Stephen and I went to a meeting last night (Thursday) for all the New Town staff/volunteers. New Town is the Bible Study that all are welcome to (they have ages 2 - 18)! Kids come to play, sing, eat, hear the Word of God, build relationships with their group leaders and others and hopefully get plugged into After-school tutoring, mentorship programs etc. This year they will be learning the Westminister Shorter Catechism! We are excited about this as we can go and minister as a a whole family- something we have certainly been praying for! I (Amy) and 3 other college-graduate girls will be leading the group of children 1st grade and under. Caileigh and Emma will be a part of this group too. Stephen will be with the 5th grade guys. The first meeting with kids will be this coming Thursday at 6 pm! Please pray for the New Town staff and volunteers and for the neighborhood kids who will be attending!
We are still raising support. Some days it seems very slow and can be very frustrating and discouraging. We trust that this is part of the process of building a team of people who will earnestly pray for us and will support us financially so we can begin working with Hope For Augusta. Days like Tuesday and Thursday of this week and last Friday are the days we see and understand how God has designed and uses the body of Christ! These days help to get us through the hard times of this journey.
Last Friday, we feared Caileigh had strep; fever, red/sore throat with white bumps. Thankfully it appears to have just been a virus. We had not found a doctor at that point. We contacted some neighbors and friends here with young children. They recommended Christ Community Clinic which provides health services to the insured and uninsured alike in this community. The problem is they are extremely busy and hard to get in to as there is such a need down here so our friends called the doctor personally and we were able to get in. We enjoyed meeting and talking with Dr. Campbell. He shared his vision for the community and was so excited to hear how we are a part of Hope for Augusta. In conversation, he shared how he had prayed with a man named Brad over 8 years ago for a ministry like Hope for Augusta that would include a clinic and how exciting it was to see prayers being answered! Turns out, Brad was my youth pastor when my family and I lived in Orlando, FL! Brad had a significant impact on my life during a time when I was struggling to adjust to a new culture, church, friends, school and most importantly spiritually. Being a part of his youth group grew me in my walk with Christ and I also developed some deep friendships with godly youth my age in the group, whom many of which I still remain in contact with!
Brad and his family are now back in Orlando. I contacted him, sharing how God had brought Stephen and I to Augusta and in particular to Hope for Augusta. Tuesday, I heard back from him. In his message he wrote, "Sometimes God has a plan that includes us doing something and sometimes He just uses us to plant and brings along others to nurture and grow." How true that is! Being a part of this vision that Brad and others had over 8 years ago is exciting, but being a part of an intricately woven plan that God has is even more exciting! Why do we even begin to doubt that God will provide? HE TRULY DOES ANSWER PRAYER!
Please do keep us in prayer as we seek to find a more permanent housing situation. We feel extremely blessed to be here in the Mission House but long to be settled in our own home with our own furniture. We have been continually reminded this summer that this(Carrollton/Augusta) is not our home, we eagarly await our home in heaven! Laura Story's song, "Blessings" has helped to put this into perspective! Please also pray that our support would continue to come in. It is hard to be patient and with that I ask that you would pray for us to be patient! That we would trust in his timing!
That's so Cool! small world that Brad was a part of that!
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