Greetings,
It is hard to imagine that we left Maine a week ago today. We drove all day Tuesday, staying overnight in Angola, NY. The van and camper departed from Angola about 7am and arrived in Bluffton, Ohio at 12:45PM. Mark and Nathaniel got the camper set up at Seth and Carol Bixel's home. The Bixel's are relatives of Sara's and have been gracious hosts often for our family. We always look forward to trips to Bluffton for many reasons, including visiting with the Bixels, seeing Sara's maternal grandparents, and just enjoying small town, farming life. Bluffton is a beautiful little town that is midwest America at its finest.
We spent some time each day with Grandma and Grampa Niswander, sharing meals, music, and time with these dear folks. The kids love going to the Bixel home for the fellowship, food, and fun. The family left Bluffton after what seemed like a week of fun, but was truly just about 72 hours. We drove to Richmond, Kentucky (our current home) Saturday afternoon and settled in mid afternoon.
The Harmon family is hosting us near one of their rental properties, settled near a beautiful field, a rustic barn, and with a beautiful view of both sunrise and sunset. The Everling family are our nearest neighbors, and helped us set up Saturday. Jesse(the dad) helped us navigate the narrow roadway, which our camper was able to pass through with limited clearance on all sides. Jesse and Brit, along with their 4 children, invited us to a birthday party that evening in their home across the farm road. We stayed for Bible time with the family, enjoying songs, reading from Acts, discussion, and prayer. A wonderful family, and one we appreciate in the Lord. We look forward to time in fellowship with so many folks here, and we are just getting started.
Sunday brought many folks to worship and teaching at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship. There was a wedding the day before, and the bride and groom were also at the meeting. Congratulations to Rex and Irina(hope I spelled that right) on their recent marriage. We also caught up with so many "old friends" from our time in the Gospel surge here with Good News on the Move(GNOM) this May/June. We all shared in a fellowship dinner, complete with guests from Wisconsin, the Morrell family, who are headed to deliver their son to Mountaintop Youth Camp in North Carolina as he is on this years Good News team. Brother Morrell shared from God's Word about speading the Gospel seed and investing in God's economy rather than in this world. Great message, very encouraging, and we enjoyed fellowship around the dinner table with this family.
There is so much more to share, but no time to write it all down. I just wanted to catch you all up as to where we have been, where we are, and what we are up to. We have so much to learn from the folks here, as there are such great examples in this local church. We will be teaching at times also, and pray that our lives are the example that they should be. We see God at work in so many lives here, and Godly leadership in homes, giving us encouragement as we labor together with the brothers and sisters here.
Please keep Grace Fellowship in Union, Maine in prayer. This is our home church, and we miss the saints there dearly. We are planning to be back in Maine in January, staying until after the baby is born and continuing to pray about God's leading for our family's future as we serve Him. Also be in prayer for the wonderfully dedicated saints here in Richmond. The GNOM surge has borne many contacts, some involved in personal Bible studies throughout the week with local folks here, along with those who have yet to be revisited.
There is much to do, and we would all appreciate prayer in the work. We know that prayer and obedience to the Lord work hand in hand, and that our efforts in and of themselves are futile. We want this work to be annointed by the Holy Spirit, working in the hearts of those who have heard the Gospel and guiding the hands of all His children as we reach out with the message of grace of God in salvation from sin through Jesus Christ.
What a privilege to serve our King, our Savior, Him who sacrificed His own life to save sinners from the rightful penalty of Hell. A great message from a great God, our Father and King whom we serve not out of necessity,but with love and devotion for He is worthy! Thank you all for your prayer and kind cards and emails, calls and visits. We love you all and would love to hear from everyone soon.
Mark and Sara Cowperthwaite
cowperthwaitefamily@gmail.com -family email
http://oneanother-ing.blogspot.com - Mark's other blog
cowperthwaitefamily@gmail.com -family email
http://oneanother-ing.blogspot.com - Mark's other blog
