April/May 2018
After our time in Mississippi, we made our way to Bradenton, FL, near Sarasota. We were invited by Pastor Toney Hill of Bayshore Church, where Matt got to preach on a Wednesday night. Beautiful church and beautiful property!
In Bradenton, Pastor Toney was kind enough to let us stay with his family in their home. We met his wife, Joy, and their SEVEN children! They are one big happy crew, full of life and energy to spare! They took awesome care of us while we were there, feeding us well and loving on us. We are so grateful for everything they did!
Pastor Toney has a man in the church named Bobby. We had mentioned to Pastor that our little generator wouldn’t run our 1100 watt skillet when we camp and he said, “Hold on a second, I’m gonna call someone.” He called Bobby and told him what we had just talked about and Bobby said he had just what we needed. When we returned to church for the evening service, Bobby led us to his truck and showed us a 5500 watt generator that he said he had repaired but couldn’t bring himself to get rid of it. He didn’t need it, but he couldn’t do anything with it, not knowing why it was a “struggle.” He said that when Pastor Toney called he knew why it had been that way: God was holding that thing for us. God is good!
While there, we were contacted by a man who saw us in the parking lot of the Auto Part store. He got our number from this website and called us, telling us that he was sorry he missed us, because he felt a call on his life to become a missionary, too. So cool when people call us like that! It does not happen often enough, but we certainly appreciate when it does.
On the same day, we were at another part store (hunting down a certain part, obviously) when a man and his wife saw us at the door and just wanted to talk to Matt a minute. We love the everyday encounters we have! Matt reached out and prayed for the man, as he was having some physical issues. Praying for people is the simplest way to touch someone’s heart and life and potentially point them to Christ. And it will lift your spirits in doing so! We Highly recommend it!
Our time in Bradenton was AWESOME! We spent a day at the beach and just enjoyed ourselves, also being able to bless someone with help changing their tire in the sand. Otherwise, we just enjoyed our time. It was a great stay with great people! Onward now to Lee, FL with Pastor Matt and Devin Thompson at Midway Baptist.
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