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Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. - Proverbs 3:5

Church planting in a rural conext is such a weird thing.  There is no manual that tells you what you should do or how it should look.  God has always called us to ministry by doing life together.  What I mean by that is that we build relationships and friendships with people and that allows us to minister and love them where they are, sharing our faith and reasons for doing so along the way.  We are currently pouring into the people God has brought into our lives, not to manipulate them into accepting Christ, but because we see them as God does, as people who He loves that need to hear about Him, and need someone to care about them.  

Summer makes ministry hard here on our island.  Those who live here are putting everything they have into the tourist industry.  Some working many jobs to make ends meet and save as much as possible to make it through the winter months, when many businesses shutter their doors, and tips go way down.  It's hard to tell who is a tourist and who is a local to those of us who have not been here very long.  God has called us to minister to both, but we truly feel that He has called us to mainly pour into the locals living in the Avon area, and that will overflow to those visiting this amazing sand bar.  During this phase, I have to remember the many times during the beginning of our ministry in Jordan when few would show up for services, but God was still faithful.

We are continuing to have our weekly Bible Studies, and the three families that have been coming pretty regularly are enjoying those.  We have been posting on youtube as well, so feel free to listen online if you want to know what we're teaching.  KJ is hoping to transition after Ephesians into a study that will dive into the core values of One Church and have discussion about what God is calling us to do as we move forward towards launching worship services.  We are hoping to be able to launch services in the fall when things slow down for the locals. 

Please continue to pray for an indoor location.  Also that if God provides something that needs monthly rent, we are already praying that God will be preparing those partners that will help us to cover that as well.  An indoor location would hopefully allow us to start a small children's ministry as well as be more comfortable (no bugs, rain, or hot weather!).  It would also allow for more freedom in our music as we have been using songbooks and are limited in what songs we can sing.

Please pray for patience (espeically for me - Sharon!). God's timing is perfect.  We know logically that we cannot expect people to come running to join us.  They don't know us, and the people we are wanting to share the Gospel with may not even have any desire to come to church or even understand what the church is or is supposed to be.  But when you're all in and your life has been so radically changed, you want everyone to show up and be as excited as you are, and it just doesn't work that way all the time.  (Please see this as open transparency, and not discouragement.  I trust God, and am confident in our call to be here!)

Please pray for our kiddos.  Some of our children have been in churches with good kids ministries, and currently we do not have anything for the children due to location.  Once we have the space,  Sharon is hoping to start Gospel project with them.  I know that change can be hard on the children, and their parents, so pray that they understand why the changes happened, and that God will protect and grow them.

Continue to pray for salvations.  Jesus changes lives, and we want the people here to know that.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support.  Without you, we wouldn't be able to fulfill the calling that God has on our lives.  Rural ministry takes time, and we appreciate your understanding, and support of that.