July 1, 2009

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,
a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Tim 2:15-16

Dear Friends,

Another week of our internship has quickly passed, and it is time for another update!

The big event of the last seven days was the town parade, for which the church prepared a float to promote next week’s VBS. The lessons for the week will focus on five “extremes” demonstrated in the lives of different Bible characters: trust (Abraham), obedience (Josiah), joy (Mary), forgiveness (Peter), and love (the Good Samaritan). The float was an attempt to reflect the whole theme of “Polar Extremes.” As you’ll see in the pictures attached to our “June 24” posting, they designed a pretty cool mountain, and we had an ice fisher & his wife catching & frying fish in the back, and a bunch of us warmly-dressed, riding up front. The Lord made it clear that He was answering our prayers for good weather: After almost everyday rain, Saturday turned out sunny all day until an evening thunderstorm including hail!

Thank you for praying for John & Carol. She & their kids rode the float, and after the parade, they invited us all over to their home for pizza. Neither John nor their son was at church on Sunday; please pray for the Lord’s continued work in their lives. The Kinneys have been praying for them for several years.

Thank you for praying for Noah as he prepared to preach the last couple of Sunday evenings. He is discovering how difficult that task is; but the Lord definitely used him to speak His Word. Noah will have a break from preaching for a couple of weeks while we concentrate on VBS, but he would appreciate prayer for his growth & more opportunities in this area.

We asked you to pray for another lady named Effie. Effie is an Albanian-American lady who owns a little café down the road. One day a couple of weeks ago we ate breakfast there and, while making Father’s day cards, caught Effie’s attention. We ended up making some cards for her grandchildren, which definitely broke the ice with her. Last week we went again and had lunch, and she shared her amazing story from Albania.

We understood before arriving in New England that evangelism here would not be accomplished “door-to-door” or with similar methods. Building relationships tends to be the best way to gain an entrance into people’s hearts for the gospel. With that in mind, we wanted to find a way to meet people with whom we can talk periodically and to whom we can witness. Since we will only be here a few more weeks, we are praying that another believer will pick up where we’ve left off with Effie, and continue to witness to her.

Prayer Points:
Thank the Lord for good weather for the parade—pray for kids to come to VBS.
VBS—our preparations; kids’ & teens’ hearts to be open; good weather.
Salvation of John & Carol, Effie, and other unbelievers
Time with some unsaved relatives we hope to visit with while we are in MA over the next couple weeks.

Thank you once again for your faithful prayers!