Hello again everybody. We’re sorry that this update is a month late. We had a wonderful summer and getting back into the swing of things this fall has been a bit of a tough adjustment. We are busy as always but are enjoying what God is doing in our lives and Portland is feeling more like home all the time.
Summer Fun
We had quite a summer. Emily finished her teaching year in mid-June. Matthew took a Biblical counseling course over the summer and not only developed his knowledge and skills as a counselor to others but was challenged by God to become more transparent in his relationships and has already seen much growth in this previously unrecognized area of weakness. Matthew was also able to work for a couple weeks through a temp agency.
Our big event for the summer was our three and a half week trip to California to visit family and friends. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of Emily’s grandparents with a family reunion in Eureka. We spent most of our time in Roseville, staying with Matthew’s parents and getting lots of time with Emily’s parents and all of our siblings as well. We also reconnected with friends and visited various aunts, uncles, cousins and all of our living grandparents along the way. On our side trips, we hiked Half Dome in Yosemite, celebrated our 2nd anniversary in Reno, escaped the heat with a day-trip to San Francisco and saw license plates from 43 states and 5 Canadian provinces along the way. It was an amazing trip! Thank you for praying. We had no transportation issues.
Changes this Fall
This fall has brought new challenges for both of us, and God continues to answer prayers. Emily is teaching Spanish 3 for the first time. She is also sharing classroom space with other teachers, carrying her teaching supplies on a cart. While this has presented many challenges, God has given Emily both grace to be more organized and effective in her teaching and additional support (such as a laptop computer on loan and smaller class sizes – only 27-30 students!) to cope with these challenges. Emily is also involved in ministry at Central Bible Church and as a member of the Student Wives Fellowship Board at Multnomah. Pray for her as she balances these responsibilities with work and home life.
Over the past few months, God has been revealing relational sin in Emily’s life that is affecting her daily life. God’s Spirit is helping her to recognize the situations and thought patterns that tempt her to wrongly seek approval from people through performance, needing to be liked, and take thoughts captive. The biggest felt need now is knowing what God wants her to replace it with!
Thank you for your prayers for Matthew’s internship. An area of ministry presented itself and he is taking on the “Shepherding Ministry” under the leadership of his mentor, our Senior Pastor David Stevens. This ministry matches people in the church who aren’t involved in small groups or Sunday School with mature Christians who will pray for and encourage them and help them stay connected to the church. Please pray for this ministry and wisdom for Matthew in how to effectively lead in this role. Additionally, Matthew is looking forward to learning more about all aspects of ministry, including personal devotion to God, during his time with Pastor David (a man we both greatly respect). Pray that God would use this internship to prepare him for what’s next.
In addition to his internship, Matthew is taking Biblical Leadership, Biblical Theology, Greek 2 and Hebrew 1. While this is actually a lighter load than last year, taking two languages has been a challenge, as has time management. These classes meet only once a week with three of them (9 hours of class) on Mondays. This leaves most of the week relatively unstructured and Matthew has been struggling with staying disciplined in the use of his time and balancing his various classes with home life and internship/ministry responsibilities. There is plenty of time to get everything done, but only if Matthew uses it well. Please pray for grace and wisdom in this area.
Prayer Requests
· That God will continue to transform our character during this time of preparation for ministry
· For time management and the recognition of God’s priorities in our day-to-day lives
· For the Shepherding ministry at Central Bible Church and Matthew’s leadership there
· For Emily to teach effectively and Matthew to learn all he can in his classes
· Praise God for a wonderful trip and successful ministry with Basque students this summer
· Praise God for answering your prayers for Emily’s teaching and a clear internship for Matthew
· Praise God for his continuing work on our character, transforming us to be more like Christ
New Phone Numbers
We’ve joined the 21st century and have gotten cell phones, but we ditched our landline to cut costs. Matthew’s number is 971-678-0375. Emily’s is 971-678-0357. As always, we’d love to hear from you!
Love In Christ,
Matthew and Emily Brooks
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