.....The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

Thank you for your prayers for the ministry in Tampa and for our team!

Josh and Nate cooking our dinner!

Last month in March, we were blessed and encouraged to have had a team from Midtown Baptist Temple.  We had been praying for God to use this team to lead us to the fertile hearts (people ready to hear God's Word).  God answered our prayer, each team member was used in many ways while they were here.  While the team was here, we went to different parts of the city to find out where were the people that are wanting to study the Bible.  Our approach was to ask people 3 simple questions: What's your opinion about Jesus, what's your opinion about the Bible and would you like to study the Bible?.  As a result of those questions, we got a list of 40 people that said that they wanted to study the Bible.  Mark, Lucy and I are currently meeting with some of those people weekly.  We are praying that these will be our first disciples that will make more disciples.  We had a great time just having fellowship with the team!  They were great servants and bold to share the gospel!

MBT Team praying for our day.

Our teen Bible study continues to grow and they are asking great questions.  A couple of them are very close to coming into a relationship with God.  We continue to meet every Thursday night and we have between 8-13 kids that show up.  Our love for them has grown rapidly!  Mark has shared the gospel almost every week for the last four months.  Most of the kids have never heard it before and it's all new to them, but it's been so exciting to see how God is starting to open up their eyes to His Truth.  His Word is powerful and sharper than any two edged sword!  Please be praying for their salvation.

Mark teaching during teen bible study.

Along with the victories and excitements of ministry, we've also have had some opposition from the enemy.  We know that we minister in light of spiritual realities.  We have seen that week after week.  The enemy tries to distract us, frustrate us and discourage us with circumstances of life.  We are so thankful that we have our church body at Midtown and others that pray for us constantly.  We need your prayers daily!
It's been difficult financially due to Mark's job being based on commission only.  It's been a challenge to devote the time he would like to ministry and still make it every month with our financial expenses.  We sometimes feel like it distracts from the ministry.  We need prayer that God will provide financially for our needs so Mark can be freed up to devote more of his time in the souls of men and the studying of God's Word.  In the midst of it all, God has been faithful to provide and we continue to be obedient to what He leads us to do.

Lucy has also had some opposition through her job.  Her work load has gone up due to people resigning from the job, so she's been busy and tired with all the work load.  She's meeting with a girl that is very hungry for God's word and God is using Lucy in her life.  She's also investing in a girl from China and she's investing in our 3 kids.  We appreciate her godly example of a woman for our girls! and I admire her patience with all the boy stuff that my son does around her.:)

We celebrated Lucy's b-day in March.:)

We are excited about the Toti's coming to join us.  We are praying that God will provide a job for Ron soon so that they can get here by July.  We need more hands to plow this field.  :)

Looking ahead.................This week we are at a point of making important decisions that are out of our control.  We need God to move to lead us.  Our lease is coming up for renewal on May 6th.  We need to decide if we're going to stay here another year or move somewhere else in the city.  After the team was here, it was evident that the fertile ground was at USF (University of South Florida) which is about 45-50 minutes away from where we live now.  We would like to live closer to USF so we could be more involved with the students.   We would like our next move to be into a house so we can have more room and more freedom to host things for ministry.  In our apartment we are restricted in space and noise levels with our neighbors so it makes it difficult to do some things.  We need God to open a door for us to be able to get into a home, to direct us to the right area to live for our kids, and a place that would be within a reasonable distance from USF.  We trust and believe that He has a plan for us.  We need his direction soon so we can make a wise decision by May 6th.  We need your prayers!!!!!

Fun night with the Mehl's

We had some more visitors the last couple of months.  Other than the team in March, we had the Mehl's over for dinner on Lucy's birthday and just this weekend James Fyffe was here for a visit.  It was great to hear what God is doing in their lives and it's always encouraging to have fellowship with other believers.  We love visitors!!!!:)

Our day at USF.

In summary, here are our prayer requests:

1.  Salvation for the teens coming to the Bible Study
2.  Our one-on-one Bible studies
3.  Decision about our move by May 6th
4.  A job for Ron Toti
5.  Financial provision through Mark's job and outside support
6.  Physical strength for Lucy with her job and discernment moving forward.
7.  Protection for our kids and spiritual growth in their lives.

We are so thankful to have a church that prays for us, cares for us and most important cares about God's mission.  Thank you MBT members for your support in prayer and financially. :)

We love you all!

Mark, Astrid, Syera, Dylan, Nykki and Lucy