The Mission

Monday we showed up at the mission a little late. The management had let the kids in to the mission room, and they were tearing the place up. We have a lock on the door, but the management wont give us a key. I had a great conversation with the kids about that being there room and how important it is to take good care of all God as in trusted us with. I ended up having to send Isaid home because he had gotten a chair and was handing out candy from the treasure box on the very top shelf of our storage shelves. I sent him home and told him he could not come back for one week. That's just the way it is with these kids. We love them,but occasionally we have to give them a little tough love as well. I'll let him come back next week.

We went by today to check on the kids. It was early release day from school, so most of the kids were already in their houses. We have an event scheduled for Saturday. Our partner, Meghan, will be bringing a group from Youth Outreach United to play games and share the Gospel with the kids.

Sunday me, Cornelia , Kaitlyn and friends went to the "Winter Jam" concert. I had the opportunity to go back stage and meet Toby Mac.

He seemed to be a very Godly man focused on getting the gospel message to the kids. It was a big thrill. Unfortunately Kaitlyn was a little upset because she has always dreamed of meeting him. Maybe one day she will get her opportunity. Unfortunately I left my camera behind with Cornelia and was not able to get the photographic proof.

I also had the opportunity to meet my hero "Toddie Funk" the bass player for the Diverse City Band (Toby Mac's bass player). From one bass player to another we talked about music styles, gear, and the types of bass guitars we like to play. It was a great conversation. Cornelia said that I was trying to relive the glory days back when I stood in Toddie's shoes. Hey and I did not forget my camera this time. Oh yeah...the photo is courtesy of Kaitlyn my daughter. She was excited too.

Tomorrow I get to to spend the day with my partner Tim Cummins. It's been awhile since we have seen each other and I am look forward to the days activities. I will blog again tomorrow to let you know what we did.

We Love You All!

Feeling Blessed

It's good to know that our Lord is in total control of every aspect of our life.

Recently we have had great ministry happening at Villas Nueva. We continue to work hard to share Jesus. We also wanted you to know that we plan to expand our days of ministry to four or five days instead of two. Our homework help program is going well and we plan to expand the days of operation to Monday - Thursday. We have added an additional ministry. We are now providing art and craft lessons to the residents in combination with a bible study and sharing of the Gospel.

Our public school ministry continues to develop. Currently we have shared the Gospel with over 100 students. We have also built an allegiance with several teachers as well. So far we have not had any substantial objection from school administration and the Lord continues to shield us as we discreetly do our work.

Other items of interest is a Saturday rec programs provided by Youth Outreach United and Parkview Christian Church on alternating Saturdays. We are so grateful to have substantial partners to help us minister.

Please pray that the Lord will bless use spiritually and He will give us the go ahead to expand into the community.

Much Love

2009 and Beyond

I hope you are doing well and dwelling in the love of our awesome God!

It’s easy these days to get caught up in all the trappings of negative thoughts. We are being virtually drowned by negativism, but bare in mind that despite everything we hear and read, our God is still in control. It's not uncommon for life's hard times to be portrayed in Scripture as storms. And that's appropriate because storms are often situations where you have no control over your outcome. Maybe like the situation you're in right now: medically, financially, or in your family, your business, maybe your ministry. It's "out-of-control" time. It's storm time.

This brings to mind a scripture from the Word of God in Nahum 1:3. It’s a wonderful anchor verse buried in one of those often-neglected Minor Prophet books in the Old Testament. "The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and the storm." Out of control? Yours, yes. His, no.
Maybe the winds in your life are intensifying right now. You can't find the things that you've always navigated by and the flood of your frustration and fear is rising. Listen, everything is under control. If you relax and you let God navigate, you are in for a wonderful surprise when the storm passes. The storm that blew you around so violently was actually blowing you home.

We have had the opportunity to be involved with some really wonderful partners in 2008. Many individuals gave time to our ministry work. Sunday school classes, youth groups, college students, and adults came and ministered providing food, crafts, games, love and gifts. But above all they came in the name of Jesus to share His word. We received donations of Bibles and New Testaments. Over 40 families received God’s word into their home in their own language. We were blessed after speaking to a women's group, when they all gathered around us and laid hands on us and prayed for the Lord to bless our ministry. God sent us a donation of a car that we gave to a man who had no way to work except mass transit. He also sent us computers, toys, clothes, musical instruments and much needed school supplies as well as monetary gifts and most of all precious time.

Thank you partners for your support. Your notes of encouragement and interest in our ministry means so much to us. Please remember to pray for us in 2009 as we look past worldly fears and expand our ministry. We are relying on Him to provide even in the storm. What a blessing it is to know you will be praying for God to help us work out the details.

Family Day!!

Today we made plans to have a family day outing. We have not done that in quite awhile. I decided to take Cornelia, Jaime, and Kaitlyn to Amicalola Falls hiking. Jaime and Kaitlyn had never been there before so it was fitting that we show them something new. Amicalola Falls is the highest water fall west of the Mississippi. It is also the approach point of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia.

Jaime and Kaitlyn catching a little rest break as we approach the half way point of a really steep climb!Here is a picture of Jaime at the Half-way platform. And the picture below shows you the view that we saw.

Finally we made it back down to the bottom...boy the view was really something. We sure had a good time!!!

To update you on our ministry work. Lately we have basically been down to doing everyday ministry. The homework help outreach has been running around 15-20 kids and sometimes 25 kids and we have been able to share Jesus with several individuals.

We are working hard right now to plan for 2009. We want to do and be our best for you as we continue to build relationships with immigrants. Our goal is to share Jesus with the lost of all ages.

The public school ministry is going great. I had the opportunity to share Jesus with six older kids last week. The kids were really receptive and want to hear more. Unfortunately I just can't let my efforts disrupt school or they my ask me to leave. Please pray for people to be made ready by the Holy Spirit as we share the Gospel.

Thanks you for reading our blog. We appreciate you dropping by. Our news letter will be coming out soon with more detailed information.

We Love You All!

Prayer of Praise!

We have had a bitter sweet experience this week. Our son Jaime was involved in a fairly serious auto accident. Praise the Lord he walked away relatively uninjured. As for the car it is going to be a total loss. It seems that Satan just continues to place road blocks in our path to derail us. This photo doesn't do justice to the severity of damage inflicted on this car. This is a loss we really could not have afforded to endure, but the most important thing is Jaime above any piece of metal.

We had a large group of kids at the mission on Monday for homework help. We were able to help many kids with homework and gave out school supplies donated by Peachtree Baptist Church.

We also had the opportunity to speak to their women's group last Saturday Morning. Thanks to Carol and the ladies for the opportunity! Cornelia and I really enjoyed telling you about our ministry work.

Wednesday we had to cancel our home help because we were locked out of the office. I guess they had to go to a meeting. It happen from time to time.

I have also been sub teaching several days this week. I had the opportunity to share Jesus with several kids. Its truly amazing how God keeps sending kids and adults alike who want to hear a word from the Lord.

Please pray for our family as we press on despite Satan's failed attempts to stop our work.

We Love You All!!!

Back on the Job!!!!

It felt really good today to be back in the field after taking vacation time off last week. Cornelia and I really missed work, but we really needed the vacation time to recharge our batteries and spend time with our kids.

This morning we met with two new partner candidates from the Villa Nueva complex Mechelle and Carolyn. Both are praying about the possibility of working with us. We are glad that they are showing interest and both would be a great asset to our work there. We all met with Tim Cumnmins for lunch and had quite an extensive time of discussion regarding faith, outreach, and community involvement. We are praying that God reveals to us how to pug them in to our work

We left there and headed to Hunnington Ridge to meet up with our newest field team Edurado and Shelia Zamora. They are currently assigned to Hunnington Ridge in Norcross. We try to get to know as many missionaries as we can. They are really good people and we look forward to getting to know them. They will do a really good job there because of their background and their fluency in the Spanish language.

This is part of our team working in the Norcross area. We really have a lot to do up there.

It was good to be with the kids at Villa Nueva today. We are excited about the second part of the school year and getting back to helping with homework. But most importantly sharing Jesus with the lost.

This is our hand made attendance list. Please pray for the names on this list that these kids will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

God Bless and We Love you All!!!

Last Day of 2008

I had a good time today meeting with one of my best friends from high school . We have not seen each other since 1996. It was really good getting reacquainted and sharing war stories about high school days and talking about our current lives and families. Its truly amazing how much our lives have paralleled over the years. It was great to see you again Terry.

We have a group coming from Campus Crusade for Christ tomorrow to distribute food boxes to needy people of our complex. Frankly they may not have enough to cover the current needs of the many that live there. Nevertheless we are so thankful that they are doing what they can to help.

Thanks for reading our blog and we hope you have a blessed New Year. Also to those of you who supported us prayerfully and financially this year...we could not have done it without you.

We Love You All!!!!