October 2008 Rhodes Family Church Planting Update

Dear Family and Friends,

Here we are in month 4 of fundraising and it has been the most challenging and faith building 4 months of our lives. We have grown so much in our faith these last few months and can say with confidence that we are very full of joy! We have seen people come out of the woodwork to support us and we are overwhelmed to say the least. We are steadily moving closer to our goal and closer to the day we can plant our roots in Chico.

We have finally adjusted to life with the mom and work at the Dad at home. The first few weeks were hard, but now Gabriella happily says goodbye to mommy in the morning knowing that she will have her all afternoon to play. Jeremy is bonding very closely with both Gabriella and Josiah and learning so much from the experience. It is amazing that in this “holding” pattern we are in, God is still teaching us things daily and preparing us for the work he has ahead.

We recently attended a Pastors Conference at Hume Lake Christian Camps. It was very uplifting and rejuvenating. We were able to meet a lot of other Pastors in Converge PacWest, which will be our district when we plant. Jeremy shared with them a little about what we are doing and asked them to walk in faith with us and support us.

Many prayers have been answered for us this month. First of all we have pushed past our half waypoint and have under $1,000 left to raise!! In one week we raised $400 more a month!! Another praise is that Gabriella is starting to come out of that “terrible 2 (and 3)” stage. She is learning to listen and obey. She has always been a sweet girl, but she is really starting to take a great turn. All of this just in time for Josiah to enter into it! We also praise God for his financial provision during this time of transition. Our savings has lasted us far longer than we ever thought it would, but that is just how God works!

Our prayer requests are that we raise the additional funds needed. We pray that the churches we met at the conference will commit support to us and that more individuals will as well. We also pray for the people of Chico. We ask that you pray over underground occult activities going on there. We ask that God would continue to prepare us for the journey ahead. And lastly we ask that we use all of this time in Fremont to it’s fullest. We don’t want to waist any of it.

Thank you all. We appreciate you so much. If you have committed support to us please send in your monthly support for October. Remember you can set up automatic bill pay online at www.sunergeo.com/donate and you can also make first time
commitments there. If you have felt God tug at your heart to support us we pray you would take the leap us faith with us and join our team.

Blessings,
Jeremy and Elizabeth Rhodes

Email: pastor.jdr@gmail.com
Total amount to Raise: $2300 /month
Amount Left to Raise: $975/ month