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Dear Friend,
It is time! Did you know that God talks
about "time" over 550 times in the Bible? Gods whole creation
is all very timely. In time past, the scientists have stood amazed at the
timeliness of all the movement of planets within our universe. I believe that
everything our God does happens right on the second He intended for it to
happen. God is never early nor late. God is always on time.
Going Full Time
Humanly speaking it does not seem possible, but we are
going to trust God on March 30, of this month and leave Newman Technology behind
and go full time into the ministry where God has called us to serve. It is a time
of sadness in that friends will be missed but exciting as we step out in faith
believing that it is God's time for us. But what about all the
faith and trusting that is needed? The apostles said, Lord, increase our
faith. The Hebrew writer said, without faith it is impossible to please
God. As a child I remember getting on top of a high piece of furniture, walk
all the way to the edge and fling myself out into the air, trusting that my dad
who was 6 feet from the edge of the table, would catch me before I hit the
floor. Looking back – I remember the faith and trusting part of that whole
ordeal always seemed to be so great and yet it came almost naturally, somehow
because I knew my dad loved me and he would never do anything to let me get hurt
on purpose. Well, 30 years later I find myself standing on the edge of a high
cliff preparing to fling myself out into the air, trusting that our Heavenly
Father is there to catch us. What a thought! But how rewarding!
M.A.P. Team Meeting
We held our semi annual MAP Advisory/Support Team meeting February 24th in Ashland. What an honor it is for us to have such a great team of folks surrounding us with advice and support. We discussed everything from "Ministry in Action", "Financial Status", and "Future Goals for the MAP Ministry".
We are trying to get churches and individuals involved in several different ways by organizing out-reaches through "Adopt a family Ministry" and "Care Package Ministry".
We have had some of the Gideon's wanting to become involved in getting English Bibles into their hands.
We are also working on getting a video put together of the MAP ministry that we can send around to churches.
Friend, it just doesn't get much better then that and we just praise God that He would allow us to be a small part of reaching out with the full gospel of Jesus Christ to precious people like the Amish. Our love for them multiplies and we are reminded of the Prophet Jeremiah when he said in chapter 9:1,
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for … my people!
Education
We are looking forward to spending a week at the Missionary Training School in Spencer, Ohio on April 8-13. This will be a challenging week for the whole family with fifty, forty-minute sessions of class room instruction and workshops. We believe this will be very helpful in preparing us for the present and future. They offer classes for children as well as for missionaries and their spouses.
S.L.C.
We sure had a lot of responses in the last month with our through the mail Bible study. We have a lady in Wellington helping us out by getting these studies into the hands of the Amish people. She does this through an Amish directory of the entire Holmes County area. Kari sends out the first lesson to students. If the students complete the lesson and return them, we then grade them and send them the next lesson. We currently have seventy students enrolled. One salvation decision made. Many asking for lessons for their friends and families as well.
Bible Study
Our Friday evening Bible study is going well. They last from 3-4 hours on most nights. The hunger keeps increasing for more truth. God is truly blessing all of us as we learn together of His Majesty and great Power.
Salvations
So far this year, two young men (formerly Amish) accepted
Christ in our Friday night Bible studies.
Family Corner
Joe:
Joe has enjoyed his work and the friends that he has made
over the years at Newman Technology but is excited about the fact that he will
be able to spent more time with those whom the Lord has given us to minister
too.
Esther:
Esther is rejoicing over the fact that the cookbook she has
been working on in the past year is being printed by Morris Press. A lot of good
home made eat’n packed between those pages. See note on the back of this page
for more information in getting one.
Jonathan & Rachel:
Jonathan and Rachel are busy baking cupcakes, cookies, and
making hard tack in hopes to have some spending money for vacation at the end of
March. We are all pretty excited about getting away for some relaxation before
we make the plunge to go full time in April.
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