Approved for Ordination!

We were unanimously approved for Ordination at our District conference on Friday. We were so excited and it was awesome to see our fellow pastors and see all the wonderful things God is doing through the WNY district. We have wonderful leadership. And, it was just awesome to be home and vote and do those "business" measures that we have missed out on! I think we miss our church that about right now any type of "church" work feels good!

This weekend we drove up to Grace Wesleyan in Watertown. What a wonderful experience we had and were incredibly spoiled by a tremendous lunch by the pastor and his wife. The weekend was also extra special because we brought our niece on the weekend trip with us! What a joy it is to share with her what a life is like for a missionary kid. But, the whole time we travel with her we pray that God would give her a passion for missions some day and that the experiences she has now with use will be just small stepping stones to the big picture God has for her life!

After driving an 1 1/2 hours this morning we jumped in the car and drove 4 1/2 hours back to Houghton for the start of family camp! Please Keep our family in your prayers this week. Chris is doing two seminars one Monday morning and one Tuesday morning on How churches can partner and team up with missionaries. He is showing many things.. Like, What is GP? Vision, Goals, 80/80/80 plan and many other things. Also keep myself in your prayers as I have 8 more children's sessions to do this week! Tonight was pretty easy. We only had 7 18 mo.-3yr olds. But, we are going to learn to Love Jesus, Follow Jesus, Praise Jesus, Serve Jesus, and Share Jesus! It is almost to the end of the month and we still have many openings in August we were hoping to fill. Our goal is at least 20 speaking engagements.. So, please pray that we would find churches to book right away or individuals to share Gods vision for Australia. Thank you for your prayers and for being part of our network. We definitely feel God using you to impact our lives.

Central NewYork!

What a joy it was this weekend to visit two churches from the District Melissa Grew up in. If I flash back and think of memories. I participated in "Believers!" from Gates Wesleyan when I was a teenager. We travelled and sang at churches all over the district, ministering to familes, teens, children, and adults.

Then the second church we were at Buena Vista. I have fond memories of learning how to shoot a bow at camp from Pastor Dan Pickering and from his wife earning my CYC badges. They also have children who have impacted my life VERY MUCH in going into ministry! So, we had a wonderful weekend. We had a huge bonfire at Buena Vista and the kids were so excited to eat smores! We do not have these in Australia. We cannot get hte graham crackers or the marshmallows like the ones here!

The kids were excellent in the car. Dawson had a little bit of a meltdown. So, we have decided the rest of this week, we will stay home. So, please pray for Chris today and tomorrow as he heads out to ENYNE district conference at Glen Falls, NY all by himself. Pray that we would get connected with new churches, and individuals for Faith Promise!

Sunday morning at 6AM!

A weekend in Western Pennsylvania!

We just arrived home yesterday from 4 churches in 5 days! What an awesome time we had in Western Pennsylvania. We visited Loganton, Ashland, Hillview, and Mount Union. What a wonderful time meeting people and sharing with them. We also had a wonderful time helping Pastor Dave and Melinda Finlay at Hyde Wesleyan get ready for their VBS. It was exciting to help them becuase we miss being involved in outreach ministry in Australia right now, so it was fun to help decorate and do lot's of various other things. Not to mention our children had a WONDERFUL time playing with their cousins. So, it was a great journey and wonderful people were met! Not only were wonderful peope met, but 3 of them are faithful prayer and support partners and the 4th looks like they will join our network! PRAISE GOD! Where He leads we will follow! Continue praying for us to be able to pick up support quickly every day we receive more emails from Australia asking if we will be returning any time soon. God knows when we need to get there. Please pray that we would be faithful to scheduling churches and individuals to share the vision of God's calls for us to minister in Perth, Australia!

Good Ol' Chambers Camp!
This past weekend we had the special privilege of visiting Chambers Camp. This is the campground I grew up on, and gave my heart to Jesus in the Old Tabernacle there. We had a wonderful time connecting with all the people we know. And, God opened an opportunity for Chris to share a few moments in the evening service. I had the opportunity to do the evening kids program during the service. So, I had 60 kids and had a blast! God is so good. He provided me with wonderful teenagers who helped me and were amazing! God is good all the time.

On Saturday our kids participated in the camp play. Dawson was a cow and Makayla was a lady bug. I will post pictures later today.

On Sunday morning we spoke at Grace Lee Memorial Wesleyan Church. Pastor Matt and his wife Carmen were my youth pastors when I was just a teenager. It is an honor to see where God leads those who follow Him and how He Blesses them. The Pickering's have been blessed with a giving church who really has an interest in missions and also a beautiful family.

Today God kept our children safe!

Today our children went on an outing to a movie with the McGrady's, Pastors to Missionary's. And, while they were on their way to the movies a car lost control on the highway and just started spinning. Marlene and the children said the car was completely out of control spinning all over the place. Apparently when it came close to the van, it just all of a sudden stopped spinning and the driver had control! Praise God he loves and looks after our little ones!

Psalm 116:6 NIV

6 The LORD protects the simplehearted;

when I was in great need, he saved me.