Interesting Month

Some highlights: IWU Youth Conference--we took Melissa, our friend from church, down to IWU to preview the university and hopefully encourage her to attend there. The weekend was fast, long and incredible. Incredible to be home, to catch up with friends from school, work & church, and to see Melissa's reaction to what "Wesleyan" is outside of Baraboo:) The only downfall was that we didn't see Josh's parents at all, and only saw mine for about an hour.

But, Mom and Shawn made the trip up two weeks later to help us plan our finances and celebrate Josh's birthday. We had a fun time touring the Dells souvenir stores and eating Culver's. Thanks for coming!

Last weekend, Stephen, Michelle, Titus & Damaris Mowat visited the Dells and we were able to spend some time with their family. I think this is the first time we've been with them when both kids were awake. What fun!

For most of March, we unexpectedly shared our house with a mother & her three children who were in a desperate situation. The time went much better than I thought it would. It was nice to have them with us, and we had many conversations and Bible stories about Jesus and following Christ. Please pray for this family, as they do need to see a consistent Christian life lived out and also need to choose to let Christ into their lives.

It is nice to have the house back to ourselves again though. After hosting missionaries each weekend in February, then sharing the house with the family, it is a relief just to wake up to a house for the two of us.

Some urgent needs: Josh is looking for a nearly full-time job this month. We met with our leadership team to discuss the upcoming budget, and realized we all had to make a choice between maintaining the church building and having a bit of money to do outreach and aid spiritual growth or paying Josh a full-time salary. So, Josh will start work somewhere around here, probably 25-30 hours a week, depending upon the pay-rate, and also juggle pastoral & restart responsibilities. Neither of us is too excited about this for a few reasons: We feel like we are running with our heads cut off much of the time, attempting to get structures in order and fuel some energy and ideas into moving the church in a new direction...adding an additional job on top of this just seems so overwhelming. We are praying that the job is flexible to allow Josh to still participate in ministry related meetings, hospital visits & funerals, as well as camp roles and travel that we'd already planned for the coming year. We also had the hope of having an intern with us for 6 months to help start a teen ministry & worship, but with this new change in Josh's responsibilities, that seems unlikely, although much more necessary. The church is at a standstill on the remodeling project because we need guys who can mud and tape the drywall. We are also almost out of money to keep moving on. Josh was working on this project pretty hard, and with an additional job, I don't know what will take place. We have just 1 car, so our schedules & job locations need to be pretty flexible and local. And my kindergarten job ends the beginning of June. Our finances are tight as it is . . . We have the summer planned with camps, a mission team, Josh's ordination, and hopefully a vacation, although now that might not be possible. Anyway, sometimes we are unsure if we'll make it through the year. We are trying not to worry, but...At the end of the year, the church will close if something drastic in attendance & finances don't change. We are beginning the year when our district support is at 1/3 of the original amount, and next year we are on our own (if nothing changes, that means the church will close)so we are also trying to figure out some do or die idea that will be crazy, but just may get people into the door and start coming to Jubilee.

With all of this, I will be working 4 jobs & Josh will be working 2, if we can plan it right. I have just started a Creative Memories business and have held two Get Togethers this weekend. CM has tons of neat ways to organize & celebrate memories & photos...definitely has gone a long way beyond scrapbooking to appeal to anyone who takes pictures. If you're interested, check out my website (www.mycmsite.com/jamiehilty). I am also starting a freelance writing business. I've wanted to pursue this for a while and have been doing research into what I can do to submit my work for publication and also perhaps write for small businesses, ministries & non-profits. If you have anything you'd like written, please let me know. I'd love to help you in this area. The other two jobs include the kindergarten assistant position and keeping accurate records for a local contractor.

We'd appreciate your prayers as we start this new chapter of life...trusting in the Lord to provide each and every need. I know He is able. He has proven that many times. Thank you for reading our posts and praying for us! We love you and miss you...and hold you in our prayers, as well.