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| We are still in Akron, participating in
the conference at First Baptist Church of Kenmore. Everything is
going well (except the weather). All of the photos below are
from the services yesterday evening.
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| Street
sign. |
Front
of the building w/covered dropoff. |
Side
of building facing the road. |
Gymnasium
behind the church. |
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| All
of their buses. |
"Sowing
the Seed" is the theme of this years conference. |
The
pianist plays just before the service. |
Church
members and missionaries fellowshipping prior to the service. |
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| August
and Addie await the start of the service. |
The
Wallace Family - missonaries to Mexico. |
Braden
and I speaking with John Smith - missionary to Kenya |
Flags
displayed in the gymnasium. |
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| One
of the younger church members looks over our display. |
The
Abalin Family - missionaries to the Philippines |
Nathan
Goodpaster - missionary to the Philippines |
Ron
Weber - Reformers Anonymous ministry |
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| Michelle
Bass - Bible Translation Missionary (Vanuatu language) |
Brian
Nibert - missionary to Uruguay speaking with another missionary
family |
Dr.
Jeffery Fugate, the main speaker for the week. |
Mark
Helzerman - missionary to Papua New Guinea |
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| Ron
Hodge - church planting in America |
John
Smith speaking with another missionary family |
Dr.
Fugate speaking with a church member |
Addie
found a new friend |
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| Braden
checks out the display for Raymond Dombeck with BEAM. |
The
tables are setup for the international breakfast on Saturday |
Another
look at one of the tables |
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| We arrived Tuesday here in Akron,
Ohio. We are staying at Maple Lakes RV Park while we participate
in a missions conference at First Baptist Church of Kenmore.
Services began last night and will be held daily through Sunday
night. The church is excited about what the Lord can do through
this time of renewing our vision for world evangelism, and we are
excited about the opportunity to share our burden with these
people. I also had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to have
lunch with another pastor in the area with whom I had already been
speaking, and am thankful that we may be able to have an opening to
present our ministry with them in the future as well. We will be
leaving on Monday and traveling to Decatur, Alabama for 3 meetings
there. I have found a used copy of the Rosetta Stone Language
software (Spanish - Latin America edition) and have contacted the
seller to make sure that everything we need is included. If so,
we will be purchasing this to assist in our language training.
It is a great deal, since buying it new costs $296.10 and this used
copy would be only $55.00. That is quite a savings! Please
pray that this would work out and that it would be a good tool to help
us learn Spanish while on deputation. Also, as of today our
entire DVD presentation can be downloaded from this
website. Just click on the banner on the homepage and it will
provide a link for you to use. It is a low-quality copy of the
actual presentation, but it is effective in presenting our
ministry. This downloadable copy is only 10mb, whereas the
high-quality presentation on the DVD is approximately 594mb. We
pray that this will be yet another tool God can use in helping us gain
the needed support for this ministry.
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| We left Stone Mountain today and
traveled to Commerce, Georgia, about an hour and a half away. We
will be having services with Ridgeway Baptist Church tomorrow and then
will begin our trek towards Akron, Ohio on Monday. Shown below
are some photos of Ridgeway, as well as our leisurely Saturday
afternoon here.
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| Ridgeway
Baptist Church road sign. |
Their
main Sanctuary is to the left and the classrooms and fellowship hall are
in the building to the right. |
Their
buses -- all of which are very nicely maintained. |
Their
church van. |
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| Our
home, parked beside their fellowship hall. |
The
"kitchen" area of their fellowship hall. |
Their
fellowship hall. |
Braden
and I are replacing the reel on his fishing rod, preparing for a couple of
private lakes we know we're going to be parked at in the next couple of
weeks. |
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| August
enjoys some time on his bike. |
August
and Addie riding bikes. |
Addie
tries riding with "no feet"! |
More
of Addie riding. |
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| More
of August riding. |
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| On Tuesday we finally made it up Stone
Mountain....at least most of the way. We took a stroll in the
evening and made it about 3/4 of the way up the mountain. The
view was beautiful from where we made it, and we can only imagine what
it looks like from the top. We hope you enjoy the photos below
from our stroll. Also, yesterday we enjoyed a visit with New
Covenant Baptist Church in Forest Park, Georgia. I went over in
the morning to preach for their Elementary and Senior chapels, and
then the family returned in the evening to present our ministry and
participate in their prayer service. It was a wonderful time and
we truly enjoyed the fellowship with these dear saints.
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| A
view of Atlanta from the side of Stone Mountain. |
Missy
and the kids sitting on the edge looking towards Atlanta. |
You
can't see them too well in the small shot, but Missy and the kids are
sitting on the same edge. |
Looking
down a water runoff on the side of the mountain. |
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| Looking
back down the trail we just came up. |
I
went a little higher up while Missy and the kids stayed behind...the next
few shots are from up there. |
Another
shot from further up the mountain. |
Overlooking
Stone Mountain Park. |
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| I
never did make it up this part of the mountain! |
Going
back down the section I had just gone up. |
Another
shot while going back down the mountain. |
New
Covenant Baptist Church street sign. |
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| Shot
from the road of the main Sanctuary building. There are 4 more large
two-story buildings off to the right which house the gym, educational
buildings and school. |
Below
the Sanctuary are several classrooms, including this one which we met in
on Wednesday night. |
August
and Addie speak with some of the children from the church. |
I'm
speaking with Pastor Goodall's wife after the service. |
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| Happy Birthday to Missy.....she turns ??
today (sorry, can't give that info!!) We are in Stone Mountain,
Georgia today. Actually, we've been here since Friday, but are
just getting around to giving an update. The photos below are
all from our visit with Melissa's family at Easter. We had two
meetings in the area yesterday. The morning was a drop-in,
unscheduled meeting with Heritage Baptist Church in Grayson,
Georgia. They were very friendly and we were glad to have had
the opportunity to meet them. The evening service was a
scheduled meeting with Newton Baptist Church in Covington,
Georgia. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting this church and felt very
comfortable from the moment we walked in the door. After the
service they immediately voted to partner with us in this
ministry....what a blessing! Our support level is now up to
18.3%! 3 new churches have joined our team in the past 18 days,
and with another exciting small change (to be mentioned) has increased
our overall support by 4.3%. This is all very encouraging for
us. Please pray that God would continue to provide in this
special way. We have a meeting this Wednesday in Forest Park,
Georgia, and I will be speaking in their school chapel as well.
On Sunday we will be meeting with Ridgeway Baptist Church in Commerce,
Georgia. I had the opportunity to meet Pastor Manus at Ridgeway
last year and look forward to seeing him again. Next week we
will head to Ohio for a 5-day mission conference and from there will
be going to Alabama for 2 meetings. This very well may be our
first 3,000 mile month (not counting our trip to Texas). While
we understand that this is low for many missionaries it is high for us
and we are looking forward to resuming a more geographically centered
travel schedule throughout much of the remainder of the year.
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| Melissa's
mom with Braden, August and Addie. |
Melissa's
mom hunts eggs with Addie |
Addie
continues the hunt. |
The
race is over....now, who is the winner? |
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| Braden
is looking for more eggs. |
August
is preparing to trample the flowers. |
Hmmm.....is
that an egg? |
I'm
sneaking around, trying not to let others find the secret stashes! |
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| August
points to an egg high up on the landing. |
Braden
pauses to pose for a photo. |
Addie
and August opening their Easter bags. |
Braden
with his Easter bag. |
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| I
think Addie is pleased! |
Braden
relaxes while posing for this photo. |
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| Today is Resurrection Sunday and we are
able to spend it with our sending church in Powhatan, Virginia.
We will also be enjoying some time with family as well. The
first picture below is actually from yesterday. Though
temperatures have recently been in the 70's and 80's, a quick moving
front came through yesterday and brought a spring snow
shower!
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| Spring
snow shower. |
Braden,
August and Addie singing a special at our sending church. |
Stacey
Livingston performs a flute special. |
Pastor,
Lora Holland and David Shultz sing a special, along with Sharon Shultz
(not pictured). |
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| Today we are in Teachey, North
Carolina. Where is that? About 3 hours SW of
Greensboro. We have a meeting here tonight and then will be
traveling back up to Virginia tomorrow.
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| Street
sign. |
The
main church building, as seen from the road. |
Our
home parked behind the church. The building behind us is the
fellowship hall. |
The
parsonage. |
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| Another
shot showing most of their building, as well as our house. |
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| Here are the pictures, as promised, of
Community Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. One
thing you may notice is that everything is VERY well maintained.
They have a beautiful complex of facilities.
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| Their
new activity center, which they are currently using as a sanctuary due to
church growth. |
The
old church sanctuary, which they currently use for Wed. night services and
other special events. |
Their
street sign. |
A
shot from the front showing both wings of the old building, as well as the
street sign. |
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| The
old fire station next door, which they purchased and are converting into
mission apartments and church vehicle parking. |
Another
shot of the building next door. |
The
playground behind the fire station. This is one of the next things
slated to be upgraded. |
The
side of the old building with the cemetery beside it. |
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| The
main room in the mission apartment. |
The
kitchen in the mission apartment. |
The
dining room in the mission apartment. |
The
bedroom in the mission apartment. |
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| The
sanctuary, before the service, prepared for our presentation. The
woman standing in the foreground is Mrs. Gossett. |
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| We are now at Community Baptist Church
in Greensboro, North Carolina. We will put up some pictures
later, as now is not a good time to take them (there is a funeral
going on at the church). I wanted to give a quick update
though. When we arrived here we also got a phone call. It
was from Pastor Wade at Jetersville Baptist Church in Jetersville,
Virginia. He wanted to let us know that their church just voted
to take us on for support. Another blessing, and our second
church in about a week! This moves our support up to 15.9%.
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| April has already been a busy
month. The pictures below are from the end of March and the 1st
day of April. Right now we are in Mocksville, North
Carolina. We enjoyed two meetings on Sunday, at two different
churches. On Monday I took the opportunity to visit with a
church having revival services with Dr. Tom Farrell. I enjoy
listening to him preach and was glad to have that opportunity.
On Tuesday I presented and preached at a pastor's fellowship and then
met in the afternoon with another local pastor who had wanted me to
stop by when we were in the area. Today we will be moving up to
Greensboro, North Carolina for a meeting with Community Baptist Church
and tomorrow we will be traveling down to Teachey, North
Carolina for a meeting with Wallace Baptist Tabernacle.
After that it is back up to Virginia for Easter and one last visit
with family and friends until at least September.
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| My
parent's new home in Virginia. We had an opportunity to help them
get moved in during our last stop there in March. |
Yellow
Hill Baptist Church in Purlear, North Carolina. |
Street
sign. They are up in the hills with a beautiful view of the valley. |
Braden
and Addie waiting for services to begin. |
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| This
is the inside of Yellow Hill Baptist Church. It's an older building
but is well maintained by the church. |
One
of the many stained glass windows at Yellow Hill. |
Northwoods
Baptist Church in Winston Salem, North Carolina. |
Another
shot of the church, from the road. |
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| The
Fellowship Hall for Northwoods. |
The
inside of Northwood. Another very nice sanctuary. It is great
to see God's people taking care of God's house. |
A
shot of the back of Northwood's sanctuary. |
Our
DVD presentation as shown on their portable screen. |
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