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GervaisNews October 2011>
Newsletter September 2007
September 1, 2007
Dear friends, family and/or co-laborers in His Kingdom,
I find it hard to believe that September is
already here. (I started this letter at the beginning of
the month, it is now the end of the month.) It seems like
just yesterday that we were preparing for summer…and now we
are preparing for fall. Actually I will be relieved when
fall actually hits Florida. The summers are extremely hot
down here, but the fall and winters are windy, a lot less
humid and cool. Speaking of cool…we recently replaced the
central air conditioning unit in our home. The old unit was
almost 14 years old and not very efficient. I had to make
it a practice to sit down and take a deep breath prior to
opening our power bill each month. With this new state of
the art unit I hope to see a reduction in our electric
bills from now on. (I just opened our latest bill and it
was almost 100 dollars less than the previous month.)
Family News
Barb and I are now officially empty nesters. Yes,
our baby moved out. Mikala has been talking for a while
about renting the house that grandpa (Barb’s dad) owns,
which has been empty for about six months now. Barb’s aunt
use to live there but she is now in an assisted living
home. She first talked this over with her mother and me to
see how we felt about her moving out. Then she talked with
her grandpa who made her an offer that she found very
enticing. So Barb and I sat down with Mikala and helped her
itemize the cost of living on her own. After crunching all
the numbers she thought it wise to share the expenses with
a friend. When our pastor’s oldest daughter, Ashley
graduated from college last year she moved to Palm Bay. She
has been leading worship in our church ever since then and
Mikala and Ashley have become very good friends. With both
of them working for the church this seemed like a match
made in heaven so to speak. (…or at least down the road at
the church) Mikala decided to give Ashley the master
bedroom and occupy the other two bedrooms for herself. That
was a good call for Mikala given the amount of junk she
tends to collect. Barb spent several late nights over there
helping Mikala and Ashley clean, paint and turn a house
into a “home.” I went over and did some of the manly things
like hang blinds and curtains. Both Barb and I hated to see
Mikala go because she has never given us any problems. The
biggest complaint I had with Mikala is that she tends to
forgets to turn lights off. She is about to learn why she
should try to conserve electricity. The house is located in
a safe neighborhood about ten minutes from our house and
about the same distance from the church. Grandpa agreed to
pay to have the alarm system turned back on, and monitored
for their and our peace of mind.
Barb is now back in her routine of getting up
each day by 5 am to go jogging and then off to school by
6:30 to teach 6th graders at Palm Bay Elementary. Her early
morning jogs, and long day teaching, usually lands her in
bed by 9 pm. I, on the other hand, rarely get home much
before ten pm and usually can’t wind down enough to go to
bed until after 11pm. We usually spend a few minutes
communicating in the morning while she gets ready for
school. Trying to communicate at that hour gives her the
upper hand. Her brainwaves are much more alert after having
a brisk 3.5 mile jog and a shower. My brain, on the other
hand, is still trying to figure out why morning seemed to
arrive so early, and also trying to figure out what day of
the week it is.
Micah was here last weekend for a short time. He
usually rolls into town, raids the refrigerator ands
disappears to visit friends. He stayed home long enough to
help me remove the head from my car, a 1996 Mitsubishi
Eclipse. My timing belt snapped bending several of the
valves. (14 out of the 16) I am sure a part of him wanted
to be there to gloat over my demise, seeing that I was the
one who made fun of him a few years earlier when he blew up
the new engine he had just finished installing in his car.
Actually he was kind and didn’t rub it in…too badly. After
visiting with family and friends he made the 2.5 hour jaunt
home to Miami. We hope to see him once or twice a month on
the weekends.
Ministry News
This week I had to officiate in a funeral for a
two month old baby. It was the grand baby of one of my
facilitators who is also a member of my leadership team.
The baby was just released from the hospital Friday morning
saying that he just had a stomach virus and he took his
last breath about twelve hours later as the mother arrived
at the hospital and laid her son down on the stretcher in
the emergency room. They worked on him for over an hour but
in the end pronounced little Elliot dead. A few days later
during the wake their 7 year old girl ran up to me in the
church foyer and squeaked out the words “mint”, and
“chocking.” I quickly picked her up and did the Heimlich
maneuver on her and out came a huge mint. It would have
been terrible to lose a second child at your baby’s funeral
service. I just praise God that I happen to be in the right
place at the right time. After the funeral service this
little girl came up to me and told me she hates mints now
and will never eat them again.
Things are going well in the transition out of
my position as Zion’s recovery pastor. Cheryl and Duane are
doing an excellent job of stepping into my shoes. I already
feel that much of the load on me is being lifted. That is a
good feeling although I know my plate is quickly filling up
with counseling appointments and other duties I have been
neglecting at Hope Ministries.
I few weeks ago I had the privilege of sharing
my testimony at a recovery meeting in Titusville. Mark
Swallow is a friend I have been mentoring for about a year.
Mark came to one of my facilitator training seminars with
about 12 others from his church. A few months later he
started a support group ministry at his church. He has been
asking me for quite some time to share and teach at that
meeting so I took him up on the invitation. It is not often
that I can invest in someone’s life and see the fruit that
quickly.
Mark also has a prison ministry in one of the
local jails. He teaches a bible study each week. A few
months ago he took a plastic horse trough into the jail and
baptized 23 of the inmates. I have included one of the
pictures here. Mark is on the left side and in the trough
is one of the 23 inmates he baptized. What a testimony of
what God can do through one life yielded to Him. Mark has
been a joy to work with and a constant encouragement to me,
confirming to me that I am right where God wants me to be.
I am still in the fund raising mode. I have about
half of my monthly needs raised so far. I still need about
600 dollars more a month coming in to stay afloat. I
appreciate your ongoing prayers that God would cover these
finances through His people. If you or someone you know is
interested in joining our support team you can make out
your support checks to Hope Ministries and put a note with
the check letting them know that your gift is for the
support of Lew & Barb Gervais. Your support checks can be
mailed directly to us at the above address or you can mail
it directly to Hope Ministries. (2020 Palm Bay Road suite
#1; Palm Bay, Florida 32905).
I just want you to know that we appreciate your
friendship and your fellowship very much. What we covet
most is your relationship with us and your prayers; not
your money.
Because of Christ
Lew Gervais
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