Friday, October 2, 2009

Updates- more info on the work, family, baby...

Greetings all,
I know when we are parked for a longer period of time, I tend not to send updates as often. There is still much going on, but the bigger picture often takes time to develop. We are just getting done sorting through old contacts from the surge of Gospel work here in May-June. Mark took the hard-to-find contacts and worked on those to attempt to lighten the load for the saints here that have been working so hard to reach each contact personally. This is a pretty big task to show up at the door of 300+ people. Finding them home is even harder. Schedules differ from family to family, and often folks if home are busy when we arrive. Thankfully, the list of those who seriously desire to hear more is working itself out and the task is now much more manageable.
Truly, the saints here have put many hours into the work. We hope we are helping lighten the load and allow local believers to concentrate on other areas, such as continue Gospel work, follow up, teaching, discipleship, kids clubs, raising their families, work, and a list of other things that are vitally important to the local church work. We are reminded that every believer has a great responsibility to the local church, and how much work the elders must put in to keep a local body functioning properly. Truly a task only accomplished by the Spirit of God, and with spiritual gifts. The flesh could never accomplish what is done each day through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The follow up work will continue but on a smaller scale as initial contact has now been established. On the kids club front, Mark will be helping pick up kids across the city for kids club, Sara is teaching the Bible lesson, and helping in whatever ways are needed. The family recently had a kids meeting during Kentucky Fellowship Day. This was a great day getting to meet Christians from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinios, and West Virginia, if I recall properly.
We are now beginning to shift from a majority of time in follow up, to continued door to door witnessing. There are still some areas of the city that were not reached with a personal conversation about salvation through Jesus Christ, and Mark is working on getting that ready to start Sat, Oct. 3. We will be changing approaches in the door to door effort. In the past, Justin and Mark have taken time to not just sweep a neighborhood to see who is home, but to make note of each house. Our desire is not only to get through a series of streets, but rather to talk to someone at each house if possible. Justin Humes devised a system that makes this more effective, organized, and is much more manageable for follow up in future efforts also.
Mark will continue working on "one anothering" (if you don't know, just ask) and other teaching. There is discussion with the elders here at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship of a men's study group. Still working on the details, but I am excited to get together and study God's Word with faithful men here at the chapel. I know I have much to learn, and I am excited to have this opportunity to glean wisdom and knowledge from the brothers at BBF.

Sara has been hard at work, too. While schooling the children, hosting visitors for meals, preparing lessons for kids clubs, helping Mark with mapping, and all her other duties, she is also growing a little baby human inside. Quite a feat when one thinks about it. Sara is enjoying here time getting to know the ladies here, who have been a great encouragement to her. We are blessed to have the fellowship of such godly families. We miss the folks at our home church, and family that is not near, but the burden is much lighter knowing that folks are praying for us, keeping busy in the work here. God gives us the strength and encouragement we need each day as we keep Him priority #1. What a blessing to know that no matter where we are, He is with us and we have family through Christ everywhere we go.
Sara had an appointment with her doctor in Lima, Ohio this week. Everything is going well, and we will be having an ultrasound October 26, she will be 23 weeks along at that point. It was a great trip, spending time with friends and family. Along with the Bluffton crowd of Grandma and Grandpa, Seth and Carol, Alaina, and Norm and Mary Lou, we also had Sara's mom, Kay with us for our time in Bluffton. It was great to see Grandma(Kay) as we will not see her again most likely until December or January. We had a great time and look forward to our scheduled visits to see folks there each month.
Nathaniel has been busy with school, riding his bike around the farm with the boys next door, and other such activities. He did get a new experience while we were in Ohio, though. Seth took Mark and Nathaniel for a ride in the combine while he was harvesting soybeans. Our next trip to Bluffton, we should be able to ride along with corn harvesting. Nathaniel loves to hang out with Seth and I think Seth is happy to have a young man that will work(or ride) alongside. Again, we have been blessed with such exciting educational experiences as we travel.
Virginia and Naomi have been busy memorizing Bible verses and doing their school work, along with helping Mommy, and playing with their friends next door. They are getting pretty good with memorizing and I think catching up with Daddy on verses. Mommy and Daddy have been blessed to not only teach all the children parts of Scripture, but learn the verses along with the children. At BBF, they allow the children to go up front and recite their memory verses. The girls all look forward to this part of the service.
We have posted many videos and pictures lately. I will post all the links to our blog, "one anothering" video, pictures, and other web based items for the family. The internet (thanks to Jesse Everling) is available to us at home, and helps immensely with the work. The church has an online database for helping organize all contacts. This is a huge help, a tool that I use every day to plan. We are truly blessed with many conveniences, and the Lord has continued to provide for all our needs. I find it important to remember often that all we have and all we do is because of God and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. What a joy it is to serve Him!
There is so much more to tell, and those of FaceBook get more info, I suppose as it is so easy to just shoot off a note on there, so if you are not on FaceBook, you might consider it. Truly a great tool (when used properly) for communication and sharing daily prayer requests.
Mark and Sara Cowperthwaite