April showers and May flowers... :)

Greetings!

It's almost been two months since I last wrote and much has happened since then. Let me share the fun-ness! :)

We held our annual VBS every morning, April 2-5, on the topic of Noah and the Great Flood. We had over 50 kids come over the four days, and BOY was it crazy! :) Rachael, Gina, and Jay (one of our brothers) taught the three groups. Amy prepared most of the materials for us and she did an amazing job. We had an extra challenge because the VBS was held on the same days as our seminar. We were taking the decorations up at lunch every day and cleaning and setting up for seminar, then cleaning after seminar and setting up decorations! What madness! But it was fun madness, and the kids who came seemed to learn something. We look forward to having them next year.

We had a seminar April 3-5 (Dad taught for us) on the topic of, wait for it, the Devil! Dad took us through many of the strange ideas that the world has created of an evil little red man with horns, a pointy tail, and a trident. Where does the Bible describe him like that?!? There are so many wrong ideas about the Devil that this was a wonderful illustration about how proper Bible study needs to be done on a topic rather than just listening to the teachings of men. He also took us through the stories of Job, Jesus, and a few others where we really see the devil coming out and showing his true self. It was a lot of fun and we had a nice group of people join us, including my dear grandfather! He's been having some health problems, so please keep him in your prayers.

After seminar we headed straight into Session 4 of the year. Clint and I continued teaching Greek together this session, which I very much enjoyed. Our students are still managing to keep up, all 8 of them, which is more than we usually have by now. I am excited for them as we are half way through the grammar, which means that the hard part is almost over! I also taught our class Can We Believe the Bible? this session. This course tackles many of the problems people have with the Bible, including miracles, whether the message of the Bible is from God or man, historical difficulties, and even supposed "errors" that the Bible contains. I had a lot of fun teaching both of these classes.

We also continued our weekly youth activities. Every Friday night we have a youth fellowship at the BSC to encourage the youth to grow together and share one another's struggles. It is a lot of fun and we always have a big group. This group has helped us bring relatives and friends of some of our members in to the family, and it helps keep them with us.

Our Saturday Children's Bible classes continued, as well. Since completing the Old Testament stories we decided to take advantage of the pause and take the kids through some basics about manners, the Bible and its history, and the Golden Rule. It has been a lot of fun and I think the kids are learning something. During our discussion on manners I asked the children some review questions: "Is it good to interrupt?" "NO!" "Is it good to be greedy?" "NO!" "Is it good to shout?" "No." Perhaps they learned a little :).

At the end of last session we had the joy of helping three young people join the family. Kayle Borromeo, Joseph Liston (both students who walked in and enrolled), and Michel Singcol (the older brother of one of our youth) decided they wanted to be immersed to join with the death of Christ on May 8. Please keep these young people in your prayers, as they all have parents who are not Christians and have been making life difficult for them.

Tomorrow is the last day of our seminar on the topic of tithing which RJ is teaching for us. This is RJ's first time to teach a seminar and he has been doing a good job, though he has been teaching a little under-time :). Please keep our enrollment week and next session in your prayers as we seek out new students to join us.

Well, that brings us to today. As far as family matters go, I would like to request some prayers. Amy's back has begun to bother her again, and though her doctor does not think that there is anything to worry about, we are all concerned. We are leaving it to the Great Physician and trusting that his will will be done. Rachael has been having migraines (a kind of severe headache) quite frequently, so please keep that in your prayers as well. Also please keep our furlough plans in your prayers. It is less than a month until Amy and I travel and we are feeling it! I look forward to getting to visit with you all! Until then...

In him,
Sara Murrell