During March and April, I had scheduled 4 meetings with churches and 1 conference. God allowed 3 of those meetings to still take place before I had to begin traveling home. The last church I was supposed to meet with had to cancel, but they let me know that they were planning to join my financial support team. God is so good!
Traveling home with all the changing mandates in each state made it a challenging trip. I traveled 4,409 miles, visiting 6 churches in South Carolina and 54 churches in North Carolina. One word to describe my trip: tiring!
It was such a privilege to speak with multiple pastors and secretaries. Some future meetings were set up, and other churches were open to the idea of having me come back. It was such a blessing for me to hear from these pastors: blessings, challenges, and goals they have for their churches. God is actively at work in hearts!
There are a few meetings in the Carolinas I would like to briefly share with you. After presenting at a church in South Carolina, I spent time getting to know the pastor and his family. They shared that a reason they had been so excited about my visit was because I have Biblical Counseling training. Their church is very strong on Biblical Counseling, and they are very excited when they meet missionaries with Biblical Counseling training not just Christian Counseling!
My next story is from North Carolina. At the first church I visited, an assistant pastor took about 30 minutes and asked me many questions about the ministry I would be involved with in England. He had personally grown up on the mission field, so the questions he asked were specific and insightful. That meeting was a great encouragement to me!
Some visits were like ping-pong games where the pastor would ask me a question, listen to my answer, and then he would share a story. 🙂 It was a blessing to hear how God has been providing, guiding, and blessing! At another church I visited, the pastor shared how his parents are BMM missionaries, and how excited he was that I am with Baptist Mid-Missions. A church I am scheduled to meet with in September was a real blessing. The pastor asked many questions, and then shared how some of his kids have also gone into the ministry. Every pastor I had the privilege of speaking with expressed their appreciation that I had taken the time to come by in person to meet them! 🙂
Thank you to all my prayer partners and financial support partners! As I continue to reach out to churches, I will also be praying for you too. I pray you all have a blessed week as we remember Christ’s great love and care for us. 🙂
This past week, my family had the blessing of celebrating college graduation for one of my sisters. We took a sisters’ picture! 🙂
Praise:
Meetings went well
Prayer Request:
Future meetings
Mary - England Bound 