Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

State of the Church Address 2012

Posted: September 24, 2012 by mikehanafee in Church Planting, Core Values, Discipleship Groups, Family, Friends, Gordon Park, preaching, racism, Restore Church, state of the church address, the gospel, Uncategorized, Vision
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For a strong shot of what Restore is about, what God has done, & where are we going, check out Sunday’s state of the church address. In yesterday’s sunny but blustery weather at Gordon Park, Clete & I had a blast sharing our DNA, telling the story of God’s grace at Restore this far, & casting a vision for the future. At the bottom you can read about what Restore has meant to some of our peeps. And hopefully next post will be about a building we have purchased. Details to come. In the meanwhile pray closing goes smoothly & the building remains secure.

To me, Restore means I have a place where I can invite my friends and their kids and they can hear and see the gospel.  Since people at Restore are in the neighborhood it makes everything more accessible. I love meeting people that have the same heart for this neighborhood and have been called by God to serve here.  It’s encouraging because people at Restore can empathize with the struggles of ministering in the city- but point me back to the hope of Jesus.  Since being here, God has showed me more and more that I do a lot of the things I do for the glory of me.  I want to take my eyes off myself and do them for the glory of God.  Being around so many people who are farther along in their faith than me is a wake up call that I need to seek God more and go deeper with Him.

Restore Family is family to me. We are joined together by the  Blood of Christ, stronger than any blood relation to my earthly birth family. Some specific ways that God is transforming me is that He is challenging me to step out of my comfort zone, out of my selfishness and truly dive into honest accountability with the community He has given me through Restore. I am able to be transparent with my struggles and know that I am not going to be condemned and not left in self-pity of “my problems” and “my struggles” but challenged to rely on God, preach the Gospel into my life and prayed for by my community. It is refreshing, humbling and motivating to be part of a community that seeks to know, love and display Jesus, the Gospel, agape love. As the community pours into me, I in turn pour back into the community.

Our move to the Detroit area was one of faith and obedience. It definitely wasn’t easy. It was scary. No family or friends to welcome us, just a daunting job for me and uncertainty for my husband. We obviously felt the call of the Spirit or we wouldn’t have come at all and there was a lot of assurance in that. In fact, the words the Spirit used to change my husband’s heart were, “I am in Detroit. Am I not enough?” But it was still uncomfortable. To us, Restore has been the Lord’s provision. The people are family. The Truth comes in waves. Before we moved here, Detroit seemed like a forsaken city. Now it seems a little like a promised land in some ways. There is so much and there are so many people to love here and I can see my Father’s hand at work. He is here & He is most definitely more than enough. I am so unbelievably grateful that the Spirit led us here.  I can’t imagine my life without this Church, this city, or the people we have met here.

Outdoor baptisms at GP & 56 pics

Posted: September 4, 2012 by mikehanafee in acts, baptism, election, Family, Friends, Gordon Park, preaching, Restore Church, the gospel, Uncategorized
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Never hand the mic to a preacher. I wonder if that’s what the synagogue leaders in Antioch of Pisidia thought after they asked Paul if he had anything to say! From his impromptu sermon we looked at 4 great truths about Christianity, all of which are centered on Jesus. Along the way we also learned a few things about being on mission in a religious context & some ways Christianity is different than man-made religion. Acts 13 was a great segueway to our outdoor baptismal service yesterday at Gordon Park. We’ll be doing another baptismal service in a few weeks. In the meanwhile we’ll see if we can get some video of the testimonies posted. Finally, please pray for a huge meeting Clete & I have tonight (Tuesday) regarding a great interim indoor worship facility in the heart of our area.

Gordon Park Clean Up and Sunday Praise Service in the Park

Posted: June 21, 2012 by cletebontrager in Detroit History, Detroit Info, Family, Friends, race riots, racism, Restore Church, social justice
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June 16th Restore Church along with friends from the community came together to clean Gordon Park.  This is a small, but beautiful park.  We had our work cut out for us, but with many hands it really did make light work.  Thank you to all who helped with this effort.  Many friends were made and friendships deepened.  We all had a lot of fun.

So above you see the pictures of the before.  After we cleaned up the park it looked so much better.  It is amazing what a little elbow grease and hard work will do to an overgrown park.  We are not any different than that park.  We are all overgrown with weeds of sin choking out good growth.  We have man hole covers missing and so we fill them up with garbage of the world.  The big difference is we can’t clean ourselves up.  Oh we may for a short time trim some weeds out, but lasting change only comes from the Holy Spirit doing a work in our life.   This park if not maintained will look just like when we started in a few short weeks.  Same thing happens to us if the change does not come through the work of God in our hearts.  Change must come from the inside out.

So after we did the clean up on Saturday we held a praise service in Gordon Park.  This was the starting place for the 1967 Detroit Riots.  So much history where we held the service.  We had Lorenzo tell a little about Motown Square.  Mike preached from the book of Nehemiah on rebuilding the walls.  God used the service to bring a community together.  We had a little over 50 people out for this service that was held on Father’s Day.  We want to thank Sarah Hilliker for chairs that we were able to borrow from the ministry she works for in Highland Park and also Fred Robinson for the use of his generator.

Here are some pics from Sunday:

We had a wonderful time praising Jesus!  This upcoming Sunday we will be in the park again, so look us up there at 11:00 am.

Sunday’s Unusual Encouragement (MGOBLUE!)

Posted: May 21, 2012 by mikehanafee in Family, Friends, Michigan, Restore Church, Uncategorized
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Every church planter knows that uneasy feeling, as the start of the worship service nears, of not seeing a lot of faces you expected to see. Ugh! Sunday it happened to me so I slipped into a back room & prayed for a few minutes, “God, help me to keep my mind focused on you & serve the people who are here well. And Lord, would you do something unusual today to really encourage me?” I went to the front of the building & looked out the window. No extra vehicles. A few moments later I looked again …and then I saw not 1, not 2, but 5 packed vehicles (including 2 vans) pull in to the parking lot. One after another they filed in with cheerful smiles & hugs & handshakes. Really encouraging! As I greeted them I sort of recognized one guy & asked him where I knew him from. Then it dawned on, “Saturday afternoons!” It was Denard Robinson. Since I have been a Wolverine fan my whole life that was encouraging as well! I later found out it was the people of InnerCity Outreach Ministries, lead by Pastor Dexter, a good friend of Clete’s from their children’s school. Dexter, who moved here in 1999 from Georgia to plant a church, felt burdened earlier in the morning to come out with his crew to encourage our young church. That, they did! And after the service I was invited to minister at a Monday morning outdoor Bible study for men right off the streets or out of prison.

I’m pretty sure this group of believers won’t be coming out regularly;) I’m glad for that since they are a church making a difference in their neighborhood 3.5 miles away! But I was encouraged in several ways. First, it was a fresh reminder that God cares for Restore…& me, even in unusual blue & maize ways. Second, that we have another church in the city praying & pulling for us. Third, that I was able to minister the word, as Aaron ministered in music, at the outdoor service & see God work in some powerful ways (& some unfamiliar ways for me – I’ll save that story for another day). Fourth, that God is about saving both stars & unknown people – the playing field is level at the foot of the cross. And Jesus came to gather a people for His name from all walks of life!

On a related note it was funny to ask Pastor Dexter how his daughter came to know Denard. “I’m not really a football fan. But I’m a big fan of God & of my daughter. And I told him that if he wants to walk with my daughter he better be serious about walking with Jesus!”  Oh, for a city full of dads with that kind of heart for God & their daughters!

Sunday ended with 27 peeps from Restore gathering for a great meal at Mercury Burger Bar. In addition to watching our waiter Mark do various flips we enjoyed some great burgers. Most of all, it was a beautiful to see a group of people sold out for Jesus, who were mostly strangers only a year ago, gathered together to talk mission and enjoy each others company around a really long table. It made me long for the ultimate banquet to come! Lord, please use us to summon many in the 48202/206 & outward to your everlasting feast.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
(Revelation 7:9-10)

Here’s a short sermon jam from a few Sunday’s ago put together by a good friend who is training my son Kevin on video technology.

“Making a move in faith.” Mom of 4 talks about the call to Detroit

Posted: May 4, 2012 by mikehanafee in Detroit Info, Family, Friends, Uncategorized
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In our last post I mentioned a family moving to Detroit to be part of Restore Church. Here’s the story of this call in Jackie’s words…

Had I been asked a couple years ago if I would be writing this, I might have given a nice eye roll along with a “um, yeah ooookay!”

In fact, I have to state that while we were prayerfully considering moving our family to Florida, some friends of ours were about to embark on mission to Detroit. I still remember our conversation as our boys were playing and my sweet friend said, “You should totally come with!” and I (in all sweet sincerty) chuckeled and said “yeah, I don’t think so!”.

Our boys were total buds and they made sure to keep in touch while we were in Florida and they were in Detroit. I remember being a bit bummed that we had just started to get to know each other when both of our families moved out of Oregon. Thankfully, FB helps with keeping in touch and Aaron and I were able to keep in touch that way.

Flash forward a bit to our time closing in Florida, Aaron had mentioned to me that he really felt like we needed to visit our friends in Detroit and see what they were doing there. I, quite honestly did not want to go, a lot of it was fear that if we visited, we might move and who wants to move to Detroit, right? I was reluctant but ended up agreeing to visit and even told Aaron if God says “go”, I’ll go, even though my heart was pretty closed to it.

Colorado called out of the blue and offered Aaron a job and I leterally JUMPED out of my seat “THIS IS IT!! wahoo! Closer to family, a job, people we knew, everything pointed to yes and I still remember Aaron had apprehension about it but this gal was ready to GO! Pack up, let’s get this show on the road!

So we solidified our plans to move to Colorado and visit Detroit on the way to Colorado.

Oh my word, that road trip was the loooongest ever and if you all remember the wonderful ride across America in our car that kept dying every hour or so!! Well, with the car trouble we were having, we decided it would not be smart to stop in Detroit first, so we skipped it, visited family in TX, and then headed up to CO to start a job. A month after moving, we found a house that was rent to own and put the paperwork in to buy the house and set some roots. All the while, there was still some aprehension with Aaron and while I loved the house , there was a part of me that didn’t feel right about it either and I had mentioned to a couple friends of mine but chose to ignore that feeling cause we were not going to move again. nope, nope, nope.

Well, about a month ago, we were sitting in church and worship began to play and it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e. God was moving in my heart and I was loving every minute of it, tears were streaming down and throughout the sermon, the tears continued and I couldn’t stop. I remember looking at Aaron and whispering, we gotta visit Detroit. We both prayed, we both felt at the very least, we needed to visit.

We had no money to make a trip across country and when the day came for us to “supposedly” go, we were still like …ummm how is this gonna work? No joke, the money came in almost immediately and we were floored. Two hours later, we were on the road to visit Detroit, MI and that is the most spontaneous we have been since like we were kids!

30 hours later from being in the car and one sweet stop having some real Chicago pizza, we were finally there and wow, let me say, I was not prepared for it.

I was not prepared to see so many abandoned homes, businesses, and schools. I was not prepared to see people hanging out on the street at all hours of the day, grafitti everywhere, and simply a place that has been worn out to the core.

And while all I was seeing was crazy, I wasn’t prepared to have my heart to be stirred to come live there. I fell in love with our friends at a greater depth and lemme say a family of 6 and family of 7 under the same roof for 9/10 days and not going crazy says a lot ha!

There was one night as we were talking with one of the guys who had come alongside our friends to learn and he was explaining how him and his wife got there and how he absolutely thought that was the last place he ever wanted to be and how God began to work in his wife and him and lead them there. I was listening in awe, in excitement, and in fear. I have struggled with fear a lot in my lifetime and while God has peeled some layers off, this would require me trusting Him a bit more than I am used to and my mind and spirit began to wrestle.

After 5 days of being there, Aaron and I were getting ready to go on a date. I was in the bathroom and got on my knees and began to pray and pray hard. I just begged God that no matter what, if He wanted us there, I’d go and continued to pray that Aaron and I would be on the same page and continue to stay on the same page as we hadn’t really had a chance to talk during our visit. We went on our date and began to share our hearts with each other and where we were at with everything and we were completely on the same page. We both were being stirred and agreed that we would continue to pray and see what happens.

There has been a fire that has ignited in me since being there and a greater urgency to share the gospel for sure and as the weeks have passed and we have continued to pray, it is more evident this is where we are supposed to go. The other night we were praying and I began to read Isaiah 41:8-20. Awesome passage and it really struck me especially with this transition. Please take the time to read it!

This is a big change, requiring a big step of faith and I am asking for your prayer and support.

Please, please read this letter to see more of our heart and the mission that we will be a part of.

I love you all!

Perhaps you wonder how you could ever have an impact if you moved to the city. Check out this encouraging video!

The Story of God Blitz

Posted: February 5, 2012 by cletebontrager in Family, Restore Church
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So in a week we will be doing THE STORY OF GOD in our neighborhood.  We love this story and want others to come and embrace this story with us!

Most people have a Bible on their shelf, but unfortunately most people have not cracked open the book in a very long time.  Most could share a few stories they heard as a child, but beyond that most people don’t really understand what (& most importantly, who) the Bible is about.

Saturday February 4, 2012 we came together at my house and handed out 1600 cards in our neighborhood advertising THE Story that completes and corrects every other story, even yours!

Restore Church Card

We met at 12:00 as a family and also had the help of two students from Moody in Plymouth.  There were a total of 28 of us to pass out these cards.  Before you get all excited about the number and maybe how fast you think we handed out all 1600 cards, understand that there were 18 of our people under the age of 18.  The adults were outnumbered, but we had a great time hanging with the youth among us.  The energy they exuded at the beginning waned as each group walked approximately 4  miles.  We all had lots of fun though getting to connect with each other as well as our neighbors.

Mike giving some instructions Some of the kids ready for Mission

We prayed before we went out that God would bless our efforts and that fruit would be born from people being introduced to this Story coming up on February 12th. 

Praying for people to come to meet JesusPraying for the mission ahead

I’ll tell you a little bit about my group and what we did.  We had Kellie, Carolyn, Clete III, Javon, Avion and Jonathon.  At first the kids were crazy fast at walking, but about 2 miles in their spirits took a dip.  Tired and hungry were the words for about 10 minutes, but after a little RA RA  speech by me, they rallied like true soldiers and we all persevered to complete our mission on Chicago Blvd.

My crew resting above the Lodge freeway.

All the kids said they had a blast passing out the cards with each other.  As we walked we all all talked together and enjoyed being together.

Please pray with us that God would use even the fruit of our labors to bring people into His kingdom.  We don’t trust in our efforts, but in a God that even used a donkey to speak.  No not the Shrek donkey, though sometimes we, like him, get a big head and think we are better than we really are.  In the Shrek movie the donkey says “All right, I hope you heard that? She called me a ‘noble steed.’ She thinks I’m a steed.”  That is just like us – we do something for the kingdom of God and we think we are what gets it done. But when we remember God uses us in spite of ourselves and not  because of ourselves He gets all the glory and we get the joy!

Ready set break!

We met so many wonderful people, people from every walk of life.  I even met my first Black Hebrew Israelite.   He asked some belief questions and then said he may come to the study.  Very polite man and would love to see God break through into his heart with the truth.

So if your reading this please stop right now and ask God to work in our hearts and the hearts of those who attend the Story.  We want to see people come to know the true and perfect God.

~ Clete Bontrager

Enjoy the pics below:

Restore’s 2nd Trimester, Midrange Schedule, & an amazing gift!

Posted: November 18, 2011 by mikehanafee in Detroit Info, Family, Friends, Restore Church, Vision
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Hey all,

I like to tell people that we are entering the 2nd trimester in our embryonic stage of planting Restore Church. Hard to believe that next Tuesday (Nov 22) we will have been in Detroit one year. Wow, time has flown by! To let you know how to pray for the next few months I thought I would push out our midrange schedule & share a really cool story.

First, Sunday Worship. (We have been meeting 1st & 3rd Sundays not as “preview services” but simply to gather around God’s word as a growing community. In God’s kindness several neighbors are coming to these worship services.) The next 5 worship services are as follows–Sunday November 20, Sunday December 4, Sunday December 18, Sunday January 15, & Sunday February 5. All of these services will be at the Bontragers (1247 Chicago) with the possible exception of January 15, the day before the MLK holiday. On that Sunday we will look at two-way reconciliation from Ephesians 2:11-22 in conjunction with some special activities.

Second, our West Lodge Missional Community. Our first MC launched in July with the mission of showing & telling Jesus in a 10 block area in our neighborhood. We now have 14 adults & 10 great kids in our MC. We gather on Wednesdays for a meal, prayer, study, fellowship, & strategizing. Christmas vacation may be a good time to drop in on a MC gathering for the several of you who have inquired about coming out for a night. Also, to tap in the rhythm of celebration we are holding a New Year’s Eve Party – looking forward to ringing in 2012 with a friends & neighbors!

Third, a neighborhood bible study. Through cookouts, service projects, & just being present in our community we have had the privilege of connecting with many many people who we now have the great privilege of knowing as friends. In order to share the good news of Jesus we are launching an 8 week session through The Story of God February 12 – April 1. I’m in need of a creative graphics person to help design some materials so if that’s you & you’d like to volunteer let me know.

Fourth, Easter Sunday 2012. We are considering concluding our Story of God run with an early AM easter celebration in the Bontrager’s large side yard adjacent to the Lodge Freeway. We’d love to secure a large GP type of tent for this so if you have access to one please let us know. Also, we are thinking about including a breakfast cookout & some fun stuff for the kids.

Fifth, worship facility & community center. It seems the Foodland Co building is a no go, & for good reason (I’ll share the story with you over coffee if you’d like). There are 2 church buildings in our community that are not used that extensively and that would be great facilities. Our hope is to have a place secured & ready for use for fall 2012.

Sixth, Christmas vacation visit. Pray for a few guys who will be visiting Detroit over the holidays to explore joining the mission with Restore. We are grateful that God has lead many to consider ministry in Detroit. This is fully in keeping with our 2 Timothy 2:2 burden!

Seventh, an encouraging story. Yesterday Restore Church received $5,000 from the estate of a woman I have never met via her daughter who I have never met who is married to a friend from my college fraternity days. He & I may have been the last 2 guys in our frat you would have ever guessed would become Christians, but in God’s mercy (& humor), we both became Christians after graduation, unbeknownst to each other. What a time we had 2 years ago when we reconnected and heard each others grace stories! Well yesterday I received this in the mail from his dear wife.

Dear Mike & friends at Restore Church – As Tom probably mentioned to you I have a connection in Detroit…both my parents (and their parents) grew up in the city. My mom grew up on Bennett Street (my grandfather – a former Ford & Chrysler auto worker – built their house!) and my dad grew up near Motown and attended Northwestern HS. They lived in the city until the late 1960′s, when my dad’s job transferred them to South Bend, IN (where I was born). But we have always spent summers and holidays in Detroit visiting family who remain in the area…clearly Detroit holds a special place in my heart (and Tom’s by proxy:) – so when my dear mom passed away in August (she was a great woman of faith who came to Christ at Highland Park Baptist Church, which is now in the suburbs), we though of you and Restore Church. My mother would be thrilled to know that her money was going to a ministry such as yours that is making such a difference in the town she loved! My sincere wish is that these funds will help many people see the light of Jesus that shown so brightly in mom’s life. God bless you and the work you are doing in Detroit!

Wow, what an encouragement to us as we seek to show & tell Jesus in central Detroit! We are thankful for the many ways the Lord is enabling us to minister in our city. As we are in an under-resourced area we are continuing to raise support, especially as we are now entering a phase where we need a larger worship & multipurpose space. Let us know if you might be interested in helping us.

Finally, pray for Johnny. He is a friend & neighbor that I long to see come to Jesus. A few nights ago he was jumped going to the corner store for cigarettes and took 8 stitches on his head. As always he has a sense of humor – “I was always told cigarettes kill, I just didn’t know in this way!” I was at his house this morning and he is thankful for those of you who have prayed for him.

For the advance,

Mike

Oh yeah, meet Chloe, the newest addition to our family. We found this sweet pit mix during an alley cleanup a few months ago, full of the mange and weighing only 28 lbs. She is now healthy, sassy, & 52 lbs… and a good addition to Susan’s morning walks I should add!

Restore Church has FREE Yard Sale to Bless Detroit, but Recieves a Blessing

Posted: October 10, 2011 by cletebontrager in Family, Friends, Gospel Identities, Restore Church, Uncategorized, Vision
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Restore Church put on our service project for October this past Sunday (Oct 09 2011).

Cheryl working hard putting stuff out

Our goal was to bless our neighborhood by putting on a free yard sale.  I think though we were blessed far beyond the blessing the folks in our neighborhood and surrounding areas received.  So many people came up with tears in their eyes and told us what a blessing Restore was to them.  It made our hearts melt to see such a movement in hearts.  It gave so many gospel advance opportunities.  So many people asked why are we just giving all this stuff away? Answer: the free yard sale is a display of the gospel.  We have been given a gift that we have not been asked to pay back.  Of course if you understand the gospel you understand even if you wanted to you could never even begin to pay it back.

So a few months ago we started collecting donations from various individuals and organizations in our metro area.  So many churches gave generously.  I hazard to name names because I could forget some, but I will name 3 that came through big for us.  Inter City Baptist Church in Allen Park gave us a lot of furniture and that seemed to be some of the stuff that went the quickest.  Bethesda Baptist Church gave a lot of clothes that blessed so many people.  Kensington Church in Troy also came through with a lot of ‘stuff” that was a great asset to have at the garage sale.

So we started setting up around 8:30 am and would you know people started stopping at that time even though we planned on starting the sale at 10:00 am.  By 12:30 there was not much left except for some clothes and just a few other items.  It blew our minds how fast stuff went.  We officially ended at 2:00 pm, but people hung out till after 5:00 pm just talking and having fun.

People shopping as we put stuff out

One of the most humorous but also most sad people we met was a lady who had just came from her church and said at least 50 times she could not believe it was all free. She then became very territorial over “a lot” of stuff she claimed and was ready to get it on when someone even looked at her stuff.  Unfortunately her being in “church” did not help her disposition or speech.

The Cussing Church Lady on her throne

I really believe we understood the gospel better by doing this service project at Restore.  It came afresh to me that God is not asking me to “pay him back” but now wants my life since his son gave his life.  Not as payment, but now he wants me to bring him glory by telling others how awesome he is.  When I see what an awesome privilege it is to work for Jesus, this little service project will make me love Jesus even deeper, and then those around me.

Here are some pics from the time we had Sunday serving our King.

As you will be able to tell we have lots of fun while serving King Jesus.

Jesus has really big biceps & a huge heart

Posted: September 6, 2011 by mikehanafee in Colossians, Family, Friends, Gospel Identities, Restore Church, Uncategorized
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Sunday about 45 people gathered at the Bontrager home for worship (I’m starting to wonder if we can build a balcony in their living room!). In message 2 in our Colossians series we looked at the supremacy & sufficiency of Jesus. You can check out the sermon & some pics below.

Like a logging train

Posted: August 2, 2011 by mikehanafee in Family, Restore Church
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Two Sunday’s ago I preached at Gospel Life Church in Madison Heights, MI on the unstoppability of the gospel advance. Drawing on an illustration from my Oregon days I shared how the gospel is like a logging train – nothing can stand it it’s way! From Acts 15 & 16 we saw how the gospel advance overcomes the obstacles of relational difficulties, human planning, closed hearts, demonic powers, persecution, and personal attack. When we realize the Gospel advances on God’s commitment to it, not ours, it motivates us to commit to it’s advance all the more!

We are really thankful for our growing friendship with Gospel life Church. And I think it’s cool how they chose the old Irish way of spelling my name;)

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