Matthew 19:14 “Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." At one of our church services this month during worship Elba sensed that we should let the children remain in the service. Normally, after we end the worship portion of service, the children go to their respective classrooms and are taught the bible. The service was a little noisier and personally, I was wondering if Elba had heard correctly from the Lord. At the end of the service, we asked if any wanted to receive Jesus into their lives. We had an older couple come up to receive the Lord. Then the next thing you know we had a whole swarm of children come up to the front. This is usually not our practice to invite children without their parents, but these children wanted to receive Jesus and they came up with fervor.
One of the mothers told us the other day that before coming to church that night her child was so disobedient, disrespectful, and simply just a troublemaker. She was at her wits end with him and did not know what to do. She felt hopeless and did not feel like she was a good mother. However, that night, her son was a one of the children that came up to receive Christ and he has not been the same. He is now one of the nicest, respectful and obedient children. She is amazed, and is praising God for touching the life of her child, as well as hers. God is good!
On the flood front. We have received an unprecedented amount of rain this year. It has caused a lot of problems not only for the people in the city, but also those along the river systems in the area. Most of the houses along the river have water to their window sills. However, the people do not want to move because they either have nowhere to go or they fear that their possessions will be swept away with the water. So they have placed wood above the water and are essentially living in the part of their house that is the window sill to the ceiling. Some are staying in their small boats. It is sad to see because you know that they are suffering. We were out on the river with a short term mission team from Columbus and we were able to ease the burden a bit by handing out food to many along the river we traveled.
Last month, I reported that Sydney went into rehab and was on his way to recovery. Unfortunately, we have just learned that he left the rehab center. We have not heard from him. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.
On a personal note, Alyssa is going for the world record of watching Nemo. She is in love with Nemo and has nearly watched it every day for the last three months. Nemo is her favorite word. One of our friends found this fish in the river and put it in a two liter bottle, she loved it. She kept hugging the fish. Camilly is doing well and she loves going to school and playing every day
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Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
Love and blessings, Steve, Elba, Camilly and Alyssa
