MSHall's Xanga

Whoa...

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:54:31 GMT

whoa, wait a minute!!! It's been almost 7 months since I've updated everyone! How sad for you! (and for me, mostly. Tells you where my priorities are :) Someone emailed me today to say that they were checking out my blog and I realized it had been a little while since I wrote, but I didn't realize how long! Yikes!

Well, to make a very long story very short, we have resigned as missionaries as of August 31. We had a huge falling out with the missionary and felt it best to leave. It seemed as though God was closing the door for missions for us, so we decided to move back home and look for work. Ministry positions weren't working out, so we are looking for secular jobs right now. It's a competitive market out here and jobs are a premium. Get your resume out now! It's tough out there. We would like to start a church in the area in the next couple of years so we feel that this time will be a learning and growing process for us.

Our daughter was born on May 25 of this year, 5 days after we returned to the States. She's growing like a weed and is so beautiful! We just love her to death and her big brother loves her just as much, if not more! She loves to watch him sing and play and is learning right alongside him. I'll be interested to see how much like him she is!

That's basically the long and the short of it. There's not much else going on right now! We have let all of our churches know about our decision to resign and they've been very supportive. Though the financial end of the support will be running out soon, so please pray for jobs! God always likes to work at the last minute **sigh**

Everything else is pretty much status quo. Just getting through the days, looking for work, playing with the kids, and enjoying the cooler weather. I'm excited for fall! Apples and pumpkins and pretty leaves. Nolan's birthday is in October and he'll be 3! I can't believe how big he's getting and how smart also. He's awesome.

I hope everyone's having a great day. I'll update sooner next time :)

I suppose maybe I should update you...

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:56:34 GMT

as to how we are doing! Wow, time flies when you're busy busy busy and having fun, sort of :). Things here are crazy hectic with church and personal stuff, but good. We moved our church meeting location to a new school just recently and that's going great. It's better exposure and in a more family-friendly neighborhood. We're growing; just this past Sunday we had a family visit and the woman teaches at the school we meet in! It's very exciting. We're starting a new campaign in a few weeks called Guess Who? (www.guesswhooshawa.com). It's a spoof off the child's game and we'll be looking at some attributes of God. We had postcards and business cards made up, and it's because of one of those that this family came on Sunday. It's exciting!

I can't remember what I said last time, so I might say it again. I have started a ladies ministry here at church. We call it girlfriends; non-threatening, non-churchy. It's going well. We are currently reading a book called "Hadassah, One Night with the King." It's a story about Queen Esther, and it's actually quite factual. We'll be discussing it next month at a Maple Season Breakfast that I'll be holding here at my house and we'll be starting Secret Prayer Sisters as well. We'll be holding a wedding shower for one of our ladies in April, May is Mother/Daughter Day out, June is a tour of 11 historical bed and breakfasts in one of our towns, August is our retreat, etc. We're busy, and it's a lot of work planning them! I had no idea how much work it would be to plan all these events, but we want our Girlfriends ministry to be more than just events. We want to reach out to our unsaved friends, grow closer together and pray for one another. I'm looking forward to see where God will take this ministry.

I'm now also the coordinator of the Nursery. We've made a few changes to our Kids Ministry, which we now call ABCKids, and it's great, but we're in desperate need of workers. Please pray! Our biggest change that we made is implementing a new curriculum. It sounds great and is very user friendly. For the nursery and preschool it's called My First Look (www.myfirstlook.org) and for the elementary ages it's called 252 Basics (www.252basics.org). They both sound promising and we're looking forward to using them.

As far as personal stuff, well I probably told you that we're expecting baby #2 in May. That's exciting for us. The pregnancy is going very well and we're looking forward to meeting him or her! I'm currently working on painting Nolan's room as the kids will share a room and it will be a jungle theme. It's lots of fun, but also lots of work! I"m looking forward to the day when it's finished and I can admire it!

Nolan is doing great. He's every bit 2, but without a lot of the tantrums so far. He loves to pray and to sing and play with cars (specifically from the movie, Cars). He loves church and is starting to know everyone's names and who goes with whom. (eg Paula is Caleb's mommy, etc).

We're going to be very busy the next month. Next week is a missions conference at our sending church, the week after that is Nathan's mom's wedding and 2 more churches to present in, the week after that is our ladies event and a church in MA, 3 weeks after that is a conference in Worcester, MA, the week after that is a wedding shower that our ministry is planning for one of our ladies, 2 weeks after that is our Mother/Daughter day out and 2 weeks after that the baby is due. It goes so quickly when you talk about it that way! But in between there's so much to do, so please pray for us; for Nathan and his work at the church that he can effectively minister to families in our church through events and our children's ministry, for Nolan that he will grow up knowing Jesus and that we will have wisdom in raising him, and for me as I balance all of this!

Thanks for your prayers!

Melissa

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 02:23:33 GMT

Hi and Happy New Year!

Things here are going great. Our ministry is going well and we have some great plans for 2007. We're changing meeting places starting next Sunday and we're very excited about the opportunities that will present to us. Ladies Ministry is also going well and we'll start a book reading once the books come in. I think I have decided to name it "girlfriends" as it's unthreatening and just all around fun.

We had a new lady saved just before Christmas. I think I may have told you about her. She's been coming for a couple of months and finally it all just clicked with her! We're excited for her and I think her husband is also going to start coming to church too. He has had to work on Sundays but said he would change his schedule so that he could come to church on Sundays. Who does that? Obviously the Spirit has been working on this family for some time. It's so much fun to watch!

Our family is doing well. Nathan and I have made a New Year's Resolution to go out together more and to be more spontaneous as a family, so we started on that this week. Nolan has never had a formal 'babysitter', and neither did I growing up, but we would like for him to have one so we can go out as a couple more. More and more I hear people in the ministry talk about that, and I believe it to be true. A wise missionary wife told me once to make some time for marriage and family and let your kids know that they come before your ministry. I have never forgotten that, and am grateful that she let me in on that secret.

We had a great Christmas with my family being here. Nolan had a lot of fun with his aunts and grandparents. Nathan's parents are supposed to come out here sometime soon as well, as is his mom (his parents are his dad and stepmom, just to clarify). We're looking forward to that, as they haven't seen our home yet here in Toronto.

I hope you're having a Happy New Year so far! God Bless!

Melissa

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 01:21:43 GMT

Again, embarassing. I'm averaging a month between blogs! How sad! I was hoping for one a week, but I guess some is better than none!

Some exciting things are happening here and in our ministry. We just wrapped up our first homegroup session and it went pretty well. We ended with a 'dinner party' and tonight we brought things to fill baskets for the Fire Stations here in our town (city, really). We were able to get to know some of the people better and really connect with them.

Church is going great. We have had one lady visiting for a while now and she and her son have so many questions. They came to our homegroup party last week and seemed to have a good time. It's just a matter of time, I think, that they'll both be saved and I'm looking forward to that.

My ladies ministries here at church are going well also. We had a Christmas Brunch Gathering here at my house on Saturday and it was so much fun. We didn't have any visitors come, but it was nice to get together with ladies from church and just have some food and Christmas fun. We'll be reading "Hadassah, One Night with the King" together next year and everyone seems to be looking forward to that.

Nathan is hoping to start up a college ministry in the new year and there's a possibility that a spot at a new retail center going up right across from Durham College (5 minutes from our house) could be rented to us for a coffee house ministry and we may also have someone to underwrite it! Nathan is really excited about that and we will be praying for God's direction in that.

We're hoping to have a great Christmas here. We had a great Thanksgiving with Nathan's family and my family will be coming here for Christmas this year. We're excited about that. I finished my shopping yesterday and I feel so good about that. It's all wrapped and everything...I'm so on top of things!!! (not really, I'm usually done by now).

We find out on January 4 what the baby is and we're so excited. Everyone here is wondering why we're finding out, but I'm such a planner and stuff that I just have to know! It's more of a surprise to me; it would be torture otherwise. Everything seems to be going well there also. Thanks for praying!

Well, that's about it for Affinity news. We have a new website...www.affinitycares.ca. We're hoping for great things this coming year!

Have a great week!

Melissa

Monday, November 13, 2006

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 01:45:48 GMT

Wow, this is embarassing. What, it's been a month since I've updated everyone? Sorry about that! Life happens...

Things here are going well. We have told everyone at church and now we can officially tell you that we're expecting our second child next spring. We're very excited and hoping for a girl this time. Nolan is convinced it's a girl cause the only name he can say understandably is Abby. So that's it I guess!

Church is great. We just finished a series called "Building for Life" and today was the last of the series. It was the beginning of our building campaign and it worked much like a Faith Promise Sunday would work. These commitment cards were handed out at the beginning of the series and we were to pray about an amount God would have us to give over the next year toward a building. Today the commitments were taken and from 18 cards that were received, $38,000 was committed! We're so excited about that and Praise the Lord for a great miracle. Now if it will only come in....

We've already started decorating for Christmas. Nathan is having a competition with our neighbor about whose house can be better lit up outside and we've had our lights up for a couple of weeks now! We'll probably be decorating some more this week. It's funny here because there is no holiday between Halloween and Christmas they start celebrating Christmas right after Halloween! It's actually really fun and gives you more time to enjoy the Christmas spirit. We love it.

Speaking of Christmas my parents and sisters are coming up for it this year. That should be lots of fun. We also have no place to meet for Christmas Eve church service either because the school is closed, so we're considering renting a movie theater because there's a Christian Christmas movie (how ironic is it that I have to specify a Christian Christmas movie...) coming out that Jarret would like our church to see. It's something we're praying about.

One last thing then I'll let you stop reading. I have started a ladies ministry here at church. Friday night was our first event and it was a gathering (a "Girls Night" if you will) at one of our ladies homes. It was SO much fun. I was a little nervous about it, but it went really well. We did all kinds of girly things and watched a movie and everyone seemed to have a good time. Next month the obvious theme is Christmas and it will be here at my house. I'm so excited about it! If anyone has any ideas...you know where to send them :)

Well, I'll let you get back to your lives. Thanks for reading. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! (cause I'm sure I won't write before then...) We'll be at my in-laws for Thanksgiving and we're looking forward to a good time.

Melissa

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 11:25:21 GMT

I'm embarassed to say it's been several weeks since I've updated here, so I'm sorry about that! We were crazy busy in Texas and then with approval in Missouri and not having internet access, it made it difficult to keep in contact. We got home a 2 weeks ago and I just haven't written here! I'm a delinquent (sp??)

Anyhow, things here are continuing to go well. We got home to find our lawn mowed by our neighbor and everything in tact, just where we left it (with a neighborhood of college kids, you never know). Our neighbor, Lee and his girlfriend, Sandra, have become a matter of prayer for us. He's just the nicest guy and would do anything for ya, but he doesn't go to church. Nathan has mentioned our small group studies to him, and he's open for that. We hope to develop a relationship with them and are able to invite them one week.

Speaking of small groups, ours started up last Tuesday night and it's really good. It's at a family from the church's house but Nathan leads the discussion. We have several people and those that are there make for good dialogue during the conversation time. We have a great time there and we're hoping for growth.

We're currently in a building campaign. This next several weeks Jarret is speaking on 'building for life' (not sure of the text, I wasn't there for the first service he spoke on it). He's asking everyone to pray about a commitment to make over the next year as a gift to the building fund. He's not setting a goal , but it's working sort of like faith promise, except it's for a building. In a few weeks everyone will fill out a commitment card and whatever money comes in over the next year will go into the bank in a holding fund, I guess, until we are able to purchase some property or something. I'm not sure how it all works, but please be in prayer for this.

Nolan's birthday is coming up! In a few weeks, he'll be 2 (already!). He's saying all kinds of new words everyday and it's exciting to watch him grow and change all the time! He's having a birthday party at my parents house this weekend and they have a big-boy bed for him, which we'll set up when we get back! He's not a baby anymore :( !. He's lots of fun, though, with a huge head of curls!!

So anyway, pray for our small groups that they will do what they're intended to do. Pray for Lee and Sandra. Pray for our building campaign that the commitment will be way beyond our expectations. Pray for growth for our church. We also have a Halloween event coming up (on Halloween, of course), sort of a trunk or treat for the neighborhood so this Sunday the church is canvassing for that. Pray that we can reach our neighbors with community outreach events such as these. Pray for our own family, that we'll be wise with our finances, for us as we raise Nolan and lead our church!

Thanks everyone! God Bless.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:48:37 GMT

Hello hello!

Well, we finally made it to Texas. It was a long and hot journey without AC in our car, but we're here in Austin visiting my family for a few days. Yesterday we went to my aunt's huge 'estate-like' house for dinner and all the family was there (well, almost). It was great to get together with everyone, and it was the best time I've had with my family in a long time! Nolan went to visit his Great Nana yesterday too and he had a good time with her. We went swimming in my aunt's pool, which was cool for the middle of September! In Toronto I would probably be wearing a sweatshirt! Today is our last full day in Austin, then we leave tomorrow to go up to Dallas for a missions conference for a few days. Nathan wants to visit Ed Young Jr.'s Fellowship Church a week from Sunday, so I guess we'll see if we can find it! In Dallas we're staying with Nathan's aunt, who also has a pool, so it should probably be nice then too to go swimming! We're also seeing some friends we haven't seen in a while, so it will be an action-packed time before we head to Springfield, MO to be approved.

Actually, speaking of Springfield, we had reserved a house for the week while we're there via the mission office website. A missionary from Mexico owns the house and rents it out for those on furlough or needing a house for whatever reason. We rented it out for next week, but the keeper of the house called and said that a large family was coming into town and was looking to rent the house instead of us, and in turn they'll pay for a hotel room for us for the full week we're there! That was exciting for us, and while it won't be as great as a house, it will be cheaper (we hope) since we won't have to pay to rent the house and we'll only have to take care of meals! Praise the Lord!!

Anyway, my sis got that job she was applying for! She starts a week from Monday where she'll move in with some friends until she can make enough money to find a place of her own. I hope she finds one soon! Yippee!

Well, that's all for now from hot, sunny and oppressive Austin! Have a great weekend!

Monday, September 04, 2006

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 19:09:58 GMT

I don't have much time, so I"ll make this short and sweet.

Services went well yesterday. Jarret and Jenn were still out of town and we had a group from another baptist church in the area come and check us out to see what Affinity is all about. We had a good turnout of our own people too. Jarret and Jenn came back into town last night to see their house covered with balloons and streamers! (only inside as it was Jenn's birthday while they were gone). I'm not telling who did it, but I assume they had fun

We have 6 days til we drive to Texas, Missouri and Ohio for a mission conference, to get approved as missionaries and to visit friends. Should be an interesting time! Pray for us!

My sister had an interview last week; I"m praying for this job for her!!!

Talk with you soon!

Monday, August 28, 2006

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:06:53 GMT

Hey everyone-

Only a week this time! I'm getting there...

Things here have been just. Just playing house, setting up and making it look pretty. It's hard to do without any paint, but we're doing our best. So far, I just love it here! It already feels like home :)

Jarret and Jenn are out of town, so yesterday we had 16 people in church!!! Nolan was the only one in the nursery, which was good in a way, I guess. Nathan ran everything from the music to the announcements to the preaching. I suppose it was good practice for the someday we might start a church. It was a little discouraging to see not even 2 dozen people there, but we had a good time anyway. This weekend should also prove to be interesting as it is the 'last hurrah' before fall starts. We still worshipped the Lord, so we know He was pleased. Hey, He says where two or three are gathered, He's there!

So my little sis has an interview in Boston on Thursday. I'm super excited for her because I know this is a step she needs to take in her life; get out on her own and see how the world works and such. It will be challenging, but fun at the same time. She's stuck in a rut and I'm proud of her for stepping out like this!

We leave in 2 weeks for Texas/Missouri already! Yikes, I hope everything is in line with our approval application. I'm sure it is...hmmmmm...guess I better check. We're going to see my Nana in Texas; she's never seen Nolan and is so excited to see him! She's 87, so I guess it's time to show him off. It should be a fun trip.

Nolan, what's he up to? He can recognize the color orange, I swear he can count to 10. He's gonna be potty trained soon; he's really interested in it. He loves planes, trains and cars. He loves to watch daddy (or anyone really) mow their lawn and has a lawnmower of his own. He still loves to eat but has slowed down some as he grows. He says lots of words and is starting to form phrases. Still has a head of curls, which I hope will never go away!

Anyway, keep praying for our ministry. Our fall kickoff service is September 17 (we're not here for that one) and we're having a Halloween event on, well, Halloween (not here for that one either), so we're hoping to draw families with both of these things. Pray for us as we try to be a blessing to our pastor and his wife and for our families that they will continue to grow in the Lord. Thanks for your prayers!

Take care,

Melissa

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 15:54:48 GMT

So it's been almost a month...so sue me! Just kidding...we've been super busy here. Did I mention that we found a house here? Well our last day here while we were visiting in July we found a brand new house to move into, so we got here around the end of July, moved in a few things and went on vacation with my inlaws in Michigan for a week, which was so nice. Then we packed up the truck (our stuff was in Michigan) and moved here last Monday! Everything is working out really well. It feels like we can finally start living here since all the boxes are unpacked and most of the rooms are pretty well set up (except my bedroom, isn't that always the last thing??). It already feels like home here. Driving around the other day I noticed that I just felt right, like this is where we're supposed to be. Starting a new church won't be easy and there will certainly be some hardships and trials, but I can look back and see what God has done for me. I look at the checkbook and wonder how I'm going to pay my bills, but God always comes through. He obviously wants me here, so this is where I'll be, and when times get tough, I have to rely on Him cause He's my only source of provision!

These last few months have truly been the walk of faith that I have always read about but never experienced. A few months ago I had saved up a bunch of money designated for moving, but then we got our new (to us) pop up trailer and we put a bunch of money into that, thinking that we wouldn't be moving for a while. Wouldn't you know that the Lord found us a house just as the money was running out??!! 'How will we buy groceries and pay the rent and the utilities God'? In the past, the money has always been there before I stepped out on 'faith', or what I thought was faith, but now the money is not there, and I have to step out because He commanded me to. And you know what? He's providing just as I need it, and just like He said He would. Those problems with the van that we had last month? Taken care of. That security deposit check that we never got all those months ago? Just got it the other day. God covers us and takes care of us, but we have to learn to trust Him and step out, whether the resources are there or not knowing that He'll provide exactly what we need. I've learned that it's not faith if the resource is already there when you take that first step; it's faith when you step out and it's NOT there. That's the hard part.

Well anyhow, we're here and happy and loving it. The house is homey besides the white walls and Nathan has already started making a relationship with our neighbor across the street. That's the thrust of this new church, building relationships. That's why we're here!! So keep praying for us. We still have lots of traveling to do and certainly my faith and relationship with God is not always where it needs to be, and in this line of work, faith is all you have!

Since I'm supposed to be updating you on our ministry too, our Sunday service went well. We had about 40 or so, a few families are on holiday so we were missing about 15 people or so. We're having another fall kickoff service starting with a block party on September 10, which we'll be organizing cause Jarret and Jenn will be out of town for a couple of weeks. I'm still praying about starting a mom and tot playgroup next fall to reach out to new moms or young moms nin the area. We need a place to meet and toys and stuff, so that's a matter of prayer for me. Nathan was out of town today speaking for another pastor in the states, so he's on his way home tonight. Nolan missed him today and was kind of a bear this morning, but he's sleeping now, so that's a relief. Jarret and Jenn had organized a few families from church to bring us over meals for the last few nights, and tonight we're getting lasagna! YUMMO! Can't wait for that.

Anyhow, that's about all for now. We're just praising the Lord cause He is good to His children. Have a great week!