Long Overdue Update

I'm sorry it's been awhile since you've heard from us; it's been a busy month! My mom and dad (Randy and Cindy Hume) got to come for a visit over Labor Day weekend, and we had a great time. Emily was in 2 parades and a talent show for her dance class, so they were able to see those. We had lots of fun playing that weekend!

We began Sunday School this past Sunday morning at 9:15, and it went really well. I don't know the total number we had, but in the children's department we had about 12. The adults had somewhere around 25. Our people aren't used to things like taking roll, so that's why I don't have a good count. We also had a fantastic day in worship; we ran between 75 and 80. We also held a children's ministry volunteer training this last Sunday, an that was great! The people that were there are so excited to serve our children, and I was able to share with them the resources available to them and how to use them.

Our praise team is really coming together, so that is definitely a praise. Tonight the praise team will begin practicing on Wed. nights at the church (instead of in somebody's basement), so that will also reduce the number of nights of the week we have church activities. That will be a nice break! That also brings me to a prayer request for tonight; we begin our combined mid-week Bible study tonight. We have been having mid-week Bible study on Tuesdays, and the men and women alternated every other week. Our attendance had decreased dramatically (according to Mickie, our pastor), so we are going back to combined Bible study. We will also begin a children's program called Adventure Zone with the kids from age 2 (our son Adrian) to age 11. We are short some workers (I'm the only one as of now), so I will have all those kids together until we have some more help.

We are still working on finding land for the church to build, and we are now beginning the process of making a building campaign video. Right now we are just waiting for God to show us the place He has for us and making the most of the resources have for right now.

JR is pressing on his job, but it is a bit discouraging at times to be a salesman with so many businesses cutting back on spending and employees. He will go to a 2 week training (I think in Minnesota) the end of Oct., so we're hoping that will provide lots of ideas and encouragement. I'm still doing a little bit of tutoring and teaching piano. This week I began doing homeschool preschool with our kids, so we've had a lot of fun with that so far. Emily will also start dance classes again this Friday. That's been a great opportunity to get to know some women in our community.

Please continue to pray for our housing situation. Our landlord is moving to Los Angeles at the end of this month, and her son is planning to move into the main floor of the house (where we live) when his house sells. When it sells, we will have 60 days to move out, so that makes us feel like we are in a precarious position. We are hoping to buy a house, but the process is slower than we would like, especially since we don't know when we'll have to move. We believe that God has a perfect place for us, and we truly want to wait on His perfect timing and will.

We have had several health problems arise in our church lately, and I would like you to lift up one of those in prayer in particular. Rendi, our pastor's wife, has been experiencing frequent migraines, so she had several tests run. Tomorrow she will have a biopsy on a mass that was found, and she will also have her gall bladder removed in the near future. In the midst of all the emotional and spiritual trials here, this just adds to the stress for their family. Please pray that God gives the family peace and comfort as they go through this. Pray that new tests would come back clear. Pray that the doctors have wisdom to treat any problems found quickly and easily. Pray that this provides Rendi and Mickie opportunities to share about the greatness of God and His love for us.

I know that was a lot to share; I'll try to get out updates more frequently in the coming weeks. Thank you for your prayers! In case you haven't checked out our church website check out the "God of This City" video I made a few weeks ago; it's under Blog. It shares the vision and history of our church a bit more, and we love the song!

Praises:
*God's continuing provision
*1st Sunday School Meeting
*Great Children's Worker Meeting
*Great attendance on Sunday
*Growth of the Praise Team

Prayers:
*1st Combined Bible Study tonight
*Adventure Zone children's program
*Our housing situation
*Rendi's health problems (biopsy tomorrow)