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Our church is delighted and blessed beyond measure. We have had the pleasure of meeting a very sweet Japanese family. God arranged this through his divine appointment. Many events fell into place and this brought the Ichitsubo family to our church. Tetsu, Ayako, Katuski, and Kyoka have been attending since June of last year. Around December, the couple began to ask questions about becoming a Christian. Due to the communication barrier, our church reached out to one of our Missionaries who just came back from Japan and will be returning later this year. The name of the Missionary is Shannon Little. Shannon spent one Sunday afternoon translating for our pastor Darvin Oakes and deacon Ron Franks. Together with the Holy Spirit guiding Tetsu and Ayako gave their hearts to Christ on January 23. On February 6, they both were baptize, with their friends attending from the Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church. They too shared a part of seeing the Ichitsubo family come to know Christ. Please pray for this family as they return back to Japan on March 8. Already this year our church has experience so many blessings. This has just been one more.
We have a young man who decided to join our church Sunday night after our production of Christmas at home. His name is Preston Watkins. His parents joined eariler in the fall and Preston felt God was leading him to do the same. Our church rejoices for these new members in our church family. God has been so good to our church this year and has blessed us abundandly.
Our church has been blessed this year beyond measure. We are wrapping up another year and are able to announce that we have added more members to our church family. This is so exciting. We have members of a family who have rededicated their lives, followed through with baptism, and joined our church, TJ and Trista Strong. They have 4 children, Kandy, Kayla, Rylan, and Kallie.
Hardin Valley would like to welcome Grace and Tom Watkins to our church family. Grace Watkins has been a member at the
Valley View Free Will Baptist Church in Loudon, for a number of years and has served in different capacities such as teacher,
womens auxiliary, church bulletin coordinator, and choir member. Preston Watkins, Tom and Grace's son, is attending with his
parents and enjoying being part of the youth group. We look forward to see how God is going to use the ministries of Tom,
Grace, and Preston to support God's work.
Our fellowship dinner
Hardin Valley would also like to introduce you to Ms. Debbie Inman and Ms. Becky Patino. These two special ladies came
to us at different times, but both have been good friends, and neighbors for a number of years. Since each lady has been coming to
the church, both have been faithful to God's ministry. Each decided they wanted to become members of the Hardin Valley FWB
church family. We are happy to say that we have extended our family once again by adding these sweet ladies. Both of these
ladies have been an asset to us and will continue to be a blessing to our church.
On September 18th, the Hardin Valley Youth group had the opportunity to participate in mission work through Water Angel Ministries. Water Angel Ministries transports children from different areas to their mission downtown, located off of University Ave. Children of all ages attended. Our youth served 53 children lunch, and provided songs for the children to sing. Finally the most important part of the afternoon was the Bible lesson, which was brought by Jane Franks, one of our youth teachers. Outdoor activities were headed up by Brandon Shope, along with the youth. Jana Shope made sure all the crafts were set up for the enjoyment of the children. The youth would like to thank everyone who helped them support this ministry. A special thanks to Jane Franks for over seeing this project.
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