‘From: Pasior Valerie Smith mailto:pastorvaleie@efichurch.com) Sent: Thursday, January 21,2016 10:34 AM. ‘Tor markannerev(@oomesst.net ‘Subjects CLARITY ON ZONING AND "THELAW* ‘Dear Neighbors, “Today I retumed home from a mission trp to india. ft was an exciting time and God did great things. The ‘nest exciting thing at Bappeaed was te healing ofa baby tat kad been paralyzed from the waist down for ‘ce months following a fever. Az we prayed its legs weot from being stiff as boards to bending, exing and [Kicidng, The child was bealed. God is a God of miracles for sue. We retumed home rejoicing inthe afterglow Sfthistniracle and other blessings such a providing 4 months of food to # local leper colony in Tanukx and two ‘ew wells to supply clean drinking water to tial vilages north of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh Sadly — hen we retumed home lest night the litle gal who stayed in our home babysiting our dogs said tht Sbe ind received "card under our font doo?” saying tat the small weekly prayer meeting in our home must ‘Sop unl we pet special use pemit from the zoning board. She was very concemed thet she had "done ‘something wrong” ‘After four years of silently and graciously “turing the other cheek” concerning such unfounded harassment, we ar taking tis opportunity to go poblie as graciously as we know how. |When we moved ito ou home four years ago we received two visits from the zoning board conceming out ‘Nockly prayer meeting (bah prompted by aall fom the same individual). Both times the zoning board [ured us that we were aot breaking any zoning laws and could proceed as we chose. ‘During our four yeers here the same neighbor that called the zoning board has taken pictures of our guess from tur deveway and ted to incite other neighbors against us (we are aware of this because the dear “other (elghbors” both told us about this and also confirmed tht we were not bothering them in any way. Dear Tom (yen offered that we eould use his driveway for our Christmas open house tis year, previous Melody comforted ‘he about the “having our guests photographed incidet". Thanks to John nd Cora Brown ~ who reminded ws to -pay for those wi persecute us. And special thanks to our beloved Jason and Kim who have been the ‘Swectes neighbors ever we have shared milch, been “plowed out” by Jason, they have loved us and defends ‘Segainst these unfounded attacks and we love them right back and waat to publicly sey that we have n0 ‘roblem with ther éune boggy, motoreyele or any oer ty that Jason chooses to own ~ ther family ae the ‘fpe of neighbors we shoul all hope and pray'to ve near fo! Kind, gracious, helpful and fun (have you ever Ber Jason playing soccer with his kid in the front yard"). Jack and I call Jeson and Kim.“the best thing to herhappea to ourcal de sac We lok forward o meeting the people who have bought Tom and Melody’s home. ‘As ofthis most recent incident Ihave talked to our friend Shecff Brad Rogers, who again assured us we re ‘aking "no laws". He Kindly offered to park outside of our house during our prayer meetings to defend our Tight o atomble (aif tbe Sherif of Elkhart County needs ‘one more thing to do’). He set me paperwork and Teles cnncernng out “ght to assemble", Friends atthe Elkhart and Goshen Police departments bave made the sume off and because lam a police chaplain we often have police in attendance st our mectings). But I (Re.ned them tet realy doesnot need to come to his, After altending the neighborhood picnic lat yew, am ‘Enured that this neighbothood i ul of friendly, loving people who wan! olive at peace with one nother. “There is a great deal more Ieould say, but perbaps les is more. So will simply “larify" afew items to avoid ny further confusion sinc this issue doesnot seem to go away no mattex how many times the zoning board and Taw enforcement assure as tat we are breaking no laws.Our “church” meets (TER and also owns property TAD F we: ver moved a “tus church meting” to ourhome ~ the cars would stretch te length of Phacio Pace and also erupt onto Speedster Court andthe otberculdesacs. If we ever have a rue “ebreb” i Aubura Estates the acs wil il te subdivision ~ however we are having the sue type of mocings protected under aw that protect you wen you bave a Supertow party, abrday party for your eh nua celebration, Thanksgiving diner, or simply entertain your frends. May we always be encighborbood of people who enjoy fellowship and may we always be a country that defends the “sight o assemble” (est we become a dictators) ‘We love you all. The vast majority of you, because we actualy love you. And a couple of people because the Bible tes us to “iove our enemies and pray fr those who persecute us (Matibew 5:44)” Please know that when we meet, among other things, we pray fr ths neighborhood. That we will have brotherly love stong marriages, that your children will be safe and do wel in their studies, that your health ‘would be strong, that our homes wail experience no loss ‘As always ~ifanyone who visits us ever blocks your driveway or in any way ereaes a nuisance, please notify tus immediately and we wll pay rectify the situation. ‘We hope you ll hada Merry Christmas and that this year is your most blessed and prosperous ever! ‘We look forward to the neighborhood pinic in 2016 (some of you are sericuly good cooks ~ LOL!) — Sincerely, Jeckeand Valerie Smith