Many Musings of a Minister

December Greetings

2009-12-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

Greetings, friends

The time is quickly approaching for another long winter, but it’s not here yet. As I write this blog, it is 60 degrees outside! It took awhile for summer to get here, and it looks like it is taking awhile for winter to get here as well.

Not much has happened since the November blog. That’s sort of the nature of life around the holiday seasons. We enjoyed a good Thanksgiving with our daughter. She brought up a friend from Harding who had never been to New England before, so that was fun. We are anticipating a trip down to Oklahoma in a couple of weeks. We will be going to our son, Michael’s graduation from Oklahoma Christian University. Following that we will be spending time with Linda’s folks in Arkansas and my folks in southern Oklahoma over the Christmas season. So we are spending a lot of time in the meantime making arrangements for our dogs, getting gifts for the family, and battening down the hatches for winter.

My Christmas Choral Concert is this weekend. It is nice to get to know the people in the community, and to see them around town from time to time. One never can tell the evangelistic impact of such community involvement, but I feel it is important, if for nothing else, to promote a positive picture of the church in the community.

The church will be hosting our second community meal this coming Wednesday. At our last meal many of our guests said they would come back and bring friends with them, so we are hoping to have even more folks show up this month. Of course, this time of year you never can tell how weather is going to impact anything you have going on.

We are getting more excited about the upcoming youth rally. Craig Hicks from Tulsa will be our speaker and Andrew Moore from OVU will be leading the weekend’s worship time. This youth rally is so important for the church, not just because it is a place where lots of kids are encouraged in their Christian walk, which strengthens the churches in New England, but also because of the camaraderie that grows among the members of the congregation during this time. It is certainly a unifying time for the brethren here.

Well, I am going to let you go for now. May your Christmas holiday be filled with joy, family, and friends. Thanks again for all you have done in the past to contribute to our work here in Conway. We solicit your continued support, whether through financial means or through prayer. Despite the difficult financial situations many people are facing, may God bless you with provision for all of your needs through the coming year.

Blessings,

Leland

2009 Late Summer and Fall pics from Conway

2009-11-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

Some of the church gang preparing for our first Community Meal

Sarah was the fishing queen! We cooked them up and ate them the next day.

Linda singing to God's creation

This was one neat sight from the top of Mount Washington

The Labor Day Fellowship at Gander Brook. We had a relaxing time with friends form all over New England.

Out for a drive one day during the foliage season.

Mount Washington, on a day that we were NOT on the top of it.

November Blog

2009-11-11T12:11:00.001-08:00

Greetings from Conway

Well, summer has come and gone. Even though it started out wet and drab, we finally got some nice weather at the end of the season. It is amazing to me how time can fly by so quickly. The church has had a good summer. We had many visitors worshipping with us throughout the tourist season, and it was good to have met and worshipped with so many people from across the country who come to Conway to vacation. Linda and I have had a very busy summer as well, mostly entertaining a variety of friends and family. Hardly a week went by that we didn’t have someone in our home for a visit. Throw in a couple of weddings, a funeral, time spent at Gander Brook for retreats, and that makes for a really busy time in our household.

My in-laws, Russ and Jean McConnell came for over a month. Russ was traveling around to various congregations in New England encouraging the brethren who worship in these small churches. While they were visiting, we received a call from our daughter about a student from Harding needing respite for a semester, whose home situation was not conducive for her spiritual healing, so we have taken on a border until after the New Year. It has been joyful to see her gradually developing spiritual health and emotional strength and we are looking forward to her returning next year better equipped to deal with college life.

We are looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday as our daughter and one of her friends are coming in for the week. It won’t be long until we will head down to Oklahoma for our son’s graduation from Oklahoma Christian, and to spend the Christmas holidays with our families down in the south.

We continue to enjoy our work here in Conway. We have had several visitors from the community worship with us throughout the summer. Some have come to several services, and there is hope that we will be able to study with them in the future. One activity which we have recently begun is a monthly meal on Wednesday evenings. We began this activity not just to provide meals for families needing help with food costs, but even more so to get to know the community better, and to get them more familiar with the church here. We hope through this effort to find needs and offer assistance to those needing it. We had our first meal last month. We had over 22 people from the community come for the meal, and a couple stayed for the Bible discussion that followed, so the members here were thrilled.

We have begun making plans for our upcoming Annual Youth Rally, to be held in late February. The theme for next year’s event is “CSI” (Crucifixion Scene Investigation.) We will be looking at how the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus gives young people stable ground upon which to base their decision to become Christians.

As far as our financial situation, we are in the process of trying to secure help for our work here. We have sent information out to many churches about our needs, but have not received substantial help as of yet for 2010. We continue to trust that God will provide our needs in some way. If the future holds to be similar to the past in God’s dealing with our life, we will likely be receiving help from the most unexpected sources. Until we do receive more outside help, Linda and I are both working part time in different areas, trying to make ends meet.

Thank you all again for your support of our work here in Conway. We hope you will continue to support the ministry here next year. I am beginning to realize the process of growth here will not come as quickly as I would like. But the church is doing well in creating a foundation of friendship and love that will gradually make inroads into the community. Continue to pray for us as we keep planting these seeds, trusting that God will provide the growth in due time. God bless you all and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

Brotherly yours…
Leland

Early Summer Pics

2009-07-09T18:15:00.001-07:00

I had to turn around and get a picture of this to show you what our idea of an international airport looks like. We took a trip to the tip top of New Hampshire, to moose country, and passed this along the way.

The bride, Brynn, was 4 years old when we were living in Southbridge, where her family worshipped.

Graduation party for two of our seniors.

Nice to have Sarah home for the summer. The dogs think so too!

The church doing one of the things they do best...eat! Tonight it's waffles at our house. Yum...

See what wandered up on our deck at 4:30 one morning. After our bird-feeder!

We get all kinds of wildlife around here.
Sssssay, ssssonny!

Final preps on a Sunday morning out on the deck.

Howard and Jane Norton, at Gander Brook Work and Worship Week

Our humble abode

We occasionally needed a reminder from God, with all the rain we had recently.

Fellowship meal on Wednesday evening prior to our Bible Classes.

Hey...watcha me makes a fancy pepparrrroni pizza!

Greg owns a convenience store. Sarah, Linda and I all work there occasionally.

Sarah's dorm mom, Donna, came for a visit.

Sarah's friend, Donna and us at Quincy Market. She flew into Logan so we couldn't just drive home without taking a detour for lunch...

"Summertime, and the living is easy..."

2009-07-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

A lot has happened since the last blog. It’s been a pretty busy spring here in the Mount Washington Valley. The weather has been annoyingly rainy and un-summerlike. We are getting sun today as I write this blog, and it really gets people into a better frame of mind.

The month of May was filled with lots of congregational activity. We began the month talking together as a church about ways we could influence people in the town and reach out to our neighbors. After a couple of more meetings, we have settled on a course of action which involves having a meal (weekly or bi-weekly we are still debating) on Wednesday evenings starting in August or September where we could invite our neighbors to come eat with us, free of charge. After the meal we would go right into a topical discussion of some relevant issue relating to our spiritual lives. We could also use this as a way to get to know various needs which we might be able to meet. Everyone seems to be excited about the potential of this activity. We are starting even now eating together on Wednesday evenings prior to our Bible classes, just to get us in a frame of mind for when we officially begin this ministry later this fall.

We had a work day back in May but were limited in what we could do outside because of the constant wet weather. But we did get a lot of ancient clutter from the last 20 years out of the building. We still have a few projects we need to finish up whenever we can get a spell of dry weather. I know it must be hard for you all down south to hear this as you are cooking in the heat.

This Sunday I will be concluding a nine week “Family Life Series” in which I dealt with many issues related to husbands and wives, parents and children, and teenagers. It was received well, and we have made CD’s available to all which have been disappearing quickly, so I know people have been getting the Word out to their friends. On Wednesday evenings we continue to discuss various questions being asked by the congregation. We are currently studying the nature of our spiritual battle and how we can effectively fight to keep from losing any of the freedom we have been given in Christ.

As far as personal activity, I have been pretty busy as well. In mid-May the community chorus of which I am a part had their Spring Concert. It is good to get to know people from town. I see them every once in awhile in Wal-Mart or the grocery store, and it gives an opportunity to stop and visit so I feel like more a part of the community activities. Everyone there knows I am a minister for the church here, so it offers opportunities at times to mention church related activity.

I also began working part-time a couple of days a week at the store owned by one of our members. Not only does this help out financially as the church here is still only able to provide us $1,850 a month, but just as importantly, it is another way to have an in with the community and get to know more people around the area.

This time of year, of course is the time for graduations and weddings, of which we have had several. We spent one weekend down in Massachusetts where I performed a ceremony for the daughter of a family who was in the very first church we helped begin in Southbridge, MA. We also went over to Vermont one weekend to attend the wedding of another friend from our son, Michael’s graduating class. And we had a couple of High School graduations, complete with after graduation family parties. We took a bit of time one Sunday to honor our grads and give them a gift Bible from the congregation.

Now that it is summertime, the church camp (Gander Brook) is in full swing. I spent some time up there last week at Work and Worship Week, where Howard Norton (of Harding, and formerly at OCU) was the evening speaker. We got quite a bit of work done in spite of the constant rain. It is nice to live fairly close to the camp.

We are getting into a really busy time of our summer. We have several out-of-town visitors coming our way. Sarah just had a friend from Harding come for a few days last week. One of Linda’s best friends from Abilene is coming next week. Then our son comes in for a couple of weeks, joined later by his wife. Then our eleven year old former neighbor from Vermont who loves us to pieces will make her annual trip to see us for a week or so. Lots of driving to airports, lots of food, lots of activity. And as soon as we blink, summer will be over!

Which means it is time for me to begin that annual process of securing support for next year. I want to thank all of you who have been supporting us over the last two years. Don’t be surprised to find a “thank you” note in the mail shortly. Blog pages are great, but not for the purpose of correspondence related to finances. For those of you who would like to continue helping the church here, we certainly would appreciate it. I am resolved to the truth that growth here might not be as quick as I would have liked when I first moved. We were blessed this year to have received a few sizable contributions which I have been able to scatter throughout the year to supplement our income. And I know our God will once again provide for our needs for the coming year as well. I am encouraged that it seems like the people in the church here are beginning to get more excited about moving forward and getting active in talking more with their friends in town. People didn’t do that for awhile after the problems the church faced before we came. So prayerfully we will see more growth in the future than we have up to now. I know the church will be glad when they will once again reach self-supporting status.

By the way, the church is now on Facebook. If any of you on Facebook want to be friends, look us up. Also, one of our members has just finished a course on Web Site construction so we have high hopes of having a functional site which we hope to use as a tool for getting the word out to the people in our area.

Have a great summer. Keep praying! And please consider us for mission support for next year. We love you all and appreciate what you and your support and prayers have been able to accomplish in this neck of God’s Kingdom.

Brotherly,
Leland

Spring is in the air...

2009-05-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends.

As always I want you to know up front how much Linda and I appreciate your help in the work here in Conway. I hope you are having a blessed spring. The leaves are finally coming out on the trees here. Along with them comes the black flies and mosquitoes. Oh well, you take the good with the bad. It is really enjoyable living up in New England, as we don’t get the heat some of you down south are already having.

The church has had a fairly quiet April. As far as activities we didn’t do a lot this month. I think people are talking a break from the frantic activity of the last two months with the Youth Rally and Ladies’ Weekend. We’ll be gearing up for more activity here shortly, though. We plan on having a spring cleanup day sometime soon to help spruce up the place. We had a good discussion recently with the church about our direction for future activities and ways we can be more visible and influential in the community. There were a lot of good ideas, some related to serving people by feeding them or helping them with service projects around their homes. Other people mentioned having a Bible Fair for children. One of our members is taking a class on web-site building so hopefully he can be a help in getting our web page updated and functional. I would really like to use that as a tool for the community. Right now we don’t really have a web page to speak of. Also we hope to get some more coverage in our local daily paper.

I’ll be interested in developing these ideas to see which ones the congregation really wants to get behind. I believe that in their hearts, all of our members want to grow, and don’t seek to remain at the level we are right now. I also know they are enjoying this season of peace and joy after the turmoil prior to our coming. I know that sometimes having a small, cozy friendly group is nice since it grows closeness and with less people seem to come less problems. But less people also means a smaller Kingdom of God, and we don’t want that! The Lord will help us with the problems!

I had a “first” last week. One of our members is employed at a popular local pet store that just relocated to another site. At their grand opening (with dozens of pet owners with their dogs present) the owners asked me to start off the grand opening celebration with a prayer of blessing for the new store. It went well, and everyone seemed to enjoy the prayer. It was just another way God has opened a door to be more visible in the community, and to get the name of the Lord’s Church in front of people. Someone told me last night at services that there was a write-up in the paper about the event, mentioning the blessing. (I’ll have to go check that out!)

We are hoping to get some community involvement as well with a “Family Life Series” I have just begun. From now until July 12, my Sunday morning sermons will be on family life (marriage, husbands, wives, roles, parenting, children, etc.) On Sunday evenings we will use our time together to have discussion and answer questions people may have about the morning topic. We put an ad in the paper and in light of the recent focus in the news on the definition of marriage, perhaps a few people might come in to see what God has to say about it all. While the courts may bend their decisions to the will of the people, I want to bend my will to the decisions of God. He knows best. Anyway, that’s it for now. I didn’t take a lot of pictures this month, but I did put a few in of the pet store Grand Opening. Hope you enjoy. Have a great May and I’ll be in touch again next month.

Blessings,
Leland

Going to the dogs...

2009-05-07T09:10:00.001-07:00

Can I have one, huh, please can I.

Just one, please, can I?

I just hope people had their eyes closed during the prayer, or they'd see that ever increasing bald spot.

Brian and Kathy, the owners, invited me to come offer a blessing for the business.

Trish, one of our members, is an employee here. She is standing at the far left talking to the guy in the purple shirt.

Linda with a fluffy friend

March and April happenings

2009-04-09T07:46:00.001-07:00

Greeting, friends,

Spring has sprung! At least the snow is melting. I put the snowblower away for the spring. I saw the first few crocuses last week, so warmer weather is on the way. Things are continuing to go well here in Conway. I say “well” in that we have not had any serious setbacks or concerns in the congregation’s life this month. In fact, we have just come off of an exciting weekend as we hosted a Women’s Weekend Rally here at the building. Becky Blackmon came and did the speaking for the ladies. She is the daughter of Russ and Lea Fowler, who established the work here in Conway in the late 70’s. Maybe we were a bit crazy for hosting such a weekend so close to our youth rally last month, but it all went well. The men did a lot of the cooking and behind the scenes helping. We ended up with over seventy ladies coming for the event. Becky did a wonderful job and many women mentioned how they really needed the weekend. In fact, we had several ladies in attendance who were part of the group that left the church a couple of years ago. One can hope and pray that through things like this the door may be opened for some eventual restorations of fellowship. We’ll see. Someone mentioned that the weekend was a good testimony to the New England area that the Conway church is alive and well. We may be alive and well, but we are also wiped out and tired, but it is a good kind of tired.

As always, I want to make note of my appreciation to all of you for your love and concern for the work here in Conway. I am thankful for your support, both financial and spiritual, and long for the day when the church here will grow to be self supporting again. I fear because of the economy that this might be later than sooner. What the church needs are more members, not just for the financial aspect, but for the sake of souls in our community.

I am always trying to figure out ways to get the word out about the church here. Having the youth rally and the ladies’ weekend is great, but primarily focuses on the Christians of New England. I know God has many people in this town who need to hear the Gospel. While people don’t respond well anymore to door-to-door calling, I believe there are opportunities available through tools such as web sites, e-mail and blog pages. I am trying to secure some funds toward developing a working web site that I can manage and update myself.

A few months ago I mentioned in my blog of a family in Arkansas who had made a decision to give $300 a month as long as they were able. Sadly, the wife developed cancer shortly after their decision and she passed away a couple of weeks ago. I would appreciate your prayers on her families’ behalf, particularly for her husband, Jay. It was interesting that shortly before we heard news of her passing, we received an unexpected donation from another family. God seems to work that way in our lives right now. He is faithful to provide for our needs when he knows we need it.

As far as other activities of the month, I was able to get away to Manchester, Connecticut for a church growth conference. It was nice to be with many ministers from the New England area, some whom I hadn’t seen for quite awhile. Linda spent much of the month in Arkansas with her family, helping them after her dad’s knee replacement. She’s back now, doing great. We both continue to do various things in the community, such as my singing in the community chorus and Linda’s part time work in one of our member’s convenience stores. We are again having Friday evening visits with some of the young couples in the church, trying to strengthen their faith and understanding of the church and its work. We have been enjoying some good discussions on Wednesday evenings. We have opened it up to simply answering questions the congregation has about different religious topics. So far we have talked about Eldership and church leadership, how to reach out to a postmodern culture, the resurrection, and the restoration attitude.

Well, I’m going to finish up for now. I hope you enjoy the pictures from the month. Have a great spring, and we’ll be in touch again soon!

Brotherly,

Leland and Linda

Pictures of the "Ladies' Weekend Rally"

2009-04-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

Becky with some of her friends who have been part of the Conway and Concord churches.

Becky teaching in front of the fireplace downstairs. She liked the cozy atmosphere so much she moved the ladies downstairs for the Saturday night lesson.

Our houseguest locked herself out of her bedroom so I had to break into my own house. The curious beagle is coming to offer her assistance.

Linda and me with the Scarletts and their friends from the Concord church (the O'Neills) who stayed for worship Sunday morning after the Rally.

"Ladies' Rally Weekend" With Becky Blackmon. Here is Becky with some of the ladies the first night of the program.

Friday evening was "soup night." This is my version of how to sample soups!

What a motley kitchen crew. (ha) The men really did a good job stepping up and helping with this weekend. They made it such that all of our ladies could participate in the program.

Here is Becky with Decker and Anne Clark of the Leominster, Massachusetts congregation. Decker has been a strong advocate for church growth in New England for a lot of years. he was the one responsible for getting me up here in 1986, when we helped begin the work in Southbridge, Mass.

Every Wednesday night during the winter months we put a fire in the fireplace in the fellowship room and have our Bible classes. The ladies sure enjoyed having the fire going during Ladies' Rally Weekend.

February Pictures

2009-03-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Snowblowing the back yard for the dogs

(This was after the husky escaped!)

Linda posing while we were snow-shoeing out at Echo Lake State Park

This is MY version of walking on water!

Props for the youth rally. Tarshis pointed to the stage, where we had it set up like a boat. Nineveh pointed to the back of the auditorium, where we had Jonah's booth set up.

Jonah's booth. Notice the worm up on the plant, and Jonah, sitting under the booth.

A shot of the youth rally, Billy giving his first talk.

The guys outside cooking hamburgers for Saturday lunch...in 25 degree weather!

A shot of the whole group

One of the Saturday afternoon activities was snow-tubing. It was great fun!

Catch this action!

Winter Greetings!

2009-03-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

Greetings, friends

Welcome again to the blog page. We didn’t have quite as much going on last January, seeing as how we are in the dead of winter and it seemed that every snowfall that hit either came on a Sunday or Wednesday. I can see why some folks move to Florida, but I still enjoy playing in the snow and trying to keep up with the snowblowing and shoveling. The other day I let the dogs out in the back yard not realizing the snow coming off the roof had nearly covered the fence. The Husky thought it was great…she just walked right out of the yard and was bouncing around out in the woods.

Anyway, the last two months really have been busy, as we were making final preparations for the annual Youth Rally that happened just last weekend. What a success! Last year (2008) we had 70 kids. This year we had 120! Everybody seemed to really enjoy it. The theme for the rally was “Jonah and the Worm,” which dealt with a lot of the more mature issues found in the book of Jonah, especially in the last chapter. Billy McGuiggan from the Natick church was the speaker and did a great job bringing the message home to these kids. We had a young man from Harding come lead the worship and singing. It was really fun working with the congregation preparing skits, decorating, planning, etc. We got the basement in the house fixed up enough to where the boys could come over and play four-square, pool, etc. (I’m still looking for a foosball table!) This youth rally is always a huge solidifying influence for the church here. Last year the church was still reeling from the struggles they had just a few months prior from the split they had, and going through the preacher search. This year we were able to hit the ground running on all cylinders and we had everyone on the same page. If you happen to have an account on Facebook, you can check out the pictures we took of the event. (I went snow-tubing for the first time. That was a hoot!)

Thanks to a couple of good sized donations, our personal financial picture is a little better than it was last year. We are still having to watch our budget, but at least we are able to keep up with things without getting into debt. I feel blessed about that, especially in light of the financial situation facing the country right now. Of course I wish that growth in the church would come faster. We continue to see visits from people in the community checking us out. People are still searching for answers to the spiritual questions they have. It’s just hard to get people to commit to making the decision to follow.

Linda continues to work part time at the convenience store owned by one of our members. With her gift of talking with people she really does well working there. I am still singing with the community chorus. I was asked recently to sing at the funeral for the mother of one of our chorus members. I really do see that small things like this are helping to get the news out about the church. If nothing else it is helping give the church a good name.

Linda is currently in Arkansas visiting her family. Her dad just had a knee replacement so she is down there doing what she can to help out while he recovers. Our son Michael is going to take a day and drive over from OKC to visit while she is down there. So I and the dogs are batching it for a couple of weeks.

I’m looking forward to the spring. I know where some of you live the flowers are blooming and the trees are budding. Enjoy it. We won’t see that for another couple of months. May God bless you for the support you have given and the prayers you offer for the work here in Conway. I hope you have a wonderful month. (p.s. enjoy the pictures)

Brotherly,
Leland

December Pictures

2009-01-05T09:21:00.001-08:00

Who needs a snow gauge. We can tell how much snow we get just looking at the feeder. This was part of the 14 inch storm we got!

Sarah and me cutting down the Christmas tree. We had to go with a shorter one this year, since our ceilings are lower than in the house in Springfield.

Linda, with her Christmas goodies... 13 books to read!

We did three concerts. The first two were with the full choir with our bowties. This third one was a shortened version with half of the chorus, singing at one of the local inns for the "Wounded Warriors" families being supported by the town.

Me and Leo, one of the church members, the night of the Christmas Choral Concert.

Christmas fun for the beagle.

Mister emcee, explaining the rules for the Yankee Swap.

I won a dusty, used, but working Dewalt orbital sander.

Whooppeeee!!!

Here are some of the folks who came out for the Holiday Banquet and Yankee Swap. We have a good group of people here in Conway!

December Happenings

2009-01-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings and blessings for the new year.

What a year it has been. Although it seems as if the year has gone by quickly, it amazes me now much has taken place. It is especially amazing when I consider where we were a year ago. The two big events of course were the move to Conway and our son’s marriage last summer. What an emotional year.

The church here has grown in so many ways through the year. I was talking to them recently in one of our classes about how this year has been a year of healing, but we need to make moves to start working again for the Lord and no longer live in the past. I reminded them of the passage from Isaiah 43:18-19, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” What a good attitude for any of us to take into the new year. Everyone here is praying for open doors to talk to their friends and neighbors about the church. We are beginning to see more and more visitors from the community come in for worship. Growth is slow, but I believe we are moving in the right direction.

Although the church still cannot support us fully, because of people like you, God has provided for our needs throughout the year. I appreciate so much your commitment to help us last year. I had hoped to secure more stable finances from various churches for this coming year, but not very much has developed. I have received a few one time contributions which I will divide among the months, and have a couple of other new monthly supporters which helps us another $350 a month. Perhaps the economic situation of the country is limiting churches from committing to the work here, I don’t know. I trust that God again will see us through this coming year. I will be sending you supporters a more detailed breakdown of last year and this year’s support through the mail very soon.

This month saw its usual amount of people being away for holidays, combined with visitors coming for the holidays and for skiing vacations. Linda and I organized a holiday supper with a Yankee Swap, which was very much enjoyed and appreciated by those who attended. I think we had about 25 who came. Linda continues to work with the Monday evening food pantry serving meals to needy folks in town. She also is now working part time with one of our members who recently opened up a convenience store. She hopes to use this once again to meet people in the town. I had my singing concert which went really well. Many people who we have met in town were in the crowd. If it accomplishes nothing else, this community exposure is putting a more positive image in the town of the church than existed a couple of years ago.

My activities were curtailed very briefly by a fall I took off of a ladder one Sunday afternoon as I was working on an addition to the church building for our oil tanks. The fall was small, but it gashed a 10 stitch rip in my leg. Great fun! It is healing up good. It has been nice to have Sarah with us for the Christmas break. It seems odd not to have Michael with us. Now we know what other families go through as we experience the feelings of not having the whole family with us for every holiday. It won’t be long before we put away the decorations and get Sarah back off to school. It will be good in some ways to get back to a routine. We will be beginning our Friday evening Bible Studies again now that the holidays are over. We are praying that some of our non-Christians who have been worshipping with us throughout this year will make that commitment to obedience. Please pray for God to turn hearts toward him.

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for the positive comments about the blog page. I hope you enjoy the updates, and we’ll continue to send them your way even if you aren’t able to continue your support into next year. God bless…

Leland

November Pictures

2008-12-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

Linda digging into Thanksgiving stuffing

Lots of early snow...

No, this turkey isn't for you...

Leland getting in on the Thanksgiving cooking fun

Sarah and friends

November Notes

2008-12-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

Greeting, friends,

Things are going well here in Conway. Again, I want to start off by thanking you for your support of the work, both financially and through your prayers. We were blessed to receive some more support for next year from a family in Arkansas who recently read an article in the Christian Chronicle about the condition of churches in the Northeast. Every little bit helps. While we haven’t received as much as I was hoping for the upcoming year, I trust that God will provide for our needs as he has over this last year.

The church here is continuing to grow in spirit and strength, although our numbers haven’t really gone up yet. I am seeing more people getting excited about their place in the Kingdom of God. In fact, one of our ladies who had been sort of spiritually drifting last year mentioned that she had been gradually finding her bearings and stability since we came to work with the congregation. I believe with such increased spiritual strength, people will be more ready and willing to share their faith and the goodness of Jesus’ love with other people. It’s hard to share Jesus with someone when you aren’t secure in your own relationship with him. We are continuing to prepare for the Youth Rally in late February, and the Ladies' Seminar next spring. These will give the church a common goal to aim toward.

As far as other church related work, we are taking a month long break from our Friday night studies with several young couples because of many activities related to the holiday season. Linda is now volunteering not only at the Monday evening food pantry, but also with the “Angels and Elves” program, which gets local sponsors to provide Christmas gifts to children of needy families in the area. Linda is also going to start working a few hours a week at one of our member’s stores in an effort to get to know people. I am blessed to have such a wife who loves to get to know people and sees the importance of serving. As for myself, I (as well as several of our church members) am continuing to sing with the community chorus. We are looking forward to our upcoming concert next weekend. I am almost finished with my sermon series on the letter of Galatians, and it is helping many people to understand what freedom in Christ looks like, and how God’s power within us helps us to truly live the kind of lives we should. We are continuing our Wednesday evening question/answer period, with our focus currently being on leadership in the church and in the home.

We were blessed to have our daughter Sarah home for the Thanksgiving holiday. She and one of her friends came for the week. The first day there we got nine inches of snow, so the girls went out and played in the snow until it turned to rain. We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving holiday here at the house with the girls. The next day we woke up to three more inches of snow, and we went out and got our Christmas tree. We had to shake the snow off of the trees to see what they looked like! We certainly live in a beautiful country, although you have to get used to having seven months of winter weather. My snowblower is ready to go to work!

Well, it’s time to wrap it up. I pray that your holiday season will be filled with good health, warm surroundings and lots of family or friends. I hope you enjoy the pictures, although after the leaves fall it gets pretty drab around here. God bless you all and we’ll be in tough next month.

Brotherly,

Leland and Linda

September and October Pictures

2008-11-03T07:54:00.001-08:00

Echo Lake State Park

A view from Cathedral Rock, overlooking the valley.

Echo Lake State PArk

Some of the guys camping at

Brian's Retreat Cabin.

(left to right, me, David, Brian, Chris and Jeff)

This guy is ready for winter...

September and October Thoughts

2008-11-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

Greetings to our supporters.

This blog update will cover both September and October. The month of September was really chopped up. Linda and I had to take an unexpected visit out of town for two weeks to deal with a personal family situation. My in-laws came for a visit for the rest of the month into October. It was good for Russ and Jean (Linda’s parents) to be up, since they are originally from New England. We were able to share with them good New England experiences like going to the Fryeburg Fair, apple picking, going to the ocean, eating seafood, and looking at the fall colors. I believe this year has been the best autumn I have ever seen living here in New England for the foliage. I have put a few of my favorites on the blog for you to see.

The summer has gone by so quickly. We wake up now with frost on the car windows every morning. The leaves are just about gone. The tourists have returned to Tennessee and Texas. Mount Washington has a beautiful cover of snow. It won’t be long till the snow will make it down into the valley. I still need to get my snowblower tuned up, since they are talking as if we will have another big snow year. While the air gets chillier, I am looking forward to the holiday season. Even though the stores jump right over Thanksgiving and start putting their Christmas displays up in September, I personally like Thanksgiving. It will be nice, especially since we will have our daughter back from college for the week.

As things wind down and settle back to normal here in the valley, the church continues to grow spiritually, and we are seeing increased commitment and dedication to the work. One of our members recently had a weekend retreat for the men. Several of us went to his hunting cabin in the woods and enjoyed some good bonding and fellowship. The congregation is gearing up for our annual youth rally at the end of February. The ladies are now meeting on Tuesday mornings for a Bible Study. We are having our weekly Wednesday Bible study downstairs in the fellowship room, pulling up chairs around the fireplace. Our Wednesday class will focus on answering various questions the congregation has about the Bible, spiritual life, etc. We are first tackling the topic of eldership qualities and leadership of men and women in the church. On Sunday mornings we are going through a sermon series on the book of Galatians. I am excited about the joyful freedom that Galatians exalts, and believe this is one lesson the people in Conway really need to embrace.

As far as other weekly activities, Linda and I continue to have a few of our younger families over to our house every Friday night to eat and talk informally about spiritual things. Some of the ones who we have invited are not yet Christians, so we are encouraged that they come with their Christian spouses to talk about the Bible. I am also really enjoying my participation in the Community Choral Group. It is a good way for me to get into the community and meet people. Linda is also volunteering at a food pantry on Monday evenings, feeding many folks who don’t have much in their cupboards.

This month I have been trying to get the word out to many congregations of the continuing financial needs of my family as we seek support until the congregation here is self supporting again. Perhaps you have received one of those letters. I want to once again thank each of you who have participated financially in our work here. Some of you I know have made a one year commitment. Others of you might be willing to continue with support on into the next year. We are grateful for whatever you have done and for whatever you will continue to do, especially if it is faithful prayer support. I hope you will continue to check in on the blog page, even though you might not be able to continue your financial support.

I hope you have a wonderful fall season. Enjoy the turkey and I hope you are surrounded by family and friends for your Thanksgiving holiday.

God bless…
Leland and Linda

Seasons Starting to Change!

2008-09-04T13:09:00.001-07:00

Hello, and a wonderful September to you all. I hope your summer has gone well. It only seems like a few weeks ago we were rejoicing that the snow had finally melted here in Conway. Yet as I look out at the maple trees I see the leaves already turning red. Another few weeks and we could be getting into freezing weather. Oh well, such is life here in New Hampshire.

We had a good month here in Conway. The biggest news is that we had our first two baptisms since our move here. It was very exciting for all of us and a great source of encouragement for the church. Chris and Trish are two wonderful young people with a lot of potential. They are thinkers, and enjoy coming to the Bible studies and learning all they can about God’s Word. We went over to a small river for the baptism. When we first talked about baptism, Chris asked if we had to use the baptistery. I said “no” and that we could do it anywhere, lake, river, pool. He got excited and said, “That’s the way it ought to be, out in God’s nature!” We got a kick out of that. I bet he wouldn’t have said it if they made the decision in November, when the ponds are starting to freeze over!

Our kids are doing well. Michael and Erin love their newlywed life together, and just started their classes last week. They both also continue to work at Starbucks. They plan to travel to Russia again in December if the door of opportunity remains there. Sarah flew back to Harding a couple of weeks ago, and is beginning her second year there. She had a good summer, although it was a little different for her to come home to a place other than Vermont.

As I write this we are preparing to get in the car and pick up Linda’s folks, Russ and Jean, from the airport. They will be with us for all of September. It will be nice to have a long relaxing visit with them. I am blessed to have such enjoyable in-laws! Since they spent so much of their lives here in New England, they are really excited to get back up here, especially in time to see some of the trees changing color. Russ will be doing a mini seminar about Elders, focusing on the responsibility of shepherds to the flock and the flock to the shepherds. The church has been here many years without elders, and we want to keep that important necessity in front of the brethren, in hopes that one day soon we can be blessed with spiritual oversight.

Linda and I continue to try to figure out ways to reach into the community here. We are going to check out the community chorus this coming Monday night; this group puts on a concert a couple of times a year. We have two other people in our congregation who have been involved with this group, so it might be nice to be singing beside people we know. Linda is attempting to get involved in the schools through subbing and tutoring. She has been going through the various loopholes of filling out applications, doing interviews, getting fingerprinted, having background checks, etc.

As far as upcoming adventures, we plan on attending both the Ladies’ and Men’s Retreats at Gander Brook camp. We are trying to encourage as many of our Conway members to attend, in order to show the churches of New England that we are alive and doing well. The ladies are about finished up on their project of making tote-bags. They will be selling them to make money for the camp.

Well, that’s about it for now. Thank again for the blessing you have been to Linda and me this past year. Keep praying for us that God can use us both for His glory in this area, and that we would be blessed with financial help for the coming year. God bless you all…

Leland and Linda