Dear First Evangelical Church,

Thank you so much for praying for our family! You are a huge part of our lives. On March 24th we had an Easter Party Club at our house. Five kids from the neighborhood and from Gracie's school who do not have a church background came and played games, learned a verse, and heard the gospel presented through the easter story. After the club, Nathan told Angela that he wanted to go to Heaven sometime. We have explained the gospel to him many times as the opportunities have come up. That evening when Angela was reading the kids a Bible story before bed she asked Nathan if he was ready to believe in Jesus, and he said, "YES!" Then he asked "How do I believe in Jesus?" We helped him understand that everyone has been naughty and that Jesus took our punishment when He died on the cross. Later NAthan prayed, "Thank you that I like to pray with trains, cars, animals... I'm sorry I did bad things. I"m believing in Jesus now. Amen." We are very excited and we are anxious to see how God will use his life.

I am really enjoying our good news clubs. We have finished our series on the first Christians and are starting a series on the life of Paul. One of our teachers at the Truman club asked the kids if they had shown the gospel flipper flapper (a very cool witnessing tool) to any of their friends, and many of them had. Then she asked if they had told their friends what the symbols meant and many said they had. One young girl told us that one of her friends she had shared it with decided to pray and believe on Jesus with her!! It is so great to see the kids putting what they learn into action! Our teachers did a great job sharing the true meaning of Easter before Spring Break. One club even had the kids act out a very special play of Easter Morning.

We painted faces at the East Park Church's egg hunt last weekend. Last year we didn't finish the face painting until about an hour after the other booths had closed. This year we made sure there were many volunteers for face painting and it went smoothly. Many of the kids I talked with had not heard the gospel before. We shared the gospel with 147 kids and at least four of them recieved Christ!!

Thank you again for praying for us as we share the gospel with kids!

Thank you,
Matt Strawn