Mark and Sara Cowperthwaite
12 Emery Avenue
Thomaston, Maine 04861
(207)-542-8916
Website: www.cowperthwaitefamily.com
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
As most of you know, our family has been asked to return to our home assembly, Grace Fellowship Bible Chapel in Union, Maine. With a lack of available teachers and aging elders, our family had seen needs in this local body for some time and continued to pray for the Lord's guidance. We prayed at length as to whether we should return to Maine for an undetermined amount of time to assist in the local assembly.
After speaking to the elders via email and phone calls,we all agreed that it would be well for us to relocate our family so that we could assist in the local assembly. This assembly typically has 12-15 adults in attendance for the Sunday meetings. Though at times, the attendance has been as many as 60 or 70 including children, we now see far less Christians who consistently come out to meetings. The last 3 weeks, the largest group including children was 27. We hope to see in the future some of those families who used to fellowship with us come back, and we are also praying for fruit from evangelistic efforts, bringing together more saints to worship and have fellowship together.
With these goals in mind and confirmation from the Lord that we were to assist in this work of reviving a struggling assembly, our family moved from McDonough, Georgia to Rockport, Maine February 1. A Christian widow from the local Baptist church heard of our housing need and offered us the use of her home for the months of February and March. This was such a blessing from the Lord, as finding a new home in the middle of the winter can be very hard. Praise God for putting this all together for our blessing. We plan to move out the end of March, and so we are prayerfully considering where we should locate in order to effectively minister to all those the Lord has put in our lives. We hope to find a home that will be adequate for hosting Bible studies and having times of fellowship also, as we have seen the importance of the Christian home in communities.
On the health front, most of you know that Mark's seizures had returned for a time while in Georgia. The last seizure Mark had was over a month ago now, and with the wisdom of the Lord and Mark's doctors, we believe we have found the problem that caused the seizures and we are confident that the issue is resolved. This is such a blessing as our family does a lot of ministry outside our home, and Mark was unable to drive while having seizures. Again, the Lord has done all things well!
With all the busyness of the family, it is not often that we have time to write newsletters. This is the first that we have ever sent by mail (though many are still getting this via email), as most of our information is passed along through our website, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and more. We always love to hear from folks via the phone, email, etc. It is a blessing to us to hear how the Lord is working in your lives and in assemblies all over.
The whole family has settled in well to our new home in Maine. As folks often ask how everyone is doing, we thought we would include personal updates on everyone so that you know what we are all up to. We all continue to study God's Word, memorize Scripture, sing praise to the Lord together, and educate our children in our home. We continue to have meals with Christians and reach out together in our community with the Gospel in varying opportunities as the Lord allows.
- Mark has taken on teaching at the local assembly whenever asked. So far, 2 out of 3 Sundays he has taken the ministry time at the request of the elders. He is also meeting with the men of the assembly to encourage and challenge them to be more involved, to discern gifting, and work alongside the elders in many aspects of the local body. Mark also meets with men from the community for prayer, has a discipleship study with 3 young men, and has been asked to teach at a few home meetings in the area. Some of these are associated with the local assembly, others with other Christians meeting in their homes. Mark is also coordinating Gospel outreach in the area, creating an equipping evangelistic website (www.equippedambassador.com) and still blogging.
- Sara is now 16 weeks pregnant, due in early August. She is nearly over the morning sickness (we hope) and is doing great. She met with the midwife that we plan to have deliver our baby at the local hospital. Sara assists Mark in counseling a young couple preparing for marriage, discipling a young lady, meeting with wives and mothers for encouragement, and of course home schooling our children. Sara is glad to be near her family at this time as we prepare for the baby's arrival.
- Nathaniel just turned 16 and wishes to get a job, to save up for driver education, a car, and such things as a young man needs as he grows to maturity. Nathaniel is taking part in Mark's discipleship study with the young men, and has taken on various jobs with Christian families nearby who need help with firewood, farm chores, and more.
- Virginia will turn 9 years old in May and has become quite the mother's helper. Virginia has volunteered to help a widow from the assembly in her home one day a week. She will help clean, prepare meals, and read to our dear sister for a few hours on Fridays.
- Naomi will turn 5 years old in March, and is so glad to be close to Grandma and Grandpa. She enjoys learning from her older siblings, playing in the snow, and has a great affinity for eating snow. We have had to teach her to find clean snow, but otherwise Naomi is doing great.
- Samuel just turned 2 a few weeks ago. He is talking more as of late, his health is good (no breathing issues for months now) and he is a typical energetic young boy.
- Baby Cowperthwaite is due to arrive in early August from our understanding. Everything seems to be going well for baby and Sara will have an ultrasound mid March
Thank you for your prayer and support. The Lord surely has blessed us greatly and we count it a privilege to serve Him in this mission field of Maine. Returning to where it all started has shown us just how great the Lord is, as we have always desired to proclaim the Gospel in Maine and now we have the chance to do just that. We wait on the Lord to see how long we are here, and we thank God for continuing to open doors for our family in His service.
All glory to God our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ,
Mark, Sara, Nathaniel, Virginia, Naomi, Samuel, and baby Cowperthwaite
