Monday, November 1, 2010

Mission Update

My beautiful wife sent out this update to a family member and I thought I should pass it on to all of you. We're still alive and kicking here in Dayton. Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement!

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope everyone is doing well! We had a busy, busy weekend, but it was a great one! The girls were so excited to dress up and go trick or treating and did it 2 nights in a row. On Saturday night, the stores in downtown Dayton opened the doors for the kiddos and the street was packed with families. Last night, we had church so our sweet babysitter walked the girls to the Baptist Church in our neighborhood where they did "trunk or treating" in the parking lot with lots of games and festivities. I don't think I've ever seen them as pooped as they were when we came home last night!

We had the opportunity to open the doors to our church on Saturday night as all of the festivities were going on. Being centrally located now in town, it was great to be able to have an open house and invite people in for snacks and conversation! The church is now in a space that is NEXT DOOR to where we live. Right now, the man that owns the building is letting us use the space for free as we have agreed to do some work to fix it up. So far we've taken down old dry wall to expose brick, installed a working toilet and have cleaned, cleaned, cleaned! This past week Brian and some guys built and stained a huge partition to section off a portion of the space as it is very long and narrow (15x100ft). Now we have a more intimate meeting area that we've fixed up with some lighting and furniture. We have a long ways to go, but we're excited to have a place to use as a group to serve the community.

Brian is now working at Advance Auto Parts full time. It's not the consistent schedule that he had at WalMart, but it's still 40 hours and a bit more pay. I'm continuing to keep 2 kiddos during the day with Adi from 7:30 to 5 on the week days and also work at a Methodist Church in the nursery on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Avery goes there for the kid's programs while I work which has been a huge blessing as we don't yet have a children's program.

It has been a tough year, but it's been such a blessing to know that we're not alone in this process. We're so thankful for your faithful support and pray that you are doing well.

A few prayer requests...

-Perseverance... That we would not loose sight of where we feel the Lord is leading us with the church as we plug away at our daily routines to support ourselves and our family in the process.
-Service... That we would be able to support & provide for a local family as a group throughout the holiday season and beyond.
-Family... Pray for our family to remain strong and support each other by intentionally focusing on time with one another although we feel our time and energy is often stretched with work.
-Community... Pray that we will continue to be a safe and welcome environment for many in the community that feel disconnected and frustrated with church in general. Pray that our Sunday night gatherings would be a fruitful time together as we dig into God's word.
-Finances... That through our members and supporters, we would have what we need when we need it.

We love you guys!!
Brian and Carrie

2 comments:

  1. love the update, friends :) eck said he went to see you guys and im freaking jealous. if you were to put up pictures of...anything i wouldn't be opposed :)

    love and miss yall!

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  2. From Carrie: As Brian mentioned above, this was written to a family member that knows Brian personally and not anyone else involved. I feel there is some MAJOR credit due to the "some guys" mentioned above... Dan Evans and Chris Hoose. Thanks also to Mr. Hoose for installing the toilets, Rachel Evans for her decorating skills, and Chris and Heather Sneed for the use of the building. There are so many others involved, but I will stop now as this is beginning to sound like an acceptance speech. Thank you, and goodnight.

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