Wonderful Mission's Meetings!

Just a quick update to let everyone know about our past week. We have just finished our third Mission' s Conference in just over two weeks. We have truly been blessed and well taken care of! We have had the oportunities this past week at Calvary Independent Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN to preach in their high school chapel, present our ministry to the church, elementary and high school chapels as well. Our family has sang in all of the conferences and had wonderful fellowship with God's people! Each of the churches has taken care of our lunches and dinners and the food could not have been finer! We are about to head to Mississippi and North Carolina so please be praying for us!

I Went To Prison!!!

This past week, I had the opportunity to preach in the State Prison in Clinton, Illinois. We had a full house to preach to and we had a wonderful singing and preaching! I was able to preach on "There Is None Other Name" and praise the Lord, a young man came forward and accepted Christ as his Saviour!!! At the end of the services, I held a testimony time and asked the men to share their personal testimonies of when they accepted Christ. It was great to see these men share their testimonies. Several young men were saved as teenagers and testified that they had made some wrong choices along life's road. Some of the men gave testimonies of getting saved right in the prison services held by First Baptist Church of Clinton. We had a wonderful time.

Joshua and I were also able this week to lead a 9 year old boy named Dillon to the Lord. There is nothing more exciting than someone getting saved. However, it is extra special when you get to lead someone to the Lord with your own son next to you!

I'm Thankful !!!

I am so thankful to have a family who wants to work in the ministry! This past week, my whole family worked in Sunday school and Junior church. Each of my children told sang, put on a skit, and told about what life will be like on the Mission field of St. Barths! We had an exciting time working together and at the end of the day, two boys accepted Christ as their Saviour!

Missions Conference in Clinton, Illinois

We had a great meeting at First Baptist Church of Clinton, Illinois. They had so many fun ideas for the missions conference. The first night all of the choir members came wearing the clothing of different countries they have missionaries in.

They fed us for lunch and dinner. All of the food was so delicious. On Sunday Patrick taught 3rd and 4th grade Sunday School which consisted of 39 children packed in a small Sunday school room!, Patrick also preached in Super church to 103 children and praise the Lord, two boys came forward and accepted Christ as their Saviour! Over the past several weeks, the workers were teaching about Missions and reading Missionary stories. The kids were excited to meet a "Real, Live Missionary!" We praise the Lord for such a great meeting.

Josh read his Bible through in one year!

We are so proud of Joshua! He started on his Bible schedule to read through the Bible this year, and he did it! He started last October, and finished a couple of days ago. This is his 2nd year in a row to read it through in a year. Way to go, Josh!

Bear Ye One Another's Burdens

We are so thankful for Bro. and Mrs. Dunn of Grace Baptist Church in Decatur, IL. When we pulled into the parking lot of the church with our motor home this past Saturday, we met with Pastor Jerry Shirley and he showed us where to park. As I tried to start our motor home ("Deppy") to park it in our spot, the starter had died. With a little help from a hammer, we where able to beat the starter into subjection and moved "Deppy" into place! When Bro. Dunn found out about the bad starter, he took it upon himself (he happens to be a retired police officer, firefighter, and mechanic) to come by first thing Monday morning to replace the starter. He arrived at 8 AM and took a look at "Deppy", was called away to put out a house fire, came back and in a matter of one hour had replaced the starter. He took it upon himself to "bear ye one another's burdens" and paid for the starter. He then went home and picked up his wife and they even took us out to lunch at Olive Garden. As we spoke during lunch and shared testimonies, we found out that they have faithfully worked in the bus and youth ministry for over 30 years! Mrs. Dunn even works at a pregnancy crisis center which has a 97% rate for girls who were thinking of having an abortion and choose life! She has had the opportunity to lead many girls and women to Christ through this ministry. We praise the Lord for this faithful family!!!

A New Name Written Down In Glory

We arrived in Decatur, Illinois on Saturday. While we were waiting for the Preacher we saw a bunch of kids playing in the parking lot. We began talking to them and found out their names and ages. They have a clubhouse they play in by the church. (It's actually a ditch next to the road) Patrick talked to Billy and found out he was 12 and not really sure if he was going to heaven when he died. Patrick took him through the plan of salvation and Billy accepted Christ! He was so intent to listen, and at the end he knew he needed to be saved. He said that now he's going to heaven! Praise the Lord!

Our home for the week...Jackson, TN

We had a wonderful week at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Jackson, TN. We stayed there from Saturday-Friday. It was so nice to be in one place for a bit. When we arrived on Saturday the pastor and his family (The Wade Cash family) took us to The Old Country Store Buffet for lunch. I think this was one of the best buffets we'd ever been to. They had fresh fried cracklin' cornbread. WOW!! It was amazing! Services were great Sunday am and pm. Patrick was able to preach for both services. Everyone was so friendly. We praise the Lord for the lady that came forward Sunday morning to accept the Lord as her Savior. Sunday night Patrick preached a message from II Kings on "Don't quit". It's a great message that talks about keep serving the Lord, don't give up. Wednesday night a lady came up to Patrick and said it's just what she needed to hear. She had planned on leaving her husband, but after hearing the message from God's Word, she decided to not quit. Praise the Lord!
They had breakfast in between the morning services and we fell in love with the brownies that the Pastor's mother had made. That night she brought us a whole pan of them! MMMM!!
We had such a good time with the Cash Family. They are truly a close family that loves being together. Whenever the Pastor and his wife took us somewhere, the kids would show up there, too. They love fellowship and love being together and working in the ministry together. They were such a good example to us! The last night we were there they had a bonfire at their house and we roasted hot dogs and made smores. What a great week!