Factoryville Bible Church (Athens, MI)

This week the team has the opportunity to minister at Factoryville Bible Church in Athens, MI.  Ardy and Jean both grew up around this area, and this church is literally out in the middle of nowhere (or so it seems).  Yes, they have running and water and electricity...well, most of the time!  Ella, Ardy's granddaughter, on her way up here from Detroit the other day, asked her mom, "do people live all the way out here in the woods?"  

Our exciting news for this week is that Christopher Boda is here with us for a few days!  We are delighted to have him share a few days of ministry with us.  He flew in on Monday from Wisconsin and he will fly out Friday morning for Dallas, Texas.  He has been able to share in school chapels and he has shared several times with the team.  Yesterday he shared his testimony with the team... what a blessing!  We have been challenged to see his passion for God's work and for his ministry in India.

Continue to pray with us about the different ministry opportunities we have in the near future.  We are going to Detroit this coming weekend.  Thank you for your prayers and for your support.  God bless you all!

Warren Dunes (Sawyer, MI)

This week we have the opportunity to minister at Oakridge Baptist Church in St. Joseph, MI.  Each year when the team travels to St. Joseph we make an effort to visit the Warren Sand Dunes located at Warren Dunes State Park, which is found along the South Eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan.  This morning we packed a sack lunch and headed off for a few hours of fun and refreshment.  My favorite part of going to the Dunes is to stay at the bottom and watch all the new, ambitious team members try to run all the way to the top without stopping.  About halfway up they usually slow down and then they finally end up walking the rest of the way.  I think it's great! 

God really worked things out so that we could go today.  When I woke up this morning at 5 a.m. to go the gym it was pouring rain.  It did this until about 10 a.m.  We were a little disappointed that we weren't going to be able to go, but God cleared the skies up for us and we enjoyed (and we still are enjoying) partially cloudy, beautiful skies the whole time we were there!  God is so good!

This is the first post for the ERM blog!  I, Nicolas Laparra, will be writing frequent updates of all that is happening in our ministry.  Visit our blog often to read updates about different opportunities we have while traveling here in the U.S. and abroad.  Many times, besides the week-long revival meetings that we hold in churches around the U.S., we have opportunities to minister in schools, nursing homes, soup kitchens, etc.  Our goal is to keep our friends and partners in ministry informed about what God is doing in our ministry and in our lives.  We may, occasionally, even have a testimony, praise, or a verse from a team member or from the leadership staff.  Thank you for visiting!  

"The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.  My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.  Amen." (I Corinthians 16.23,24)