Look Who Visited

Hello again to all who have been following along with our time in the San Francisco Peninsula Ecclesia! I hope today's blog not only provides an update of our March to May, but also inspires those reading to see if some of these things that we have been helping with might work for your own groups and Ecclesias.

We have been very blessed to continue to get to know our spiritual family in the SFP Ecclesia. When anyone is first introduced into a new group of people it can feel like “cold calling” at times to start building relationships and it is a balance of organically producing relationships and curating environments to grow closer and get to know each other. This takes a lot of time serving together in Ecclesial events and in the more low key moments outside of official events. The idea of being a sponsored “Domestic missionaries/support couple” is a newer one in the community at large and we have been learning a lot this year and shifting and changing with various needs.

Some lessons this spring:

Change can take a long time and sometimes God’s plan is for seeds to be planted in people’s hearts to grow in future years to come.

Sometimes things do not look obvious for God answering our prayers, but it is important to think on how God has answered our prayers and how He is working in our lives. It has also been very important to be positive about what God is trying to teach us and ways He is leading us personally to grow, not just those around us. It can be easy to focus on the things we want to happen that are not happening in Ecclesial life and we might miss all the small miracles right in front of us that God has blessed us with and prayers He is answering.

Another lesson has been how special our Ecclesial families can be and how important it is to have each other and help one another in our faith journeys.

So for the rest of our blog I want to talk about some of the special events that have happened this past spring.

March started with our Weekend with the Word gathering with classes led by Bro. Allen Laben, we had visitors from the surrounding Northern California Ecclesias. We also enjoyed going out to skate with a group Saturday night and our Sunday school play on Sunday afternoon.

Throughout the spring we had several more of our women’s Abide and Bloom devotional group mornings that brought some lovely discussion and time together in an intimate setting. We also were blessed personally with visits from both of our parents. Our families were able to support some SFP events with helping exhort, playing the piano and boosting numbers at various events and visiting with Ecclesial members.

The spring also brought many weeks of different spring break schedules, but we were able to come together for a family evening at the end of April, at a beach with the Hensley family. Bro. Jason and Sis. Ruth visited with three of their girls and we enjoyed fellowship at the beach and then Sunday Bro. Jason gave adult Sunday school and the exhortation. We also appreciated Sis. Ruth teaching the younger kids' class and their girls boosted numbers in the kids program.

The spring also kicked off Vacation Bible School planning and advertising. We had a group get together and post flyers around the hall and talk to local people and businesses. We also created mailers to be sent directly to homes, online advertising and went to a market and local libraries, etc. If your Ecclesia is looking to start or continue a VBS and are looking for ways to reach the community more, please feel free to reach out about how we have advertised to the public.

We also were busy in the spring doing background work with organizing a CYC youth weekend that was hosted by SFP at Matanah Meadows near Sequoia National Park in May. It was a very special weekend where we had almost 30 people (teenagers, young adults and support staff) who came from southern and northern California Ecclesias. We had a weekend of hiking in Sequoia, devotions, Bible readings, fellowship, hymn singing, and games, with Sunday school and exhortation on Sunday. It was a wonderful weekend connecting Northern California young people with Southern Ecclesias surrounded by God’s nature.

Following this weekend we had an Ecclesial family outing to Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay where we took a ferry together, had a picnic, games, devotion and hiking. The Russell family from Verdugo Ecclesia came to support us that weekend with helping exhort, teach Sunday school and games. I highly recommend trying to do some kind of special Ecclesial outing trip for your group. It was beneficial for all who attended.

The last weekend in May was our Sunday school picnic after a memorial service at a local park. We had prize giving, BBQ lunch, games and thoughts of thanks to the Ecclesia for the Sunday school year.

Our spring was very busy and we felt like God blessed each event and was uplifting to those who attended. The last things we wanted to touch on was appreciating visits with some of the senior members of the Ecclesia which we have done readings with and some meals. Their example and company has been greatly appreciated. We also concluded our biweekly Tuesday night classes in homes and biweekly Wednesday seminars at the hall for the summer. These also were highlights to us for meeting with members in person once a week around God’s word.

Thank you for reading about our spring at the SFP Ecclesia. Our time is coming to an end for living in the area as the SFP support couple, but we view our time here as not the end but the beginning of a continued relationship and support towards the Kingdom.

Bro. Gideon & Sis. Shoshanna Hewitson