Beloved snow and meet the EWG and Sem wives ladies!

I have secretly (Alright, perhaps not so secretly!) been hoping for it to snow this winter but it hasn't snowed in La Crescenta since +-1984 and this stat according to Pat our WPC- Weather Report Landlady! But it suddenly began getting very cold and one morning on our way to the campus we looked up and... saw SNOW-covered mountains!

Well, with this development, I began hoping even more for snow in the normally sunny California... and....

TA-DA! It did! Here are the Bakkes' enjoying some Californian snow:

I have been planning to  introduce you to the Every Woman's Grace group and also to the Sem Wives group.... So at last, here are pictures of both. 


This is the EWG Bible Study Group: (We meet at 10 on Wednesday mornings...)

 I thought that I had managed to capture everyone, but missed Dot who is the lady right on the right end- she is so precious and couldn't resist putting up an extra picture so that you can see her! So encouraging to meet these more 'mature' ladies who have walked with the Lord for so many years and who love Him so much still.

Then, our International Sem Wives group which meets at 7pm on Wednesdays.
We have ladies from South Africa, England, Australia, the Philippines, Germany and Belgium...

More exciting news! We are going to the 25th Anniversary TMS Celebration Banquet this Friday, which is going to be a formal 'do' hosted at the Ronald Reagan Presidential library! They are having a well known singer called Jubilant Sykes performing and also John Macarthur will be sharing about the last 25 years of The Masters Seminary! What a blessing to be here during this time in order to be a part of this! :) 

Here is a link to check out the venue in more detail:
http://www.reaganlibrary.com/
We are excited to get to tour the library and they even have a small replica of the Oval Office that is available for viewing which we will hopefully get to see too!
Here is a link to the Oval Office exhibition:
http://www.reaganlibrary.com/details_f.aspx?p=LM2002EX&h1=7&h2=3&lm=libraryandmuseum&args_a=cms&args_b=32&argsb=N&tx=15&sw=15

We hope to take lots of pictures! So perhaps in the next blog post, you will see our smiling faces touring the library and 'Oval Office'! 


The Shepherd's conference begins next week and like I mentioned before, I will be volunteering to work alongside Izak in the shipping department and I am really looking forward to seeing 3000 pastors flocking in from all over the world and hoping to serve them alongside the other 500 Grace Community Church members!


I took these pictures just this afternoon so that you can see the Shepherds Conference preparations:

In closing, Izak said something good about the snow we had on the La Crescenta mountains recently, based on Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."


He said, ...come rain or shine, these mountains have always been a dull brown but now, for the first time, they were a beautiful white! It reminds me of God's grace to those who believe in His Son. His  grace covers our sin, so that all He sees, when He looks at us, is His own righteousness through Jesus!


Have a great 'rest of the week' and we hope to hear from you soon!