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| Today was a long travel day. We left Wytheville,
Virginia this morning and arrived this afternoon about 1 hour south of
Decatur, Alabama. We will be staying here for the next week, as
we have meetings in this area this coming Sunday. Yesterday we
enjoyed 2 meetings in West Virginia. Our morning meeting was
with Ballard Baptist Church in Ballard, West Virginia.
Everything went well, and we were glad for that opportunity.
During the afternoon we stopped-in for a quick visit with Melissa's
family in Beckley, West Virginia before heading to our evening meeting
just a few miles down the road at Emmanuel Baptist Church. This
was a very interesting meeting, as I came to find out that Pastor
Lough used to pastor in Cumberland, Virginia, just a short drive from
where we used to live. He is also friends with our mission
director and knows quite a few people from the Bible college that I
attended. It is a small world that we live in! The meeting
itself also went well, and we look forward to seeing them again in the
future! The weather here is warmer (in the high 60's/low 70's
today), but it is still freezing at night. The truck is all
"back together", but I still feel that vibration when I hit
about 75 miles an hour. Guess that may force me to have to drive
a little slower! :) Finally, please be in prayer as I will
be flying from Birmingham, Alabama to McAllen, Texas tomorrow
morning. I'll be there for 3 days doing a little "house
shopping". We have become aware of a very good opportunity
for a home in that area, and since we are planning to be moving there
in 6 months we are looking to take advantage of this
opportunity. I will certainly be posting more about this in the
next couple of days, as I am able to obtain more information
myself. Please pray with us that the Lord would give us wisdom
in this decision, and that if it is His will that every door will be
opened.
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| Street
sign for Ballard Baptist Church in Ballard, WV. |
Front
of BBC in Ballard. |
View
from the back side of BBC. |
This
is the side of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Beckley, WV. The building
to the left is the parsonage. |
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| Braden
is getting quite good at setting up the display. |
Addie
helps Braden with the display. |
Inside
of the sanctuary at EBC in Beckley. |
Missions
board at EBC. |
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| I'm
speaking with Pastor Lough's son-in-law while setting up the projector. |
Pastor
Lough and I speaking before service. |
August
likes to keep things fun! |
Melissa
and her brother Nathan. |
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| This past week was a very good week. We
"dropped-in" for a visit with Grand Strand Baptist Church in
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last Wednesday. Though they were
not expecting us, they did openly welcome us and made us feel at
home. They were very gracious during our visit, and we were
thankful for that opportunity. Sunday morning we held services
with Harbor Baptist Temple in Surfside Beach, South Carolina.
Those services went very well also, and again we were made to feel
right at home. That afternoon Pastor Flowers got in contact with
Pastor Moyer at Beacon Baptist Church in Myrtle Beach and arranged for
us to present our ministry there that evening (we had not been able to
get a meeting scheduled for the evening service). So, we did
visit with Beacon Baptist that evening and had a wonderful time with
them as well. This is simply another example of how God
continues to provide in our ministry. Monday we left Myrtle
Beach and made the drive up to Max Meadows, Virginia. What a
difference. When we left Myrtle Beach it was 70 degrees.
Yesterday it was snowing here (just very light flurries). I'm
ready to go back now! We have meetings scheduled this weekend in
West Virginia, which are a little over 1 hour from here. We went
ahead and parked here in Virginia before we got any closer to the
"mountains" because of possible snow storms that could
spring up. We are scheduled to leave here this coming Monday and
head back down to Alabama, and hopefully some warmer weather. I
have a meeting scheduled this evening in Matthews, North
Carolina. I will be driving down myself, as it is a 3-hour drive
from this location. This meeting was just scheduled yesterday or
we would have stopped there on the way up to this location. But,
I thank God that He continues to provide our meetings, whether they
are "convenient" or not. One last note. The
truck is back in the shop. I took it in yesterday for a
vibration in the front-end and they found a few problems. First,
the front tires have some "flat spots" on them, so they're
being replaced. Second, the front brake rotors have stress
cracks and will need to be replaced. Third, the front brake pads
are about done for, so we're getting them replaced while they're
already working on it. Fourth, the front ball bearings needed to
be repacked, which will be done since they are replacing the rotors
anyways. Fifth, the front-right-side steering knuckle spindle
threads are stripped, and the spindle will need to be replaced.
This was apparently caused by the dealership in Winchester when they
worked on the truck in November, so we have been in contact with them
about paying the cost of that part of the repair (a little over
$400). They want a chance to "see" the parts, so they
asked that I take a couple of photos. Please be in prayer that
they will decide to pay for the damage that was caused by their shop,
as the rest of the repairs were already around $1,000, so we certainly
don't want to have to add this on top of those. But, God is good
and has already supplied the financial means to provide for this
work.
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| Braden,
August and Addie Grace before service Sunday morning. |
A
mural on the wall at Harbor Baptist Temple. |
Speaking
with Pastor Flowers before service. |
Street
sign for HBT in Surfside Beach. |
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| Front
of the church. The section directly in front of the church is the
main sanctuary. The smaller section to the right is the
parsonage. It looks deceptively small, but will seat over 100 people
in the sanctuary! |
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| Today was another travel day. We left Taylorsville,
North Carolina at 7:30 this morning and arrived around 3:15 this
afternoon in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The weather is crisp
and clear, but it is also cold! We are staying at Myrtle Beach
State Park and have much of the park to ourself (not a big
surprise). It is a very pretty park, and we look forward to
getting to see more of it in the next few days. This past
weekend we enjoyed two very good opportunities to meet with
churches. In the morning we did not have a meeting scheduled, so
we "dropped-in" at Cherry Grove Baptist Church in Moravian
Falls, North Carolina. Pastor Coffee (the pastor at our evening
meeting) had recommended them, and they were as great as he said they
would be! The people were very friendly and you could tell that
the church has a strong heart for missions. Then, in the evening
we met with Pastor Coffee and Victory Independent Baptist Church there
in Taylorsville. The people responded wonderfully to both our
ministry and the message I was able to preach that evening. They
have been wonderful hosts during our stay, and we thank the Lord for
allowing both of these opportunities. This coming Wednesday and
Sunday Evening we will be doing more drop-ins here in South
Carolina. We have never been to this area before, and so desire
to take advantage of these opportunities. On Sunday Morning we
have a meeting scheduled just a couple of miles away in Surfside
Beach, South Carolina and look forward to meeting with Harbor Baptist
Temple at that time. In closing, I also wanted to let you know
that we have a new supporting church! On Saturday I received a
call from Pastor Teal at God's Way Baptist Church in Troy,
Alabama. You may recall them from an update last month.
They voted this past Wednesday to begin supporting our ministry, and
we are thankful for that increase. We are currently at 45.67%
and getting ever closer to that 50% mark.
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| Braden,
August and Zachariah after service in Taylorsville. |
Addie,
Destiny and Heaven after service. |
Aaron's
birthday cake. Because my birthday is the day before Valentine's Day
I was treated to a bunch of "manly" hearts. |
I've
got to get a big breath to blow out those candles now that I'm getting so
old. According to Addie I am now 99. |
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| Our
house parked here in Myrtle Beach. We are just a few hundred feet
from the actual beach, seperated only by a few trees and a sand dune. |
We
took the opportunity to check out the large public fishing pier in the
park. I think our heavy jackets and gloves tell you what the weather
is like! |
August
checks to see if this thing works. It doesn't. |
The
waves are coming in. We walked down there for a few minutes as well. |
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| Addie
and August check out the view from the pier. |
A
better view of just what is holding us up. |
This
sign is attached to the side of the pier. I don't think today is a
good day to try to sell cold drinks and ice cream! |
Another
shot of the pier, this one from down at beach level. |
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| Good afternoon from Taylorsville, North Carolina.
This morning we left Dalton, Georgia and made the (relatively) easy 7
hour drive over here to Taylorsville. We are staying on the
grounds at Victory Independent Baptist Church. The weather here
is beautiful so the kids are enjoying the opportunity to get outside
and play, and especially since the pastor here has 8 children of his
own that they can play with! We are going to be "dropping
in" for a visit with an another local church tomorrow morning
(per the recommendation of the pastor at this church). Then,
tomorrow evening we will have the opportunity to present our ministry
here as well. On Monday we will leave here and head over to
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We've got a meeting there next
Sunday and are going to take the opportunity to "drop-in" on
Wednesday, since we've never been in that area before. Everyone
is doing well, and the truck and trailer are okay. I did have to
get a flat tire fixed on the truck yesterday. It actually had
been low for sometime and I stopped last Sunday morning on my way up
to a meeting (I was making the 2+ hour trip by myself) and found that
the tire was reading 0 pounds of pressure. So, that wasn't a
good thing. Fortunately with driving a dually there's a built-in
spare! I had apparently been driving with the flat for the
entire 2+ hours, and probably a few days before that as well.
So, I filled it up with air and it made it back no problem. I
got an appointment yesterday and they found the leak and plugged it,
so hopefully I won't have that problem again.....for a
while.
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| Braden
playing with one of the pastor's sons. |
Addie
being chased by two of the pastor's daughters. |
Our
house, parked behind the church next to some fields and woods. |
The
entrance to the church property, with the sign and flag pole. |
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| The
front of the church, with our house behind it. |
Behind
the church their is also a small cemetary. |
Most
of the kids playing together. A couple are not in the photo. |
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