January 2020 Update

Thanksgiving 2019 - and all through 2020!

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, 

for those who are called according to his purpose.  

Romans 8:28

Happy New Year to You All, Our Friends!!!

2020 has come, along with so many reminders of God's faithfulness, promises, and continuing work.

To be honest, this holiday season has been rough on us, as God has been digging up some weeds in our lives and hearts. But we are SO thankful that our God does not give up on us and has prepared the soil of our hearts to be even more fruitful for His glory in this New Year.

"Lamentations 3:23 - Your mercies are new every morning, Great is thy faithfulness!"

We had a short and sweet post written up in November to let you know of all your answered prayers and the only excuse for never posting it is that we could not import the pictures to go with it. -_- Happily, now, we can report to you with both praise and pictures!

Cousins Alyssa and Nicholas

The trip we took to Southern Maine as ambassadors in October was a refreshing and insightful time for us. We are thankful for the connections made during that trip and the sweetness of fellowshipping with Brothers and Sisters in Christ who were new to us. We also had an amazing week while Alyssa and Nicholas were with us! Megan was concerned about her ability to care for three small children but the joy we all shared together exceeded her prayers. <3

Celebrating Grandma & Grandpa's (Annette and Steven's) Wedding! 

The holiday season has been full of blessing! November we were busy preparing our hearts and homes in order to receive Mr. Steven Holmes into our family. He and Annette were married on November 23rd. It was a beautiful day of ceremony and celebration and we have enjoyed every day since in getting to know Mr. Steven better and thanking God for His great wisdom and grace in blessing our family. Thanksgiving was the first McEndarfer-Holmes family celebration and is already a cherished memory.

Thanksgiving

Candlepin Bowling

Family skating for Benjmain's birthday (December 11th).

December was also a time of celebration for us, with the joy of Benjamin's birthday and remembering our Savior's birth. 

Amidst the festivities, we have continued the work God has given us for this time of loving our neighbors and teaching. God has answered prayer for us to connect with our neighbors better and provided a job for Megan at the same time! She now gets paid to babysit for another mother in our apartment complex in the evenings after school and through this connection we are able to have this family into our home more often and build a friendship.

Benjamin and Noah after school. 

Nathaniel, Noah and friend Izzy - snow buddies! 

Nathaniel and Megan have been baking and delivering the goodies to neighbors. 

Young Ladies studying the Bible! 

The young ladies' Bible study took a break over the holidays and shared a Christmas party together. We have less than two months left of the current study and are praying that it is impactful.

Snapshot of Benjamin teaching through his lesson in advance.

The men's Bible study is blossoming in interest and fruitfulness! All of the men involved do not always attend together, but the fellowship had, connections built, and insights realized are all part of God's blessings on this study.

Benjamin was able to do a presentation on Israel for our church's Wednesday night children's class!

In the past three months Nathaniel has not stopped growing! He has gone from sitting to crawling to standing now! He is pushing up teeth and drinking from a cup and babbling. Each day brings new changes and curiosity but we are pleased to say that his friendly, happy personality remains the same and continues to bring joy to everyone he meets!

We have also been so blessed by our church family recently. What a sublime gift of God to minister to us not only through His Word and Spirit, but also by His Spirit to encourage and love us through His Body, the Church. We are thankful for all of our local friends and fellow-laborers at Calvary Baptist Church.

You can see why Miss Jess is the leader of our church's Children's Ministry!

Johnny, Nathaniel, Izzy & Jimmy - Fast Friends <3

During some of the hardship of the past months, we have been encouraged to know that we have friends and family lifting us up in prayer. Thank you for supporting us and praying with us. Here are our petitions for this month:

1. Please pray with us that satan's lies would not have a hold on us, but that we would be strengthened by God to fight back with the truth of His Word, and that our faith in God would grow through our relationship with Him this year.

2.  Please pray that God would continue to give Benjamin wisdom and guidance as the leader of our home. Pray for Megan that God would continue to give her grace and support as the help-meet.

3. Please pray that the studies we lead would bear fruit in the hearts and lives of our hearers.

4. Please continue to pray for us as we witness through words and fellowship to our neighbors. Pray for Megan as she babysits to be a loving and positive influence.

5. Please pray that we would hear God plainly concerning some of our short-term plans. We are hoping to plan a missions trip this spring and also have an appointment to look at a small house for sale in town this week.

Photo Credit due to Sprig and Stem Photography: https://www.instagram.com/sprigandstem_photography/

Before we wrap up, we wanted to give a shout out to Shannon Aardsma, who is now a first-time, published author! To check out her book on Amazon, available in paperback and Kindle edition, click on this link: Here's to the Underdogs!

Thank you so much for your prayers, love, and support! We are praying that 2-0-2-0 is a year of great blessing and drawing closer to God!

Love in Christ ~ Benjamin, Megan & Nathaniel McEndarfer

*** BONUS PHOTOS ***

Fun with slinkies!!! 

Nathaniel thinks he is a Tea Bag. 

Enjoying life, one bite at a time.