Seasons Starting to Change!

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