Sweet cookies and Souls

Apparently I am getting a reputation around here.

While the children were eating lunch outside on the picnic tables today, I stayed inside to surprise them by baking up a batch of cookies.

They finished eating, brought their dishes back into the kitchen, and saw the cookies cooling on the counter.

Josiah said, "Whoa! Who made those?"

"I did," I happily replied.

To which he responded in an even more surprised tone, "They aren't even burnt!"

Hmmmm...... It's true that when I bake cookies I'm rarely in the kitchen the entire time like I was today. So maybe my mind tends to be in 14 places sometimes.

I burnt the oatmeal once. Elijah tried it and told me it tasted like roasted marshmallows. :)

I am very thankful for root canals. I'm also thankful for the shots they give you to numb your tooth before they begin to drill on it.

Sunday night, I woke up every 30 minutes because my tooth hurt so badly. I would put some numbing drops on it, the throbbing would begin to subside, I'd drift back to sleep, and then wake up again with the throbbing pain.

So yesterday, I was so very thankful to be sitting in the dentist's chair. And I slept so good last night. If any child woke up crying during the night, I didn't hear them. I was out! :)

While we've always had quite a few children come Sunday mornings, lately more have been coming Sunday night as well. We aren't fitting in the back room that well anymore, so we tried meeting in the upstairs room which is right above the room where we hold services. The floor of the upstairs room is also the ceiling of the downstairs...wood boards.

I think there were over 40 children in class. That makes 80+ feet. I think it sounded like a thunder storm to those down below. It felt like a thunderstorm too as one of the children accidently spilled their drink and it began dripping onto one of the ladies down below.

Thankfully, the evening temps have warmed up a bit and Daniel was able to string some light bulbs outside, so I think next week I'll try holding class out there.

The children had fun making Valentine cards for their parents or grandparents.




Aren't those beautiful wood benches like the one on which Rebekah is working? You can see the children sitting on them in the first picture. We are so thankful to have been able to get the wood to make those this month and Daniel's brother (Uncle Samuel) worked hard and did a great job! We can sit so many more children now than in the big plastic chairs we used before.

Sunday morning, we had 8 new children come! Four of them came from the area the children and I worked on Saturday. Sunday, I picked up the first group and then they took me to several of their friend's homes to see if they would want to come too.

:)

Someone asked me in a recent comment about what it means when we go soul winning. While we share the gospel as often as we can with those the Lord brings across our path during the week, Saturday mornings is set aside to go out house to house around our town and do one of three things:

*Invite the people to come to church Sunday

*Pass out tracts and share the gospel with them

*Go to the homes of those who have recently began coming to church and talk with them about the Lord and their soul

If you are a Christian and you have never gone out simply to share Christ with those around you, I encourage you to begin today! Many won't go because they are shy or do not know what to say. Oh, dear one, ask the Lord to give you courage! He has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, of love and a sound mind! You do not have to have all the answers; Daniel encourages our new believers to begin immediately to share what Christ has done for them! Share the simple gospel. I can't tell you how many times I am not sure what to say to a question or I get stumped up with my Spanish. But I ask the Lord to use me as weak as I am. I often go to Daniel and ask him if he can go back to a certain home and talk with them. You may get laughed at, mocked, rejected, or ignored, but to have it done to you for Christ Jesus your Lord...to be able to suffer a little bit for Him who knew suffering like no other. And what joy unspeakable to see one come to know Christ as you have! Ask the Lord to give you a love for souls. He will! We must bring them in! Wherever the Lord has called you...wherever he has you and your family...He has a job for you soldier! It is not just a job for those on the foreign field. Work for the night is coming!

Romans 10:13-15

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"