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• Scott • Laura • Jackson • Makayla • Avianna • December 2010

PRAISES “The life


life--long lesson of trusting” By Laura Carter
 We held our first public We would like to tell you about all of made, we would move to the new church
worship service this past the things that God has done over the building. It was so amazing how God had
Sunday!
past few weeks. To say that it has been worked it all out!
 Our whole family has re- a roller-coaster ride would be an under-
mained healthy. Meanwhile, Holly, Juana and I had
statement! Our team has been praying
 been working hard on offering two differ-
We continue to meet new and planning and praying and planning
people and build relation- ent cooking workshops for moms and
for our first public service since the time
ships. their children during their Christmas
we arrived here in February. We so
 We have a place to meet break. We desired to see families inter-
desire to follow God’s leading and not
for church services until acting instead of just existing. We
God directs us elsewhere. get ahead of ourselves that we have
planned and organized and prayed for
been very slow and cautious. But we
 God continues to teach us these two opportunities to get to know
dependence upon Him.
have still found ourselves feeling quite
confused from the recent events. I will
 We look forward to cele-
brating the birth of our
try to explain the past few weeks events
Savior! so please bear with me.

Our team came up with a plan to


REQUESTS have our first public service the first
 Perseverance
Sunday of December in a temporary
location. Then in December, while an
 Acceptance of cultural issues
evangelistic team from Bogota is here
 Salvation of Guido and Ma- helping out, we planned to have a special
First public worship service, Dec. 5, 2010!
gali ceremony for the new church in its new
 Salvation of Carlos and his permanent location. The Lord had so the ladies better and to share the gospel
aunt Carmen clearly directed the guys to an amazing with them. We truly expected a big turn-
 Salvation of Bruno place for an amazing price. They imme- out as many women enthusiastically as-
diately left a deposit and got a receipt sured us of their attendance.
 Salvation of Eduardo’s family
(wife-Maria del Carmen, and and waited to sign the official contract.
The first week the turn out was low,
grown children Arlet, Eduardo The guys were also able to get out of
Jr. and Moises) but we were encouraged because of the
their office contract as there was space

attendance of two specific ladies we had
That Scott, Jon and Alfredo in the new building for an office.. The
will be able to arrange more all been praying hard for. The next week
plan seemed to be exactly what the Lord
Bible studies with non- I was pretty much devastated. After in-
believers wanted. Everything was falling into
viting at least 15 women myself (not to
place. We would start services in a
 That new people will attend
worship services
doctors office for the month of Decem- (cont’d page 2)
ber and then when the repairs were
The Carter Family Page 2
Newsletter
“The life
life--long lesson of trusting” -cont’d”
mention those that Holly and Juana invited and all their hard work too) and baking tons of sugar cookies for them to decorate,
only 4 women came with their children. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. Why had they all told me to my face that
they would come? What had happened? Why had the Lord allowed this to happen? What could I learn from this?

Well, I honestly don’t have a clear answer other than the fact that God is sovereign and I MUST trust him for the out-
come. Scott reminded me several times that if I did it for the Lord then I had to leave the results with him . It took a couple
days for me to recover from the disappointment, but what Scott said is so true. I must do my part and leave the outcome to
Him.
Okay, now back to the church building. The day after the cookie bake while I was still recuperating physically and spiritu-
ally, the owner of the building called and wanted a meeting with the guys. Scott came home later feeling as discouraged as I
was. The owner had changed his mind and refused to rent the building to us. What was the Lord doing? We were now
without an office, without a church building and back to square one. The one positive thing was that we were still able to
rent the doctors office for now.

However in spite of it all, yesterday we held our first public service and had twelve adults plus several children in atten-
dance besides our families! We were very encouraged! We may not always understand the Lord’s plans, but the simple
truth that He is sovereign allows us to get through the times of confusion and discouragement. And just like Scott reminded
me, if we are faithful and plug away doing it all for God’s glory, then we are able to truly rest in him and trust him for the
results, even if they aren’t the results that we expected.

Jackson is now 9 years old and maturing a lot. God used our school curriculum to really touch
his heart these past couple of months. He learned about the need for the gospel in the country of India and made

lots of efforts to raise money to help send children to bible clubs. Makayla turned 8
and continues to enjoy gymnastics. God continues to use her to open many doors.

Avianna is such a little pill. She too has matured and is beginning to blossom. She
continues to enjoy swimming and coloring.
Communication has never been easier!

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In Colombia it is customary for the entire family to stay


up late on Christmas Eve and open all of their presents right
after midnight. It is not uncommon as a result to see chil- Prayer Skype Facebook
dren playing with their new toys and their friends in the Team

streets into the early morning hours of Christmas day. Co-


lombians also will launch large bottle rockets after midnight
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