The Week that Was...

Last weekend , March 11th, we had the opportunity to update the work in Ethiopia at Grace Baptist Church in St Charles MO. The trip was extra special because we were able to spend time with Phil and Jessica Coolbaugh who are on staff there at the church. We have known Phil and Jessica since our college days. We went to school together as well as church, and Phil and Jessica were our next door neighbors, and, more importantly, our "refridgerator friends" which simply means that we were close enough friends that they could walk in and take food out of our fridge. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and their four precious young children...

Last week we went with my parents as well as Eric's parents to the Creation Museum in Kentucky. If you have never been, you really need to go! It was a great experience and one we would highly recommend. It was also special to see my friend Jon Seest who works for the Creation Museum's parent company Answers in Genesis. I have known Jon since the 5th grade and he has alway been a great freind to me. It was great catching up with him and his wife Beth and meeting for the first time their beautiful 18 month old girl, Willow...

We are back in Illinois right now before heading to North Carolina next week and then to Florida. It has been great being here and getting the chance to spend some time working in the field with my dad and letting Jackson ride with Poppa on the tractor. He could spend all day out there if we let him!

We are gradually buying things to take back to Ethiopia, items for us personally as well as a great deal of things for the church. (crafts, Bible studys, office supplies, etc). After our free baggage each suitcase will be $200. If you want to help us out by sponsoring a suitcase, please let us know, it certainly would be a great help to us and a great help to our ministry there...

March Update

2012 started out on a historic note at Bethel, as we saw our first baptism take place as well as

welcoming our first formal members to the local church body. Hanna, who has been faithfully

attending since our first church service, was saved a few months ago and baptized on New

Year’s Day. It was so exciting and humbling to see such a special event take place to start

2012.

Our first furlough is officially underway and we have been very busy thus far. It has been great

sharing everything that God has been doing in Ethiopia, and letting the churches in America

catch a glimpse of life in Addis Ababa. So far we have visited churches in Illinois, Missouri, and

Texas and toward the end of March we will be heading to North Carolina and Florida. We will be

heading back to Ethiopia June 26th, so please pray for us as we stay very busy traveling the

roads.

We are really excited about some future opportunities that are starting to present themselves.

Last year our close friends Kevin and Alicia were able to visit us and with Alicia being a nurse,

we wanted to discuss the possibility of a medical mission trip. Right now Team Ethiopia is

organizing a medical mission trip for 2013. More details will be available in the coming months.

If you are interested, please contact us and we will keep you posted as the details arise.

In 2008 the Ava Memorial Fund was set up in memory of our precious daughter, Ava, with the

goal of helping missionaries who face the difficulty of losing a child. Because of your

faithfulness in giving, the fund was recently able to help fellow missionary Matt Cretzman whose

family had a tragic accident and saw their three-year-old daughter taken home to be with

Jesus. It is because of generous gifts that this memorial fund exists and it is our prayer that it

will continue for years to come.

Keep up to date on the work of Bethel Baptist Church in Ayat as well as our furlough

travels on our blog: www.beyondthefruitstands.blogspot.com. Sign up on the blog to

receive email updates automatically. Look for us also on facebook as “Bethel Bible

Baptist Church of Ayat”.

Furlough Update #1

We are sitting in a hotel in the Fort Worth area of Texas on this Saturday evening as we are participating in a missions conference at Hallmark Baptist Church. This has been our first trip to Hallmark and it has been a really great conference. It is such a joy to see Jackson overwhelmed and excited about all the new things he has been able to see since being back in the States. Each day, Jackson has been able to spend time with new friends at Hallmark's MOMs day out group and he has had a blast. The expression on his face has been priceless when he sees all the neat toys and the other kids he can play with. There are also a couple of little boys he has been watching quite a bit since we have been here. He like to watch them play and he affectionately calls them "the guys". Every day when we go Hallmark he asks us where the guys are. The picture above is from our recent stop in Springfield MO. We had the great opportunity to have lunch with two families we have known for many years. Here is a picture of Jackson with some of his new friends...notice the super hero theme. Monday we will be heading back toward Illinois for a couple of weeks. We have churches in MO and IL we will be visiting before heading toward our home church in North Carolina and on to Florida to visit Amanda's family.