Brethren,
Greetings.
Peace, mercy, and grace be with you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The year 2006 is almost gone; it is hard for me to believe that our first year of work here is almost over! Nevertheless, things are well and heading in a positive direction.
Working with the Brethren
This month we again had many good opportunities to spend time with brethren with potlucks and holiday parties and such. We feel that we have done well at getting to know the brethren here over the past year.
Lessons and Classes
Lessons on Sunday morning have continued to be varied, illustrating many Old Testament lessons along with lessons on self-examination and giving and receiving. Sunday evening has seen further lessons on popular beliefs, focusing this time on healing, spiritual gifts, and premillennialism. The lessons, as always, are available in outline and mp3 form at norwalkchurch.org.
The Sunday morning young people's class has continued Wendell Winkler's Studying Sin Seriously; the students seem to appreciate the study. The Bible reading program focused on 2 Corinthians, and participation has increased.
The Tuesday night Bible studies at our house completed the focus on Scriptures to use when speaking with others about matters of the faith.
Evangelism
We have continued our already present evangelism initiatives. We took a month off from door knocking on account of the holiday season, but will restart in January. We continue to both send out the fourth week bulletin, and to maintain the website.
Current Studies
Cindy. Studies with Cindy continue in the Gospel of John.
Ben and Katie. Katie and the children have tried to assemble more often, but Katie is having some difficulties with her pregnancy and therefore we have not seen her as often as we all would like.
Dawn. Unfortunately, Dawn has been lured by the social programs of a local Baptist church, and we have not seen her. She was never converted, but we hope she eventually will be. The brethren here who are friends of hers continue to encourage her to search the Bible for the truth.
Debbie. We are pleased to announce that on 12 December 2006, Debbie was immersed in water for the remission of her sins. We have continued our studies on a weekly basis in the book of Acts and we hope to continue to help Debbie in her spiritual walk.
2006 Reflection
Since 2006 is all but completed and 2007 is upon us, and especially since my first year is also almost completed here, it is good to reflect upon the past year.
In some ways, it feels as if we have been here in Norwalk for a long time, and in other ways we can barely believe that a year has already passed. Regardless, we have been hard at work here striving to preach the Gospel and build the Kingdom.
We have seen success in many ways. We have seen spiritual growth in many of the members and also four baptisms. We have initiated many programs to promote the Gospel here and also to facilitate association among the brethren. We have put much time into associating with the brethren here, and we hope that the association has been uplifting and beneficial for all.
There is, as always, room for improvement, and we look forward to trying some other strategies in the upcoming year and work harder at having association with more of the brethren.
We appreciate the support of the elders and brethren here in Norwalk and also the encouragement from many of you. If you ever have questions or suggestions about our work here, please let us know.
Support
I would like to thank all of you for your participation in the work here in Norwalk, either through your prayers or through encouraging me or through financial support. I would like to solicit your continual prayers so that the work here may prosper.
May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.
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