishing  He has been an editor for many years. That may sound like a crazy skill set to use for working with orphans, but he has done a lot of volunteering with teaching small children in creative ways especially in Sunday School, and an editor would be very helpful when it comes to the behind the scenes paperwork part of ministry. It’s exciting to watch the Lord interest people with different gifted-ness in what He is planning to accomplish in Romania. Joshua will also be doing some logistical work while he is in  Europe, such as scouting out housing for us and exploring legal paperwork needs. We’ll try to let you know the outcome of the trip in a few months.

Athan’s Adaptation to the Road: Athan is three months today, and he is so wide eyed and alert. He is growing so fast and smiles more and more everyday. I love being a mother. And oh, how it makes me appreciate my own mother more. It’s more work than I ever imagined, and a very different kind of work than I have ever done before. It is impossible to keep a rigid schedule. I am learning to go with the flow. Everyday is a new adventure that brings surprises. And in general the more we travel, the more numerous the surprises and opportunities to develop flexibility.
One surprise we’ve had from traveling with a baby is how popular Athan is.  It seems that all the small children at churches want to meet him and become his friend. Athan doesn’t mind the attention in the least. In fact he seems to revel in it. He especially enjoyed meeting four- year old Ryan and his sister three- year old Kaitlyn in Pottsville, PA. Just looking at their faces seemed to bring out ecstatic euporia. I’ve never seen him laugh so much.

First week on the Road: We really enjoyed our last two meetings. The first was in Sellersville, PA at Bethal Baptist. That was especially fun, because Joshua was able to reconnect with Pastor Joel Mosier. Joel and Joshua were roommates during Joshua’s first year of college and Joel had a huge impact on Joshua’s life by encouraging him to seek Goddaily in the Bible. It was also a delight for Joshua to meet the senior pastor. Pastor Campell and Joshua graduated from the same public highschool. Although they graduated in different decades, it was still a fun connection to discover.

After leaving Sellersville, we headed down to meet the warm and friendly congregation of Victory Baptist in Whitland, IN.  The couple who hosted us, the Stutsmans, sure know how to make a family feel welcome and how to make a feast for breakfast. In addition to gaining a few pounds and meeting many like minded brothers and sisters in Christ, we were expecially thrilled to meet Ricky/Buba Mitchell the son of our dear friends the Mitchells who have welcomed us into their home repeatedly when we are in New England.

Before setting out on our first big trip with Athan, both of us were feeling a bit of trepidation, but the Lord has once again proved that He will enable us to do anything He has called us to. And what a joy it is to us, when He does it through His people and churches all across America.

 

March 8, 2009

a new team member

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If you are interested in reading about the addition of a team member (our newborn son), you are welcome to read our family newsletter.

LOUKtopia (vol.6, no.1)

 

January 30, 2009

Prayer request for the Twins and Praise for the Lord’s Provision

Posted by Joshua and Laurel under adoption, praise
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george-and-gina2Prayer request:

Our partners the Howertons are going through the adoption process in Romania. The Lord chose not to grant custody on January 29th because of a county jurisdiction question. The Howertons have applied for a new date in a different county.  Please pray for a short wait for a date, for the granting of custody, and for four-year olds Gina and George who really don’t understand why they have to stay at the orphanage instead of going home to be with their new mom and dad. If you would like to learn more about this, please read more here.

Praise:Samuel
Many of you prayed for our vehicle situation. And many went even further by offering excellent advice, and in some cases by offering to help financially. We want to thank all of you for everything that you did and to fill you in on the Lord’s overwhelming provision. A family in one of our supporting churches gave us a 2005 Toyota Highlander. It is beautiful, reliable, has heated-seats and in short is evidence of our Lord providing not just for our needs, but of His pouring out His lavish blessing on our heads. We praise Him for this gift and ask that you pray that we steward it well. A fuller testimony will be coming shortly in our January prayer letter.
 

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