Update #3 (Monday)

Hello to All,

Today was a great day. Pastor Cal and I went to visit people who the church is praying for to accept Christ. Most of the people we went to see were not home, but we were able to share the gospel with Jack Ludwick and Sarah McCoy. Neither accepted Christ although they both admitted to knowing they need to and that they know how to become saved. They just don't want to at this time. The sermon tonight was good and directed at the believers to become active in sharing the gospel with the youth and lost of the community. No one made decisions, but our hopes and prayers are that this revival isn't the end of changing lives in Rock Falls, IL but only the beginning. Please continue to pray for lives to be touched.

God Bless,

Joshua

Update from Josh - #2 (Sunday Night Service)

Hello,

God is so amazing and I have been calm and collected in the pulpit and He has given me the words to speak and the believers in the church are being encouraged and are encouraging me. I found out that this church has lost many members a few years ago and is slowly beginning to grow again from that loss. We had no decisions again tonight, but God has a perfect plan and the impact may be weeks from now. Brother Cal Reynolds and I are going door to door tomorrow to meet with people in the community that need encouragement or that need salvation. My prayers are for them and for this church to become infected with the love of God and then take that love to the community.

God Bless,

Joshua Forrest

Update from Josh - #1

Hello to all,

I hope this finds you well and fired up for God. I had some good feedback from the church members about my sermon, but no one made a decision for Christ. I was very encouraged though, considering it was my first ever sermon to people over the age of 12. I know that God is going to do something amazing in this church. Just have to keep praying and giving Him the glory and when He's ready to move we will be waiting and so very encouraged.

God Bless,

Joshua Forrest

And the Forrests go "March"-ing On

Titles aren't my forte...so I thought I'd think of the cheesiest one possible. Haha. I think I found it.

Anyway, things are going well in Fort Worth. It's been busy for sure as we're getting ready for Josh to leave Saturday for his week of preaching. He is working really hard to tweak his sermons and get spiritually prepared for next week. Please keep him in your prayers and pray that God uses him exactly how is needed. (And if you have extra time you can also pray for me since I'll be home by myself for the week.) We are so excited to see how God is going to work through Josh. We know our God is always full of unexpected surprises so we can't wait to see what He has in store!

Catching up....here's a couple pictures I meant to put up earlier...

ESPN in downtown Fort Worth - filming live for the Super Bowl

Shayah, Matt, and Josh in the snow!

Enjoying the cold...actually I couldn't wait to get inside to the heat!

At a Mavs game - super fun!

More recently, Carrie came to visit! We had such a great time! It was great to see Carrie and we got to go see all the sights too. We went to everything from the Stockyards to a honkytonk to a rodeo. But mostly boot shopping! There's a lot to do here and I wish we could have had more time, but hopefully she will get to make another trip soon!

At Billy Bob's

Carrie's new truck....

Yay Longhorns!

At the Rodeo

Aren't they cute?

Other than a crazy fun week with Carrie things have been relatively quiet but busy around here. Just trying to keep up with work and school and packing. We are moving to a new apartment April 1 (I'm not exactly sure how we ended up moving on April Fool's Day). We are moving just a street over, but we're headed to a dog-friendly area so we can get a dog at some point in the near future. So if anyone feels like helping out with moving let us know! Josh is grilling steaks for the moving crew!

Before I go, here's a few food pictures.

Stuffed Peppers

Pork tenderloin, rice and black-eyed peas.

Well folks, that's all for now. I will try to keep you updated as I hear from Josh when he's preaching in Illinois. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

Snow Day!!!!!

Yay for snow! Today we had snow and ice so Josh didn't have school and I didn't have work. It was a great relaxing day of chilling out and catching up. Everything's cancelled tomorrow as well so I think Wednesday will be cleaning day :-)

Our front yard...there's a road between us and the house
across the way, but it's totally covered with snow and ice. 

Our snowed-in cars on a parking lot of ice :-)

Icicles...inside. They say our windows don't leak but I really
think they're wrong. Haha. That's seminary housing for you.

Snow days are also a great time to cook! It was so cold outside that I had hot tea going all day, and coffee too. But baking is always great for cold days! I made a cake with cream cheese icing this morning so that was dessert for the day...the rest is history.

Chicken 'n Rice with Broccoli

New recipe by Chef Josh - sausage, red potatoes with veggies.

1.30.11

Greetings from Fort Worth! I hope all of you are doing well! Everything here is going great. Josh is working hard at school and is especially excited about his "Revive this Nation" class. He's going to be preaching for a week at a church in Illinois. The class helps with preparing for preaching and delivering sermons. We are very, very excited and can't wait to see what God has in store for that week in March! Please be praying for Maranatha Baptist Church and the people who will be there to hear the messages.

Work is going pretty well for both of us too. FishStix is always crazy but fun! The 5-6 graders are going through an overview of the Bible for the next couple months. My job at McKinney is getting busier because of spring events starting up, so there's a lot of event planning going on at work.

In our spare time, however much of that there is :), we're busy trying to explore Texas as much as possible. There's lots of great parks to walk or run in around here so that's been fun when the weather's nice. The rodeo and stock show are on the agenda for next week! And of course I'm always cooking. Our newest challenge is to cook a new meal together each week. We're doing some recipe searching, so that should be really fun! Good food is always a plus :-)

Thanks for praying for us! We are excited to watch God work in our lives. God is really teaching me about focusing on my relationship with Him first and foremost and watching God work everything else out. He's the best!

Home for the Holidays and A Fresh Start for 2011

I can't believe it's already 2011! This year has flown by and it's exciting to know that God has more crazy plans for our life this year too!

Looking back at December, Josh sure had a lot going on. The end of the semester was a ton of work, but Josh finished with all As! It was a great first semester.

We got to head to SC for Christmas which was great! Thankfully we got to fly this time to avoid any potential car problems. We went to Zildjian's wedding in Charleston the weekend before Christmas and then spend the week of Christmas between Lyman and Pauline. Other than battling a cold it was a great time! It's always good to see family and catch up with everyone. Best of all we had a white Christmas! Fun in the snow is always a great addition to the holidays!

Back in Texas I headed back to work and Josh is getting a head start on next semester. We had some people over for New Years which was really fun. It was great to bring in the New Year with friends, and I love finding excuses to use our dishes! It was a shocker for me to be in a different time zone than New York. I guess the ball drop replays are just as good :-)

Happy 2011!