Reese Family Newsletter
ePrayer Edition : : n° 81 : : 03.apr.08 : :
: : rees.family : : viterbo.italy : : greater.europe.mission
: : praying that GOD will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of CHRIST : : colossians 4.3
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
YOU WILL ALL FALL AWAY BECAUSE OF ME…but after I have been raised I will go ahead of you to Galilee (Mt 26:31-32).
: : It just occurs to me that I still have "viterbo.italy" in the heading of this regular communication, though "viterbo.italy" seems every inch of the distance that stands between there and here during this sabbatical. I wonder if the disciples carried a similarly "foreign" feeling to "galilee.israel" as they surreally marched from the Upper Room of fellowship to the Garden of betrayal. They heard words, but they did not understand the conversation. "'You will all fall away,' what is that about? 'After I have been raised again,' why does that keep coming up? 'Galilee,' but we are finally in Jerusalem, why would we go back there?"
: : Back to the beginning, they will go…back to the beginning they must go. It is a path they did not plan on, but they will walk it nevertheless. Like so many of the witnesses of Christ across presumably every century, we too find ourselves back at the beginning trusting that Christ has already gone ahead of us to meet us in this peculiar place. And it is true, we have found Christ here already ahead of us, already at work on our behalf. The resurrection is a fact, but it seems part dream. Should we go fishing? Should we get a shift job at FedEx? What has happened, Lord? What now, Lord? It seems like of all places, these types of questions are most compatible with the beginning place. Still no concrete answers, but answers were never exactly promised. What was promised is far better—the Lord is already in our future, already on our road.
: : Please pray… that we would navigate wisely and courageously our upcoming, and potentially monumental, meeting with mission leaders on Monday, 14 April. It is in this meeting that we hope to collect (finally!) some vital information regarding our future. We will hopefully be in a position after this meeting to communicate with increased certainty some of the answers we have been purposefully shelving these last four months since we returned to the States.
We know you have been curious what will happen next. Your patience with us, and with Greater Europe Mission in whose charge we remain, has been a testimony to your love to us, but primarily your love for the Lord Jesus Christ and the advancement of His gospel of grace to Italy and beyond. Thank you so much. We are forever touched by the high caliber of people that the Lord has privileged us to become united with, in, and around this high calling of Christ to make disciples of the nations. Ours is a wealth that the world cannot match, cannot touch, and cannot tarnish—a wealth of relationships that spreads across continents, languages, colors, socio-economics, generations, backgrounds, and trajectories. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:36).
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : http://italymission.com (inactive) : : rees07@gmail.com 828.989.4721
: : Temporary address: 370 Running Briar Road, Fletcher, NC 28732
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ePrayer Edition : : nĄ 80 : : 04.mar.08 : :
: : rees.family : : viterbo.italy : : greater.europe.mission
: : praying that GOD will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of CHRIST : : colossians 4.3
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
THE LORD GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple (Isaiah 50:4).
: : Being quick to speak is a characteristic of mine that the Lord is dismantling brick by brick. The ministry of de-construction is not exactly fun, but profitable. This season of "waiting and seeing" has cultivated many things in us, not the least of which is a renewed trust in the Lord's slow work of sanctification.
Having spent so many years neck-deep in disciple-making and preparing for disciple-making, it is refreshing (and humbling) when a foundational idea emerges. Perhaps the sound waves hit my ear drums before, but my brain didn't rightly interpret the impulses. I have always thought of disciple-making like apprenticeship; walking with an expert until some level of mastery is developed and the protégé takes on the role of expert repeating the process with another recruit. But the Servant-Christ (Isaiah 50) takes up the posture of perpetual learner. Even though Christ is the master/expert, He ministers from a posture of listening. Thus is the genius of biblical disciple-making. The disciple-maker is a skilled learner—a fellow-learner who teaches others primarily how to learn, NOT how to dispense information. There is never an end to learning. Both disciple-making ("give me the tongue of disciples") and being made a disciple of Christ ("awaken my ear to listen as a disciple") is a necessary tension that holds tight the sails into which the Spirit breathes the wind of forward motion.
: : So, we continue to listen, fully aware of our natural inability to listen to what the Lord is saying. Listening, however, is not passive. Daily the conversation continues—Scripture, prayer, fellowship—and daily we grow in our anticipation of that which the Lord is going to do. Not a lot of specifics yet, but the expectation of God is certainly building.
In our "sabbatical" mode a number of opportunities to speak/encourage the Body of Christ have appeared—most notably two mission conferences and semi-regular participation as pulpit-supply in our local church. Though we continue to have uncertainty swirling around us, we are not uncertain about the sovereignty of God and His sustaining power.
: : Please pray… that we speak with the tongue of disciples—that is, we speak not from a posture as experts, but as listeners. Please pray that we continue to have the courage to make disciples of all the nations, even if our feet cannot reach the nations. Please continue to pray for the "next step" to be obvious to all. Please continue to pray for our children as they heroically regain lost ground academically and socially.
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : http://italymission.com (inactive) : : rees07@gmail.com 828.989.4721
: : Temporary address: 370 Running Briar Road, Fletcher, NC 28732
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ePrayer Edition : : nĄ 78 : : 24.dec.07
: : rees.family : : viterbo.italy : : greater.europe.mission
: : praying that GOD will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of CHRIST : : colossians 4.3
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11).
: : O Come, o come… Merry Christmas, dear ones. I write this ePrayer Edition from a Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Asheville, NC, after 26 hours traveling just five days ago. It seems like a dream from which we are only now waking. (Because we have no Internet access, I will not be able to reply to many/any of your replies with regularity-my apologies.) We are still confusing time zones, but hopefully the worst of the jetlag is over. The kids hope that Santa will not confuse time zones, however.
So many of you have been so kind, so generous to us. Thank you. We are mostly okay-frazzled and fatigued, but okay. And the pieces that are not okay now, we trust will be okay soon.
Some of our new information while I have the chance and the unencrypted wireless signal: 828.989.4721 (Kevin's mobile), 828.989.4722 (Shellie's mobile). We have a lead on a rental house, hopefully still available when the real estate office opens up after the holiday. Our belongings are due to reach port on 6 January, and reach our doorstep between 7-10 January, just a few days AFTER we leave for our required retreat (don't have any idea how to swing that one yet-we were counting on it taking two months to reach us, not three weeks! Of course there are worse problems to have!)
: : Let Us Adore him, Christ the Lord! Amid our drama and trauma of recent days, we wish, instead of dwelling on ourselves, to take the advice of the famous carol and indeed come with all the faithful…to Bethlehem…to behold him…to adore him, Christ the Lord. If we think for a moment that we carry bruises from the road set before us, we realize, between the manger-cave of Christ's birth and the calvary-cave of Christ's burial, that we know nothing about suffering at all.
Like I mentioned last week in my farewell to the church people in Italy, I can see the sharper edges of Christmas this season-edges that I knew only in theory last year. Allow me to remind myself, as well as you, that with each arrival, there is also a departure. With each birth, there is also a funeral. With each gift of gold, there are also gifts of frankincense and myrrh for the death of Jesus. Make us more comfortable, O Lord, in the tension-not trying to solve it or gloss it over, but to receive it as from You.
: : Please pray… that we would know that gold, frankincense, AND myrrh are called "treasures," fit for presentation before a king. Please pray that we would not try make all the "treasures" look alike.
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : http://italymission.com : : rees07@gmail.com : : 828.989.4721
: : temporary-113 guffey mountain road, fairview, north carolina 28730
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ePrayer Edition : : nĄ 76 : : 19.nov.07 : : S P E C I A L E D I T I O N
: : rees.family : : viterbo.italy : : greater.europe.mission
: : praying that GOD will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of CHRIST : : colossians 4.3
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
THEREFORE LET THOSE WHO SUFFER according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19).
: : Read this one to the end! There is a certain freedom that one finds in naming his troubles. "Oh, I see, that is the Pythagorean theorem" "Wait a second, that is the present subjunctive" "Hold on, what we are experiencing is suffering." When one can name his situation, immediately, a flood of Scriptural weight rushes in bringing the comfort, pluck, and direction needed. We have been through the wringer this yearbut what shall we name it? "Is it disfortune?" "Is it divine frustration?" "Is it vocational failure?" "Oh, now I get it, this is suffering--just like Christ and the apostles forewarned." Name it and drag it into the light and it is not so frightening. This is suffering. Therefore, this is not abnormal. And, this too shall pass.
Naming it, however, is not the final thrust of the battle; it is a turning point in the battle. We have been suffering (Shellie's mother's death, legalization problems getting to and staying in Italy, seven international trips in one year, problems with the children at school, the awful plummet of the dollar's value against the euro, and the inescapable stress of switching cultures to name a few). Suffering is no surprise˜we have named it. But what is somewhat a surprise is that GEM has asked us to return to the States for "six months at least" for additional counseling, recuperation, and therapeutic rest. Wow. Pause to catch my breath. [Are you still there? I know that is a shock.]
: : Returning to America for "six months at least" is the right thing to do for our bruised family, undoubtedly. We have "commit[ed] our souls to Him in doing good," so we will do this good thing, this right thing. We have named our "next step": return to America for six months at least. Wow. Pause to dry my eyes. We trust that our leaders have our best interest in mind. We believe that our faithful Creator has our leaders in the palm of His hand. We must come back leaving our future/dreams in the realm of uncertainty. We have been instructed not to decide about our long-term future yet, to wait until after the counseling sessions in which we have signed up to participate.
Some of the ramifications of coming back to the States for an extended period leap out at us. We will have to surrender our apartment, our vehicle/insurance, our position in the paperwork process, and our point of development in the language and culture acquisition. We will be returning to home schooling the children.
: : Please pray that the Lord would glorify Himself in this messy and unexpected (to us) part of the journey. Please pray for a surge of energy to complete this next push. We fly on 19 December with as many suitcases as we are allowed to carry. […] I am having trouble hitting the send button. I think I will have to call in Shellie to help… Wow. Pause to steady my hand.
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : http://italymission.com : : rees07@gmail.com
: : 18950 basecamp.road monument.CO 80132
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ePrayer Edition : : nĄ 75 : : 3.november.07 : :
: : rees.family : : viterbo.italy : : greater.europe.mission
: : praying that GOD will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of CHRIST : : colossians 4.3
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
IMMEDIATELY THE SPIRIT OF GOD drove Him into the wilderness (Mark 1:12).
: : The process of enculturation holds many parallels with the process of becoming a child again. From a distance it may have seemed like a nostalgic idea, but up close it is just as traumatic going back [to childlikeness] as it was being born.
Do these words sound familiar at all? I wrote them in LAST November's ePrayer Edition, yet they are as fresh and true as if I wrote them this morning. We are still in the middle of this enculturation process. <Sigh! Will it ever end?>
There is a parallel to the catch-22 of car-sickness. In our family, at any moment while driving down the road regardless of the presence of hairpin turns, someone in the back may say, "I feel carsick." The standard response is, "Stop reading and look out the front window." To this point that has helped very little to alleviate the nausea. The real advice swirls in my head, "Okay, you are carsick. Should I, therefore (1) go mercifully faster so that the time in the car is shorter though the nausea will be more intense, or (2) go mercifully slower so that the nausea is less intense though the time in the car will be longer?"
Certainly, there are ways to accelerate our trip through enculturation, though the "motion-sickness" will get much worse before it gets any better. Or should I slow the process down so that the intensity of the "motion-sickness" decreases, yet making the overall time spent in enculturation stretch out even longer? Which is worse? Progress has been made in these 14-months, but by necessity my eyes are looking out the front window instead of the rear-view mirror—after all I don't want to get overly motion-sick, too. There aren't any road signs visible telling me when we will pass out of this desert.
: : Please pray… that the significant fears and gut-wrenching questions that emerge on a long road such as we find ourselves would drive us to the heart of God instead of to the mind of men. Questions and fears such as: before it is all over, will we have caused irreparable damage? Am I more concerned about making "good time" on this road than learning deeply the lessons of the desert?
Are we "okay" in our hearts even if our feet never reach our desired destination?
I guess I am asking for prayers of therapy for our hearts. And pray for the hearts of the others on this journey with us as well. Please pray for the heart of the newest "teammate" coming to the field in January (Amanda), that she would insulate her heart in the goodness of God before she sets foot on Italian soil. Also, pray for the hearts of the Italian believers who are affected either positively or negatively from the condition of our motion-sick hearts.
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : http://italymission.com : : rees07@gmail.com
: : 18950 basecamp.road monument.CO 80132
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ePrayer Edition : : n° 74 : : 12.october.07 : :
: : rees.family : : viterbo.italy : : greater.europe.mission
: : praying that GOD will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of CHRIST : : colossians 4.3
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
MAKE ME TO KNOW YOUR WAYS, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day (Psalm 25:4-5).
: : These are the days that stretch a person's heart, when the daylight looses a few minutes to darkness each rotation, when sweaters displace golf shirts in the closet, when the children cry every day going to school (it still takes a heroic family-effort) and every afternoon during their homework (it still takes a heroic family-effort). If there were ever a time when we needed to focus on the ways/paths/truth of the Lord, it is now.
But I am unable to escape how the ways of the Lord are "discovered." Literally, it is the Lord who causes our eyes to see, our minds to know, and our feet to march upon the highway of His truth. In the October-moments of our failing light, fading warmth, and fleeting strength we find the moment-by-moment salvation of the Lord. There is no hope in human cleverness, or personal intellect, or a North Star for navigation in this nighttime—it is "for You [whom] I wait all the day."
: : Though our reserves are long gone we are at a place where a burst of energy is necessary. The church plant in the eastern part of the province has been launched. The missionary team has been redistributed between the three churches (south, east, and north). And the ministry of spiritual leadership is (finally) within our responsibility. Though our language and culture acquisition continue, we have been asked to step into leadership at the Montefiascone church (north) with preaching, administration, and disciple making. For this we are thrilled and frightened at the same time due to our weakened state.
: : Please pray… that we would be grace-empowered to meet the ministry need of the season. We have no doubt that this must be a work of God. Practically speaking, we have an acute need to build longevity into our daily lives as "burnout" is an accurate adjective for us at this juncture. Please join us as we ask the Lord to "make us to know" His ways of truth, specifically if we should return to home schooling to gain some sort of relief from the daily stress (as this is the only idea we can think of to release some of the pressure). This specific decision, however, has many irreversible drawbacks and stresses of its own. Our level-headedness is "out of plumb" as even the simplest of decisions is uncharacteristically difficult to make. We look to Christmastime as a goal for this decision. Notwithstanding, please pray for our support levels as we are down even more with the weakening dollar to approximately 75%. I hope to tweak the website so as to better facilitate new visitors interested in the mission in Italy, and our role in itŃso please encourage others to prayerfully surf our way. Grazie mille!
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : http://italymission.com : : rees07@gmail.com
: : 18950 basecamp.road monument.CO 80132
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ePrayer Edition : : nĄ 73 : : 4.september.07 : :
: : rees.family : : viterbo.italy : : greater.europe.mission
: : praying that GOD will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of CHRIST : : colossians 4.3
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD; the skies proclaim the work of His hands (Psalm 19:1).
: : Then all the lights in the city were turned off. This dramatic moment occurred last night, as it has for 350 years, during our city's annual ritual to honor/venerate their patron saint Rose. As the lights went down in the city, the (electric) candles went on all up and down the 100-foot tall, 5,000-pound, icon/statue of saint Rose÷the teenage saint who "miraculously helped" defend the city in battle during the middle 1200s; who also, 400 years later, "miraculously delivered" the city from a pestilence. This "little/big saint," as they referred to her last night in the invocation prayer, is honored as 100+ strong, local men actually carry her likeness made of wood, steel, and sculpted wood pulp on their backs through the city up to her cathedral.
: : That was the event, but here is the impression. May it be a catalyst for prayer this month for all of us. Hundreds of thousands of Italians packed into the narrow streets of the medieval, historic center of Viterbo to join this ritual. Whether it was for civic pride, to see/be seen in this festive atmosphere, or an attempt to assuage some portion of guilt before God, the people had their eyes fixed upon the image of a human being. Stop. Think about the sadness of that statement and pray for the spiritual confusion here in Italy (and elsewhere!). The faces of the people around me, basking in the glow of the mobile icon borne of the backs of their strongest men, is the image that summarizes the 51 weeks I have been in this region.
: : That was the impression, but here is the perspective. When the lights went out so that the "glory" of the icon might be the only thing visible in the whole city, the stars shown. In fact, I couldn't see any save a single star as I waited for the ritual to begin last night. But when the city lights went out and the "thing" was illuminated, I could see more stars than in all of the nights of our time in Italy. God's silent glory was shouting intensely in the night sky (Psalm 19:1) above the darkened city, trumping (once again) the grandest efforts of men to manufacture a glory for themselves.
: : Please pray for the proclamation of the true nature of God and the true simplicity of the gospel÷Christ exchanges His life for our death. Stop. Think about the beauty of that statement and pray that we would not fix our eyes on the great spiritual needs in this region÷though they are great÷but instead "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher or our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). This central prayer request comes in the middle of a swirl of the children returning to school, continuation of language and cultural adaptation, and the church plant commencing this month in nearby Cività Castellana.
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : http://italymission.com : : rees07@gmail.com
: : 18950 basecamp.road monument.CO 80132
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ePrayer Edition : : n° 70 : : 5.july.07 : :
: : rees.family : : viterbo.italy : : greater.europe.mission
: : praying that GOD will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of CHRIST : : colossians 4.3
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
THUS SAYS THE LORD, who makes a way through the sea, and a path through the mighty watersÉ"I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:16,19).
: : It is not a question of "if" the Lord is able to do this thing; it is a question of "will" the Lord be glorified by allowing Shellie's day at the Consulate tomorrow to go smoothly. We pray that it would, without hesitation. [But I am concurrently hobbled by this other thought: should the Lord be more glorified by blocking Shellie's "way through the sea and path through the mighty waters," would we respond with thanksgiving? These attitudes of our hearts are certainly thornier than the paperwork.]
With the "advice" of fellow-pilgrims and sojourners, I have to agree that we are vastly better off with our navy-blue passports with the script "United States of America" embossed in gold across the bottom than citizens of arguably every other nation on earth. Sadly, and to my chagrin for fretting about our small concerns, it is much harder for a Kenyan or Albanian or Libyan or Chinese to find their paperwork approved.
: : Please pray…for Shellie as she travels all day today (with the effects of jetlag, along the interstate on the day after a national holiday, on the first birthday of her deceased mother). Perhaps the Lord would transform this "desert" to into a place of unexpected refreshment.
: : Please pray…for Shellie as she travels again tomorrow (Friday) to the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia. Specifically, may the Lord give her ease of mind that she has done all that she can do. Also, please pray that the typographical error on her most important document (though we tried twice to correct it here) is either not noticed, or not troublesome to the swift approval of her visa. It would be PURE MERCY if Shellie finds a close parking spot in downtown Philly, gets to the front of the quick-forming line at the Consulate, finds the consulate officials cheerfully helpful and compassionate to her situation, carries more documentation than needed for her application process, and drives without traffic jam or navigational confusion throughout the journey. If there is to be a fight, however, please pray that Shellie is strong in the Lord, balanced in her inner person, swift in her thinking, pliable to the direction of the Spirit in the moment, and bold in her faith that "greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : rees07@gmail.com : : http://7pilgrims.blogspot.com :
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June 2007
: : Three-hundred-sixty-three days! Yes, just two days short of a full year since I first applied for my visa in the anything-but-brotherly-love Italian Consulate in Philadelphia, I have received my FINAL document necessary for Shellie to BEGIN her paperwork process. This document may only be two sheets of paper long, but it represents a non-stop stream of trips to various government agencies, consultations with lawyers, favors burned and favors owed, line standing, intensive internet searching by our faithfully tenacious director through ever-changing immigration legislation inside the bureaucracy of the Italian government, and hundreds of euros spent for stamps alone. [NOTE: this document, I discovered after the fact, has an error-Shellie is not my daughter ( filgia), but my wife (moglie)! We are praying this typo is not going to make a difference.]
: : That's good news, now the bad news! With this document in hand, we now are in a (surprise) time-crunch for Shellie to climb back on a plane, cross back over the ocean, and deliver this document IN PERSON to the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia. She flies (again) this coming Tuesday (3 July), drives to Philly on the only day that week the office is open to the public (6 July) to present her paperwork to the consular officials. Then she waits. For while they "decide" about the visa, they hold Shellie's passport. Therefore, we all wait. We are praying that they will approve her visa request AND deliver Shellie's passport back to her before two weeks expires (20 July) as she is booked to return home to us the next day (21 July).
: : Please pray that Shellie perseveres through this marathon-trip, that "those who remain" here in Italy may still be "alive" when she gets back (my apologies to 1 Thessalonians 4:15 for sarcasm), that the documents Shellie carries will be like "apples of gold in settings of silver-a word spoken in the right circumstances" (Proverbs 25:11) to every official who reviews her file, and that Shellie will be able to fly AS SCHEDULED OR EARLIER back to Italy during this high-season of tourism. Please pray, also, that we would somehow discover/rediscover that the rhythm of this sojourning trail-this life as strangers-is measured on every side by the fact that it is a journey "with" the Lord (Psalm 39:12; Matthew 28:20).
: : Together with you, for the sake of the Name (3 John 7),
Kevin & Shellie Rees, with Seth, Emma, Abby, Nate, and Jocelyn
: : rees07@gmail.com
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