Jarrod's Baptism

What a great privilege it was last Sunday to be involved in this young man's baptism. This first photo is me briefly sharing on what baptism is.Jarrod sharing his testimony with myself and Billy looking on. Jarrod has been involved in the boxing academy in Naenae for a few years. In his testimony he honored the Grahams for their love for him and their patience with him.
This mobile baptismal pool is shared among three different churches. Both Billy and I had the privilege of immersing our new brother in water, symbolizing his new identification with Christ's death, burial, and glorious resurrection.
May this be the first of many!!

Ministry Update

It feels like things have been moving slower in the last few weeks but maybe it has just been Mark who has been moving slower. He has been seeing a physiotherapist for his knee and it is feeling much better. He had an ultrasound last Friday to see what the problem was with his knee but a new and more immediate problem was found - a blood clot in his calf. This can be quite serious so he is on blood thinners and has blood tests several times a week to check his levels. He sees a specialist in a couple of weeks so we will keep you updated.

Last Sunday was an exciting day for us. It was announced at Heretaunga Christian Center, where we are fellowshipping in Upper Hutt, that they will be supporting the church plant. This is great news for us as we feel it is important to have a local church involved. We hope to move on from here and begin a homegroup for people who may be interested in being a part of a plant in Lower Hutt. Later that afternoon was Naenae for Christ. It was a great afternoon. We held a sports day for young people and had a great crowd of kids. Mark was able to preach a gospel message afterwards to the kids and also to our regulars, about 60 people.

Below are a few photos of the afternoon.

Rachel Turns 15

Here's a few photos from Rachel's 15th birthday. She had several friends over and they had a cupcake cooking and decorating competition, watched a movie and slept over.

Rachel has done really well with the move back, although she misses people terribly back in the States. She is enjoying public school and is doing really well in all her subjects, but more importantly is growing in her faith and having many opportunities to share with friends.

She is busy playing both basketball and soccer for the school, doing school work, being involved in church youth group activities and in Naenae for Christ.

We thank God for Rachel, she is a great blessing to us.

A Little Break Away

We have just come home from a wonderful Bible conference at our old church in Hastings, the Impact Bible Conference. It was a fantastic time of fellowship. However Mark spent the conference on crutches. His knee has been very swollen and he has been having to stay of it completely until we can find out why it is so swollen. I'm sure I don't need to tell all who know him how frustrating this is for him.

Several weeks ago now Mark and I were able to go away for a quiet weekend for our wedding anniversary. We stayed in a little quaint town about an hour from where we live called Martinborough. We drove over to the ocean for the day to see a seal colony and walked up to a lighthouse.