It was a Great Day

Today we went to the mission to check on the kids and to clean our mission up. Boy was it filthy from all the Christmas and homework activity last week. It took a good hour to get it back in shape. We sure had fun telling the kids about Jesus and sharing the meaning of the candy cane with them.

We are so blessed to have a Savior that is willing to give up everything in heaven to come to earth just because of His unconditional love for us. Yesterday we were ministering to families at one of our mission sites. One of the kids asked me if we had a Christmas tree. I told her yes. I asked her why? She said that her family could not afford a Christmas tree. It made me sad to know that many kids there may never have the joy of something as simple as a Christmas tree. The management company at this particular location has placed a beautifully decorated tree in the big window of the office. Kids are constantly hanging outside just to look in the window at the tree. The kids tell us this is our tree...see how beautiful it is!

Do you take for granite having something as simple as a tree in your home? Are you thankful how well God has blessed you? Would you be surprised to know how many people in your neighborhood are having to forgo gift giving this year because they can’t afford it any longer?

God sent his son (Jesus) into the world that he might save his beloved mankind from their sin. Jesus came here in the form of a baby. He grew into a man in stature and was set apart for one mission...to take all the sins of all men to a rugged cross as the ultimate gift for all mankind.

Today was my uncle and aunts 50th wedding anniversary party. My uncle Charles is my mothers brother. He is pictured here with my Aunt Louise. It was also good to see my cousins too! We don't see each other very much because of varied schedules. It was great to do a little catching up. By the way I am the oldest of the bunch. Praise the Lord i am the handsome one. My cousin Karen refused to get in the picture with us because she did not want to ruin her reputation.

This is a group shot of the Horton family. Boy don't they clean up good? I sure do wish we could get together more than we do.My dog Sam has been under the weather today. I don't really know whats wrong with him. He acts like he has a virus if a dog can get one. Two weeks ago Sam was a hero. Some one broke into one of our cars and then tried to get into our house through the side door. My daughter and one of her friends was here alone. My daughter said Sam barked hysterically and ran the intruder off. Sam is our hero!!! He is still just a 10 month old puppy but he has a big dog bark.

We love you all and are praying for you during this season of peace.

Merry Christmas!!

Mission Update!

The kids at the mission got out of school today. They will be on Christmas break until after the first of the year. We will probably swing in a couple of times over the break just check on them.

Parkview Church is coming tomorrow for a little outreach event. Kind of a mini backyard bible club.We will swing in there tomorrow to pray with them. They have been there before so they really don't need to be supervised. We appreciate their partnership.

Please pray for families that are doing without things for Christmas. Many people are even hurting for basic food needs.. I sure wish we had the financial resources to help them. A few 50 dollar gift cards would really help out.

We plan to be at the mission on Monday at regular time to see the kids one last time before Christmas. After that we plan to take a little time off the be with family and celebrate Jesus' birthday. We have had a busy fall and need to recharge the batteries.

Thank you to all who have donated to our mission work this year. We really appreciate what you do for us more than we could ever express. Please pray for us as we begin a new year.

We will be sending our newsletter out early due to the holidays. Please read it and tell us what you think.

We Love You All!

Ministry Full Speed Ahead!!

To those who count it joy when they meet trials of various kinds...

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11


Praise be to God in the Highest. Worked on administrative items this morning and caught up on email. Began thinking of articles for the newsletter.

This afternoon we did homework help at Villas Nueva. We had about 20 kids show up. Megan Faircloth did a lesson on the symbolic meaning of the candy cane. We hung out with the kids for a while. Two girls were having a disagreement for the bus ride home...we got all that straightened out. Now they are friends again.

School will be out starting next week. We decided to go back on Monday to check up on the kids. We have a couple of adults that need counseling. We plan to check up on them as well.

We Love You All!

Jacksonville Brothers!!!!

Sorry its been so long since our last blog. Ten days to be precise. It sure is wonderful to be getting closer to the birthday of our Savior Jesus. We are so blessed that we have a Savior that loves us so much. The reason we exist and is to love people like Jesus did.

Today me Tim and Jesse met with two brothers from Jacksonville, Fl. Paul Bowman and his partner Ira. These men feel called to connect Church's with missions. I was happy that we had the opportunity to get to know them and establish a partnership as well. Paul is familiar with a family that lives in Villa Nueva. It turns our the we have been helping their kids with home work. I was able to learn a few things about the complex that I didn't know.
We took them to one of our favorite Thai restaurants just down the street from V.N. We all had a really good time!
While we were in the area we visited a grocery store geared to accommodate Muslims. It is always a real eye opener to go into places like this. Much more for people that visit here to see the community.
We also took them over to the Hindu Temple to see the largest of its kind in the southeast. This is one impressive structures inside and out.
All the detail work inside and out was done by hand in India and shipped to the US.
The custodian of the complex told us that it took seven years to do all the intricacy and detailed work the surrounds the entire temple.

It was a fun day!

Just to update you...our home work help program continues to grow. We have also been able to share Jesus with several kids. We are so grateful that God is opening door to families there.

Please pray for us this week as we continue to reach out to lost and gang influenced kids.

We Love You All!!!

Christmas Party!!! WooHoo!!!

Today we had a Christmas Party for the kids at Villa Nueva. It was sponsored by our good friends and partners Mark and Ginger Whitley's Sunday school class from Mountain Park FBC.We are so excited that they came in full force bearing gifts, games and food for our kids. They brought so much stuff that we were able to lavish the kids with all sorts of goodies and still have stuff left over that we can use in the future. For some of the kids we work with this may be the biggest part of their Christmas.
Ginger shared a story with the kids.

The kids were also treated to a craft center where they made Christmas cards for their families and also had the opportunity to get their faces paint pictures on there cheeks.

They had several games to share with the kids including the highly popular bean-bag toss.Isaid was good at it.

All the kids ended up leaving with gifts, candy and a piece of happy birthday Jesus cake. They had a great time.

This is me with my longtime friend Mark Whitley. Thanks Mark and team for all you guys did to share Jesus with the kids at this mission. We really enjoyed having you and your class as our partners. See more photos at www.thetablemissions.org.

We Love YOU All!

20+ kids...Homework Help!!!!

Our homework help program is really beginning to take off. We had 20 kids today come to seek help with their homework. It looks like the word is out with the parents. More and more kids are coming in for help. Praise the Lord! We decided to not only offer homework help but to also let the kids come for board games and art.. the catch is that homework must be finished before art and games can begin. We are thinking about the possibility of increasing our homework help from two days to 4 days each week. We have prayed a long time for this to happen and the Lord is finally blessing our work and helping us to move forward.This is Genesis pictured above. She is one of our regular friends. She saw our chain decoration around the and decided to create her own chain for her bedroom. She is a good girl.The best part of having the kids come for homework help is that we get to share the Gospel. This is my partner Meghan pictured below sharing a word from the Bible with the kids. They really listened to the study closely. This Saturday we will be having a Christmas Party for the kids. We really got out and played it up today. Mark Whitley's Sunday school class from Mountain Park FBC will be hosting the party. We are really excited and blessed that they are coming and the kids can hardly wait. We are so blessed to be able to work with such beautiful and eager children.

We hope those of you who read this blog will get a sense of just how diverse God's family really is, and how His love abounds for all his people. I often wonder what language we will be speaking in heaven.

Please pray for our party this Saturday that we will be a reflection of Christ in the lives of all who come.

We Love You All!

Public School Ministry

This week I had the opportunity to work two full days as a sub-teacher at one of the local public schools. Many of the teachers are astounded that the kids, I have worked with, have liked me so quickly. As a matter of fact they care for me so much that it is a little disruptive sometimes. But I do really try to be kind as possible so as to reflect Jesus to them. Even though we are not supposed to directly witness unless asked, the model of Christ can be reflected in our personal lifestyles. My consistent theme is always "be good" and "do your absolute best."

Cornelia works daily in a local church preschool as a teacher and as mentioned in an earlier post she also works at a daycare center in the after school program working for Hindi speaking Indian nationals. She has likewise developed her own little ministry. Basically doing the same thing that I do in public school. She also really tries to reflect Jesus to the different cultures she encounters everyday.

Our after school homework help continues to do well and we also have a Christmas Party planned for December 6th at Villa Nueva. Please pray for these two ministries as we continue to share the Love of our Lord and if you feel led maybe even donate resources.

We are thankful for you all!!!