Alexandria Hammond and young Blaine Spittler were baptized into full fellowship of our church family. Praise the Lord! Kids and adults alike enjoyed dress-up/costume night at Kids Church for Halloween on Wed., Oct. 26. Anything imaginable from Thing ~ & Thing 2 to the Mad Hatter, "Picture Perfect" to a domino, a butterfly to Minnie Mouse, a jailbird to Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, a 50's gal and a dressed-in-Ieather cycle duo ... and sooooo many more! Fun, fun & more fun! We thank our kitchen ladies for serving cookies and drinks for our fun evening. Our Bread of Life meal was Thursday, Oct. 27 with 70 attending plus 13 homebound and 2 extra for outreach delivered to. Coming up will be our combination church and community Thanksgiving meal on November 17. We hope for a great turnout and lots of friends from the community joining us. The Kitchen ladies served another funeral dinner for the Downey family on Oct. 29th• Then that evening, our ladies along with volunteer helpers at the Refuge Youth Center handed out 168 bags of candy and 147 cups of hot chocolate for "Holy-ween" when trick-or-treaters were out in Martinsville. On Sunday evening, Nov. 6, Sister Lucy Johnson shared a slide show presentation and stories from her mission trip to Brazil, South America in September. We praise the Lord for seeds of Jesus' love and the gospel message sown to children and adults alike while the Brazil team was there. Then on Saturday, November 12, Sister Lucy and Sister Kathy showed the picture presentation and shared at the associational WMU meeting in Mt. Zion. They will come to other churches to share if asked (Lucy 217-382-4040 or Kathy 217-8493536). Throughout 2011 a different item for boys and girls was collected each month to be used for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. 31 helpers made short work (with lots of fun) on November 8th as we packed 53 shoeboxes. These were placed around the altar and everyone formed a circle for prayer before we left that evening. Then on Sunday, Nov. 13th, a dedication prayer for the ministry of these shoeboxes was given by Pastor Art in morning worship. We are so blessed with Sister Loretta Lee who emphasizes and plans this project each year. Also on Nov. 13th, special emphasis on the Voice of the Martyrs was given and a video clip of a testimony by Padina in Laos was shown in the a.m. worship service. Pastor's dedication prayer also included heartfelt intercessory prayer for this great need. Each Sunday school class was given a particular people group from the Voice of the Martyrs, to adopt and pray for. Bro. Justin has been super busy with youth work. 10 students from Martinsville went to the Fall Retreat at Palestine Assn. Campground. We have 1017 students participating on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school on a regular basis. On Wednesday nights they are averaging 45 students with new ones coming each week to join the activities. At present they are teaching "Who God Is",
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