I love the way God works. On Friday, Jason had the day off, so we decided to take Barnabas (our dog) out and go for a nice, long hike with a picnic. It was a good day for it, and we both needed the time to get away and recharge. On the way to our hiking location, we passed several churches, but one—in particular—stuck out to us, and we decided then and there we would drop-in on Sunday morning unless God had other plans.

The church was a bit of a hidden gem. While it does have some online presence, it is limited, and we had to dig around to find service times and other relative information. But we found what we needed and headed out Sunday morning for Sunday School and morning service. We received an overwhelming welcome. Many of the people introduced themselves and welcomed us. We felt so at home as we casually chatted with members—and even the pastor and his wife—as if we’d been friends for years.

The services were an enjoyable blend of heartfelt music and Biblical teaching and preaching. The Spirit moved in, and we had a joyful time of worship and praise. The pastor was kind enough to give Jason a few minutes to present our burden and said he would contact us about coming back to give a full presentation and for Jason to preach. As we were leaving, we already felt blessed beyond measure, but then the church secretary presented us with a check for a love offering, and let me tell you there was a lot of love AND offering. Praise God! Thank you, Pastor Pittman and Hopewell Independent Baptist Church, for showing us such love and hospitality.

On Sunday evening, we experienced a first for us in our missionary journey. We showed up at a church we had been intending to drop-in on for a few weeks. We arrived nearly thirty minutes early to find an empty parking lot. This wasn’t completely unexpected as we’re familiar with churches (like our own) where the congregation arrives only minutes before service is scheduled to begin. So, we waited and waited and waited. Although the church sign clearly stated that Sunday evening service was a 6:00, by that time, the parking lot was still empty except for us. We did a quick online search to find a nearby church that started at 6:30 or 7:00. We didn’t feel it would be good to walk into a service late, especially as non-members. But, we couldn’t find anything, so we did the only thing we knew to do—we returned home and watched the live streaming of the services from our home church. Talk about being all dressed up with nowhere to go!

As always, we appreciate your continued prayers for us as we work through this time of deputation. Jason’s work schedule varies from week to week. Last week, he was quite busy and had little time to book meetings; however, this week looks a bit lighter, so we’ll see. We’re also praying about some decisions we need to make, and we would appreciate your prayers in those areas as well.

God is blessing and seeing to our needs, and we cannot thank Him enough. He truly is the God of possibilities!