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| The kids with Pepaw and Grandma at the castle in Kuressaare |
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| Us in Kuressaare |
The girls made a friend on the boat on the way to Finland and the child's mom asked us if we could meet once or twice a month for her daughter to play with the girls and learn English! This folks was a huge answer to prayer! I have been praying specifically for each child to have at least one friend here. So praise to God for answered prayer. They have already come and played once and I'm sure they will play many more times.
We have just been enjoying the summer together and planning for future ministry. We had the opportunity to be a part of a community event and felt it was a good idea to have a booth for the church there and give out free water, juice, and church info. The weather when registering for the event was warm and sunny. The day of the event however was stormy, cold, and windy. Oh how I prayed most of the night prior to the event for God to make it a good day. I felt His presence saying to me that even if it was not a good weather day to still do as He asked. The song "Thy Will Be Done" kept playing over and over in my head. That morning the weather was okay, not good but not too bad. We decided to go out and set up. As soon as we got set up our tent blew away with a big gust of wind. We quickly got it set back up. We decided to make the most of it and stay as long as we could. The weather continued to decline. There was not much traffic at the event from consumers but the vendors noticed us there. They had this look like, "Why are these people out here, in this weather, giving away something for free?" One vendor came and looked at our booth and our church info. He also asked us if everything was free and we said yes. He just smiled and went on to the next booth. We literally stood there holding down the booth against the winds for about four hours. At that point many were leaving so we decided to leave as well. We did not give away one water or juice.
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| Our booth at the Fair Day |
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| The signs we made for the Fair Day and future events |
At first I was so disappointed about the event. So much excitement and planning and nothing to show. With time God showed me that just by being obedient and showing up He had the results He wanted. Others saw us there and we learned many things. One, we need a commercial grade tent for events like that. Two, events like that do bring in a lot of people if the weather is good and make a presence of the church in the community. Three, total dependence on God does not always have the results I expect and that's okay.
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| The kids playing gaga ball at the church camp |
We have also been praying and planning the kids club for some time now. Without going into too many details we have explored a few options about place, timing, & partnerships with the club. None of these options have seemed to be an open door right now. This has been something we do not want to rush and I have been feeling God tell us to wait on His timing for this. That is very hard because we both know God has given us a clear vision for the club and how to do it. But He has not given us the vision for exactly where to do it or when. So we wait...And I'm reminded again of the song I mentioned earlier. Particularly the chorus which goes like this, "I know you hear me, I know you see me Lord, Your plans are for me, Goodness you have in store, So, Thy will be done."
It can be hard to wait when you are so ready to get started and going but sometimes a closed door means God has something so much better in store!
Our prayer requests would be for us to be continually drawn closer to God and be willing to listen and hear His voice of direction, For the kids for the school year which we will start next week. For upcoming opportunities for the kids to get into extracurricular activities. For my language test which is this Sunday! I'm nervous but ready. For on-going growth with the small group and ministry in general here. We love you and miss you all! We are grateful for your support.