June Prayer requests and Praises

Well, here we are again at the beginning of a new month and we have once again been so busy that the time just flew by. It is just amazing to me the things that God is accomplishing on our behalf and the way He is bringing things together. We are constantly reminded of His power and His ability to move mountains.

Before I get to the prayer requests/praise, I would like to fill you in on a few of the exciting things that we have done this month. We had a very successful garage sale on the first weekend of the month and followed that up with a Ministry Moment at the Shueyville United Methodist Church the second weekend of the month. The next week included a trip to Clear Lake for a missions team meeting with the church Lance attended before moving to Solon 6 years ago. We were happily pleased to find out that someone had submitted our information to the missions board on our behalf before we had a chance to do so ourselves. The meeting went very well and we are awaiting to hear whether they will be able to support us at Agape.

Grace had a very busy month at preschool. She went on a great field trip to the Uthoff farm. She chose Daddy to be her driver and they had a very eventful trip as a calf was born while they were at the farm. I thought that was pretty cool but Daddy said some of the preschoolers were not impressed, just confused. She also had a bike day and park day. Thankfully, the teachers included Hope on those days so she got to have some fun also.

On Memorial day weekend, we went to the Shivers farm for a bonfire and some farm fun. The girls adored the puppy, dogs, cows, horses and of course the calves. They had a chance to bottle feed a calf that was abandoned by its mother. I'm sure if we were not on our way to FL, Grace and Hope would have convinced Daddy to allow them to bring him home. They also loved the trampoline and Mom's ATV driving through the fields and creeks. It was a great day of fellowship and fun. Thanks Larry and Chris for the hospitality.

Yesterday, we were given the opportunity to present at Valley Church in Swisher. The presentation went well and we spoke with several folks after about Agape. Pastor's message on spiritual gifts was incredible. It spoke directly to our hearts about what we are working on and how to use the gifts God has given us. It's all about being available to God and letting Him use us to accomplish what He desires. He reminded us that is it is all about Him and not about us. What a timely message and great reminder.

Now, here are those prayer requests and praises...
Praises

• Many divine appointments have taken place because of God's timing and provision.
• Clear Lake E. Free church is considering us for support due to the leading of our prayer captain who gave our information to the missions team.
• The number of sponsors is growing. We are very close to 50% and should be there by the end of this week. We are almost over the hump.
• We received some great responses from our presentations at Shueyville United Methodist Church. And the girls did great through 4 services.
• The camper sold this month and the rummage sale went well. God continues to help us move out the "stuff" we don't need.
• The girls have been given some extra special treatment from our family and friends. They have been really well behaved during our meetings and they are being rewarded for their patience. They have been given toys, horseback riding, balloons, and lots of love. Thank you to all who have taken the time to love them so much.

Prayer requests

• Pray for strength to continue running this marathon. It is exhilerating to work for Him and He is so faithful to take care of us. We need prayer to remain at His side and rely fully on Him. Satan loves to try to derail us so pray for protection from the enemy over our hearts and minds.
• Pray for the Solon rummage sale day on June 6. Lance will be working at the Iron Sharpens Iron conference so it is up to my friends, the girls and me to handle the sale. Please pray for strength to get everything done and sold. Also pray for good weather.
• Pray for more sponsors to join us. We have many outstanding pledge cards and we are praying they will come back soon. Please pray for God to complete those connections.
• Pray for the sale of our home. We are trusting God for His timing. We know He has the perfect buyer and the perfect time. We just need to be patient and wait on Him.
• Pray for doors to continue to open for relationships to grow. We are now fully involved in God's network. We are taking every opportunity He places before us and seeing His hands in everything. He is bringing people to us that we would not have ever contacted on our own, so we know He is working on our behalf. Please pray that we will continue to have our eyes open to see His hands at work and respond when He calls us.
• We will be speaking at the Clear Lake Christian church on June 21. This is Lance's parents church. Pray for the ears of the congregation to be open to hear how God is calling us and how He will use us at Agape to accomplish His will.
• Please pray for the Iron Sharpens Iron men's conference on June 6 in Cedar Rapids. Pray that God will meet with the men that attend and He will draw them closer to Him.
• Please pray for the Clear Lake E.Free church as they make their decision about support and a Ministry moment at that church. This is Lance's home church for 18 years prior to his move to Iowa City/CR.
• Continue to pray for our girls. They are really starting to grasp all that is happening and to hear them talk about missions, Agape and moving is very fun. Please pray for them to have gentle spirits, lots of patience, and that they will be drawn closer to God through all of this change.

As I close I would like to leave you with some Scripture that we are clinging to on this journey. Proverbs 16:3 says "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." When we are committed to follow God in all we do, He will take care of the rest. It is not up to us to finish this race He has set before us. He will accomplish all He desires. What we are asked to do is be available to God for His purpose and allow ourselves to be used by Him. He will accomplish His will in His time. As we continue on the journey of support raising and relationship building, we know God is in control of every appointment and every meeting. He leads the way and we follow. We are constantly amazed at what He is asking us to do but we are trusting Him and watching Him work. When we align ourselves with the Creator of the universe, all things are possible. (Even raising $50,000 for support in hard economic times.) Praise God! He can do whatever He desires!

Thank you all for lifting us up to the King. We are praying for you as well. Please let us know if you have specific requests.

Have a great month and stay strong in Him.

Never give in!

In His service, Lynn, Lance, Grace and Hope

more on Stepping out of the Boat

Here is an awesome message from Kenneth Copeland's daily devotional. This says it all. No matter what your boat is...step out for HIM.

Devotional Daily Devotions … Faith to Faith
Step Out of the Boat
Kenneth Copeland

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water.
– Matthew 14:28-29

It's easy to be so afraid of making a mistake that you never get around to stepping out on faith. You can spend all your time wondering, "Is this faith? Or is it presumption? What if I exercise my faith for something and find out later I've missed God's will?"

Don't worry. God can handle any mistake you can make. I know because I've made plenty of them. When I did, I'd just go to the Lord and He'd tell me, "Stay on the Word, son. Together we'll overcome this thing." And we always did.

If you act on the Word out of the sincerity of your heart and you steadfastly stay with the Word, Jesus will never let you down...no matter how many dumb mistakes you make. He proved that the night Peter jumped out of the boat in the middle of the lake.

Have you ever stopped to think about that incident? Peter hadn't been praying or seeking God's will before he did that. On impulse he just blurted out, "Lord, if it's You bid me come."

What was Jesus supposed to say? He couldn't very well say, "It's not Me." I suppose He could have said, "Wait a minute now. You don't have the faith to get out here. You'd better stay in that boat or you're going to drown for sure."

But He didn't say that to Peter--and He won't say it to you. If you want to get out and walk by faith, He'll get out there with you and pick you up when you start sinking. He'll walk you back to the boat if He has to.

It's better to risk being presumptuous than to waste your life in the boat of unbelief! If you have to, just dive into the water and say, "God, help me!"

Don't let fear keep you from taking that step of faith. Come on, get out of the boat today!
Scripture Reading: Matthew 14:22-33

Garage sale and other priceless moments

The last two weekends have been a busy ones around our household. It was a goregous sunny day last Sat. for the garage sale in Swisher. When we arrived at 6:45 AM, the town was already buzzing with customers and we had not even began to set up. The chaos started immediately as customers were searching through our stuff before we even got it out of boxes. The flow of customers was constant. It never settled down and it was well after 12 noon before we sat down and took a rest. God blessed us immensely that day as we unloaded 5 loads of "stuff" and we only packed up 1 1/2 loads to bring back. We made enough money to make the day worth the work and energy. We struggled to find any items we sold that was over $20. Most of our items were $1.00 or less. If someone made an offer, we took it. Yet, it was very productive day for us and well worth the work to prepare. We were very blessed to have friends who helped us. Lianne and Jennifer were there to help sell and help entertain the kids. Thanks Ladies. We really appreciate you and your help. Stephanie and Bob also set up shop and sold along with us. It was fun to have more kids and Molly the dog there to entertain my dog lovers. We also greatly appreciate Laura for letting us use her parking lot. That alley was the hottest spot in town. Here are a few picts from the sale.

Just an example of the amount of STUFF we sold

Happy and busy salespeople

Happy shoppers

Happy Kids

That same day, we sold the camper and Lance had to deliver it up north. The gentleman who bought it found it on Craigslist and he drove from west of Sioux Falls, SD to meet Lance in Albert Lea. It was a sad moment for us as a family. We loved the new hobby of camping with the ATVs as a family and we will miss the time we spent in Black River Falls, WI but we know that God will provide for new hobbies and family fun in FL. The camper market seemed all but dried up until one day when the action heated up and we had three families interested. God really pulled that deal together as we had other business to take care of in Clear Lake so the trip with the camper was the perfect plan to kill two birds with one stone. (sorry birds) We knew the sale of the camper would be tough in this economy but God can make things happen if we turn it over to Him.

Here is a pict of camper.

The next few days were full of horse fun as the girls got "horse" spoiled with a trip to Doctor Darryl's farm and to the Traeger ranch. We are very grateful for the time and kindness of Darryl and Lori(and Becky) to give the girls some fun at the farm. We don't want them to get lost in all the busyness of this time of our lives. So we are extremely grateful for the special treatment they have given the horse crazy kids of ours. We got a few picts of the happy riders on Tarzan's Dude.

That little girl on top is Hope

Happy riders and the beautiful horse

That happy girl on top is Grace

This weekend was equally busy with 4 presentations at Shueyville United Methodist church. It was a productive day and it was great to share with our friends there what God is leading us to do. Following the last service we headed to Clear Lake for Mother's day and some more meetings.

The time with family and friends in Clear Lake was fun as Grace and Hope both ventured out on the bike trail and cycled with the big people. Grace was a very fast rider and Hope was determined to catch up to her, even with the training wheels holding her back a little. That tenacious 2nd child showed me the way we are to be for Christ. We are to keep pressing on and pushing harder and harder until we accomplish what He has put us here to do. Even though her big sister passed her and got back first, Hope kept a "can do" attitude and she never gave in. As the Bible says in Philippians 3:12-14,

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Once again, Lance and I continue to learn from our girls and the Bible, we continue to press on and keep running this marathon before us. Satan would like to derail us from every angle but we keep staying the race. God is still providing for our every need and He promises that no weapon formed against us will prosper. (Isaiah 54:17 "no weapon forged against you will prevail")Please continue to pray for a hedge of protection around us and for strength to keep running.

We hope you are all having an exciting month as well. Enjoy the spring weather and keep pressing on for Him.

Never give in!

In His service, Lynn for the Anderson crew

May Praises/Prayer request and Updates

Once again, I looked at the calendar and realized another month is almost passed by. It is hard to believe all that we have done this month and all the folks we have had the privilege of meeting. It has been amazing, to say the least. God is working in big ways to help us accomplish what He has set us out to do. The support raising is coming along and lots of prayers are being answered.

We have been on the road a lot this month. We took a trip to Green Bay for Easter. We made it in time to see Katie's team win their soccer game. After the game, Grace and Hope stormed the field and tackled Katie in the dirt. That was the highlight of the game for G and H. They also thoroughly enjoyed playing their own soccer game on the side of the field with Colleen and Aunt Re. We also celebrated Grace's birthday with family and had lots of fun. And staying at Gramma and Grampa's is always fun since there is always something going on.

The following week we went to DesMoines/Pleasant Hills to meet with Lance's family. Our time at Rising Sun church brought back lots of great memories of Lance's childhood. It was wonderful to spend time with the family and Lance's Sunday school teachers of his early years. Both trips were great. We got to meet with family and share hours of laughs with folks we don't see often enough.

Lance's parents stopped by this month on the way back to Iowa for the summer. The girls really enjoyed time with Gramma Sharon and Grampa Larry. They got to witness Grace putting the final touches on her feat to ride with no training wheels and also experience the tears of her kindergarten shots. That was painful to all of us and caught us off guard since she is one year from being a kindergartner, but that is another story. Hope liked having more people to show off her scooter skills and push her on the swing. It was a good visit.

This past weekend, we had the privilege of being interview before the congregation at our home church, Parkview. It was absolutely wonderful. We had been praying for such an opportunity and we are so grateful to the Mission's board and Sheldon Schroeder for making it happen. After the interview, we had a table set up so we could meet with folks and share with them what we will be doing and get more folks involved. The turnout of support was amazing. God blessed us richly on Sunday with many words of encouragement and well wishes as well as divine appointments that would not have happened without God's hand interceding. We need to give a special word of thanks to Linda and Chris for all their help through the day. You two are a huge blessing in our lives.


So now that I think we are done filling you in on the details of all we have been up to. I guess it is time to get those prayer requests updated.

Praises

• Many divine appointments have occurred that we could not have arranged on our own. We are truly entering into His network and not ours. He is connecting us with the right people at the right time.





• Many generous gifts have been pledged and the number of supporters continues to grow.





• Parkview church is in the process of building their budget and we have received preliminary notice that they are close to finalizing financial support for us.





• We are making progress on our support raising and we are now officially over 1/3 of the way to our goal. Yeah, God.





• God lifts us up every time we start to slow down and He fills us up with new strength.





• The girls are doing great and really getting used to the idea of moving and can almost recite our whole story if asked. The other day I asked Grace, "Where is Daddy going to work next?" Her answer, "Agape". Then I asked her "Why is Daddy going to work there?" Her answer, "Because God wants him to." From the mouths of babes, it could not be much clearer than that. Hope has made us an "Agape Song" which she sings at our meetings.

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for continued strength as we keep running this marathon.





• Please continue to pray for the sale of the house. The showings have slowed down so now it the time to pray for more traffic to get through the house and bring the right buyer through. This house belongs to God so we know the timing will be perfect for the sale of the house and support to be complete. Pray for us to have patience and watch Him work this out.





• Please pray that more partners will join us with monthly/yearly support. We need to secure funds for this year and for the years to follow, so monthly/yearly supporter help us to know the funds for the future. One time gifts are also helpful but monthly/yearly support is what we need the most of.





• Saturday, May 2nd is Swisher garage sale day and we will be selling lots more stuff. Please pray for great weather and a successful event.





• On May 10th, we have the opportunity to share a Ministry Moment at the Shueyville United Methodist Church for each service. Please pray that God will open the hearts of the people who hear our story and create divine appointments with the people of SUMC.





• Please pray for God to continue to open doors for relationships to be built and for stories to be shared. That is what makes this adventure so enjoyable. We love hearing the God stories of the people we meet and getting to share ours with them.





• Please pray for our big items to sell. We have sold one ATV and are now working on the camper and other ATV.





• Please continue to pray for our girls. Even though the little ones are starting to "get it", being on their best behavior for every meeting is getting to be hard. Please pray for them to have a gentle spirit and patience with us chatty adults.

As this adventure continues, we would just like to thank each of you for sharing this time with us. We are so grateful for all of you would read this blog and for those who lift us up in your prayers to the King. We are lifting all of you up in our prayers as well so please let us know of specific requests you have so we can join you at His throne.

This is a very busy time of year for many people, including ourselves, so let me leave you with one thought from Galatians 6:9 to remind you to keep going and never give in. "9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." This is a hard race, so keep moving forward and keep pressing on for Him.

In His service,

Lynn, Lance, Grace and Hope