Howdy Y’all ( that southern accent comes back quick)!

We have arrived to Gainesville on Monday and immediately jumped into our first session. We have people here wanting to go to India, Jordan, Ireland, Cambodia, and Swaziland. It is amazing to be here with passionate people for reaching the nations.

Last night we had an impromptu time of studying Luke 7:18-23.

“so he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (NIV)

We discussed how we will see so many horrible things, meet people who have lived through them, and some people will come out with such great faith and yet in other circumstances we may not feel anything is moving forward with our ministry. John experienced this in his ministry and personal life and he questioned God because some are helped and healed and others are not, and he personally was left in jail. God does not owe us an explanation! we may not understand why things happen but we do know that God is in control, His will be done, and He wants to works things for our good (Romans 8:28).

We also spent time this morning on Luke 3:22.

“And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (NIV)

We need to understand that we are to find our identity in Christ and that intimate relationship is what comes first. It is not about our ministry or missions or what we do but that we glorify the Lord.

Sorry if I am preaching but this has truly been something we have bern learning in the last few weeks. We are enjoying are time here learning about the Lord and listening or his guiding.

Thursday we will be having our face-to-face interview. We will also be going over member care, support raising, and conflict resolution. I will try to update you more this week as we can find Internet but we will give you a final update at the end of the week.

Prayer Requests :
1. That we keep an open mind
2. Grow in our understanding in what God is calling us to.
3. Discernment if Adventures in Missions is the right organization for us.
4. Daisy Love- she is the 7 yr old daughter of a Pastor of our sister church. She has battled cancer twice already and is now starting chemo for the third time. Her blog is prayfordaisy.com.