Scraping - Painting - Ladders - OH MY!

So now we are in Brimfield, Massachusetts.  We were there to serve along side Friendship Baptist Church and help with the scraping and painting of their newly acquired 1800's ginormous house that they are renovating to use as the parsonage with a couple of apartments in the upstairs area for missionaries or for their future youth pastor they are looking for. 


Upon arriving we met with Pastor Pettis.  Great man of God, he had the most amazing gentle spirit I have ever seen.  And his knowledge of the word amazed    me, he literally spoke scripture when he talked, he has definitely hidden God's Word on his heart.  Anyways, he then introduces us to Lynn and Bill...aka Poppy.  They are the two heading up the renovations on the house and have and are doing an amazing job restoring it to the time it was built.  They have been working for months.  God sent us just in time to come along side of the two of them to get the rest of the house ready for a church wide work weekend they had on that Friday and Saturday.  We were instant family with them.  Such warm and gracious people that were so in love with the Lord, it showed in all they did.


Poppy - so loved him!!!




Lynn - My fealess leader on the ladders

So the funny part of all this work God has for me is that I always seem to be on the other end of a 20ft ladder, and the bottom end is NOT the end I am talking about...LOL...As we scraped and scraped we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, only to walk past another side to see, more paint to be scraped.  What a blessing they were to us as we worked, Lynn and I were on the top of the ladders chatting away about God and all His awesome provisions and just the fact that He will never leave us or forsake us.  It was great, sharing work and our love for God.  Plus it was an amazing view from up there.  So we scraped and worked and sanded all we could do.  On the second day after a morning of scraping, Mom and I went over and cleaned the church since all their time was being spent working on the house that week.


Friday arrived and the troops started coming in.  Members of their church began coming and helping, it was wonderful seeing so many come and help.  Then Saturday, even more showed up.  It was a beautiful sight, not only to bless those of the congregation and the pastor, but to the community, to see the family of God all pulling together for one goal...get the house scraped, primed and painted.  It was awesome!!!  Oh and I also need to tell you that this was a tiny church, like tiny tiny church.  So it was just a blessing to see everyone there helping, the oldest I am assuming in their 70's down to the littlest one that was maybe 2, ok well he didn't help much, but he sure was a sweety! 

Friendship Baptist Church

We extended our stay because of the sweet fellowship we had with them, God was so present in their fellowship and it showed...So Sunday morning we went to worship with them, and you know what was really cool....there was only a handful of people in there, could count on one hand that was NOT at the house the day before helping.  WOW - what a testimony to that church - they ALL came together to serve and give of themselves.  God so blessed us with this church!  We had a wonderful worship service and it was an honor to sit under Pastor Pettis and hear the Word of God proclaimed.   Oh and I can't forget his wife Candy, she is awesome...Loved her!!!  The Pettis's also served over in Russia as missionaries for several years, so hearing her stories of that was wonderful, so fascinating on all the ways God works and moves, always His constant provision is shown.


So, at the end of our time together with Friendship Baptist, the whole house was scraped, and primed and ready for the final coats of paint.  The home is magnificent and I can only imagine how beautiful they will have it by the time it is completed. 



Again, what a blessing Friendship Baptist was to us, it was very much a Galatians 6:9-10 experience on both sides.  So very thankful for meeting more of our family of God on this side of Glory.


We love you Friendship Baptist!!!!  (and Lynn and Poppy....YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!  xoxo)

Oops, bout fogot to tell you all about where we camped while we were in Mass.  We stayed at the Rice Lodge, which was the birth place, litterally the old homestead of Luther Rice.  For those of you who don't know who that is (like me...had no idea...) He was a ery influential leader in the early Souther Baptist Convention and raising money for foreign missions.  He lived 1783 - 1836.  They converted the old barn into a house and use the old homestead home as two apartments that can be rented out.  They have also added a conference center with bunk rooms for retreats.  Beautiful place to stay if you are ever in the area.

As always, please keep us in your prayers!  Momma is going to write our post for Acadia National Park...WOW OH WOW!!!  MAINE IS AMAZZZZZING!!!!!  You will love those pics....

Lake view from the ladder

Love you all and miss you all as well! Love hearing from you along the way too - makes the distance seem less when we connect with you all back home!

Kristi ~
Galatians 6:9-10

and we now have an address for the summer, woo hoo, some sort of normalcy for us for the time being...

C/O Farmington Conference Center
216 Whittier Rd
Farmington, ME 04938

Donations and Sponsorships are welcomed!
Giving is a blessing for others as well as a blessing to us.
 

Pay Pal account -

enter kristiskreations1@yahoo.com (my business account) and follow the instructions.
If you do NOT have a Pay Pal account there is a .59 cent fee for the transaction.



To mail a check - please send it to our home church ~
First Baptist Church Salt Springs
C/O Mary Beth Gervais
24100 NE Hwy 314
Salt Springs, FL 32134.

Either way, whether you choose to make a contribution or not, please know that your prayers are very much wanted, needed and appreciated. We are walking by faith and know that God will provide! Thank you and God Bless!