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| Picture taken during family field trip in October. |
Dear Praying Friends!
We are so excited to be writing to you during this Christmas season. We are so thankful for a nationally recognized time to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and his great humility and sacrifice in taking on human form in order to identify with us now as our heavenly high priest. What a gift from God that we can experience daily throughout our year: His personal, ever-present help through His spirit and because of His Son's identification with our weaknesses.
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| We enjoyed a stay at home date... |
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| while Nathaniel had so much fun at our neighbor's! |
There have been many changes since our last report that have caused us to ask many questions of God. Moving to a new state brings many changes on its own, but even our original conceptions of what life would look like during this first year in Illinois have changed. Through each trial and change we have felt God's presence and blessings with us in so many ways. We are exceedingly grateful for our brothers and sisters in Christ who have reached out to us with prayer, encouragement, friendship, love and counsel during these past few months. Thank you so much for being the Hands of Jesus to us!
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| Visit from Mom and Dad in early November! |
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| Thanksgiving with our cousins! |
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| Thanksgiving at home. |
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| Birthday breakfast in Champaign. |
We've experienced such great times of fellowship and celebration recently! Benjamin's Mom and Step-Dad came to visit us in early November which was such a welcome time of refreshment for us. We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home and also got to celebrate with our relatives here in Illinois! There was quite a crowd, with a little baby boy added to the number just hours after Thanksgiving Day had ended <3 We also celebrated Benjamin's 25th birthday this month and are looking forward to celebrating Christmas and New Year's with family in Pennsylvania and Virginia the week after Christmas.
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| Benjamin worked in the kitchen one Saturday replacing a floor-to-ceiling cabinet with a regular corner cabinet. This is a temporary solution that makes cooking less dangerous for me. Now I can turn my pot handles away from the stove! |
Unfortunately, Benjamin's position at ARP was not working out to the harmony and benefit of all concerned. Counsel and prayer led Benjamin to seek a new job, and he is now working full-time as a subcontractor for a man in our church, doing maintenance on apartments in Champaign, IL. We are thankful to God for providing this present job so smoothly, though the decision-making process and time of transition were quite stressful for our family.
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| Studying Hard. |
We are now adjusting to Benjamin's working 40 hours a week instead of 32 and having to commute farther and use the car during the week. This leaves Megan without a car, but this is not her first rodeo! Because of God's strength, Benjamin was also able to stay on top of his full class load at Veritas Baptist College Online, and he has now completed all of the semester finals! He does not expect to be able to enroll in 4 classes next semester because of time, but opportunities to be involved in growth at our local church starting in January are blossoming! Our plan (Lord-willing) will be to start attending weekly prayer meetings at church and for Benjamin to be involved in a men's Bible study on Apologetics led by our pastor. We are also praying about him being able to start a small, in-home Bible study with some young men in the area.
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| Our Baby! |
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| 24 weeks pregnant. |
Megan has finished her copy-work for Ariel ministries but continues to babysit weekly! Our little Baby is 24 weeks old now and growing strong and healthy. Giving lots of visible kicks now. We are planning to discover our Baby's gender at birth and the anticipation of finding out is so exciting! Megan and Nathaniel also passed out plates of home-made cookies and Christmas cards with the Gospel message inside to 15 different neighboring houses this month. We are praying that God's will would be accomplished in the heart and life of each receiver and that we may continue to grow in boldness and power as witnesses for Christ to those around us.
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| These gorgeous cards were hand-made by BeeSimple. Check her out on Instagram and Facebook! |
Two other big areas of prayer for us right now include the opportunity for Benjamin's brother, Gregory, (the one who helped us move out here) to come and stay with us for a few months before the Fall 2021 semester. This would be a tremendous blessing to us, as he has offered to help Benjamin work around the house. We are praying that God would make it clear to Gregory what His will is for him this spring. The second area of prayer concerns a job offer made to us this summer by Camp Shoshanah in Keeseville, NY. We have been praying diligently about how God would have us to respond. Lord-willing and Covid-allowing we will be working at Camp all summer, 2021, to learn more about what the job would entail and if we feel God calling us to accept.
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| Sharing love with our cousins. |
In summary, Please Pray with us that:
1) We would continue to adjust well to the new direction God is taking us and be willing to accept all areas of growth and service that He wants to involve us in this year.
2) Pray for the relationships we are developing and that we would be a witness for Christ to those around us who do not know Him yet.
3) Pray for the opportunities that may be unfolding for us this year - that we would have discernment in knowing which path to take in following God.
4) Please pray for safe travels for us to and from PA and VA!
We pray that you are encouraged this Christmas season and that the reality of God's gifts to us, past, present and future, fill you with joy and hope for the New Year!
Blessings,
The McEndarfer Family ~ Benjamin, Megan, Nathaniel & Baby
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