The church we are attending has a really neat event every Friday night at the beach. It is a Gospel Sing a long. The sing along is led by some faithful servants that started this 15 years ago and they are still going strong. For some attenders of the sing a long, this is their church, but for many others is it a just a fun Friday night activity that brings them together to praise God. Well, this is also the place and time that they do baptisms.
I have wanted to get baptized for a long time but while we were in Iowa, I never had the chance. I was either pregnant or out of town on the weekends of the baptisms, so when Pastor Randy mentioned the baptism part of the sing along I asked if he would baptize me. So on Friday night, I was baptized in the ocean. It was about 68 degrees outside with a very strong wind but I didn't notice it at all. Even though I have been a believer for many years and saved for 10 years, I have never had the chance to publicly pronounce my faith and my desire to live for Him, so I am very happy that I got this opportunity and I am grateful for Pastor Randy's bravery in the cool weather. Here are the picts of the baptism at the beach. (check out the waves)
My wonderful "towel holders" (Grace and Hope) were very excited about the baptism and the next day they were baptizing their ducks in the bath tub. I'm not sure they got the whole idea but they know what they saw. We had a lesson about baptisms that day during our school work and they are starting to understand. Grace and Hope have already asked me to be their "towel holder" for their baptisms and they would like their dad to baptize them. I am truly thrilled that they are thinking ahead to the day they can get baptized too. Grace says baptisms are "to praise God" and Hope says baptisms are "to tell God, I love you". I think they are starting really get it. Praise God.
Today we attended a huge event at the beach. Nineteen area churches have started a series of events called "One Christ Won City". Lance was at the beach at 8:30 this morning doing set up for the event. The whole premise of the event is to bring the 19 churches together for times of worship, praise, teaching and unity. What a sight it was to see thousands of people on the beach singing to the Lord, praising Him and praying to Him! We were very excited to attend the event today. I'm sure lives were be changed through the prayers and time of intercession today.
Among our daily routine of Lance working and the girls and I keeping down the fort, we have found some very cool things to do down here. The girls and I are now involved with Rainbow clubs at church. It is the preschool version of Missionettes. The clubs meets every Wednesday night for games, Bible verses, crafts, and fun. I have become the assistant leader for the girls' group and I love it. The girls earn badges for completing their lessons and they are very excited to start sewing the badges on their vest. The way they are learning I am going to have to sharpen my sewing needle as I think they will be keeping me very busy. The best thing is the chruch has made Wed. night a family night, so Lance gets to go to church with us and he attends the adult teaching. It is a perfect mid-week boost for all of us.
Lance is working very hard at Agape and some nights he is there way past "quiting time". The server and the computers are really keeping him busy. He also has some neat projects he is working on which I will highlight as soon as he has them done so you can see what he is up to. One project that is keeping Agape busy is the upcoming Turkey Drop. Agape takes orders for thanksgiving turkeys for the families in the mission field and then they delivers them. Last week, Lance was at the grocery store buying 10 turkeys (the store's limit) to store in the freezer until the next flight out. The Agape plane delivered 20 turkeys last week and more will be on board this week and next. What a fun way to bring a little of "home" to the families serving in Haiti!
Well, thanksgiving will be quickly upon us and we are grateful for so many things. Most important, we are grateful for our awesome God. We are proud to serve such a wonderful, powerful Lord and we are humbled to be called his children. "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name: make known among nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always." Psalm 105:1-4. We are also very thankful for our families and friends. We appreciate all of you and we know we are blessed richly by your presence in our lives. We pray you will all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.
We will be in touch soon with more updates, until then, stay strong in Him.
In His service, Lynn for the Anderson crew
