Thanks Paddy!

The past days have been a great timely source of refreshment. I can honestly say my tank is full and I have been inspired to get deeper into the word. We had an outstanding weekend with Patrick Sullivan from Dundee. He taught our Friday night teens class and took a series of three lessons over Saturday night and Sunday morning. Paddy was a true servant of our Father's! I am blessed, my family are blessed and our church family have been blessed. The only downside was that we did not get to spend some time with Gemma, but that time will come. I love it when there is a deep connection between people who love the Lord and His Kingdom. We can't wait till our paths cross again!

I am challenged to get back into the swing of keeping this blog current, but it is still a struggle to find the time and discipline to keep it up. I am surrounded by evidence that God is active and that lives are being touched and gently stirred from spiritual sleep. I am hopeful that God has some amazing plans for 2009 and I am almost expecting great things to come soon. Thomas is now a brother in Christ and is doing fabulously. I took him along this morning to our coffee gathering to spend some time with John Campbell, Alex Swango, my Dad and David Chapman. Our "Gatherings" are a great source of encouragement and challenge to get active in kingdom work. In my last entry I mentioned the significance of Thomas and how big a milestone his commitment is. He is a bit unique in that he is our first teenage guy to commit to Christ.

We are getting geared up for our campaign with the Harding group who will arrive in mid May. It is always an exciting, yet challenging time. I have been getting together regularly with Alex to work on how we get the school assembly program to connect with the kids and we are getting it down! The teens have been fantastic too - we have pretty much got the structure for our traditional "Scavenger Hunt" and this year the theme will be based on "Food Fight." Healthy V's Junk food and relate this to how we allow various influences good and bad into our lives. I have a feeling that this years will do the business - God willing!

Here are a bunch of pics from our Monday night's class. I must say a couple of things about the state and growth of this group. This past week the lesson was on David and Bathsheba and Nathan's visit. I gave the kids a test and was totally blown away with the results. Out of the 23 papers only one did not get full marks. What was impressive was the detail in the answers they gave. They pretty much told the whole lesson in their answers. This is amazing! Another pointer is the fact that this term we had 35 kids come to the class and we had 10 who had perfect attendance! I am hugely encouraged that the kids love being with us and the class is somewhere that they want their friends to know about - praise God! I must mention Nathan Best. Nathan last term was a handful, but over this past term he made a pretty dramatic turnabout and managed to get his first MVP Silver award - I am proud of Nathan's efforts! Another I need to mention is Alana Buchan. Alana has been a truly exemplary girl this term - perfect attendance and perfect scores on all the 4 bible tests over the term. Alana is always cheery and is a great example to her cousin Steph.

Alex is doing well with us. He is a lot more settled and I am sensing that he is now happy here. He has a willing attitude and will be a channel for blessing because he wants to serve. The ladies at church are pretty protective of him and feel the need to feed him at every opportunity. I think a training program will soon be high on his priority list.

Well, enough for now - God bless!