December Pictures

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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