Winter Greetings!

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