Greetings Brothers and Sisters!
I have let you all know that once a month I get to spend an hour on the phone being encouraged and laughing and getting to hear what God is doing in the work and ministry of workcampNE already… and we are not even close to July! Oh wait… we ARE getting closer to July!
It was great to hear all the planning that is going on and how God is moving in the lives of so many people and it works out so that things are even better than we can imagine. I love that God is answering our prayers and THEN some!
Please keep Marc and Jess in your prayers as the prepare to make a big move back to NH. This is an exciting time, but also a very difficult time as Jess will be moving away from her family. Please keep Jess’ parents in your prayers as they support their daughter and son-in-law in a big move that will be an amazing life change for them with new obstacles, challenges, joys and adventures. But I’m sure for a parent it’s not easy to see your kids move away. On the other side of that, I’m sure Ken and Marcia are very excited to have one of their kids return back to NH with a lovely wife and opportunity to serve the Lord in wonderful ways. So I guess this is not only a prayer request, but also a praise!
Speaking of praises – I want to thank all of you for lifting up the worship team I lead this past Sunday. We did the song “You Are My Joy” by David Crowder… as most of you know, it’s a very intense song. I was fearful of people being snobby to the idea of a song like that, but I have to say it worked better than I thought! We had a guest speaker come in. As I was preparing the song list, I didn’t know what he would be preaching on. When he got there on Sunday, it just so happened that his topic was “The Joy we have in Jesus.” How amazing is that?! And the congregation loved the song… many of them asked why I had not done it sooner… I guess I was (unbeknownst to me) waiting for the right time!
Please keep Squeaky in your prayers… and also as a praise! His wedding to Casey is coming very fast (the end of May). Pray for the preparations, that things would be smooth in transitions and wedding planning. Pray that it would be a celebration time, not a stressful time. Pray also that the families would be very understanding of what the bride and groom are wanting. For some reason, there are many times when the family appears to do what is “best” for the loving couple, but it ends up adding more stress! Pray also that Casey would find a job soon. One that is not only in a field that she can be passionate about, but that it would also have benefits, good pay and be a job she can live out her faith in.
Please keep Joanna’s mom in your prayers. She has recently lost her job. Pray that God would have the right job for her soon that will be even better than the previous job she had with not only better pay, but a better environment and better benefits that would allow her to see her daughter and son-in-law more often!
If you would also keep Jamie and I in your prayers for our youth/missions ministry. We are doing 4 missions experiences this year with a multi-generational feel. We meet for the first time as our teams this Sunday and the planning shall begin! Pray for the planning of all the groups to be very involved by all parties, that personalities would just blend together wonderfully and that funds would come in with no problem. With this many people, our prayer is that God would use us all with our unique personalities, gifts and talents to have amazing teams that impact the people we are going to be working with in ways we don’t want to limit God on…
Please lift up Mark B. in your prayers. He has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. We have a Father in heaven who is the Great Physician that can heal! Pray not only for healing, but also for the doctors he and Kelly are going to be working with. Pray that the test results come back with answers that need to be given to start any kind of treatment. Pray for his energy levels as the emotional, physical and spiritual stress can be so intense. Pray for ease of heart, mind and spirit as they can all be at unrest. Pray also for Kelly and Mark as they go through this together… they are such an amazing couple and they can use our prayers for the Lord to touch their lives!
For workcampNE this week, I want to continue to pray for the residents. Marcia and Ken shared that they went to visit 29 residents over the past few weeks. The thing that stuck out to them was their eyes. The way they followed them everywhere to see what it was they were doing. It was such an incredible reminder that as the people of God, we are being watched all the time. Our lives give a testimony to who we are and who God is IN us. Pray that as our leaders go about the community, that these residents and the social workers would see Christ in them as they prepare for camp this year. Pray also that we go about our weekly events and daily routines that we would represent Christ in all we do. Marcia reminded us that we are always representing Christ, even in our worst hour. But the best part is… God never changes even though we are up and down!
This is from Paul S.:
Hey pray for Vicki she has been in the hospital since Friday with stomach pain. They haven’t figured out what is going on.
I also want to lift up the piano player on the worship team I lead…
She and her husband (Abigail and Bhagavad) just had a baby… 3 months early! His name is Owen… he was born 1 lb. 10 oz., so he’s a tiny little guy, but a fighter! He’s doing well, but needs to be covered in all the prayer we can muster! The biggest thing is that he needs to put on weight. They induced labor because they can do more for him out of the womb than in. So far he’s gained a couple of oz, but he has a long way to go! Mom and Dad are very tired and covet any prayers that can come in!
Mel