One week until departure from Maine

Sorry for the lack of recent updates, we have had a pretty full schedule here in Maine. It is always a blessing to be "home" and get to catch up with many of our friends, having time to talk about the Lord together, to pray together. We have had many opportunities while in Maine to speak to those who don't know Jesus Christ about the wonderful Gospel message. We have been able to visit a few area churches, and will  be visiting 2 more this coming Sunday morning, with the early service at FBC Waldoboro and Rock of Ages in Wiscasset for the teaching hour and lunch afterwards. 

Since we arrived, we have been blessed to see our friend Todd through some tough times as he has had recent heart problems. Todd has a loving church family and a wonderful wife and children that have been a great help to his recovery. What challenged me was that through all the trials
, that Todd just leaned more and more on the Lord, seeing that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. Todd has a good friend that has helped model this attitude, a brother named Jim who endures great physical pain, battling cancer. Jim and Todd get together to pray, to talk about the Lord, and to praise God for giving strength to endure the trials of life. I don't think I have ever heard either of them complain, and I have learned a lot from these brothers in our time in Maine. We get together at a local church building to pray on Mondays and Fridays at 630am. This time has been refreshing, challenging, and such a blessing. 

We have also been blessed to see our friends, Andrew and Crystal Stanley, as they seek to follow God's will for their lives. After much prayer and searching, they felt called to go to Skowhegan, Maine to work with a church family there. This church runs a homeless shelter for men, and those who come into the program undergo an intensive discipleship process. The days start and end with prayer times, with the rest of the day filled with studying God's Word, counsel for struggles they are working on, and serving others in the Lord's name. The Stanley's recently moved to Skowhegan to help with that program and to start outreach to area youth. We had some good times of prayer and fellowship with this family, and thank the Lord that they have found the Lord's calling on their lives, and are now serving God full time!

In other developments while we were in Maine, our friends Justin and Jocelin Humes arrived to work in the Gospel effort in this area. Coming along with them was SaraGrace Hinton, a young lady that now lives with the Humes and has been a great help in reaching the lost with the Gospel. Justin and Jocelin spent 4 months in Ottawa, Kansas (we were with them 2 months of that) and came back to Maine as the Lord made it clear that their time there was done. The Humes had announced while in Kansas that they were expecting another baby, and we just found out that they are expecting twins! What a blessing children are to a family, the Humes are a godly family that serve God full time, primarily in Gospel outreach and training others to share in the work. 

We have been blessed to work with a few area churches, along with our home church, Grace Fellowship Bible Chapel in Union. The mid week meetings in Union include a time of singing, sharing prayer requests, praying together, and a study going through Ephesians. This study time has been a blessing, with our brother Tracey Staley leading the discussion and input from many others as we study.

There is so much more to tell, so many families and folks that have been such a blessing, so many churches that have welcomed us in, I could never tell it all in a blog post. I remember now that I was trying to tell everyone that we are leaving Maine soon. We plan to leave October 15th, a week from today. We will hook up the camper to the van and head south, with our first stop in Warwick, Rhode Island at Buttonwoods Bible Chapel. We know a few folks from that group, and plan to spend the Lord's Day with them on October 17th. From there we head to Hinton, West Virginia, and on to Richmond, Kentucky where we will spend 4 or 5 days with the saints at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship. Our departure date from there is sort of up in the air,  but we will head on from there to Georgia and then to Florida. We will write more, when we have time, about what the Lord has burdened our hearts for in Florida. Until then, we wanted to get you up to speed on all that has gone on since we arrived in Maine. We thank God for guiding us here, and can see the fruit of His work through our time here. 

We would appreciate your prayers as we head out on the road. Mark's back is progressively getting better, thanks in no small part to Dr. Eric Betz and the lovely ladies of Betz Chiropractic. Eric Betz is a good Christian brother and co-laborer in the Gospel. My brother Kevan Fortier and his family have been a good source of encouragement, as have many others. You know who you are, and we thank the Lord for you all! 

We will be taking our time on the road, enjoying visits with many saints along the way. Thank you for reading this lengthy update. For those in the Thomaston area, we will be home on Thursday, October 14th all day long. We would love for any that are able to stop by and say "good bye for now" and get to visit one last time before we head out. We will be leaving early Friday morning, and hope to arrive in Rhode Island that evening.