Hi All,
Okay, well i don't actually have the "lunch time blues", but it is lunch and i'm writing, so i figured why not. For real though, life has taken an unexpected turn. On Wednesday night after we'd been at our Bible study, Dess was acting kinda wierd. In fact, she just pretty much flipped out. Dess was fed up with life at Friend Ships and told me she wanted to leave. After much crying, consoling, praying and communication, God did something to distract Dess. She noticed a figure standing around in the parking lot of the Civic Center. She said "let's go see what's up". So, i drove over to the person, not really thinking there was much we could do. It ended up that it was a lady who was on the streets and she'd been kicked out of a local shelter (which Dess found out later). We took her to Wendy's for some drive-thru chicken. We weren't really able to do much, but it helped to get Dess back on track. Dess has a ton of compassion stored up inside her. Her life seems to be more complete when she's able to help out and show love to others. I think that while being here at Friend Ships, she doesn't come into contact with people in the outside world much. She's unable to get hands on and care for those who are hurting. Well, we went back to the ship that night and Dess finally fell asleep.
Sarah commented about how the elections went. For your info, I was up until midnight that night watching the results on www.canada.com. The main reason that i even knew there was an election was because we've got a new crewmember from Canada who kept me up to date. I was reminded of evenings i'd spend at home in Canada watching the results come in with my dad. Sarah wondered how i would have voted, and to be honest, i don't know. It's impossible to stay up to date on Canadian politics while in the U.S.A. I am glad that the party has changed though and hope that they are able to run things better than the Liberals. For any Americans reading this, the Conservative party won the election in Canada. We now have a Conservative Prime Minister.
I've gotta get a bite to eat. I just wanted to write again because it's been a while since we've posted anything again. We've got photos we want to get on here, but just haven't taken the time. It's been a busy week and it's not done yet. We've got a marriage conference at our church this weekend and my birthday is coming up early next week. Exciting times for us.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Been a While
Hi,
We haven't written for a while, and i wanted to at least let you know that we're thinking about you... whoever you are. There are only a few people that we know of who have this site address and when we write, we're thinking about you. Thanks for keeping up to date on our lives by checking this out. We appreciate that you care.
Okay, so that may be a little cheesy. It's Sunday afternoon. The Steelers and Broncos are about to have it out for the opportunity to go to the next Super Bowl. I'm just putting in a bit of time before kick off. It should be an exciting game. We had an excellent time at church. Dess has been making us get up early to go to Sunday School as well as the normal Sunday service. The message was really good and it was on being servants of the money that God gives us.
Life on the ships is going well. We're still planning on trips to Israel and even Cuba now. I don't know when they will happen, but Cuba should be soon, and Israel should be next. It's amazing to see all the improvements around the ministry. We've got a working back hoe on our property that is being used to dig trenches and move a lot of dirt around. It's just looking like a nicer place.
Like i said, this is just a quick note. I hope to write more when the opportunity avails itself. Dess wants to post some pictures soon. Hope you are well.
We haven't written for a while, and i wanted to at least let you know that we're thinking about you... whoever you are. There are only a few people that we know of who have this site address and when we write, we're thinking about you. Thanks for keeping up to date on our lives by checking this out. We appreciate that you care.
Okay, so that may be a little cheesy. It's Sunday afternoon. The Steelers and Broncos are about to have it out for the opportunity to go to the next Super Bowl. I'm just putting in a bit of time before kick off. It should be an exciting game. We had an excellent time at church. Dess has been making us get up early to go to Sunday School as well as the normal Sunday service. The message was really good and it was on being servants of the money that God gives us.
Life on the ships is going well. We're still planning on trips to Israel and even Cuba now. I don't know when they will happen, but Cuba should be soon, and Israel should be next. It's amazing to see all the improvements around the ministry. We've got a working back hoe on our property that is being used to dig trenches and move a lot of dirt around. It's just looking like a nicer place.
Like i said, this is just a quick note. I hope to write more when the opportunity avails itself. Dess wants to post some pictures soon. Hope you are well.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Never Ending Adventure
Hi,
The fun just never seems to end around here. This evening, at around 8:30pm, we found a barge from one of the near by scrap yards was floating adrift in the river. The barge slowly drifted closer to the ships, giving us all a scare. Fortuneately, the current or wind took the barge away from us and we were able to get a boat out to it and tie it off to a tree. The crazy thing is that it's pretty unusual for a barge that contains tons of scrap metal to break free from it's mooring. We kind of wonder whether or not it was someone who untied it and let it loose. Right now the details are pretty sketchy, but it's possible that someone could've come in on a boat and set her free.
The night watch didn't see what happened, but it's not really his responsibility to pay attention to what's happening in the yard next to ours. One of our gates was found unlocked, even though it'd been checked at 7pm and had been locked then. It's all pretty strange.
I guess i'll give a bit of a synopsis about the "vision meeting of 2006" that we had the other day. It really was a good meeting. The founders of Friend Ships gave a talk to the crew about our accomplishments of 2005 and our plans for the future. In 2005, the Grace did a trip to Haiti where tons of relief supplies were delivered, medical care was given, food was distributed, pastors conferences were held, and much, much more. Also, the Hope and Mer Sea responded to hurricane Katrina and went to Gretna, LA. The ships were stationed there for 10 weeks. During that time, a disaster response radio station broadcast public service announcements as well as Christian music, people's immediate needs were met and tons of other awesome things happened. Okay, so i can't remember all that went on in 2005, but i'm sure if you check out the Friend Ships web site, www.friendships.org, i'm sure you can read up on it all. Then, we got the vision for the future. Haiti, Cuba, Israel and Honduras are all countries we are targeting to deliver aid to. There's plenty of plans for Port Mercy as well, including crew housing, a swimming pool, an outdoors dining/entertainment tent, crew training and much, much more. There are lots of plans for the future. All in all a good meeting.
This is how i really feel about it though. I personally still don't feel as if i have a purpose or a vision at Friend Ships. Right now as an engineer i don't have an immediate supervisor. Our chief engineer is on an extended vacation. This is not a bad thing, cause he's an 82 year old guy, but it leaves the ships on the back burner without any direction. As i've mentioned, i've been working with Matt. We've been doing lots of mainenance and fix it jobs around the ships and property. This is okay, but i feel like there has to be more. I'm just getting tired i guess. After 5 1/2 years of working on the ships i'm just feeling burnt out. I don't really know what else i could do here. I just haven't been giving it my all lately cause i don't have the heart for what i'm working on. So, what the founder had to say was really good, but i just don't see my place in the big scheme of things.
That's the meat of it. That's what i'm feeling as of right now. Will my feelings change? Of course. I'm not all down and out, but i'm not giving it my best anymore. I've got hope for the future. I'm just waiting to see what it will bring. Peace to you all. Keep on commenting and letting us know what you think.
joel
The fun just never seems to end around here. This evening, at around 8:30pm, we found a barge from one of the near by scrap yards was floating adrift in the river. The barge slowly drifted closer to the ships, giving us all a scare. Fortuneately, the current or wind took the barge away from us and we were able to get a boat out to it and tie it off to a tree. The crazy thing is that it's pretty unusual for a barge that contains tons of scrap metal to break free from it's mooring. We kind of wonder whether or not it was someone who untied it and let it loose. Right now the details are pretty sketchy, but it's possible that someone could've come in on a boat and set her free.
The night watch didn't see what happened, but it's not really his responsibility to pay attention to what's happening in the yard next to ours. One of our gates was found unlocked, even though it'd been checked at 7pm and had been locked then. It's all pretty strange.
I guess i'll give a bit of a synopsis about the "vision meeting of 2006" that we had the other day. It really was a good meeting. The founders of Friend Ships gave a talk to the crew about our accomplishments of 2005 and our plans for the future. In 2005, the Grace did a trip to Haiti where tons of relief supplies were delivered, medical care was given, food was distributed, pastors conferences were held, and much, much more. Also, the Hope and Mer Sea responded to hurricane Katrina and went to Gretna, LA. The ships were stationed there for 10 weeks. During that time, a disaster response radio station broadcast public service announcements as well as Christian music, people's immediate needs were met and tons of other awesome things happened. Okay, so i can't remember all that went on in 2005, but i'm sure if you check out the Friend Ships web site, www.friendships.org, i'm sure you can read up on it all. Then, we got the vision for the future. Haiti, Cuba, Israel and Honduras are all countries we are targeting to deliver aid to. There's plenty of plans for Port Mercy as well, including crew housing, a swimming pool, an outdoors dining/entertainment tent, crew training and much, much more. There are lots of plans for the future. All in all a good meeting.
This is how i really feel about it though. I personally still don't feel as if i have a purpose or a vision at Friend Ships. Right now as an engineer i don't have an immediate supervisor. Our chief engineer is on an extended vacation. This is not a bad thing, cause he's an 82 year old guy, but it leaves the ships on the back burner without any direction. As i've mentioned, i've been working with Matt. We've been doing lots of mainenance and fix it jobs around the ships and property. This is okay, but i feel like there has to be more. I'm just getting tired i guess. After 5 1/2 years of working on the ships i'm just feeling burnt out. I don't really know what else i could do here. I just haven't been giving it my all lately cause i don't have the heart for what i'm working on. So, what the founder had to say was really good, but i just don't see my place in the big scheme of things.
That's the meat of it. That's what i'm feeling as of right now. Will my feelings change? Of course. I'm not all down and out, but i'm not giving it my best anymore. I've got hope for the future. I'm just waiting to see what it will bring. Peace to you all. Keep on commenting and letting us know what you think.
joel
Life as we know it
Hello Hello,
Things are always crazy around here. Very Very crazy. But that is normal. I feel ever since I have known God (I mean truly know my Great God) things just get crazier.
I don't know what God is doing but I can't wait to find out.
Things this week were challenging. Joel gave you a little hint on what was happening. But to give you more insight I will put my input.
Work is always full but it just so happened that on Thursday I was falling behind on my errands and things I wanted to get done. I was late already for a run and things just were not working out. And then I had to do more things than normal. So I ran to the car already high strung and looked underneath it to check if one of the dogs that hang around the property was underneath. When I didn't see one I jumped in the car looked both ways and took off as fast as I could. Within two seconds I felt a bump and heard a shrieking howl. I jump out of the car and realized one of the stray dogs had been behind a wheel that I didn't see. I checked out the situation real quick to see which way I needed to go. By that time every one from the office which was about 10 to 15 people came out to see what the commotion was. Then one of them started directing me on which way to go.
It was so horrible. I am such an animal lover that it killed me to think what I could have done to the dog. So when I drove forward the dog hopped away. He had to get stiches on his leg and that was about it.
I was so shaken that I called and canceled my pick-ups I had that hour. It was rough, then other things happen to make it worse. But that is for another day.
That was the week. Other things happend that didn't make it easier but I survived. Praise God. I know I could not have made it through the week with out God or Joel being there to be my encouragment.
Other than that. Things have been great. I have more photos from the trip Joel and I took to Florida that I am excited to show you on our blog. . . . .
So this is a view of the miniture Golf course that Joel and I played
on all day the first full day we were in Florida.
This is Joel on the ship that was on the golf course. Very Salty ehhh?
This is the full view of the ship on the mini. golf course.
This is Joel and I in trouble after starting a mutiny with the employees
And this is Joel and I after going to the medieval dinner and tournament.
Doesn't Joel look handsome. I am one BLESSED woman!!!
So that raps it up. We love and miss all of you.
Rockin the Boat with God!!!
Things are always crazy around here. Very Very crazy. But that is normal. I feel ever since I have known God (I mean truly know my Great God) things just get crazier.
I don't know what God is doing but I can't wait to find out.
Things this week were challenging. Joel gave you a little hint on what was happening. But to give you more insight I will put my input.
Work is always full but it just so happened that on Thursday I was falling behind on my errands and things I wanted to get done. I was late already for a run and things just were not working out. And then I had to do more things than normal. So I ran to the car already high strung and looked underneath it to check if one of the dogs that hang around the property was underneath. When I didn't see one I jumped in the car looked both ways and took off as fast as I could. Within two seconds I felt a bump and heard a shrieking howl. I jump out of the car and realized one of the stray dogs had been behind a wheel that I didn't see. I checked out the situation real quick to see which way I needed to go. By that time every one from the office which was about 10 to 15 people came out to see what the commotion was. Then one of them started directing me on which way to go.
It was so horrible. I am such an animal lover that it killed me to think what I could have done to the dog. So when I drove forward the dog hopped away. He had to get stiches on his leg and that was about it.
I was so shaken that I called and canceled my pick-ups I had that hour. It was rough, then other things happen to make it worse. But that is for another day.
That was the week. Other things happend that didn't make it easier but I survived. Praise God. I know I could not have made it through the week with out God or Joel being there to be my encouragment.
Other than that. Things have been great. I have more photos from the trip Joel and I took to Florida that I am excited to show you on our blog. . . . .
So this is a view of the miniture Golf course that Joel and I played
on all day the first full day we were in Florida.
This is Joel on the ship that was on the golf course. Very Salty ehhh?
This is the full view of the ship on the mini. golf course.
This is Joel and I in trouble after starting a mutiny with the employees
And this is Joel and I after going to the medieval dinner and tournament.
Doesn't Joel look handsome. I am one BLESSED woman!!!
So that raps it up. We love and miss all of you.
Rockin the Boat with God!!!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Night Watch
Hi,
My system is getting a little bit out of whack because i've been doing a night watch for the past two nights. It appears that there has been a person, or people who've come onto the "Friend Ships Property" and have been taking things or at least attempting to. The culprit may be arriving by boat during the cover of darkness and rummaging through the warehouses, refrigerator containers and other areas of the property. We've set up a stricter security routine and i've been on watch with my friend and co-engineer, Matt. From 10pm-3am we walk around the property and check out the gates and river to see if anyone is trying to access our stuff. Of course the routine is getting shifted again because i'm no longer doing the night shift. The roster changed so now almost everyone who is male on the crew will be staying up at some point in the night during the week.
Well, Matt and i had little action last night when a boat came speeding by at about 2am. We can't figure that this boat was out there for any legitimate reason. We're at the end of the river and it's winter, so no one comes boating near us. But, in the wee hours, this boat went cruising by. Suspicious... i think so. Mostly i had fun during these nightly watches. The time went by okay and i wasn't too tired. Matt and i just mostly would talk about the latest stuff going on around us.
This afternoon i had some time off, so i figured i'd write a little something. I'm glad that you are enjoying these updates. We've had some really good feed back from our readers and it's good to know that you can stay a part of our lives. I've gotta try to get Dess to write some more, cause i'm sure you want to hear from her too. Dess is going through some tough times at Friend Ships right now, so please pray for her. Living in community like we are and in a christian atmosphere can be trying. Dess continues to be the driver and errand lady and food ministry runner. She's got a lot on her plate and it can be overwhelming. She's doing a great job. One thing that i find right now during our time at Friend Ships is that there isn't much hope or vision and the leadership doesn't really do much encouraging. It makes it hard to stay positive and to keep a good attitude. We've really felt some heaviness since we returned from Washington/Idaho. There is going to be a crew meeting this afternoon where the founders of the ministry are going to be sharing with us. Hopefully there will be more hope for the future because of this meeting.
We are doing okay and will post more soon. Thanks for keeping updated on our lives.
My system is getting a little bit out of whack because i've been doing a night watch for the past two nights. It appears that there has been a person, or people who've come onto the "Friend Ships Property" and have been taking things or at least attempting to. The culprit may be arriving by boat during the cover of darkness and rummaging through the warehouses, refrigerator containers and other areas of the property. We've set up a stricter security routine and i've been on watch with my friend and co-engineer, Matt. From 10pm-3am we walk around the property and check out the gates and river to see if anyone is trying to access our stuff. Of course the routine is getting shifted again because i'm no longer doing the night shift. The roster changed so now almost everyone who is male on the crew will be staying up at some point in the night during the week.
Well, Matt and i had little action last night when a boat came speeding by at about 2am. We can't figure that this boat was out there for any legitimate reason. We're at the end of the river and it's winter, so no one comes boating near us. But, in the wee hours, this boat went cruising by. Suspicious... i think so. Mostly i had fun during these nightly watches. The time went by okay and i wasn't too tired. Matt and i just mostly would talk about the latest stuff going on around us.
This afternoon i had some time off, so i figured i'd write a little something. I'm glad that you are enjoying these updates. We've had some really good feed back from our readers and it's good to know that you can stay a part of our lives. I've gotta try to get Dess to write some more, cause i'm sure you want to hear from her too. Dess is going through some tough times at Friend Ships right now, so please pray for her. Living in community like we are and in a christian atmosphere can be trying. Dess continues to be the driver and errand lady and food ministry runner. She's got a lot on her plate and it can be overwhelming. She's doing a great job. One thing that i find right now during our time at Friend Ships is that there isn't much hope or vision and the leadership doesn't really do much encouraging. It makes it hard to stay positive and to keep a good attitude. We've really felt some heaviness since we returned from Washington/Idaho. There is going to be a crew meeting this afternoon where the founders of the ministry are going to be sharing with us. Hopefully there will be more hope for the future because of this meeting.
We are doing okay and will post more soon. Thanks for keeping updated on our lives.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Funny Photos
Hi,
Dess and i made framed pictures as Christmas gifts for our family and some friends. We used white frames from Wal-Mart with lots of scapbooking stickers from just about every craft place in Lake Charles. I wanted to post some of the photos we used as well as some shots we didn't. This gift idea was Dess'. She's been really great at coming up with fairly inexpensive but creative gifts for the holidays. If it were up to me, I'd probably just say "Isn't the fact that they know we love them enough?" But Dess requires more of us, so we put out the effort. Here's the photos:
These are mock Titanic photos. We did this one for Ben and Kim. I think their first date was to see Titanic (although this might not be true). Plus we thought it'd be funny to reverse Dess and i, just to give it that much more effect. The second one we didn't actually use, but i like the clouds and the view of the Spirit of Grace.
This photo was done for Allison, my little sister. We obviously did this shot because Allison loves Canada very much. In fact she's a bit shocked that i married an American and that she had to come to Louisiana for our wedding, but i think she's getting more adjusted to the idea every day. This photo gave our friends the idea to do a similar pose, but with an American flag and where the flag covers up what 'little' clothes they were wearing, making them look naked. It was a very funny photo.
These photos were taken especially for Tammie and Forrest. They work with the Department of Natural Resources on forest fire fighting teams. Living on the ship gave us the unique opportunity to have fire fighting equipment around us. We thought this would be a fun shot. The one pose is a more "serious" shot with us looking like we're ready for action.
Besides these photos, we did many others, which i will try to post a select few every once in a while. As i said, Dess did a great job coming up with the idea and also with putting the frames together. I love my wife. She's so good for me.
Well, i'm working on this blog in the computer room on the ship and lots of people are coming by, sticking their head in the window as if they want to use the computer too. So, i'd better get going and make this shorter than i wanted. I hope all is well and we'll keep you posted to the latest things in our lives.
peace!
Dess and i made framed pictures as Christmas gifts for our family and some friends. We used white frames from Wal-Mart with lots of scapbooking stickers from just about every craft place in Lake Charles. I wanted to post some of the photos we used as well as some shots we didn't. This gift idea was Dess'. She's been really great at coming up with fairly inexpensive but creative gifts for the holidays. If it were up to me, I'd probably just say "Isn't the fact that they know we love them enough?" But Dess requires more of us, so we put out the effort. Here's the photos:
These are mock Titanic photos. We did this one for Ben and Kim. I think their first date was to see Titanic (although this might not be true). Plus we thought it'd be funny to reverse Dess and i, just to give it that much more effect. The second one we didn't actually use, but i like the clouds and the view of the Spirit of Grace.
This photo was done for Allison, my little sister. We obviously did this shot because Allison loves Canada very much. In fact she's a bit shocked that i married an American and that she had to come to Louisiana for our wedding, but i think she's getting more adjusted to the idea every day. This photo gave our friends the idea to do a similar pose, but with an American flag and where the flag covers up what 'little' clothes they were wearing, making them look naked. It was a very funny photo.
These photos were taken especially for Tammie and Forrest. They work with the Department of Natural Resources on forest fire fighting teams. Living on the ship gave us the unique opportunity to have fire fighting equipment around us. We thought this would be a fun shot. The one pose is a more "serious" shot with us looking like we're ready for action.
Besides these photos, we did many others, which i will try to post a select few every once in a while. As i said, Dess did a great job coming up with the idea and also with putting the frames together. I love my wife. She's so good for me.
Well, i'm working on this blog in the computer room on the ship and lots of people are coming by, sticking their head in the window as if they want to use the computer too. So, i'd better get going and make this shorter than i wanted. I hope all is well and we'll keep you posted to the latest things in our lives.
peace!
Friday, January 06, 2006
Pics of Hurricane Rita Aftermath
Hey All,
I figured i'd post some photos from around Port Mercy after the hurricane. We didn't really do to bad after Rita hit, but we did lose a few buildings, especially the vinyl stuff. It was really interesting for me to see after Rita that the nature around us had new growth almost instantly. It was cool to see trees budding and flowering in November. In the face of disaster there was new life.
This is a building that was the made the month the hurricane hit. We didn't have enough time to completely reinforce it. That's why it was completely blown down. It was made with pallet racks along the sides and was open at either end. It had a 50' span, i believe, and had a vinyl roof.
This is a quonsat hut which had two walls completely blown out by the storm. One wall actually floated off and the other wall can still be seen laying on top of the desk, couch, etc. Since this picture was taken, we've completely torn out all the walls and rebuilt two new ones on either end.
The force of the wind caused a lot of damage to trees as well as the buildings. We took tons of downed trees and limbs out to the street corner for burning. It's pretty amazing to see how the trees would get twisted and then bent over.
Rita even took it's toll on the water. It's not quite clear why it happened, but after the storm, there were many fish that washed up dead on the shored of the river. It was really stinky and unfortuneate. Some people speculate that it was the sea water being brought so far up river which caused the fresh water fish to die.
I didn't feel right about taking pictures of other people's tragedies after the storm. I had opportunity to when I evacuated from the ships during Rita to go to Gretna (across the Mississippi from New Orleans). While there, i was able to go door to door and help out people who'd been affected by Hurricane Katrina. It was really tragic to see people who'd lost everything and had no hope. One woman really impacted me. She was elderly and widowed. When she got back to her home, it'd been flooded with about 6 inches of water. The water had seeped up her walls and mold had taken over for about the lower 3 feet of her walls. She didn't have much income and didn't know what to do. She felt completely lost and like giving up. I was able to encourage her and let her know that her home could be repaired and restored. The team i was with was able to pray with this lady and we left her feeling that she had more stregnth to go on.
It was a blessing to be hands on with people and just to let them know that God loves them. The team i was with would knock on each door on a street block and ask the people if they had any needs. We would drive in a pick up truck and have it loaded with food, water, personal care items, paper goods, baby needs, bibles, and much, much more. If the people needed something that we didn't have in our truck, but we knew was at the warehouse where our ministry was staged out of, we'd bring them back their needs. We delivered a dining table, crib, specific clothes, whatever they asked for, if we had it, we'd give it. After meeting their physical needs, we'd ask if they wanted us to pray with them. Before leaving, we'd also offer them a Bible if they needed or wanted one. The goods we delivered were received with joy. People's hearts were touched. It was just so cool to be involved in something so big. There are too many stories to tell, but it's just so nice to know that we were able to help.
That's all for now.
I figured i'd post some photos from around Port Mercy after the hurricane. We didn't really do to bad after Rita hit, but we did lose a few buildings, especially the vinyl stuff. It was really interesting for me to see after Rita that the nature around us had new growth almost instantly. It was cool to see trees budding and flowering in November. In the face of disaster there was new life.
This is a building that was the made the month the hurricane hit. We didn't have enough time to completely reinforce it. That's why it was completely blown down. It was made with pallet racks along the sides and was open at either end. It had a 50' span, i believe, and had a vinyl roof.
This is a quonsat hut which had two walls completely blown out by the storm. One wall actually floated off and the other wall can still be seen laying on top of the desk, couch, etc. Since this picture was taken, we've completely torn out all the walls and rebuilt two new ones on either end.
The force of the wind caused a lot of damage to trees as well as the buildings. We took tons of downed trees and limbs out to the street corner for burning. It's pretty amazing to see how the trees would get twisted and then bent over.
Rita even took it's toll on the water. It's not quite clear why it happened, but after the storm, there were many fish that washed up dead on the shored of the river. It was really stinky and unfortuneate. Some people speculate that it was the sea water being brought so far up river which caused the fresh water fish to die.
I didn't feel right about taking pictures of other people's tragedies after the storm. I had opportunity to when I evacuated from the ships during Rita to go to Gretna (across the Mississippi from New Orleans). While there, i was able to go door to door and help out people who'd been affected by Hurricane Katrina. It was really tragic to see people who'd lost everything and had no hope. One woman really impacted me. She was elderly and widowed. When she got back to her home, it'd been flooded with about 6 inches of water. The water had seeped up her walls and mold had taken over for about the lower 3 feet of her walls. She didn't have much income and didn't know what to do. She felt completely lost and like giving up. I was able to encourage her and let her know that her home could be repaired and restored. The team i was with was able to pray with this lady and we left her feeling that she had more stregnth to go on.
It was a blessing to be hands on with people and just to let them know that God loves them. The team i was with would knock on each door on a street block and ask the people if they had any needs. We would drive in a pick up truck and have it loaded with food, water, personal care items, paper goods, baby needs, bibles, and much, much more. If the people needed something that we didn't have in our truck, but we knew was at the warehouse where our ministry was staged out of, we'd bring them back their needs. We delivered a dining table, crib, specific clothes, whatever they asked for, if we had it, we'd give it. After meeting their physical needs, we'd ask if they wanted us to pray with them. Before leaving, we'd also offer them a Bible if they needed or wanted one. The goods we delivered were received with joy. People's hearts were touched. It was just so cool to be involved in something so big. There are too many stories to tell, but it's just so nice to know that we were able to help.
That's all for now.
Back in Louisiana where the gators roam
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to give you a quick update. We're back at Friend Ships and had a great vacation. It's been a little strange being back. There's just a level of "heaviness" over this place at the moment. Dess and i are determined to remain positive and upbeat. We are also desiring to be an encouragement to those around us.
Washington and Idaho were great. We had an awesome time even though we didn't get to play in the snow. We had a good time with family. I got to play a lot of video games with Dess' nephews which was fun. Dess and i reinstated ourselves as the spades champions of the family. It feels like we went to a ton of church services and we did. 9 in total. 6 services in 24 hours. If christianity was all about going to church, we'd be doing well for ourselves, but as Dess pointed out in the 3 messages that she gave in the churches, our lives as christians aren't defined by being good, but by showing love and mercy. Dess did a really good job of giving a straight forward message from her heart.
Well, i'm planning on posting some more photos soon and will give more of an update about our lives and the latest, but i wanted to take some time this lunch to let you know that we're safe, sound and doing well. For anyone i didn't see at Christmas, i missed you and thought about you. For everyone i did see, it was fun and i'm looking forward to seeing you again.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Just wanted to give you a quick update. We're back at Friend Ships and had a great vacation. It's been a little strange being back. There's just a level of "heaviness" over this place at the moment. Dess and i are determined to remain positive and upbeat. We are also desiring to be an encouragement to those around us.
Washington and Idaho were great. We had an awesome time even though we didn't get to play in the snow. We had a good time with family. I got to play a lot of video games with Dess' nephews which was fun. Dess and i reinstated ourselves as the spades champions of the family. It feels like we went to a ton of church services and we did. 9 in total. 6 services in 24 hours. If christianity was all about going to church, we'd be doing well for ourselves, but as Dess pointed out in the 3 messages that she gave in the churches, our lives as christians aren't defined by being good, but by showing love and mercy. Dess did a really good job of giving a straight forward message from her heart.
Well, i'm planning on posting some more photos soon and will give more of an update about our lives and the latest, but i wanted to take some time this lunch to let you know that we're safe, sound and doing well. For anyone i didn't see at Christmas, i missed you and thought about you. For everyone i did see, it was fun and i'm looking forward to seeing you again.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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