Hot, humid summer greetings from the deep south to you!
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| Tucker |
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| Brittany & Maile |
On January 31, we welcomed
Tucker Reinhardt Glenn into our lives! He was born to Dustin and Heather, and his big sister Emelyn is constantly loving on her "Bubby." Tucker is our fourth grandchild and our first grandson. We were thrilled to have the joy of spending time with family--including Brittany and Maile from Kauai-- in Indiana. It was a special blessing, too, to see Dustin's parents Gary and Susan Glenn who drove up from Missouri to meet Tucker. We are especially grateful to Duane's sister Karen Martin and her family who often host us when we visit.
In addition to welcoming Tucker to the world, we also enjoyed getting together with some dear
friends, including Ef and Deb Nunez, Byron and Ellen Yoder, Doug and Claudia Blosser, Jerry and Sherry Martin, Kathy Yoder, Tim and Diane Overmyer, Cheryl Borowski, and others. And it was wonderful to attend our "home" church, Wakarusa Missionary Church, and our old Pathfinders Sunday School class.
At the end of January, our church
Pearl River Mennonite Church left Gulf States Mennonite Conference (and therefore Mennonite Church USA) because of a difference in spiritual direction. Since then, we and some of our sister churches have joined the Good News Fellowship association of Mennonite/Anabaptist churches, based in Birmingham, AL.
Laurie suffered from severe
sciatica issues for a few weeks in March, and was scheduled to meet with a specialist. But after Duane anointed her with oil and prayed over her at church one Sunday morning, the pain subsided and no further treatment was needed! Praise God!
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| Human Hungry Hippos! |
In mid-March, Duane as our church youth sponsor took some of our church teens to the
Spring Youth Rally at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp near Meridian. They always have a great time together, and this time they even got to play "Human Hungry Hippos"!
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| New to the family of God |
For Easter or "
Resurrection Sunday," our church had its traditional 7 AM worship service followed by a yummy brunch. Two siblings and their cousin (ages 10 to 13) were recognized in the morning service as having recently accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
This spring, Laurie started teaching the
pre-school Sunday School class. It is certainly challenging when trying to keep their attention, but they do seem to enjoy the Old Testament Bible stories, doing simple crafts, and doing children's Bible songs with hand motions.
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| Recent grads |
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| Duane & Daelin |
Several of our church folks
graduated this year. JoAnne graduated with her Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education, Merrill earned his certificate in woodworking, and Isaiah and Daelin graduated from high school. Duane has mentored Daelin in his faith walk with Christ since 2010. We enjoyed attending a graduation party for another young grad named Kennedy who hopes to play football for MSU this fall.
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The Leslie and Esther Fiske Family
(photo courtesy of Angela Stone Benedict) |
Laurie started a facebook group called
"The Fiske-Munson Clan" earlier this year. So far, there are 30 members. It's been fun posting old pictures and memories of our grandparents and aunts and uncles, and photos of Grandma Esther (Munson) Fiske's paintings. Some of my cousins posted that they had never seen pictures of our Grandmother; another cousin posted that he'd never heard of Esther's father Daniel before!
Duane has been counseling three men, individually, from church. Between this, leading Bible Study on Wednesday evenings, and leading Sunday morning church services and teaching the youth Sunday School class each week, he stays busy-- and that doesn't even include his full time data manager job at Educational Leadership Services in Meridian!
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| Women's Group Study members |
Laurie led the Thursday evening
Women's Group Study of the Neil T. Anderson workbook "The Steps to Freedom in Christ" this spring. Usually six women attended. It was very powerful and was based on the teaching that even when a person has sincerely accepted Christ as one's personal Savior, one's mind and heart still need to be redeemed by renouncing the specific sins and lies that had opened doors (even several generations ago) to strongholds of sin and bondage in their lives, and by filling one's self with the Truth of God's Word!
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| Grandpa Duane with Eme & Tucker |
At the end of June,
Heather, Dustin, Emelyn (2), and Tucker (5 mo) came for a visit from Indiana!
We would welcome visitors!!! Come and learn about the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians! And as we've said before, we are centrally located within a 3-4 hour drive of Memphis, Birmingham, Vicksburg, Gulfport/Biloxi, and New Orleans.
Thank you for your interest in our family and ministry. It's not easy being so far from family, friends, and a support group. Please remember us in prayer. We desperately need wisdom and courage through the Holy Spirit in dealing with some disturbing situations within our small church family. We desire to see new converts commit themselves to follow-up discipleship, to see Christians acknowledge their need to renounce their syncretism of Christianity with shamanism (medicine men and traditional Native religion), and to see Christians desire deliverance from sexual immorality, rage/violence, and alcoholism.
May you draw closer to the King and the Truth of His Word in the challenging days ahead.
In Christ,
Duane and Laurie Reinhardt
reinos4@juno.com
fb: Duane Laurie Reinhardt
