Meet Maggie!

Well as usual it has been crazy around here! We don't slow down much. Haha. We moved April 1 so that was a busy start to the spring! I guess instead of spring cleaning we decided spring moving would be more effective. Thankfully we have a little more space now and so we won't need to move again any time soon!

Packing...I was sure glad when it was over

Josh - the solution to stressful moving!

The second week of April, Josh turned 23 and we adopted Maggie. We are so excited to have added a dog to the family! She is pretty entertaining and fairly calm...except around birds and squirrels. I guess she just loves to chase things. But we are excited to have her around and she is a great way to meet new people too. We live in a dog friendly are and so our street seems to be pretty social. Lots of dog walking going on!

Maggie Forrest! :-)

Josh is almost finished with classes for the semester (exams are next week), so we are gearing up for summer now. I've been busy at work getting ready for all the summer student ministry, and Josh has been getting ready for the transition with FishStix for the summer too. FishStix is getting a new pastor this summer so we are excited to have Ryan and his wife, Jordyn, coming in June! The current 5/6 pastor is transitioning into the college ministry.

One really fun part of our ministry with FishStix this spring has been University Little League. We have had a blast going to baseball games and cheering on the boys and getting to know their families. We have a lot of kids in our church that are involved in ULL so it's always great to go hang out with them and encourage them and their parents. And as always, when we go to encourage others we leave very encouraged ourselves!

One of our many talented pitchers from FishStix

In our spare time, we always find random fun things to do around Fort Worth. We've made it a point to keep "dating" since we got married so that gives us an excuse to do a lot of cool things. Here's a couple of our favorites. We went and saw Josh Turner in concert. He is my absolute favorite artist and I was smiling ear-to-ear the whole time! It was awesome! And Josh was so sweet and got up early to get us amazing seats! Another fun date was going to see the Rangers play. We are both quickly becoming fans and so it was really exciting to get a good deal on seats and be able to go! (Although we were really far up so foul balls were completely out of the question. Haha)

Josh Turner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ear-to-ear grin at the concert

A gospel choir singing the National Anthem at the Rangers game.

Well that's about all for now. We will be headed back to visit SC at the end of May so we are getting excited about a trip home! Can't wait to have more to tell you about soon. Thanks for continuing to pray for us. Remember Josh as he is finishing classes next week and for the summer classes he will be taking starting in June. Also be praying for FishStix in this summer's transition of leadership. We are praying hard that this will be a smooth transition and that Ryan will bring about great changes and that Ben will be really effective in the college ministry. We are praying that this change really helps these kids to understand what a Christian is like and how God can use them if they are willing to accept Him. Thanks for keeping up with us!

Update #5 (Wednesday)

Hello to All,

Brother Cal and I spent most of the afternoon visiting people who used to attend the church. We have been encouraging them to come back to the church and to especially come tonight to the revival. It has been a great experience and I learned a great deal about pastoring a church and caring for the people and the community.

We had youth night tonight and we had a great crowd. There were no decisions, but we feel as if God moved and hopefully those people will talk with someone about what God is doing in their heart. I loved my experience and I would love to go come back to Rock Falls, Illinois and preach any time.

God Bless,

Joshua Forrest

Update #4 (Tuesday)

Hello to all,

One of the members of the church, Wallace, and I went out visiting today and we were able to share the gospel at every house and we led Mike Grieve to Christ. Mike needs prayer and encouragement. It was amazing to see how many people have their hearts turned off, and in the middle of it all God opened a heart and we rejoice at how amazing God is. Praise and glory be to God for all that he does.

God moved in the service tonight. I preached on the characteristics of overcoming the world tonight and God opened hearts and convicted two ladies about holding grudges and being obedient to God. God gets all the honor and glory, I merely delivered what he already had planned.

God Bless,

Joshua

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!