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August 12, 2008
Dear Praying Friends and Supporting Churches,
Gen 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Another month has gone by and we are at awe of our Great Savior and his guiding hand! “Is anything to hard for the LORD?” If you read our last month's prayer letter you understand the context, and I am utterly amazed at how merciful God is and how he takes care of us ALL THE TIME!!! As far as I can tell in the next few weeks (Lord-willing) all the expenses of last month will be behind us completely. Our truck is doing great, our camper is getting fixed now, I am all healed up from my surgery and going at it 100% better. I do thank you all for your prayers and support.
“At the time appointed… according to the time of life…” We are very happy to announce that the Lord has saw fit to give us another child! As we lost Levi, our son, this past December we are nervous but trusting the Lord's will be done. Kacie is doing fine so far. She just had her first appointment and she is about 10 weeks already. The due date is March 8th (my birthday). With Levi being a still born, this is a high risk pregnancy with a few extra doctors' appointments and checkups. They highly recommended that she stay a bit closer to the doctor for all of the extra tests that they will run. So after much prayer and talking to some men of God for counsel, we have decided to stay close to our home church in Kentucky and have the baby born there. Once my pastor and I talked and made the decision, our home church decided to remodel our old church and turn it into a parsonage for us. “PRAISE THE LORD!” We hope to be moved into it some time in September as they are beginning to start things as soon as possible. This will allow us to stay close by and Kacie to take it easy this pregnancy (by getting out of our camper).
We also are very thankful that Masters Ranch in Couch, MO gave us a 1997 Dodge Caravan to help save on fuel costs. That now gives Kacie a car to drive while I go to meetings. I am praying that as we are nearing the last quarter of our support to be raised, that I can take weekend only meetings. This way I can stay close to Kacie (I do not think it wise to leave my wife very long periods of time if I can help it), and stay close to our home church to help out some on Wednesdays, as I can.
We were hoping to finish deputation (and still hope) by the first of the year, in hopes that we could head to the field by the early spring. But with the baby on the way that just gives us a little more time to plan the move and get ready to live in Germany. So Lord willing we can still finish deputation around the first of the year before the baby comes and get things settled to leave the country.
Again we sure thank you all for your prayers and support. We request prayer for: My mother Ronda's fellowship with the Lord (she is in a Baptist church now), my sister Kelly's spiritual growth (we are still doing bible study), and a boy at Masters Ranch named Andrew for salvation as well as Todd, Devin and Ronnie that are lost in our family.
Even so come Lord Jesus,
Mark, Kacie and Naomi Smith