Praise and Prayer for July 8, 2010

Sunday, June 26, Reims Evangelical Baptist Church had a special farewell service for our family.  They presented us with some beautiful gifts, but also with meaningful testimonies of how God has used us to impact ministries and lives in the church. It was a touching service and there were some tears shed.  How we praise God for giving us the opportunity to minister here in Reims these past four years.  We look forward to soon sharing with you in person some of what He has done.

The Lord worked out the timing for our trip home as Caleb was certified to be no longer contagious from the chicken pox and Josiah was yet to break out with them.  He did – three days after our arrival in PA!  We were sad to see Jessica leave us (to go to her home) but are so thankful for the greatly needed help that she was to us over the past two months.  It has been such a blessing to see family and friends and to have a very brief time with our sending church, though we have had to juggle things just a bit to try and not expose too many people to Josiah’s chicken pox. 

God is our strength and guide.  Little did we know upon returning to the USA on June 28th that Jonathan’s Mother would again enter the hospital in MI June 29 with pneumonia and a blood infection while all three of her sons were together in PA.  His brother Don and Ramona had driven to PA to meet us with Mother’s minivan, which she is loaning us for the six months we are home.  After much prayer we decided to come on to MI this week so that we could be near Mother to help.  God gave us much encouragement from our church family, and special understanding, as we had to postpone our meeting with them on the 10^th and reschedule for a later date.  On July 6^th our family left home in Pennsylvania at 5am, drove across Canada and into Michigan, and arrived in Grand Rapids about 6pm.  The Lord gave us needed strength and alertness as we drove and cheerful attitudes to the children who were even able to sleep along the way.  Thank you for praying for us! 

 

The Lord has given us the mission house of Berlin Baptist Church in Marne, MI (outside Grand Rapids) to stay in for these six months.  The location is ideal as we are only about fifteen minutes from the hospital as well as from Cherith’s parents and brother.  We are very tired, but thankful to be here at this very needy time. 

  Praise for:

- the BJU Musical Missions Team and the concert they gave in Reims on the 20^th.  There were a number of unsaved visitors who came.

- the encouraging farewell service from the Reims church.

- Jessica Leslie who was such a help and encouragement to us as we packed up and made the trip back to the USA.

- safety as we travelled by air from France to NJ, then by road on to PA and finally to MI.

- God’s help as our family adjusted to the six-hour time difference.

- our family and friends who have been so gracious in welcoming us back to the USA and providing us with groceries, toys, clothes and books for the children as well as meals and places to stay!

- improvement for Jonathan’s Mother.

Pray for:

- Josiah as he recovers completely from the chicken pox.

- Jonathan’s Mother to regain strength and weight (she is now 108 lbs) and for her transition from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility for a period of strengthening before she would be released to go home.

- Wisdom in our own time management as we have a lot of projects that we need to finish, including sermon preparations and our ministry presentation.

- the BMM annual conference that will be held this next week Monday through Thursday in Cleveland.  We are planning to attend along with Jessica Leslie, our Pastor, Roger Rosenau, and his wife, as well as with Cherith’s parents.