WOW

Just wanted to update you on some things you guys have been praying about - which we greatly appreciate.

Page's "Purity Conference" at our house this past weekend was a tremendous blessing from God.  We had 8 mothers and their daughters in our home for 2 days and 1 night with the purpose of learning God's plan for purity.  Page taught 6 lessons from God's Word and led discussions about purity.  The message was well received not only from the girls but even more so from the moms.  Both moms and daughters were given the opportunity to commit their lives to living with purity in their thoughts, words and actions.

The SAFE conference this past weekend in Alma, GA was a blessing too.  God led me in a very different direction than He has before and it seems as though He is continuing to lead me in that direction.  I had 7 pastors from 4 different denominations attending the conference which was a concern of mine prior to the conference but once I shared what God had laid on my heart to them, my concerns quickly faded.  I spoke over 2 hours on the sufficiency of Christ in regard to both salvation and transformation.  In the words of Bro Roger, "we went to meetin."  I cannot describe how the Spirit of God moved during that time.  Please continue to pray for Alma, GA.  God has started a move of His Spirit there.

Wanted to also remind you that we will be going to San Rafael, Guatemala on May 30th with 10 folks from the NW.  For team updates and info please visit us at http://thejohn173journey.blogspot.com/

Changing Seasons

With the arrival of spring, the NW is in full bloom.  We inherited many fruit trees and flowers with our home here in Battle Ground so our yard is in bloom and very beautiful.  Spring has also brought other exciting changes.  Over the next couple of months, we will be extremely busy and needing much prayer.  We will be holding prayer for the Persecuted Church at our home this Sunday night.  It has been a great opportunity and a blessing for us.  In 2 weeks, Page will be leading a purity retreat at our home for mothers and their daughters.  It is desperately needed in our area. That same weekend I will be flying to Jacksonville, FL to lead a 2 day SAFE conference.  When that weekend is over, we will be 4 weeks away from leading a team to Guatemala.  There is a total of 10 folks going, 5 of which are Carrolls.  Yes, the kids are going and they are ecstatic.  We will be building a relationship with a Mayan village in San Rafael, GT.  So please pray that we get off to a great start -that we will see decisions for Christ, encouragement for the indigenous church and a motivated church in the NW commit themselves to pursuing global missions from here on.  Also, pray for our kids.  It will be a new experience with new challenges for us all, but we are excited to see what God will do.  With the commitment to foreign missions and a new weekly time of prayer that Pastor Troy has begun on Wednesday nights, the church has been engulfed in spiritual warfare.  I've never seen anything quite like it.  After only a couple of weeks, 5 GT team members stepped down.  One, who is in her 70's lost her home and will be displaced at the end of this week.  Another, is being audited with 2 years of taxes due to a negligent business partner.  Many marriages are under attack.  One is fighting to keep a granddaughter.  Another has been told by her Pastor uncle (from a different church) that she needed to leave mission work to the "professionals." (I have no idea what qualifies a person to be a  "professional" - can't even find that word in the Bible - I'm open to any suggestions.).  While all of that is going on,  Pastor Troy here has set aside 6 or so men to serve in leadership at the church.  I am thrilled at this and will be working alongside our Pastor in equipping these men for church leadership.   Immediately following our GT trip, we will be returning to Alabama for a few weeks to rest, visit and pray.  After that trip, VBS.  Whew!  Busy summer, but praise God for the opportunities.

GOD is good

We woke up to a pleasant surprise this morning - a little snow.  Just enough for 3 kids to play in before school.  Yes, school on a snow day!  They have a "hard" teacher  : )

I just wanted to update you and tell you a little as to what is going on in the NW.  God is exceedingly good.  HE is beginning to move in the church and stir hearts.  Worship services have been different with a much softer spirit among us.  Attitudes are changing for the better.  God has been gracious to send 3 new families to our church that have visited now for about 3 weeks.  We are praying they will join and become involved.  I recently called a meeting for anyone interested in going on a mission trip to Guatemala.  Carol from GT had emailed me encouraging me to bring a team from the NW to a village in the mountains above GT city.  I have already had 9 people to commit. Praise the Lord!  That's about 15 percent of our total church.  How's that for participation?!  We also had 29 folks over to our house this past Sunday night.  The Lord really blessed our time of fellowship and prayer together.  God has also given us many opportunities coming up.  Please be in prayer for March 4th and April 1st.  We will be sharing during the morning service in 2 different churches on those days.  We are believing God is going to accomplish wonderful things during these opportunities.  He certainly provided them in extremely unusual circumstances.
Thank you for your love and prayers.