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Praise the Lord, we are now officially on full-time deputation! The apartment is gone, our things are put away in storage, the car is packed out completely, and Stephen has officially left his job so that we can constantly travel!
Our first stop on this great journey was at the Harvest Baptist Church's mission's conference in Ackworth, GA.
We are thankful for Pastor Reed who  graciously took time to get to know us and our ministry personally on Friday evening before the conference began. We Greatly enjoyed meeting new friends, other encouraging missionaries, and the church members who had been praying for our arrival.
On Saturday, we were able to meet most of the church families at breakfast and during the international mission's dinner. For the first time, we enjoyed watching a mission's play put on by the church about bible characters who obeyed the Lord and his commandments. The children, teenagers and many adults put a great deal of time and effort into making the props,costumes, preparing, and practicing lines and songs. It was wonderful!
Stephen Had the opportunity to preach in the Sunday School hour and present our ministry. Julie gave her testimony at that same hour and we had the opportunity to speak and sing in French- that always seems to leave people very interested. We had a wonderful time speaking to the children in the academy and presenting our work in Burkina Faso to them. How encouraging is it to see young lives desiring to live for the Lord and praying for missionaries. One little girl later came up to us and asked us how she could donate her toys so that the African children would have something nice to play with. We praise the Lord that he has given these children a sensitive heart for His work around the world. We were later able to visit with the children who attend the christian academy and spend time with Miss Lane's class who had been praying for us. They gave us beautiful cards and worked very hard to save their change in M&M bottles and give us a generous offering.
We greatly enjoyed our visit with many old friends from college who now attend Harvest Baptist church and are greatlty involved in the work they are doing in Ackworth.
It is always bittersweet to leave a church after a conference in which you know the Lord blessed and moved in a special way. We praise Him for faithful churches and pastors who love Him and continue to have a heart for missions.

Pictured above: Some of the beautiful cards the children gave us, Julie making cream cheese frosting for cupcakes (yes, even on deputation, we find a way to keep the baking going!), Julie with Mrs. Gazaway (one of the missionary couples at the conference who greatly encouraged us), the missions play and the children singing.



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