Can you believe that it's already been a year since we began this new journey?! At this time last year, we were visiting Warsaw, IN for Josh to candidate to be the new Pastor of Warsaw Baptist Church. We were called and began our new ministry on April 1, 2014. We sent out a few prayer letters last year to several hundred of our closest friends and family, but as we dove headlong into ministry and life those letters have fallen by the wayside. Please accept our apologies for this negligence! We are working on a new letter, but here's a brief update!
So much has happened since we moved, it's hard to know what all to share! The kids are all doing well. They are all making friends in school and in the neighborhood. Peter is starting to choose his High School schedule for next year, making decisions on what extra curricular activities he wants to do as well. While he plans for high school, Bethany had her first middle school meeting where we learned about all the changes that will occur from 6th to 7th grade. She has already decided that she wants to try some art classes and robotics during her Jr. High years as electives, in addition to sports and band. She also plans on taking French as her exploring languages course. Chloe has had a lot of fun this year in the drama club. She has been staying after school for drama club once a week all year and has a big production coming up soon where she will be playing a jester! We are extremely happy with the public school system down here. There are some great opportunities for our children. Peter has been taking a high school math class this year, so he will already have that out of the way for when he enters 9th grade.
We added three new members to our family last year. Lacie, Night, and Oreo have brought an added level of joy and responsibility for our children. The kids have done a great job of taking care of them and the animals help to lift their spirits when they get homesick. We had a bit of a scare with Lacie a couple months ago when she broke her front leg playing on the icy deck stairs with Night. God was so good to lead us to a vet that gave us a great deal and took very good care of her! She is now completely healed and only has a tiny limp when she's tired. They sure do keep life fun!
Those who know us well, know that we are all VERY relational people in this family. None of us even know what it's like to be an introvert, and so friendships have always been so important to all of us. It's awesome how God knows the tiniest detail of our lives and works everything in His perfect timing. About the same time we were beginning our ministry, God was leading another family to a church plant about 30 minutes south of us. After God did some working, our church is now sponsoring a church plant and we have become great friends with Jacob and Kassie. They have 5 young children who are SO loved by our kids. He's also brought several other pastors and pastor wives into our life who have been amazing counselors, mentors, and friends over this last year. As if all that wasn't enough, God also gave us amazing neighbors to share campfires and cookouts with! We are so overwhelmed at how good God is to us, and what a blessing He has given to us in these friendships!
The ministry down here is going fairly well. Every day, Josh and I meet new people in the community who have either never heard about the love of Jesus, or who have walked away from His love. We get to share the gospel with someone almost every single day! I wish we could say that it hasn't been without it's challenges. When Josh was ordained, a pastor friend of ours warned us to be on guard because there's now a target on our back for the enemy. He was not exaggerating! Even in the midst of attacks, we are reassured by God that He has called us and He will see us through. The church hasn't grown a lot numerically, but we have seen major spiritual growth in many of it's members. We've had several salvations, baptisms, a marriage, new ministries, one-on-one discipleship, and great Bible study participation over the last year. There have been bumps in the road, but we have seen that God is up to something in Warsaw, IN!
How you can pray:
1. Pray for a revival at Warsaw Baptist Church. That God would cast out any strongholds and break down any barriers that are keeping His truth from going forth.
2. Pray for a spiritual awakening in Warsaw, IN. Pray for God to send laborers who would work in the field with us. Pray for us to take every opportunity to show the love of God to those around us and for people to experience the hope of the Gospel.
3. Pray for Valley Harvest Church in Akron, IN and Pastor Jacob and Kassie Wysong
4. Pray for protection, purpose, and contentment for our children in their new environments.
5. Pray for God's continued provision and balance as we juggle family, jobs, and ministry. A specific need we have currently is a second family vehicle.
Thank you all for your love and support! We have been so encouraged by those friends who have come to visit us and feel blessed to know so many are back home praying for us. We will hopefully have a new letter ready to go out soon for those who told us they want one. If you'd like to receive our future email newsletters, please send an email to us at goepfrichfamily@gmail.com and let us know!
