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The most important decision our children can make is to trust Christ as their personal Savior. Tonight Abby did just that! The Holy Spirit has been working on her heart and she finally came to us and told us she wasn't sure if she died that she would go to heaven. What a joy for Bill and I to share with her from God's Word how she can have her sins forgiven.
The angels are rejoicing in heaven right now, and so are we!!!
Sunday night was a special day in the Brouwer household. Our oldest son, Timothy, graduated from high school. What a joy it was for Mom and Dad to watch their son cross this milestone in his life.
Tim was asked to give a speech and he did a great job. He talked about how his homeschooling experience is a bit different than most since he grew up in Africa. He told how his memories of field trips were not the typical zoo, museums, etc, but rather the Serengeti National Game Park, looking at dead snakes, and watching monkeys. He thanked Bill and I for the life lessons we taught him that weren't in the books. Lessons to know and love the Lord. He ended his speech by saying that he wanted to thank his most important teacher in life - his Savior.
We are excited to see how God uses Tim's life. He'll be staying in the States as we travel back to Tanzania. Since he graduated a year early, we'll leave him in the home of our youth pastor, Danny Cooper. He'll spend a year working and continuing his ministries at Central Baptist Church. He will then head to Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma, where he plans to major in missions and return to Tanzania.
While Bill was in Colorado, he had the opportunity to meet with the family of Lisa Newland. Lisa is planning to come work with us, and is hoping to arrive the end of August.
One of the people Bill met was Lisa's grandfather. What a blessing it was for Bill to meet this dear Christian brother. He told Bill that he prays for us every day. It is encouraging to know that we have people bringing us before the Father on a regular basis. This dear brother is getting older, and although he's no longer able to serve in certain capacities, he is able to pray. And from what the family told us, pray he does! He spends about two hours a day in prayer. What a great ministry of intercessory prayer!!!
We are truly thankful for all the prayers of God's people. An often asked for prayer request from missionaries is travel safety. This was the case this past Thursday while Bill was driving back from Colorado. He was in Kansas and fleeing from a tornado! He had been listening to the radio when it was interrupted with a tornado alert. He began tracking the path of the tornado and realized it was headed in his direction. The tornado was traveling about 45 miles per hour, while Bill was driving 75mph. The sky was black, will clouds low to the ground. He could see the tornado in his rear view mirror. The news reported it touching down at mile marker 110. Bill was at mile marker 129. That tornado hit less than 20 miles from where he was at!
About that time I called him and while he's telling me of his harrowing experience another alert comes across his radio and he asks me to pray. I hung up and called a friend to start a chain of prayer. Bill decided he needed to pull off the interstate and seek some shelter until it passed. A day later he arrived home safely, but with some interesting stories!
Thanks to all who pray for us, and please continue!!!
Since Bill was in Colorado, and the boys in Washington DC on the teen T.R.I.P, Abby and I went to Dollywood. We went with some friends from church and had a fabulous time! The weather was hot, but we had a great time going on all the wet rides so we could cool off. One of the rides was Daredevil Falls. Abby wasn't so sure about that one since there is a drop, but once she rode it she was asking to go again!
Abby and I also rode Mystery Mines. I THOUGHT it was a small roller coaster. I am not a roller coaster fan, and neither is Abby. Well boy were we surprised! We were going straight up in the air - and I do mean STRAIGHT UP. There were loops, curves, and falls. We were both pretty shook up after that experience, but were more careful with our ride choices the rest of the day, and had a blast!!!
Today me and the kids were at our sending church, Central Baptist Church. Pastor Abbey is back from vacation and preached a good message on forgiveness. This evening we had a guest missionary, Tim Berrey, to the Philippines. His message makes me want two lives to give to the Lord. One for Africa, and one for Asia!
Tomorrow Tim and Jon leave for the teen T.R.I.P. with our church youth group. They are excited about going. They'll be gone for a week having a great time. Abby and I plan to get some much needed cleaning, sorting, and packing done while they are gone. We might sneak a trip to Dollywood in there too. :o)