From Cheryl:

Greetings from The River, Moxee!

It has been yet another amazing month at The River Church, Moxee! God has been blessing our family and church over and over again with his presence, provision and power. He has certainly done more than we could ask or imagine in the month of August!

We began the month by hosting a booth at our local Hops Festival here in Moxee. A big shout out to our friends at Helping Hands 4 Christ for providing the booth, tables and making the arrangements with the city for us to be there. You guys blessed us tremendously! We were asked to make balloon animals for the kids so that’s exactly what we did. But first, we had to figure out how to make balloon animals! (Again, thanks HH4C for the instructional video!) After a very short tutorial, we were set to make balloon animal history at Hops Fest 2014! I don’t think we actually made history, but I’m pretty sure we made hundreds and hundreds of balloon animals. None of us were prepared for how sore our fingers would become from tying off all those balloons. Ouch! But the good news was, we got about two dozen kids registered for the upcoming Summer Children’s Program! Yay, God! It was also just a wonderful opportunity to get out in the community and get to know them and let them get to know us. We even met one family there that has since joined us at The River. Praise God!!

After Hops Fest, our attention fully turned to the arrival of the Georgia mission team and the start of the Summer Children’s Program. I have to admit, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all there was to do. But again, through God’s power and grace, it all got done. The GA mission team arrived on August 16th and were ready to get right to work. Lucky for them, there was plenty to do! We prepared crafts, went prayer walking, handed out information about the SCP, handed out water bottles and did many, many other activities. Of course, the highlight was the SCP, which began on the evening of August 18th.

The Summer Children’s Program was amazing!! First, we had two teams join us: Chestnut Street Baptist Church in Ellensburg, WA, and Terrace Heights Baptist Church in Yakima, WA. (Thanks everyone!) The hours that led up to that first evening were insane as we raced to complete a million last minute tasks but again, God was faithful and helped us through. Everything got done and we began the week with 36 kids in attendance. The next night, we had 50 kids come out!! Wednesday night, Michael presented the gospel to the kids and several raised their hands to pray and respond to the gospel!! We were overwhelmed by what God was doing and are still trying to follow up with the kids and their families.

The week culminated with the Block Party. It was another busy day with lots and lots of loose ends to pull together but God had it all in his capable hands. After a week of near perfect weather, on the day of the block party, rain and storms were predicted. Sure enough, as we finished setting up, the storms arrived. We prayed that God would still bring people out and he certainly did! We had approximately 300 in attendance!! I like to say God sent the rain because if it had been bright and sunny we would’ve been completely overwhelmed! Hot dogs, snow cones, popcorn and face painting were all a part of the fun to the glory of God. Another big shout out to CSBC, THBC, Parkway Baptist Church (GA) and Richland Baptist Church for providing the volunteers and resources to help make this happen. Several churches were used mightily by the Lord to make His name famous and give him glory!

The day after the block party it was time to say farewell to our beloved GA mission team. It had been an exhausting but fun time serving the Lord with them. Before they left, we of course had to show off our beautiful state and took a trip to Mt. Rainier. That was a special treat!

The Lord has certainly been working here in Moxee in the month of August. So much so, we can hardly keep up. Please be praying for us as we strategically plan for the last few months of the year. We would like to start up at least two additional Missional Communities and several new Discipling Groups. Please pray for us as we disciple new friends and neighbors that God has brought into our lives. We are praying for lives to be transformed! Please also pray for favor in the community and that God would bring more people into community at The River Church, Moxee.

God bless you all!

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