Thank You for your Prayers and Encouragments

Hello Hello,

Thank you so much for all your prayers. They are a blessing. And thank you for all your encouragements that you have been giving to me through our blog website and by phone.

Things are getting better. Joy does come in the morning. Joel is doing a fabulous job with his new position. It keeps him busy and he is really good at it. God has blessed him with leaderships skills.

God has given me grace and wisdom this past week. I am starting to feel a lot better and like my old self. Which is a good thing. The enemy will not win this battle. I have been very deep into the book of Genesis. I have realized even more that no matter how many times you read a passage in the bible something new always pops up.

Yesterday was the most awesome day ever. Since Joel and I have been feeling down the ministry sent us to a pastor that is a friend of Friend SHips. He understands the ins and outs as well as the hardships. On the way to our meeting with him I came to realize the only reason Joel was coming was to support me and that he didn't really need to talk to pastor Bill about anything. I was nervous about this.
We went in to the church and as soon as we saw him he gave us a huge bear hug. What a nice beginning. (Oh I should mention before we got there Joel brought up a subject that I didn't realize I needed to work on. It made me cry because I was so tender in the area. SO I was bawling before I even got there. I said Joel next time bring these things up afterwards so I am not so sensitive going into a meeting with a pastor I have never met. hehehehehehe)
Pastor Bill asked us what was going on in our lives. I was so nervous that Joel graciously went first. And then I went. And of course I cried. I told myself before hand to keep myself together. It didn't work.
When I was done he said well everything you are going through is good and will help you in the future. The advice was very Godly and I was very appreciative of everything He had said. I was truly blessed. Joel sat there and squeezed my hand every so often to let me know He was there. They were both encouraging. God knew that I needed the encouragement. Then the strangest thing happened at the end of the meeting Pastor Bill asked me to pray for him. I was so nervous. Mainly because I blanked on his name. But God gave it to me before I started. Then we said good bye and parted our ways.

Joel and I went out to lunch and then a movie. It was a wonderful day. I thank God that He blessed us indeed.


Thank you for all your prayers they have been working. Thank you also for your encouragement. It was needed.
God has been so good I dont' know what any of us would do with out Him.

Have a blessed day.

Kickin it with Heavenly Father,
Dess
















You know I hate Blogging it without a picture so here is one of the allegators on our rudder of our ship.

Relief

Hello Everyone,

Usually I like doing pictures with mine but we don't have any new ones so I will just go without.

I am so relieved. You don't even know. Things here have been so hard. I feel like I have been crying every day. (Joel probably feels it is even more than that if that is possible) I have been having bad feelings about everything. You name it. Except Joel. He is a great man. Mom and Dad Butler you did an awesome JOB with raising this Man. I am one blessed woman.

Any way. I have been hating my job, Friend Ships, church, work time, off time, you name it I have been hating it. So I have been praying (Thank you for your prayers they have really helped) and praying and praying and praying. Small things would come and help for a little bit (more like five minutes) then I would be back to bawling. So as a human I tried to blame everything. Bosses, job, God, Satan, me, Joel, life. This morning God gave me a break through. I went to the throne room to be with the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God. They revealed to me I was under major spiritual attack but it is for my own good. That Jesus is with me. He has my front back sides up down. You name it He has got my "back" and more. He told me if He had not gotten my back then I would be destroyed. So this has made everything so much better. I realize that it is not my job or life or anything else but it is the enemy who wants to rob, kill, and destroy. I read ephesians today about the armor of God. God made me realize I need to get DEEPER in to the word. SO I started at Gensis and will go from there.

Thank you for all your prayers I have been a mess. I am glad Joel promised for better or for WORSE. Because it has been bad. I even laugh at my out of mind experiences these past few weeks.

I love you guys so much. Just wanted to give you an update on what was going on. Have a blessed day.

Just Remeber Jesus has your back front side side up and down so don't lose hope.

Jesus Freak,
Dess

New Position

Hi,

Well, it's finally happened. On Monday, Mary asked if i wanted a new position here at Friend Ships. I don't have a title yet, but my role is that of a liason between Mary and three different departments. They are the warehouse/yard, the greenhouse and the grounds. Right now, department that will take up most of my time is the warehouse/yard. But, in the spring and summer, i'm sure the grounds and greenhouse departments will be more demanding.

Okay, so you may have asked yourself, "What exactly is Joel talking about, what does he actually do?" The answer is that i'm not quite clear on that myself. So far i know that part of what i'm doing is trying to take some of the load off of Mary. By being the liason, i'll hopefully be able to start making executive decisions about these departments. Also, Mary still hasn't given me a complete list of my duties. I'm happy to be able to help out this way. It isn't exactly what i'd call my hearts desire, but it is a change and i'm going to give it my all.

Besides that, life has been okay. I had a fever on Valentine's Day. Dess got me flowers, a card and pizza. I'm feeling better now and i'm on my feet again. Dess is getting pretty tired of driving and running around. Well, she may be tired of something else, but hasn't put her finger on it yet. Please pray for her. Pray for joy and peace in her life. She's been feeling down lately.

That's the update as of today. I'm feeling tired still from my sickness and because the sanitation alarm was going off at 3:30am and i didn't really fall asleep again after checking it out.

Almost Sane, eh?

Here's the scoop,

Life is passing by around me and i'm just trying to get up the courage to jump into the stream. I still like i'm caught in a miry pit. I haven't found my way out yet. But i'm trusting in God and i know that he'll lift me out just as he promised me he would.

It seems that i'm not the only around here who has lost their sense of reason for being here. Matt, my fellow engineering buddy, calls the disease to these symptoms "Motivational Infartion". The symptoms are tiredness and lack of motivation/direction, boredom, shamelessness, etc. He figures there are two things that bring about these feelings. First is what you are doing. For me, i'm cleaning drains, working on boats, swimming in sewage, and other not so pleasant jobs. Second is the reason for why you are doing what you're doing. Originally, my reason was a desire to serve God (sounds noble doesn't it?) But lately, it's more because i feel God called me here for 7 years and i stay because i'm either extremely obedient or aboundingly stubborn. Personally, i think i'm a little bit of both.

So when i see that i'm not excited about what i'm doing and have lost the heart of why i'm doing it, i'm left feeling lost and tired. I feel like i'm close to getting this stage of my life worked out and over with. I seems like i've been in this pit forever, but know that it really started to get bad in January when Dess and i returned from vacation.

The solution? Well, on Monday i'm supposed to have a meeting with Mary and she's got something which she thinks i may enjoy doing. She calls it the carrot which she will dangle in front of me. So, i'm waiting expectantly to see what she's got up her sleeve. Hopefully this will solve the problem of what i'm doing. Then, it's up to me to find peace in obedience or to find a renewed heart of joy in serving God at Friend Ships.

That's the latest in my life. Thanks for reading and making encouraging comments.
'night,
joel

More Funny Photos

These are some more of the photos that we took for our Christmas gifts.

Dess and Joel...Livin' the Good Life.



Oooh la la.



O Canada!

Satisfied

Well I was going to show the pictures of the balloon ride but now that I have quickly looked over our site I see Joel has beaten me to it. Well I guess I will have to show more pictures of the same roll he did.
Just eww and aww as if you have never even see them or heard what we did.
So below we have the balloon getting blown up. It was freezing so these guys had the best seats in the house.


























And this gorgeous picture is what Joel, Danette and I saw when we were up in the ballon together.

Life right now is like the balloon ride that Dee and Janet Danner gave to us. They had us fly in the ballon but tied us down to the ground so that we wouldn't fly too far away and we had a ten minute ride. Don't get me wrong this was awesome and I loved it. But to compare it to my life now makes me think I want more.

I do feel that God is putting us on a balloon ride but for right now we are just messing with getting the balloon in the air. And then when we do get in the air God is like no no you can only be up for a little bit while you are tied to the earth because you could not handle right now what I am going to give you later. I am preparing you for a sercret and wonderful mission.

GOODNESS let me loose. Cut the rope. Any thing, let me free so I can fly as far and high as the atmosphere permits. I am dying here. I feel no longer satisfiedtied tied to earth for a short balloon ride.

Any one else smelling what I am stepping in. But then God brings me His wonderful word that He spoke through Paul. "for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.." Wham Bam instant peace to my bones. I realize that I need, no matter what, to be content(satisfied) in all I do. That if God gave that to Paul He can certainly give it to me. I just have to be willing to recieve Him and let God go as fast as He will let me. When this truly is achieved I am satisfied in the balloon ride.

God Bless and may you let God bring you to a place where you can be content in all things. Or I like to say satisfied in all things.

Hot Air

We had some crewmembers at Friend Ships who had a hot air balloon. One morning before they left the ministry they fired up the propane burner and filled up the balloon for tethered flights. It was fun being able to be a part of the balloon team and to get to go on a short ride. Here's some of the pictures from the events of that day.



This is looking into the balloon while it's still being inflated. As you can see on the bottom of the photo, a lot of the canvas is still lyin on the ground. If you check out the seam between the blue and orange colors, you will notice that it's not completely sealed. From the blue portion inward is a "parachute" which can be pulled by the operator to hasten decent (this allows large amounts of hot air to be released from the balloon).



Here's a shot of the balloon a litte more full of air. The initial filling of the balloon is simply with cold air using a large fan. After the balloon has been mostly filled this way, the operator then starts the propane burner to heat the air already in the balloon.



I had technical difficulties in getting this picture rotated. As you can see, it's the balloon fully inflated and tethered in the air. It's cool the things we get to take part in at Friend Ships.

Cushy Missionaries

Hi,

Well, the excuse we have for not posting at all this week is that the internet has been down on the ship since last weekend. To everyone who wished me a "happy birthday" via email... thanks, i just got them now. The reason i title this post "Cushy Missionaries" is because we just got back from seeing the movie "The End of the Spear" and realize how much we complain when we don't have high speed internet right at our finger tips and the people in that movie have it much, much worse. But maybe they didn't have it worse because they weren't bogged down with the usual worries and troubles that seem to keep us bound in knots and not willing to move out of our comfort zone. I digress, it was a great movie. I'd heard some criticism before hand about how the acting wasn't great. Really, it's a well done movie. It really touches you. It's the nitty, gritty and not so pretty reality of living as a missionary to a tribe in Ecuador. Please, if the opportunity comes available and you don't mind some tribal violence, see this movie. It's worth it in my books and half the proceeds are donated to helping out other tribes.

So, here i am, typing away on the high speed internet, able to post pictures and send some info to my loved ones. Why should i feel so bummed about my existence? Really, i shouldn't. God has blessed me more than i deserve and more than i could imagine. I just turned 26 and am married to a beautiful and spiritual wife. She's better for me than i could have ever dreamed of. I'm living my life as a missionary, sacrificing money and my own personal goals for those of God. Sure, it gets hot in the summer, but we're allowed to have A/C in our cabin. When i hear other people at church talk about how they view our lives, it makes me realize how much i've lost the newness of being a missionary and being able to serve God this way. I want to have that fresh fire again. I want to be able to take the lessons that God's taught me and put them into practice. I don't want to forget what true service is. I don't want to be more focused on myself than on what God's doing. I need to get the old passions of serving God firing again.

Dess and i are still doing what we've been doing. Although my life is getting stirred up a bit. Wally, our new Chief engineer, has finally returned from a 2 month hiatus. He's been around Friend Ships for about 1 and 1/2 years, but he's just now taking over as Chief. We've started having a morning devotional time each morning with Wally. It's going well and it's kinda bringing the engineers and mechanics together. At first it was sort of unnerving because the first question he asked at our first meeting was "Where do you stand with the Lord?". He then proceeded to go around the table and have us all give an answer. It was random and unsettling. We're getting more used to his ways. By the way, a litting insight into Wally. He's an 82 year old dude that stands about 4' tall. He's excited about Jesus and loves to do a jig (little dance) when he's fired up about something. His background is all about ships and maritime trade. He's been in the Navy, ran a ship yard for Foss and had his own business. One story that Matt and i love to reminice about was the time when Matt asked him "How's it going, Wally?" to which Wally (after getting in close to Matt's face) replied "Woof, Woof!!!" Talk about bizarre. Wally make life more enjoyable.

My birthday was great. Dess arranged for a surprise party for me at the bowling alley. About a dozen people from the ship showed up and we had cake, ice cream and bowled the night away. It was fun. Then for my actual birthday, Dess took me out for a romantic dinner at a local mexican restaurant.

Well, lots of stuff has happened in a week. I can't think of it all to put it in words now. It was good talking to every one who called for my birthday. Thanks again for calling, emailing or even thinking of me.