Finishing Strong

Today is our last full day here and it's going to be just as busy as the rest. We will be traveling today to see some of the countryside we've yet to experience and then will head to the airport late this afternoon to prepare for our 10:40PM departure. 

The last couple days have been busy, busy, busy!  Please pray with us that we will finish strong as a team and will continue to give the Glory to God in all we do and in our interactions with those we encounter.  Please also be in prayer for a few of our team members who are still feeling a bit under the weather.

Sad to be leaving but looking forward to seeing friendly faces and being back on US soil!

Go to the street coners and invite anyone you find!

Please be in prayer for Carlos – he is fighting a cold/flu and we want him to heal quickly!

Today is a day that will be difficult to put into words to say the least.  Thank you, once again, so much for your prayers – God was really moving in and through us throughout the day. 

We began this morning the same as almost every other since our arrival – at the local college – listening this time to the business manager of the school share a lecture centered on the country we are visiting and our relationship to it.  It reaffirmed once again signs that God is at work here and the importance of the work He is allowing us to do here this week.

We then walked to the train station and board a train headed about 20 miles down the coast where we met up with a local ministry leader and graduate to the college we are here supporting.  He then took us to his ministry center and shared with us about what led him to starting his ministry and the different phases it had been through and where he finds it today – mainly working with drug addicts and prostitutes but also to an ever increasing number of refugees living in the area.   We were introduced to ministry partner and two men who have been a part of the ministry and are now free from their drug addictions. 

The team then split into several groups and performed several tasks – talking with people on the street and inviting them to this afternoon’s meeting/fellowship dinner, going to the market to shop and then cooking for the dinner, and organizing the clothing closet they keep on-site.  After a couple hours of this work the meeting began – and it was moving to say the least.  There are a couple members of our team who have personal testimonies that involve being delivered from drug/alcohol addiction and they were able to share their stories (through a translator) with those attending the meeting, Mike then presented the Gospel message to those present.  Following the meeting the chairs were pushed back, tables were brought in and we re-settled ourselves around the tables and partook of a meal and many good conversations together. 

Today we saw two passages of Scripture come to life right before our eyes…

Matthew 22:8-10 – “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not come.  So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

Matthew 25:34-36 –“ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” 

Following our time at the ministry we boarded our train and headed back up the coast.  We did a bit of souvenir shopping, ate dinner, and now are crashing for the night. 

Tomorrow we will begin our day with a brief meeting at the college and then board a train and head back up north to the same city we were in Sunday.  Our plan at the time of this typing includes working with a retirement home and painting a couple single moms’ homes. 

Dusty Lungs

There is a pretty good chance each of us will be going to bed this evening with at least a pound of sheetrock dust in our lungs!  Today we spent the day working at the local college.  We ripped carpet out of the bomb shelter and moved in seating, moved construction items from one floor to the next, cleaned up the detritus laying around as a result of the current building project, and continued our clean-up efforts around the exterior of the college. 

During our lunch break we had a real treat…one of the professors here at the college shared his testimony with us and a more information on how to share the Gospel with those we are coming into contact with here (and eventually back home). 

Our evening was spent together sharing a wonderful meal followed by some ice cream for the walk home.  All in all it was a wonderful day and we should each sleep soundly!

Tomorrow we will travel about 20 miles south of our location to do ministry with an organization serving the homeless and prostitutes in the area…we are really looking forward to seeing how God moves!

Thanks for your continued prayers – we are seeing them being answered in the safety the Lord is granting us and the team unity we are experiencing!

Dreams do come true!

Today we walked.  And walked.  And walked.  And walked.  And we LOVED every step we took. 

The day started early…the team met in the lobby at 7am and Mike began the hunt for our bus driver.  He found him parked a ways down the block from our hotel and unable to speak a LICK of English – let the good times begin!  All 13 of us loaded the tour bus and began our drive to find our tour guide; he is one of the professors at the Bible College we are working with here.  We thought we were going to be meeting him at the Bible College but when we drove past the turn to the College and out of town we began to get nervous…thankfully we quickly met up with him and his wife in their neighborhood just outside town. 

We had about an hour and a half drive to the city we were going to tour for the day.  For many of us this sightseeing day was a dream, a hope, and a prayer come true – all rolled into one!  After we return we will post pictures from the day but for now we will include a picture of the lovely ladies and the jolly gents! 

After walking up and down and up and down we boarded a bus and headed outside of town for supper.  Once we arrived we settled into a dinner of more shashliks, hummus,  and falafel’s than you could shake a stick at!  This was followed by delicious baklava and a demitasse of coffee so black and thick it could be mistaken as crude oil! 

We are walking weary individuals who planned to be lulled to sleep tonight to the sound of the sea outside our rooms.  Tomorrow we will awake refreshed and ready to spend the day working at the Bible College and ministering in any way they ask and the Lord leads.

A New Sister!

Praise the Lord with us as we celebrate the addition of a new Arabic Sister to the Family of God!!! A more detailed account will follow but for now we wanted to share the Good News with all our partners back in the States.

Today we started the day with a brief orientation at the Bible College we are partnering with...then began the manual labor! We moved some insulation, swept the driveway in front of the College and hauled old doors out of the bomb shelter in case the students need to use it for its intended purpose.

Following a quick lunch we boarded a train headed north and met with a missionary McKinney supports through Manny Fernandez and split into three groups - one group went to paint a recent believer's kitchen/foyer; two groups went to support 2 local men as they did door-to-door evangelism.

Tomorrow we will be doing our extended tour day and are looking forward to seeing the sites!

We are feeling your prayers and are extremely grateful and thankful for them - keep them coming.

We have arrived!

We have safely arrived...along with all our luggage!!!! Carlos met us at the gate and we are currently attempting to secure travel from the airport to our destination about 25 miles away.  The trains will not be running for several more hours so we are looking at alternate options. 

Update - We are renting cars so we will be loading up and heading to the hotel soon!  

Thanks for all the prayers - God is already clearly going before us!

Prayer Calendar

For those of you who would like to know a bit about what each day will entail for us (or what we think at this point it will entail) while we're gone and how specifically you can be praying each day please refer to the calendar below.  We also would love to read comments from home while we're gone - it's like that letter from home you would get when away at sleep-over camp!  Please be vague when referring to the Team's location.

We are in the final hours of prep time and we are EXCITED!!!  Looking forward to taking each one of you along on this journey with us!

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
				March 8 Please pray that the Team gets a good night’s sleep tonight!!! Also pray for the Team’s families as many of them are nervous about us going where we are going.	March 9 Departure Day! Leave DFW @ 3:05pm. There will be lots of hurry up and wait today.  Pray for Team unity, patience, peace, joy and love for each other and those we encounter.	March 10 Arrive in Country @ 3:05pm local time. Please be praying for Team to have opportunities to share the Gospel with fellow travelers and to settle quickly into our lodgings for the week (location Alph)
March 11 Project Day, Witnessing, Attend local church Meet with local contact for orientation, travel to project location Beit and paint homes of local widows, attend church in the evening.	March 12 Touring/ Sightseeing Day Pray for Team safety and opportunities to share Christ with those we encounter.  Pray for Team unity and if possible spiritual awakening to what God would have us do.	March 13 Project & Witnessing Day Travel back to project location Beit to do work in a retirement home and help in a local pro-life clinic and paint homes of single moms.	March 14 Witnessing Travel to project location Gimel to work with local evangelist and minister to local homeless and inner-city people.	March 15 Project Day Work with local (location Alph) Christian college cleaning the inside and out of the campus.  Team to attend lecture on the school’s purpose and attend chapel with students.	March 16 Project Day Work with local (location Alph) Christian college cleaning the inside and out of the campus.  Team to chapel with students and do a prayer walk around the campus.	March 17 Church/Travel Day Attend local (Alph) church in the morning.  Pray that the Team is an effective witness during our final hours in Country.  Depart Country at 10:40pm local time.
March 18 Travel Day Arrive at DFW @ 10:38AM.  Pray for travel mercies – that we make all our connections and for opportunities to share the love of Christ with others we meet.	March 19 Pray for the Team as we have opportunities to share with people all the things that have occurred during the trip.  May God receive all the glory for what is accomplished.	March 20 Carlos & Maria Travel Back They depart at 5:30AM.  Please be praying for all the non-Christians that will be asking about our trip.	March 21 Carlos & Maria Arrive! 8:55AM – Pray for Safe Travel. Travel Fatigue Pray for Team members as we will be feeling the full impact of TRAVEL FATIGUE today.	March 22 Pray for Carlos and Maria to get the rest they need from this long trip.

Stepping Out in Faith

It is hard to believe that in a little under 5 days many of us will begin a journey that will take us the farthest from home we've ever traveled...and we are SO excited. 

Our team of 13 will be traveling in 2 waves.  The first wave going over will be Carlos and Maria R and they leave tomorrow (Monday, 3/5).  We are so thankful that God has called the two of them to be a part of our team and for the hand of blessing God has placed upon their travel plans to allow them to travel over early and begin adjusting to the time change.  The remaining 11 of us will depart DFW on Friday, March 9th and arrive at our destination at 3:00pm local time.  It will be nice to have Carlos and Maria's well rested, friendly faces awaiting us at the airport! 

Later this week a calendar of our week will be posted along with ways you can be praying for the team each day.  For the safety of our team and those we will be working with in country details as to the country, specific locations within the country, and names of individuals/organizations we will be working with will either be vague or altered.  If you visit this site AFTER we return we will give more detail where possible while still being mindful of those continuing the work in country and future teams the Lord may (we hope and pray WILL) send in the future. 

Please be in prayer this week for our team’s final preparations and for team unity.  Things will be very hectic this week as we pack, wrap up loose ends at home and work, and as we say goodbye to our families for 10 days.  Please also pray that Carlos and Maria will be granted a good night’s sleep tonight and their travels will be smooth.