Ministry

This weekend was a busy one! The pastor decided he'd like the Annual Report run off in color, so I spent 7 hours running off 205 copies, each one 22 pages! I am usually off on Friday afternoon, but I spent 3 hours of it photocopying, went back with Grant from 8-10 p.m., then was back there again from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.! Was quite glad to see the last copy printed! The upside of it is I will get time off to compensate for the time I put in, so I get tomorrow morning off!

We went to a 70th birthday party Saturday morning for a friend of ours from church. It's a great time to see everyone from church and catch up on the news! The new pastor was invited - he is a real conversationalist, and is fitting in great. We miss our other pastor, but fortunately, he is still in town, so we can continue to get together with them as friends.

Saturday night our Small Group met to watch a Focus on the Family movie where Guy Dowd talked about his teaching years and how so many kids needed to know someone cared about them. It had several of us in tears!

There is a guy who used to attend church on a regular basis, who has returned, and has his girlfriend attending with him now. He isnt' living the Christian life, but he is coming, and bringing his 3 year old daughter with him. They sit in the hallway during Sunday School, rather than attend. I invited the girl to come in to Ladies Sunday School with me, but she nervously said "no". I was on for food today at church, and hadn't gotten everything I wanted yet, so I decided to use Sunday School hour as a "friendship evangelism" opportunity. I offered to take the two of them to the store with me. They seemed quite happy about it and I bought them each a pop and some cheese strings. On the ride back, the girl started talking away to me about how they were going to be moving to a semi-detached home shortly. I decided that I needed to open up the doors wider, and invited them to come for lunch next Sunday. He is a lot of fun, but is a little on the "rougher" looking side! I am praying that God will use us to bridge the gap to bring them to himself. The new pastor preached an awesome message on coming back to God and the fact that we don't have a guarantee of tomorrow or next Sunday to come back to Him. And that each time we reject God again, our hearts turn harder and colder. Please pray for the two of them that God will get ahold of their lives.

A friend of mine from England is up for a visit this week - she spent several months here a few years ago. We are going out tomorrow afternoon to catch up on things!! Her and I are a little too much the same...and we sometimes attract looks as we giggle like two silly school kids! Hard to imagine, I know!!! I am so shy and quiet!

I also met up with a friend that I hadn't seen in ages at church this morning. She lives very near the church I work at, and is going to start meeting me at lunch to go for a walk. She knows me too well - she decided to take down my number as well this time, since I always lose hers and we never end up getting together!! She has lost quite a bit of weight in the past few years walking a lot, so hopefully she will get me back on track with my exercise. I just love feeling more fit - the past few months have been a disaster!!

That's all for now...I've rambled on too much!!!