Greetings From New Hampshire
Greetings from New Hampshire!
Friends, family, & partners, the Lord is blessing our socks off (brrrr!) as He continues to provide the grace to manage the tail end of another transition & as we are shoveling out of Winter Storm Gail’s “Welcome to New England” gift of a little less than 20” of snow in 12 hours. We’re thankful the Lord sent the light, fluffy stuff this time! He both gives & takes away, so we’re worshipping Him in the midst of a beautiful & abundantly white Christmas on the horizon.
New contact information
187 Kings Highway
Middleton, NH 03887
New home phone # is (603) 473-7042
We are in a VERY wooded, rural area with iffy cell reception for all providers. Texts come through most of the time, but not always, so that’s why we installed a home line also. If we don’t return a text or a call, please send us an email or try the new home # above. We’d hate to miss connecting with anyone!
Contact information remaining the same
Dave’s email address is still TeachingSomethingGood@gmail.com
Shannon’s email address is still VinitaReading@yahoo.com
Looking back
Precious passages like Lamentations 3:21-24 & Psalm 103:1-5 perfectly voice our NEED to remember God’s goodness in order to please Him as we live our lives moving forward.
Just 2 days before we left Pennsylvania, a family friend of one of our Pennsylvania church families needed a pastor to “say a few words” at a graveside service. Please praise the Lord with us that not only was the Gospel clearly presented, it seemed welcomed by most. Pray with us that the Kingdom seeds planted in that short 30 minutes or so grow as the Lord provides those who will water & nurture.
The Body of Christ in Pennsylvania couldn’t have been more sacrificially generous with their time & effort in helping us load the truck & pray over us & encourage us as we went. Likewise, the Body of Christ here at Middleton Gospel Chapel couldn’t have been more welcoming, thoughtful, or considerate in EVERY detail as we arrived, met everyone for the first time, prayed together, & have already launched into ministry together in several ways. More on that soon, but love compels me to share at least one story…
Just this past week, on a sunny, cold day between Winter Storms Dane & Gail, the Lord brought a kind, energetic environmental scientist to our front door asking to test the groundwater on the church & parsonage grounds as a part of a government study he was assigned to monitor. When I asked a couple of questions, he invited me to come along, & I learned a LOT! As we walked & talked, he casually asked me what I thought about evolution. With grace helping me recognize the softball the Lord was tossing me, the Spirit brought to mind to share that what bothers me, as a Bible-believer, is that I don’t see a way to believe there were millions of years of death before Adam & Eve sinned, which the Bible reveals is the cause of not only physical death, but also all suffering & then eternal spiritual death. He stopped, turned, raised his eyebrows, smiled, & said he’d grown up in a very religious home & taught that evolution could not be true, but that as a scientist he had a hard time ignoring all the evidence for evolution. Then my new friend smiled even bigger & said he’d have to think about that question because most people don’t want to learn or ask questions or consider, but just want to make sure “you think their way.” He offered his card & said he’d like to continue the conversation. Pray for Chris & I as I follow up—that the Lord will use us to bless each other.
Looking ahead
My first opportunity to preach was this past Sunday, 12/20, as we considered together Christmas past with Simeon & Anna in Luke 2:21-40, Christmas present with Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, & Christmas future on Crete in Titus 2:11-14. We’re already planning a beautiful, candle-lit Christmas Eve service where we will consider together exactly Who came to be with us from Isaiah 9:6. From there, I’ll continue preaching on Sundays & jump into leading a year-long, 404 verse study through each piece of Revelation’s 22 chapters on Wednesday nights, alongside our prayer meetings.
As the summers here offer mostly sunny days in the mid 70’s, Shannon, John, & I are planning some very visible-to-the-community & family-friendly activities in our own front yard, which is situated across from the town hall & emergency departments along Middleton’s main street—Kings Highway. More to come on that, as there will be opportunities for helpers to come stay with us & help with those events!!
Too, in the fall, our family will plan to lead a group trip to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. Again, more to come…
From John’s Heart
Hello! I am really enjoying NH! and back in September i met a new friend! and we both like computers! at the time i am writing this i can look out the window and see the snow blowing!
From Shannon’s Heart
I have found much to be thankful for. It was so hard to say goodbye to our Pennsylvania church, but we gained new eternal friends there. Every detail with the move went smoothly. God gave us time to rest and renew between assignments. New Hampshire is beautiful! We already found a new vet that is wonderful with our 12-year-old dogs. We survived our first New England winter storms Dane and Gail, with special thanks to the kind men in the church who plowed the driveway and kept it clear after the big plows came through. I’m excited to see what God has in store for us here!
As always, if the Lord moves you to make the best financial investment in the world, with guaranteed return beyond what we human beings can imagine, as a way of laying up treasures in Heaven with us in spreading & glorifying His Gospel here in the physically beautiful, but spiritually dark region of New England, we are thankful for your company. It makes the spiritual fight easier to plow into—both every day and on special occasions. We recognize that Jesus Himself welcomed Simon of Cyrene’s help to carry His cross. Following Jesus’ example, we invite you to help us carry our cross, as He leads you. Click the link below to learn more, give once, or set up a recurring gift:
https://give.villagemissions.org/donate/missionaries/missionary-detail/a-scott-dave-and-shannon
We are celebrating Jesus’ first coming & looking forward to His second with you,
Pastor Dave, Shannon, & John
Colossians 2:5-7