Dear Friends,

Over the last several months (18 +/-) a ministry has been "in utero" so to speak. I am writing to catch you up on what God has been doing. Believe me, I couldn't come up with a story like this on my own!

Once upon a time there were four friends...

They lived together in a beautiful, green, small town called Union City. They
were very happy there. They played a lot! Maryanne and Linda were next door
neighbors. On warm summer days they would go to the stream in the pasture out
back and swim and catch crayfish. Linda's Mom would send special treats to them
in the basket that hung down from the treehouse. Since Melanie lived on 2nd
Avenue and Sherri lived on 3rd, they played a lot. Melanie's Dad even flooded
the garage in the winter time so that they could ice-skate! Sherri and Linda
went camping together with their families. They had many adventures together
but they enjoyed quiet things like drawing each others portraits on flat stones
they found on the Lake Erie shoreline and talking about all the boys they liked.
One time Maryanne, Linda and Sherri went to a meeting where people were talking
about " Jesus" and how important it was to have faith in this man who was God.
Melanie had already decided to get to know him...but that night... they decided
in the back seat of Linda's parents car that they wanted to get to know him too.

The years passed and they grew up, moved away, got married, had babies, had
careers, grew in their faith in Jesus, had more babies...and lost touch with one
another.

And then one day...

Maryanne, moved near her home town! One day she saw Linda singing songs about
Jesus (Linda loves singing songs about Jesus!). They were so happy to see each
other that they decided to get together to talk ( the grown-up way of
"playing"). That night there were many stories about how they used to make
peanut butter taffy and put on "shows" in the back yard. They talked and talked
about old times but they talked about new times too. Linda told about how she
loved to write special dramas called 'scripture-scripts' and sing and sing.
Maryanne was happy to tell about how she had gotten to know Jesus over the last
20 years and how she loved teaching other people about him. Maryanne decided
to call her old friends Melanie and Sherri too! Excitedly they told each other
about their grown-up lives and about how they had come to know Jesus better and
what they were doing to serve him. Sherri was singing songs to Jesus in her
church, Melanie was helping people who were sad and angry.

One cold winter day Maryanne gazed out her window as she talked with God. She
thought about her three friends. She thought about the special ways that they
liked to help people get to know Jesus better...Linda likes to help people with
her special dramas, Melanie likes to listen to people's problems and then teach
them ways to solve them...Sherri likes to sing songs to God. "Hmm...wouldn't it
be wonderful if we could do all these things together?" she said wistfully.
Maryanne, felt a light bulb light up on the top of her head!! She called her
friends! The light bulbs on their heads lit up too!

Over the next few months many things happened:

• Dr. Jim Rimmer asked Linda to sing and do drama at Family First Sports Park in
  Erie at a women's conference...and she did!
• Dr. Rimmer asked Linda to come back the next year! Linda said that she had
  some friends that might want to come too! He said, "Great!"
• Linda told her friends, and they said, "Sure!"
• The four friends decided to meet together with their husbands too. Everyone
  talked and talked. Now the husband's light bulbs were lit up too.
• Except Linda's light bulb was flashing RED! She said, "I'm afraid!..I'm
  afraid that I won't be able to do it and be a good Mom too!"
• Then everyone said, "It's okay. Let's just forget about it and keep asking
  Jesus what to do."
• And they did.
• Maryanne was teaching the women in her church (First Alliance) about Jesus.
  She decided to call Melanie to see if she would come help her teach. Melanie
  said, "Sure!"
• Maryanne called Sherri and Linda too (her light was pink now), and they said,
  "Sure!"
• Melanie brought Joe, who took care of everyone.
• Sherri brought Donn, who ran the sound and lights.
• Maryanne brought Shawn,who ran the power point.
• Linda brought Mark, but he had to keep leaving to take the kids everywhere!
• Many women, young and old, came and they learned a lot about themselves and how specially God had made them. They sang songs to Jesus and they laughed at the silly dramas and they cried at the parts that were beautiful...
• They decided to call the group In Progress INC (in the name of Christ)

Of course, this is not a fairy tale, it is true. There is an even longer version to this story with many twists in the plot...but I'm going to fast forward to the present chapter...

These four friends: Maryanne Thornton, Melanie Harding, Sherri Patchen, and
Linda Troyer (along with husbands, more childhood friends and new friends) are
embarking on an "excellent adventure"!

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