We love to hike! We had some time Monday morning in the Asheville area for a family walk.
When we headed to Franklin from Asheville Wednesday, we saw a little music shop and stopped there. We enjoyed our visit!
Dad and Mom
My mom’s sister came from Alabama to visit us in Franklin. She came to the Tuesday evening conference. Wednesday we had a “free” day, so we decided to hike. One of my mom’s favorite things to do is hike in the woods, which doesn’t happen very often! Of course, our whole family enjoys hiking.
The sunset was gorgeous last night over the mountains!
Dusk is falling, and we are settled in at a hotel in the mountains of Asheville! It’s hard to believe we only have a week and a half left on the road. We have a one-evening conference in the Asheville area tomorrow evening.
Our weekend in Winston-Salem was wonderful. We started out Friday evening with our music session. I’m very grateful that Jesus has given us opportunities to play together. As Dad shares, only a few have natural musical talents (meaning they could literally pick up an instrument and play it with hardly any practice!), the rest of us have to work hard to learn. On our FamiliesforJesus site, we list some resources we’ve used to self-teach ourselves without instructors, http://www.familiesforjesus.com/music/ When the session was over, we had a little "Visit with other Moody readers&qout; time. A mom had requested this, so it was a delight to be able to talk to children who have enjoyed the Moodys. They motivate me to continue working on Spring!
Saturday, I briefly chatted with a couple who had come from the Kingsport, Tennessee area, several hours away! A number of other families had driven two or more hours as well. We are blessed beyond measure to have these dear families come. The coordinators for the conference even provided meals for us throughout the weekend. Thank you!
This morning, as we headed to Asheville, we listened to a message by Dr. S. M. Davis, How to Humble Yourself. It was incredibly convicting to me personally. It’s a CD that would be good to listen to several times!
We are deeply grateful to those of you who have been praying for us. May Jesus richly bless you and your family.
Last weekend’s conference in Fayetteville went extremely well. Our music session hadn’t been scheduled, but after discussions with the church elders, it was decided to squeeze it in Saturday during the long lunch break. The family scrambled to set up the sound system, and tune instruments. We love to be able to play and sing at our conferences because it allows those attending to see our whole family together.
Heritage Bible Church, which invited us to speak and sponsored the conference, is a family church without programs. If you live in the area, you might want to look into it if you want a family integrated church.
We haven’t had time to tell about our first weekend conference in the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area. Grace Covenant Baptist Church hosted the conference. We ended up outgrowing their building, and the pastor’s family found another church in a nearby city where the conference could be held. Grace provided Friday evening dinner, Saturday breakfast and lunch for the entire conference at no cost. We loved seeing the servant attitude demonstrated by the church as they foresaw the needs to those attending the conference and then met those needs with the provision of meals. Grace Covenant Baptist Church, in the Wilkes-Barre, PA area, is another family church without programs.
Monday and Tuesday evenings we were in Rocky Mount. Again, we were pleased to see the response to the message God has allowed us to share in our conferences. The Rocky Mount and Wilson homeschool groups blessed us by giving us a surprise birthday cake for Jesse, who turned 12 on Monday.
We have been overwhelmed by the expressions of love shown us on this trip. Thank you to everyone.
Mom gave a ladies’ mini-conference in the Raleigh area this morning. We girls manned the book table, and the guys helped with getting more chairs when we ran out of room, opening doors, and helping with the tear down afterwards. We also squeezed in a few songs at the end of Mom’s last session.
We’re looking forward to this weekend’s Winston-Salem conference.
Joseph took this picture earlier this week; it always takes more than one trip with the cart!
We have been so blessed as we are approaching the half-way point on this trip. Being away is difficult, but we love being together and sharing as a family. The hearts vary greatly in each city, but there are always some that respond to the challenge to draw closer to Jesus and throw the world out of their home. Here is an email that thrilled my heart that I just received.
"Steve and Terri, I would like to thank you for ministry! I’ll admit that I was not the one who raised my hand when you challenged the entire conference on removing the beast, but when I got home I was so convicted that I removed BOTH beasts from our house. I have to admit that it was a very uplifting experience, stepping out and doing something in faith, even when my flesh cried out NOOOOOOO! I know my family will be blessed by this decision and my wife and I are very excited about what lies ahead. Thank you again and may God bless the rest of your ‘tour’." A dad of a home set free.
It is good to see Christopher and Sarah sharing their hearts with the young men and young women. They are blessed and challenged as they share with homeschooling children whose hearts range from tender towards the Lord Jesus to well, let’s say, just shy of openly hostile towards the things of the Lord. I’m sure the parents of the rebellious young people were praying that their children would respond to the message. Dad and Mom, don’t ever think that homeschooling is enough if your desire is to raise men and women of God.
If God would prompt you, please, please, pray for our meetings. We have seen God do a mighty work in many, many, hearts. He is the One that must do the work.
Last night’s (Thursday) conference in Lynchburg went well. My joy is being able to share with young ladies in the girls’ workshop. I was thrilled when Dad told us on the way to the hotel last night that three fathers said they were going to give up their TVs. If only one father had a heart change for the direction of his family from each conference, this trip would be totally worth it! Praise Jesus for working in the hearts of those attending.
We’re working on our setup and tear down procedures of the book tables. The girls (Anna and Mary) do an incredible job with the book table set up. I used to do most of it myself, but they are now trained to set up the whole thing by themselves. The guys hand truck in the tubs and boxes that we need.
We’ll try for some tear down photos at a future conference. Only for Jesus, Sarah
We finished our two-evening conference in the Oneonta area (upstate New York). Jesus greatly blessed our time! Our first several days of traveling and conferences had been very intense, so we were grateful for two days to get extra rest and re-energize. We stayed in a small, cute town called Franklin.
Both evenings went smoothly. We were amazed by several families who had driven long distances to come. What a blessing!
A special highlight for me was the visit of a childhood friend of mine and her new husband. They were on their honeymoon, and it worked out for them to see us! The amazing part is they live in Alaska, and we live in Kansas; so it was a miracle to be in the same area at the same time. Lolly illustrated Autumn with the Moodys and Winter with the Moodys.
Sarah and Lolly
We’re looking forward to doing a one-evening conference in Lynchburg, Virginia. Then, we’ll be doing a conference in Fayetteville this weekend. We’ll work at getting some more pictures.
We’ve enjoyed meeting many families and are excited to see more of you as the trip continues!
Only for Jesus, Sarah
The Maxwell family and ministry blog of Titus2.com.
