Dear Supporting Church Families & Friends,
Greetings from the Tohono O’Odham Nation. We are excited to share many blessings and updates with you. The Lord has been so good to us during the past two months (and every other day of our lives, for that matter!)
We are very thankful to God and happy to announce the birth of our 5th child, Benjamin Deskins Shannon. He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 19.5 inches long. We thank God for the safe pregnancy and delivery. Both mom and baby are doing well. We thank God for His protection over Benjamin, evidenced already during his first week with us, as we found him choking on his formula, and after rushing him to the FD and the ER, he was fine! It is during times like these that we are reminded and thankful for the prayers of so many who hold our family up in prayers. You may not know what’s going on in our lives, but God does, and we are thankful for your prayers and His protection!
Everyone else in the family is doing fine (except for tripping over each other to get to and spoil Benjamin!) Continue to pray for the older girls in their homeschool classes, and for the younger ones, who are anxious for baby Benjamin to “get up and play!” I am so thankful for the wonderful family He has blessed me with. I long to raise them up in His nurture and admonition, in “the way they should go!”
We were blessed to have two great meetings during these past two months as well. Evangelist Glenn Japsers and his wife Mary were with us at both churches for a couple of weeks. We saw the Lord move during this meeting! The altars were full for many of the services! We were also privileged to have Pastor Tony Finney and a group of 10 from Conestee, SC for a week. Bro. Tony, along with several young preacher boys from his church, preached at both churches, and we were again blessed with great services! There was one saved, and a few rededications during this meeting as well! We are so thankful for the wonderful meetings and the great fellowship we enjoyed with all of these dear friends!
In 2009, we encouraged everyone to read the Bible through in the year. In January, we took a total of 10 people out to eat for our first “Satisfied Students Bible Readers Banquet!” We praise the Lord for their growth and faithfulness, and are excited to see even more taking part in the program this year! If we will all spend time with Him every day, we can all be “Satisfied Students!”
The meetings in Cockleburr are going great too! At our monthly CASA meeting at Mrs. Mabel’s, the Lord blessed us with a few visitors during the month of February, and both months were blessed with great services. The presence of the Lord was so evident through the sweet spirit, testimonies, songs and messages! The children’s Bible Clubs continue as well. We recently met several “new” kids, who are children of the kids we first worked with 17 years ago! Pray that some of these will allow God to change their lives as only He can!
We thank God for the physical improvements and growth He has blessed us with in Ak-Chin, and continue to pray to Him for spiritual “growth and improvement” in the lives of those attending. Pray for those also who have been drawn away by the cares of this world!
Continue to pray for the teens also. This current group has more of a heart for the things of God, and more openness to Him, than any other teen group in the past. Pray this potential will not go untapped, and they will wholly give themselves to the control of His Spirit! They strive between the world they live in and attend school in, and the God they have a desire to serve! Pray for the parents of these teens as well, that they will be the leaders and encouragers they should be at home!
Thanks again for all you do for us and the work here! God bless you all!
Working together with you for HIM,
Brian & Louann, Latanya, Lilly, Rebecca, Brandon & Benjamin Shannon
