Oh my goodness! I think we’d forgotten how beautiful it is here in the fall!! Between the cool breezes and changing leaves, we are incredibly excited to once again enjoy the four seasons of the US.
We’ve been in Pensacola a few weeks–with a few different intentions for our time here. We felt like it was important for us to have just a bit of space to sit with the Lord and with our family to process, grieve, and celebrate the last season of Zambian life in order to move expectantly and wholly into the next season of American life. We have also taken this time to get school work done with the boys, to establish some family rhythms, to continue improving our pickleball skills, and to spend lots of time with our Poppa Don. Lastly, we’ve spent time connecting with our support network here at First Baptist, sharing meals and encouragement and coffee and boy, are we thankful for our Pensacola ministry partners!
Speaking of partners, we have dear family-friends in Buffalo who lost the beloved matriarch of their tribe. Deb loved Jesus; loved serving Him and talking about Him. And Deb loved her family; serving them and talking about them, too. The entire Willis/Myers/McLean family has taught us a tonabout doing family well. And we had the privilege and joy of joining them in Buffalo last week to celebrate Deb’s life and legacy. Her husband, Denny–our dear friend and Jeremy’s mentor–continues to inspire us with his zest for life, his loyalty to his kids and grandkids, and his wisdom in journeying faithfully with God. Our visit with them all was short, hard, and sweet, and we always look forward to the next time we’re together.
We’re ALMOST to Florence. We’ll be back in town in TWO DAYS and it can’t come soon enough! Ready to hug necks. Ready to catch up with dear friends. Ready to jump in to ministry. Ready for it all. While the boys are all signed up for church-league basketball, Jeremy and I are equally excited to begin serving with Helping Florence Flourish. We also will make lots of space to connect with our friends from Florence who are on our support team. So be looking out for a text, phone call, or email from us if you haven’t heard from us already. Even before we’ve made it back into town, folks from Florence (and even in Houston!) have been collecting furniture and household items on our behalf. In so many ways, we see the Lord going ahead of us and paving the way for this next leg of our journey, and we are so grateful!
Here is a quick update on our financial needs. We have had 63% of you commit to continue to give as we serve in South Carolina. This is exciting as we have not yet even gotten to town. We are trusting God that even more folks will join our team. Our current need to reach the goal of being fully funded by January is $2000/month additional funding. How can you help? Continue to pray for us as we believe God for provision. Perhaps you were a past monthly donor and have not yet changed over to the new giving platform; or maybe you have a friend you know would be interested in supporting our work with Helping Florence Flourish; or maybe you feel led to raise your existing pledge to our family. For any of these options, you can sign up here. We want you to know how incredibly grateful we are for every one of you.
Jeremy, Courtney, Olivia, Jude + Lincoln
jemert@helpingflorenceflourish.org
cemert@helpingflorenceflourish.org
(336) 858-3329