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!!!