We received this email from Brett and Kristen Jones:


I hope this email finds you looking forward to spring! We have been having one of the hottest summers on record and the humidity and lack of a breeze has
been somewhat uncomfortable. Granny and Papa were here for 6 weeks and gave the kids a pirate kiddy pool. I think we’ve all had turns watching the kids
so we could stick our own feet in! :-) However, there is a bit of bite to the breeze tonight, so I’m sure we will be heading into cooler autumn weather.  We
have been especially thankful to have a backyard this summer. It has been a blast to watch Rhys engineer many adventures in different parts of the yard
with his toy animals. Raegan’s favorite pastime is pushing the doll stroller up and down the yard and messing up whatever adventure Rhys has created. :-) 

Over the January summer period we only had one service in the evening so that the leadership could all have a bit of a break and we know that many
people are away as well. Usually we would not have any services in January because of this, but we felt that we needed to be available in case
someone came looking…. This has been a particularly good summer for bringing people into the church. We’ve had around ten new people decide to make
cession their home over the summer and most of them are still searching for Christ or haven’t been in church for awhile. It has been awesome to see the
way God is using cession to help these people because many are in great need. Please pray for the people of cession, we seem to have many who are
hurting and broken and need so much care. Please be praying for all the friends that have brought people as they show them Christ and for the others
who are reaching out to these hurting people. It can be extremely draining to be constantly pouring into others and yet we feel God has called us to reach
out to the hurting. We just need His wisdom and grace in the process.

The 1st of March was our missions Sunday for kids and it was also cession|community’s FIFTH BIRTHDAY! In honor of cession’s birthday the children
learned about how our hands can help others by focusing on Ecc. 9:10, “Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might.” We talked about
how cession was started because we wanted to help others by showing them God’s love. Then we used our helping hands to make a birthday cake
for cession to say thank you and to celebrate all the helping hands in cession. I tell you, the lesson really stuck in one particular little boys mind, because
all week he cleared his plate and was pretty good about tidying his toys. :-) Rhys would even tell me, “Ecclesiastes. Do with all your might!” I find it hard
to believe that it has been five years since I moved to New Zealand and that cession began. Thank you for the five years of prayer, financial and
emotional support. We certainly could not have done this without you. Even the book that the helping hands lesson was in came from curriculum books
that Chris Augustat gave me when I was moving to New Zealand! It is humbling to think of the beautiful way God uses all of us to reach out to people
around the world.  

We were recently offered a job church planting in Michigan not too far from my parents and for the first time I must say I was very tempted. Brett kept
saying, “It’s not time. Cession isn’t quite ready for us to leave”. I kept saying, “Let’s pray about it a bit more.” :-) Until one night the young man who is
interning as our youth pastor got up and gave his testimony about how God had called him to youth ministry. Paul spoke about how it was in his
mentoring sessions with Brett that he realized God was calling him to reach out to the youth around him. That’s when I finally said, “Okay, God. I know
that you still have people that you want us to reach here in New Zealand and I will trust you for the care of my family back in the States.”

And, isn’t it amazing how God honors our obedience? At Thanksgiving, I asked God for more time with my family. We were going to try to come after
the baby was born but before Raegan turns two (that is about two months after the baby comes in May). So we were going to have a very short
window of time to get the baby’s birth certificate and passport issued. While Mom and Dad were here, we began to seriously look at the possibilities
of the five of us getting over to the States.  I feel that God gave us a gift in that we found a special that allows children to fly free with every adult
ticket purchased! We were able to book the trip two weeks later and that just gives us a little breathing room! So we will be visiting from the end of
June to the end of July! We look forward to seeing you then!

Prayer Requests;

·          The many new people as they settle in and find a place of belonging in cession

·          New initiatives in family ministries, parenting courses, mainly music, and the dreams that still lay ahead 

·          That passionate people would join children’s ministry

·          That the Jones’ can get all their ducks in a row before they add another duck in May. :-)

·          That Rhys and Raegan would continue to grow in their faith.  Rhys said at Christmas time that Jesus was living inside him. Brett and I got
very excited over that until he said, “Yeah, he is the baby growing in MY tummy.” The next day after breakfast, Rhys rubbed his tummy and
said, “Whew, God is really kicking me today!” :-) So not quite sure he has the entire concept, your prayers would be appreciated.

·          That God would continue to put people in our path that we can show His love to.

·          Easter Egg Hunt on April 4th (April 3rd in the States)!

Thank you again for the five years of love and support you have shown to the people of New Zealand and cession|community!

Love, 

Kristen, Brett, Rhys and Raegan

P.S. In case you don’t have it our new address is 

     3/73 Botany Rd, Howick,

     Auckland, 2010 New Zealand. Have a great spring!