“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21
We strive every day to be made perfect for the work to which he has called us and to be well-pleasing in his sight. God is preparing each of us now for the next step in our Christian ministry, that we might be fully ready to accomplish his calling.
Much has happened over the past couple of months and we are quickly drawing closer to full-time deputation. I have two more weeks of courses in order to complete my Aviation Maintenance Powerplant Certificate. It has been a tedious two years and should be wrapped up here around the 15th of November. I have received approval from the FAA to do all of my testing before the end of classes with the only exception being my written exam for Powerplant. The Lord has blessed mightily in this entire endeavor and we are thanking him for his work in our lives in so many ways over the past two years.
I am set to retire from the Army at the end of November, closing a chapter that is now twenty years long. It is hard to imagine being out of the military since I joined when I was 19 years old. My entire adult life has been in the Army and it will be a very significant change for me, for sure. We are very excited to be free from the requirements of the Army though, allowing us to more freely move about for our deputation.
We are very excited to be kicking off our full-time deputation with Valleyview Baptist Church in Northampton, PA for their Annual Missions Conference. We will be there 2-6 November and we’ll have the opportunity to speak to the teens as well as the adults. As we have spent so many years working with teens, we are truly honored to have the opportunity to encourage a group of teens in the area of missions. We will then be back in Oregon through the end of the year for several meetings as well as the holidays and my school and Army wrap-up.
Prayer requests:
· Our biggest need at this point is to set up meeting dates with churches. Please pray that we will be able to fill up our schedule as the Lord sees fit. We are very much open to wherever the Lord will lead. We have some meetings to attend in the spring that are in the Mid-West and we are planning to be in California at some point here soon, as well. Deputation is an interesting endeavor with many moving parts and focus areas.
· Please pray as we wrap up school and Army requirements that all things would go smoothly and that the Lord would have his way in all of it. There are still some moving targets in both areas that we need to get nailed down as they both come to a close.
Faithfully in Christ—Matt, Rebekah, Emily, Michael, Chelsea, Elijah, Noah
