May update

May has been a bit of a whirlwind but we have sensed God’s blessing and help.  Spring came! 

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

We welcomed Adrianna home from college for a few short weeks before she leaves June 11 on her summer missions internship with Bibles International in Chad.  Cherith was delighted to have Adrianna go with her as she spoke at a Mother Daughter brunch at a sister church on May 7.  The boys finished school (7th and 10th grades) and we had a number of guests for meals.  Cherith continued her Bible studies with D and the French work continued, though we said goodbye to M, our student from Quebec, for the summer, and even more difficult, we said goodbye to F, one of the faithful members for our group, as she moved to Nova Scotia. We did welcome MC’s husband P from the Ivory Coast, as he is here to visit his family through the end of June.  B, an EBBI student from Moncton, lead the singing for one of our French services for the first time.  He too will be leaving for several weeks for a summer internship at a church in Fredericton.

God blessed the Evangelistic Meetings with Mark Herbster last week  with good attendance and messages that had challenges for all of us.  There were a number of decisions made for which we praise the Lord.  We hosted one of the cottage prayer meetings the week before in preparation for the special meetings.

After the special meetings ended here on Wednesday, our family traveled to Nova Scotia to help with the Maritime GAMES (Games – Arts – Ministry – Excellence – Service), on Friday.  We took advantage of our first visit to Nova Scotia to see Peggy’s Cove (see photo) and a bit of Halifax on Thursday which was also our 21st anniversary.  Friday morning, we made our way to Forest Glen Bible Camp where Adrianna, Cherith and myself help with adjudicating solo, duet and group entries in piano, instrumental and vocal.  Our boys enjoyed interacting with the more than 40 teens that were gathered for the Maritime Games and even got to participate in some of the sports competition.  Mark Herbster was the special speaker for the event, which included four meetings, and did a great job challenging the teens to live lives of godliness and service to the Lord.

This week Dr. Larry Oats is here from Maranatha Baptist Seminary in Watertown, WI, to teach a Master’s level class on Systematic Theology, hosted by Emmanuel Baptist Church for pastors and others wishing to further their education or just sharpen their biblical knowledge for ministry.  That is my desire as I audit the class this week and it has already been very helpful as we study the doctrines of anthropology (man), harmartiology (sin) and soteriology (salvation).  Cherith is providing the coffee breaks and helping with meals.  Today, she prepared the noon meal with help from our kids.  

Our days with Adrianna here are dwindling quickly as she prepares for her summer ministry trip to Chad.  Tomorrow she’ll be getting the 3 vaccines (or boosters) that she needs for a visit to Chad.  

Thank you for your prayers!