Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Updates, Maine-Ohio-Kentucky, lots more

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

Friday, September 4, 2009

Pics for those who like them

Just thought some parting pictures would be nice. Some friends, family, nature, and odd men hanging from large metal structures. Enjoy

PICS HERE

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Maine wrapup 9/1/09

Greetings,
This past few weeks has been quite busy. As a family, we have done quite a bit of visiting with family, friends, and believers in all parts of Maine. We worked with Child Evangelism Fellowship, manning the story wagon at the Union Fair a couple days this past week. We had the honor of sharing the Gospel with children, parents, and some adults with special needs along with their caregivers. It is great to be able to share the love of Christ in public, a freedom not everyone has, and something taken for granted often. It is our duty and privilege to tell the Good News of Jesus and how to be reconciled to God to those who do not know.
On the home front, Sara has started the school year with the kids. Virginia is 6 and does her reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. She enjoys learning new words and practicing math skills.
Naomi is getting better with her words and finding new words all the time as she copies what seems like every word out of my mouth. Be careful little mouth what you say! Cute little girl whose hair is finally long enough to braid well.
Nathaniel is enjoying his last week in Maine. We will visit with some of his friends throughout the week. During the days, he is working on history, math, computer, map reading, social studies, and Bible study. We are going through "Living by the book" by Howard Hendricks. Great book, I hope it helps him and also me. We all need to dig deeper in God's Word and this book helps a lot to see all that is available when we thoroughly study and seek God's direction in all things.
Sara is now 15 week along in pregnancy. It is amazing to see what progress the baby is making. There are really cool charts and detailed weekly progress reports on many web sites. If you want to be wowed by God's creation, check it out sometime. Sara is still dealing with "morning(all day) sickness" but is in great spirit and happy to have a protruding bit of belly to show for all the work.
Mark is busy preparing many things for our trip to Kentucky, writing for "one anothering" and a dozen other projects that seem to be gaining momentum but still in need of much work. Mark has had the privilege of working with many brothers in Christ in evangelism, discipleship, and building up the body of Christ. What a privilege to serve our Lord and King!
We plan to leave Maine Sept. 8th, arrive in Bluffton, Ohio on the evening of the 9th, and head from there to Kentucky on the afternoon of the 12th. The saints of Bluegrass Bible Fellowship have told us that they are excited to greet us and will be having a welcome fellowship dinner for us. They truly are wonderful folks and we are blessed to be serving God in their midst. We have much to learn from them and hope to be fruitful for the Lord in many ways while in Kentucky.
I guess that is all for now, except a bit of news semi-related to us. The Humes family that we have been traveling with is headed a different direction. We still consider ourselves a team, but know that the Lord has led us to work separately for the time being. Justin and family have recently accepted the commission of team leaders for the GNOM 5 team. GNOM 5 will be traveling across the USA, bringing the Gospel to many homes and helping equip the church to share the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
It is a great responsibility and privilege for Justin to work alongside these young men. I think Justin is a great choice as he has a desire to see the Lord glorified though faithful servants. Justin is a good organizer, easy to talk to, and one that will prayerfully seek to help develop these young men as they grow closer to the Lord and serve God in this way(also my best friend). You can follow the GNOM 5 team by checking at www.uplook.org and click on "Gospel efforts"
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