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Hey guys,

Its been a long time coming but we are in business and its time to update the world on what’s going on here in Lakewood.  Quick overview: Expectations build, soft launch, Christmas, services, off weeks, and travel.

As the launch week of our services approached we really had no idea what to expect.  I for one was back and forth between despairing that no one was going to come and expecting like 85 people to show up.  I went back and forth so many times that I just gave up trying to figure it all out.  We had planned for like 50 people but we really had no idea.  So we got everything ready including pancakes, Christmas gifts, flyers, visitor information cards, our banner, and my guitar and headed off to the Library!

So December 23rd arrived.  Cam’s Aunt and Uncle and their two girls showed up to help us get all set up and surprisingly almost everything went off without a hitch.  Except that we blew the circuits by using two griddles more than once. Ha ha! So the question is how many people showed up.  Well excluding all of us that were there to help, 4 people showed up for a grand total of 14 people.  This was great and we all had pancakes and enjoyed songs and Cam’s Christmas message.  Then afterwards cam took the lady outside to our cars and she got a bunch of gifts for her kids as well as some for another mom that she knew needed them.  So they were blessed, we stopped holding our breath and all was good.

After that we took a couple days just to relax and enjoy Christmas.  It was just the Barbers and I.  We had a lot of fun and it took a while to pen presents because every present that was opened had to be played with for at least 10 minutes before another could be opened.  Parents of all young kids should understand that one.   We had Christmas dinner at Cam’s uncle’s house, and it was an overall great first Christmas in WA.  Oh and instead of a white Christmas, it was a rainy Christmas, which was awesome as well.

Since then we have been having services every other week.  So we have had a grand total of one more service,  which also went really well.  We had 11 show up for that week so it was just us and our loyal Bible study partner Mary.  But we all had a great time and things went very well again, without the circuits popping this time.

So now you are wondering, what do we do on the weeks that we are not having service?  And the answer is… Service.  What I mean by that is on our off weeks we will be going out to people, specifically the homeless, and serving them in any way we can, starting with food.  So we went and made big snack bags for whoever we found and went out to find people.  We had a really hard time finding them but we did manage to bless a couple people with the bags.  Then when we got back to the library, we found a guy names Jason who was sleeping under the shelter of the library roof.  We gave him a bag and he was grateful so we asked if we could do anything else for him.  He said that a warmer blanket would be nice, so Cam left to go find one.  Kenzie then suggested that we go to target and Cam thought of a sleeping bag.  So we got one that was good down to 30 degrees even though it hadn’t gotten that cold yet.  We brought it back to Jason and he was very very grateful.  He climbed right in and we realized the blanket he has was nothing more than a bed sheet and that night ended up being the first time that it froze here.  Talk about being there in the nick of time for God to bless him.  So cool.

I just recently got to go home for second Christmas with my family and visit my fiance for a couple days.  That was a great trip albeit, way to short.  We did a lot regarding wedding plans and all seems to be coming together well.   I am also in the process of possibly getting a job with Dunbar, the same job that Cam has, so please pray that everything works out and I finally get a job.

Our next service is this coming Sunday, January 20th, so please keep that in your prayers and pray that more people would come and be fed and hear the Gospel.  Thanks so much for all your continued support.  God is moving here, we are being used to bless people in need, and we are very much looking forward to what God is going to do in the future.

In Him,

Landon