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Anabaptist Voice
11/08/2006

Dear Friends,

The first thing comes to our mind is, “Thank you.” Thank you for reaching out to Naomi and us. We are blessed to have wonderful friends, sons and daughter. Patrick is living too far to visit Naomi, so he and his family, including little Titus call and write letters to Naomi. She is happy.

Naomi is still at the Park West Care Center in Seattle (her phone is 206-957-9169) and she is doing well. She is receiving all the love from not only from her brothers and their families, but also receiving love from dear friends, the body of Christ. Thank you every one of you.   She has written about her ordeal and David brought it home and typed it and sent it to Dad. Here is her report:

Naomi's Diary

Oct 30, 06

I want to! I can! And I will!
I want to! I can! And I will!
I want to! I can! And I will!

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Today I had physical therapy and walked about 142 feet down the hallway, from my room and back again, putting weight on my left foot the whole time. It was easier than I thought it'd be. My therapist asked me three times if I wanted to quit and let him get my wheelchair for me, but I said, "No!" I was going to stick it out till the end.

I'm STRONG! I'm TOUGH! I CAN DO IT!

Oct 31, 06 About 60 first to third grade children came to the cafeteria, they all sat on the floor after all the elderly folks were situated and in their places. The children sat on the floor and sang three songs about Halloween. There weren't too many costumes. After the children sang, they went to each of the old folks in wheelchairs and read to them from the little books which they made themselves. The book covers were construction paper, cut into the shape of a teddy bear. It was about 6 inches long and four inches wide.

Nov 4, 06 Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world... Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

"Lord Jesus, how can I be a Light to the world in a strange place like this?"   The only way I can be a light for Him is to pray audibly before my meals. And to be an encouragement to others.

It seems Naomi is ready to move from the nursing home in Seattle to one here in Tucson.   Sunday evening at the CDO church, Dr. Kathleen McBride asked about Naomi, so we told her that we are looking for a nursing home near us here in Tucson. She recommended the La Canada Care Center which is just a few minutes from our house. She also told me that they have a good physical therapy there. That is what we were looking for. God provides what we need. We hope that they have room for her and that she can move there later this week. We will just wait on our Heavenly Father who knows all things and does the best for us.

Mike's Visit

Mike, our oldest son, came to visit us. He was in Tennessee for the business trip and stopped by on his way back to spend a few days with us. His was scheduled before Naomi had her accident and so she missed his visit. On Friday we visited the Saguaro National Park which is just west of Tucson and then toured the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum on the south side of the park.

We saw the wonderful creations of our Heavenly Father at the museum. When we got tired of walking, we sat down at a bench in the shade. A volunteer lady was there and explained to us about the agave plants. Agaves provide an incredible amount of things humans can use. It has sugar, other foods, and even medicine in it. People make ropes, bags, even liquor from agaves. The native Indians learned to do all these things with these desert plants.

Mike rented a guitar for our Saturday evening praising time. What a joy! Tears came to our eyes while we were praising the Lord, singing praising songs with Mike as he played the guitar. We remembered the time we were living at Renton, Washington; we had a home fellowship meeting every Friday evening in our home for many years. Mike was the one who led the music. It was wonderful memories for the fellowship and praising the Lord together. Now Mike is on the worship team at the Four Square church that he attends with his family.

Saturday Morning FGBMFI Men's Prayer Breakfast

Mike and Dad went to the weekly men's 6 am prayer breakfast at the Denny's Restaurant in Tucson where 17 men and 4 boys were gathered for prayer. After the prayer time, which lasted about an hour, the leader asked Mike to testify about his born again experience. Later that day, Mike wrote it for our newsletter, which is attached.

Sunday CDO Church Services

Dad, Mom and Mike went to the church Sunday morning, to both the 9 am Sunday school and the 10:13 am church service. It is wonderful that we can go to church together. Too bad Naomi is not here with us.

The Sunday morning sermon was about holiness. When Moses approached the burning bush in the wilderness, God told him to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. (Exodus 3:5) We are to be clean before God. Then we looked at the story of how God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would spill out the much needed water but Moses instead of just speaking to the rock struck it with a stick. (Numbers 20:12) As a result Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Our God is a mighty, awesome God!

Worshiping God in Song

As we drove to the airport with Mike on Sunday afternoon we discussed a subject that the CDO pastor has mentioned the previous week: worshiping God. Since Mike is on the worship team at his church we want his views on the subject. Mom said that worship is lifting up your whole being to the Lord and praising Him. Dad adds that true worship is, as Jesus said, worshiping God in truth and in Spirit. (John 4:24) When the Holy Spirit is involved in the worship service, then a person can be, if he is open to it, can be truly lifted up into heavenly places and filled with the joy and peace which only the Holy Spirit can give. (Romans 14:17) So we understand that worshipping God in song not only involves freeing our spirit to be lifted up to God but also allowing the Holy Spirit to come down up on us as we sing to our heavenly Father.

Monday Morning CDO Men's Prayer Breakfast

There were only two men at the CDO 6:30 am prayer breakfast at the Coco's Restaurant, Dad and Larry. It is sad that none of the seven male leaders at the CDO church show up for this meeting. But still Dad and Larry had good fellowship and were glad to meet together.

Dad, Mom & Naomi
9036 N. Mexican Sage Place
Tucson, AZ 85742-4526
Phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. (Romans 12:9-13)

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                                     Mike Murphy’s Testimony
                                               Given at the FGBMFI Prayer Breakfast
                                                                           Tucson, AZ, 11/04/2006

When I was a junior in high school, around 1975, my mother and father had recently been born again. The Catholic Church we were attending at the time was sponsoring a seminar called “Life in the Spirit”. It was a 7 week long, one night a week seminar that taught about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they applied in our lives. My mom and dad had attended a previous seminar and asked if I would attend the next one. I wasn’t interested in attending but my father asked if I would attend the first two or three weeks for him and if I didn’t feel like attending after that, I wouldn’t have to.

I went to the first couple weeks of seminars and was lumped together with a few people my age in a small group. I wasn’t particularly drawn to the class but I didn’t have anything better to do, so I continued to attend.

In order to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, you had to be born again – accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. This was something you didn’t hear very much about in the Catholic Church. I didn’t see a need for Jesus Christ to be any more involved in my life than He already was – someone to pray to at church on Sundays and learn about at catechism class on Wednesday nights. However, in the first four or five weeks of Life in the Spirit classes, I had come to respect the adult leader of our small group. His name was Dave Hruska. He said the only way to have a lasting and fulfilling relationship with God was through a commitment to Jesus Christ. He said all it took was a simple, honest and sincere prayer to ask Jesus Christ to be Lord of my life. To admit that although I thought of myself as a good person, I certainly fell short of the mark of being any kind of person that could reach God on his own terms.

I wasn’t necessarily convinced by Dave’s words, especially the part of Jesus being Lord of my life. Being a young man, I had misgivings about anyone being in control of my life other than me. However, I came to trust that Dave had my best interest at heart, and his words were something I had to consider.

On the sixth week of the seven week seminar, along with four or five other kids my age, I said that honest and sincere prayer to ask Jesus to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. I’ve heard many people say that when they said that prayer it was a very emotional and memorable time of their life. I didn’t experience the fireworks that many people do. The world didn’t seem any brighter or lovelier to me. And to this day I’m in constant struggle with who is Lord over my life – Jesus or me.

However, God has, in a slow and patient way, revealed Himself to be alive in my life. I now have a perspective that I wouldn’t have had if I had not said that prayer. That perspective is that God is always in control, no matter what or how terrible circumstances seem to be. That God is worthy of being loved and served. That I should esteem others as higher than myself. That He blesses and forgives me even when I don’t deserved to be blessed or forgiven. That God is good – all the time.