Update 10/25/05

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Last week, we lost a highly valued and treasured part of our ministry. A Godly man from our church who was committed to praying for us daily, has relocated his home to heaven. After speaking this past Sunday at Ebenezer UMC and Calhoun UMC (both near Olney, IL), we drove back home to attend his evening memorial service. Praise the Lord that we did, as his service was a blessing to us, and to all that attended.

Olney, is about 3 hours south of our town, and as some of you may be aware - home of the white squirrels. The church services at Ebenezer and Calhoun were such a blessing and a source of encouragement. They opened their doors and their hearts to us. Jonathan loved singing from the hymnals, as he's not used to that. These two churches share a pastor, and requested prayer for their upcoming revival. Remembering revivals from our time in the Baptist church, we sat and silently longed for a good ol' fashioned revival. The Lord answers silent prayers that are the deepest desires of our heart. The memorial service we attended for this precious servant of Christ was nothing short of a revival. We entered the memorial service exhausted and sorrowful of our loss...

We left the service...

• being blessed to have known this man of God,
• with our hearts full of joy that we know where our joy comes from,
• with a challenge to be more Christ-like,
• with a responsibility to reflect the one we serve ~ JESUS!!

We praise the Lord for Ron Hayes and the legacy he has left us!

Before we returned home from Olney, we were invited to lunch by a precious seasoned couple. The Lord touched their hearts to partner with us in ministry. Our time together was blessed as we could see how the Lord orchestrated our partnership for His glory. We praise the Lord for this sweet couple! Aside from not seeing a single white squirrel, we have several reasons to visit the Olney area again.

It has been interesting to reflect back over last week and how we lost our good friend - Ron. However, the Lord continues to bless us by placing new prayer warriors in our lives every week. We praise the Lord for you and your faithful prayers for us. We have felt them, and they are sustaining us during these busy and challenging days.

We are making preparations for sharing with Ellen Moore UMC in Fairfield, IL this Sunday. On November 5th, we have been asked to briefly share during our church's High School Youth Group's Spaghetti dinner. Then that night, we plan to make the four hour trip north to Cedarville IL, (west of Rockford), where we will be speaking on November 6. On November 13, we are planning to share in Paxton, Il at the Upper Room Church. We ask that you continue to pray for our time with these churches, our health, and for traveling mercies.

Blessings to You!

Doug & Cindy

Update 10/13/05

Dear Prayer Warriors,

God is the master gardener but He gives us the job of planting seeds, watering, fertilizing, and grooming. However, as the master gardener, He is the one responsible for the garden. He is in charge of the "blooming". Now, imagine His kingdom as this hillside and imagine the beautiful blooms as His children. Are we doing what it takes to help God's garden grow?

We had a wonderful weekend as we shared last Sunday morning in a local church and Angie Rouley opened our message with the song she wrote for us, "Nothing is Everything". Her testimony and gift of singing touched our hearts and blessed us greatly. She will be singing again this Sunday. Please pray for Angie as she ministers with us.

We are amazed at how God opens the doors to visit and share in some churches and closes the doors to others. Sunday afternoon we traveled 165 miles south to Centralia, IL. As we were on our way down south, we realized that this was the first church in which we were invited to speak, and had absolutely no ties. We knew no one there, and they did not know us. We were blessed that people would give up their Sunday evening to come and hear us share, when they did not have a clue who we were. Again, we don't know why the Lord opened the door to that church down south, but when the door is open, we want to be faithful and obediant. There was a small group that attended that evening, and some may think that it was not worth our time and travel, however there was a family there who were relatively new beleivers, but seeking God's will in their lives. They were very interested in missions, and consiering the possiblity of full-time missions. They were wide-eyed as they stayed after and asked us many questions. Again, we may not know why the Lord opens the doors to various opportunities to speak, we just need to be obediant and let Him do the rest.

As God's children, we don't know if we're planting a seed, watering one, fertilizing one, or grooming one. We just have to be obedient to God's directing on our lives and put our trust in the Gardener to make everything bloom.

This Sunday, we will be speaking in our local First Christian Church. Pray that we will be faithful assistant gardeners.

Thank you so much for your "info" response. We love praying for you as it's the least we can do for your faithfulness to our ministry. Please never hesitate to send us a request.

Blessings to You!
Doug & Cindy