FFM Online Newsletter - May, 2008

The month of May began with two days at home!! It's always fun to breeze through Decatur and see David, even though our time is filled with all the usual home activities: cleaning out the van and trailer, reorganizing the van and trailer, having the van serviced, washing 10 loads of laundry, cleaning the house, decorating for Spring (almost missed that one!), doing school, doing yard work,   printing pictures, visiting with family, sewing, walking, running, riding bike...Whew!! No wonder we're so tired when we finally leave for the next trip!

We started out the month at a Missions Jubilee at Riverside Baptist Church in Durham, NC with Pastor Jimmy Jones. We had a wonderful week of inspiration and encouragement as we listened to the great preaching of Danny Whetstone, several missionary speakers, and of course, Rick! We met several sweet missionary families during the week and were truly blessed. It was fun to be back in NC! From Durham, we traveled to Fort Valley, GA where Nancy spoke at a Mother/ Daughter Banquet at Victory Baptist, one of our supporting churches. Leah sang with Nancy, and they enjoyed the sweet fellowship of the ladies from Victory especially Pastor Chet Cooper's wife, Annette, and her family! After the banquet, we drove to Conestee, SC for the annual Fellowship Meeting at First Baptist church with Pastor Tony Finney. Bro. Tony has showed our family so much love these past two years. He is a godly man and one of the greatest preachers of our time. When we left Conestee, we were supposed to be in Push, TN, but when we realized that we were about 12 hours away, we turned the red van for home instead! Two days later we headed for Philadelphia, MS where we ministered at the hospital to a precious saint who has been hospitalized for 7 weeks. He hated to miss his church's Homecoming service, so we took homecoming to him! That evening we enjoyed a fellowship dinner with the adult choir from Arlington Baptist Church, then sang a mini concert. Pastor Tim Horton has been a great friend for many years, and we thank God for his ministry there. Homecoming was a great time of encouragement and fellowship as Rick preached on "Looking Unto Jesus"! On Sunday afternoon we left for Myrtle, MS and Enterprise Baptist Church. Pastor Tony Monk has also been a long time friend and encourager for our family. He had recently called to tell Rick that his church had been hit by a tornado, but we were not ready for the destruction and devastation in that community. Their church is heavily involved with relief efforts in their neighborhood, as well as sending money to the cyclone relief in Myanmar. They truly know the reality of "it is more blessed to give than to receive"! What a blessing they were to us. On Monday we drove out to Colt, Arkansas to drop in on a Camp Meeting at Smith Chapel with Pastor J.T. Baskins. We were not able to stay there long before we had to get moving towards Denham Springs, LA! There we participated in a Missions Revival at Mt. Olive Baptist, one of our supporting churches. They always "do it up big" with an international banquet featuring beautiful decorations from different countries and mission fields, an inspiring missions movie on Saturday night, encouraging missions messages each service, and an incredible scavenger hunt to top it all off! It was a busy week! From LA we drove home for a few hours overnight, and then headed to Nashville, TN for our annual home-schooling conference. It was an extra blessing this year as in addition to our family singing at the conference, Rick was asked to direct the student choir and orchestra. He had the time of his life directing a choir of about 600 bright, shining young people and an orchestra of 40! We came away with a renewed vision, not only for our family and their home education, but for our ministry as well!! The Lord is so faithful to direct our steps and prepare the way for us. We praise His name for his abundant blessings upon our lives! Please continue to pray for us that we would walk in His ways and be pure, willing vessels for His use.