1 November 2011 update

Greetings out there in internet land!

Your prayers are always a powerful part of our lives.  We are so grateful for those of you who invest time to pray for us and to support us in so many ways.  Click HERE for a great resource to know how to pray for missionary families.  Click HERE for a resource to use as you pray for unreached people groups.

At this time of year we want to remind you that The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is so important to the work of Southern Baptist missionaries around the world.  Thank you for your generous support of the offering.  If your church does not support the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering you can give directly through the IMB website.  This time of year is always a great time to find out how your church supports missionaries.  If you don't ask, you'll never know.

Oct 31, 2011

We've had a blast over the past few weeks.  Here's some highlights:

• Petal Panther Football.  Jeff's brother, Pete, coaches at Petal High School and they have locked up the #2 seed in the state playoffs.  We've enjoyed being able to see some of the games.
• Sydney McMinn's Birthday Party.  It was a blessing to be a part of Sydney's skating party and to celebrate with her.  Sydney is Liesa's sister's (Missy) daughter.
• Teaching at Mississippi College..  We were able to be a part of Dr. VanHorn's class a few days ago.  Dr. VanHorn was one of Jeff's favorite seminary professors and now we're together at Mississippi College.  Neat experience.  It is a lot harder teaching an 8 am class than simply showing up.
• Baptist Global Response Training.  We were so moved by our time at this training event in Nashville, Tennessee.  We are encouraged to hear that Community Development ministries are expected to be a very important part of future IMB work.

• Lindsey Powers Ward.  We have known Lindsey since our 2007 training in Virginia and we served with her in Peru.  It was such a blessing to be able to see her during our trip to Knoxville.  The orange sweater was ugly, though.
• Sharon Baptist Church,  Powell, TN.  We had a wonderful weekend in Knoxville, TN during our visit to Sharon Baptist Church.  This wonderful church is considering their future mission involvement and we were blessed to be able to dialogue with them.  However, Jeff was a little disappointed we didn't meet anybody named Sharon.
• Halloween.  Some folks like it.  Some folks don't.  We get that.  Haylee and her youth group used the evening as an opportunity to go door to door and deliver info about our church and to pray with folks at their door.  Jackson used the evening as an opportunity to bring some candy home and have fun with his buddy.
• Mississippi Baptist Convention.  This annual event is like a family reunion for many and we had a great time seeing old friends and making some great new friends.  Southern Baptists exist because of missions and we are grateful for the many churches who faithfully support missionaries.

Please pray for these events that are coming up soon:

• Liesa's Birthday is November 3!
• Royal Ambassador Day at Mississippi College.  November 5.  Have we mentioned that we're on the program with 'The Snake Guy.'  We're really hoping Jeremy Nelson will show up for this event.  He's our only weapon against snakes.
• We'll be at First Baptist Church of Madison, Mississippi on Sunday, November 6. We'll be speaking in the morning worship services and we'll be spending the evening with the middle and high school students.
• Mississippi College Baptist Student Union.  We'll be speaking to these great students on Monday, Nov 7.  We've been blessed in the past to work with MC students in Peru.
• Thanksgiving Dinner for our International Chapel Students.  We're having a traditional Thanksgiving Celebration for the students we meet with on Tuesday afternoons.  Jerry and Bobbye Rankin are helping us plan this special event for these students.
• Getting our Mexican Visas.  We'll be in New Orleans on November 9 and 10 to pick up our visas for Mexico.  We think all of our paperwork is in order to get our visas.  Please pray.
• First Baptist Yazoo City, MS.  We'll be in the evening Harvest Celebration with these great folks on November 13.

Here are Haylee and Jackson's latest school photos:

Blessings to all of you out there.  If you're near Brandon, MS please come see us!

Jeff, Liesa, Haylee, and Jackson