The Baran Family

The Lord again blessed us in West Seneca, New York at the Center Road Baptist Church.  We were there for their Sunday night service and presented our burden for the Philippines.  The church was very kind and opened up their missions closet to us.  It just so happened that they had a very nice car seat and other baby items that we will need once our little one is born!  We’re so thankful for the Lord’s provision for our family!     

Pastor David Smith and our friends at the First Bible Baptist Church in Harmony, Pennsylvania asked us to join them for their Sunday services. The church was very interested in the ministry the Lord gave us and took the time to ask questions and talk after the service.  This is always an encouragement to my wife and I! We did have a little bit of a mishap right before we went to the church.  It seems a skunk lives under the house where we keep our clothes and equipment. We never saw the animal but you could certainly smell him all over the house and our belongings.  The night before the meeting we drenched everything in fabreeze and lit a bunch of candles.  This helped but you could still detect a faint odor on some of our clothes. We arrived at the church and hoped the smell had died enough for no one to notice.  Before starting my message I said if anyone caught the faint aroma of skunk don’t blame your friends in the next pew, it’s your missionaries!  It seems the deputation trail has been full of unexpected adventures!  We thank the Lord for letting us serve Him!

We were recently invited by Pastor Roscoe to set up our display at the Youth Ablaze meeting in Chili, New York. They meet annually and this year marks their twentieth anniversary.  I knew this would be a unique opportunity for us as many churches from several states attend this conference.  This year proved to be no exception and was very well attended.  It was exciting to see several of our supporting churches there, giving us the opportunity to fellowship with them.  Praise the Lord, we were also able to meet several new contacts!  Please pray that we would be able to schedule meetings with these new churches!