AN AWESOME WAY TO SAY GOODBYE

Yesterday wasn't the normal Saturday we would hand out food, clothes, and the Word of God. We usually do it on the last Saturday of the month, but because we are leaving for our annual trip back home, we decided to go ahead and get'er done before we left. We had our eye doctor scheduled to come and do some vision tests, but she couldn't make it, so Paula had those that had difficulty reading sit with her and try various strength reading glasses to get a good fit. While spending one on one time with at least thirty people, she was able to pray with three people to receive Christ as their Savior. It didn't matter if they could "see", Paula wanted to make sure that they could really "see", meaning the Glory of the Gospel and God opened the eyes of three individuals to "really see". 175 families came for food, and everyone this week got bottles of juice, adults and children. We gathered all the children graduating from either kindergarten, eight grade, or high school and prayed for them and gave them a choice of a soccer ball or some jewelry Paula had bought. We sponsored Eliazar Jr. for his class ring and He was truly grateful. The bathroom is almost finished and we were able to use them yesterday. Remember when I blogged about taking the limits off of God? Well, I have to be willing to remove the limits I place on different ministries coming to get beans and rice, so when Bethany Church called and asked for some food, I told them to bring a trailer, because I was loading them up with all they could haul. NO LIMITS!!! Packing for our road trip is always a chore and we hope to leave tomorrow. We will miss Mexico and all our friends while we are gone!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES

It's so hard to get everything done, that we need to as we prepare to hit the road. It seems I have driven around in circles when we spend the day in the U.S. trying to get things ready. We had asked God about someone staying at the house while were gone, and a few weeks ago we met Richard and Wendy and they need a place to park thier camper and live for a month or two and wala God provides again!! They will hold down the fort and be here to distribute beans and rice to the different ministries that come every month. We are trying to get things done in Mexico, so Carmelo and Ruth can take a break as well while we're gone. The new bathroom and showers will be finished while were gone and there is a floor that needs to be poured as well for a family moving a house to the new slab. We will be handing out the food in the colonia this week before we leave and our new eye doctor friend is going to join us and test some eyes for glasses.

A DAY TO HONOR YOUR FATHER

Honor your Mother and Father. This is the only command God gave us in the Ten Commandments with a promise. If you Honor your Mother and Father, the bible says that it, meaning your life, will go well with you all the days of your life. Since my Dad died almost 20 years ago, I don't get the opportunity to Honor my Dad any more. My Dad accepted Jesus Christ as His personal Savior only weeks before he died. He had suffered a heart attack and I quit my job to nurse Him back to health. During those several months I was able to Honor Him by what I would call a small sacrifice by being there through the rehabilitation period. We would often watch Charles Stanley on T.V. together and Dad liked the practical messages He often gave about having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Dad saw the change in my life, though I wasn't by any means perfect, and I often spent time sharing from the scriptures about His need for Christ in His life. Dad was a good if not great Man, so trying to convince Him that He was a sinner and needed the forgiveness of the One that paid the penalty for His sins was not an easy task. One night He wasn't feeling very well and as I knelt by His bedside and prayed for Him, I think , no I know, that the Holy Spirit opened His eyes of understanding for His need for Jesus Christ. A few days later He boldly made the statement / question Jesus is God Isn't He? I should have said yes Dad, but flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven, but I didn't. I simply said yes He is and we prayed together and my Dad sealed His eternal destiny to spend all time and eternity with the One that Honored His Father by leaving His throne in heaven and walking on this sin filled dusty earth and died on a cruel cross, beaten and bloodied by "our" sin debt that we could never pay and was placed in a borrowed tomb where He layed for three days and after the time foretold, He was raised from the dead with the exact same power that raised my Dad from the dead the day we prayed together and the exact same power that has raised every other person that has placed His or Her trust in that wonderful act of Honor that Jesus portrayed. I wish my Dad was alive to see the great things that God has entrusted Paula and Me to do with our remaining days on earth, helping the poor and making a difference in peoples lives. I often wish that we could enjoy just one more golf game together, I think of Him every time I play. I wish we could pray together again, and sit and watch Charles Stanley eating bridge mix together. Oh how blessed you are if you still have time to share with your Dad, so I would say, that if you still do have the time, Honor Him, maybe even take Him golfing, or fishing or whatever, and I promise you, no God promises you, it will indeed go well with you and you will enjoy long life!!!! HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL AND HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO MY HEAVENLY FATHER, YOUR AWESOME!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE HEAT IS ON, TIME TO HEAD NORTH FOR A SPELL

After returning from Oklahoma Monday, we started building a set of stairs from the road to the canal to make it easier to get the water pump, hoses and connecting lines into the water. It has been over a hundred degrees every day this week in the colonia and we finally got them done on Friday. It will make it a lot easier to pump water to the new bathrooms we are finishing as well. I'm getting a little to old to work in that heat all day. it takes a lot of me. Our missions Pastor,Chad, and Ron came with us on Thursday to see the colonia and the work we do there. We are getting some people interested in coming with us on our next home building. We might try to build one more house before we leave for Illinois, but with this heat, I'm good waiting until we return, besides Alan and Lynnea will be coming back down here with us to be missionaries   ( WON'T YOU ? ) Pray for Alan and Lynnea as they seek Gods will. Answer the call? or not? Just messing with you guys. We need the help and the door is open. It looks like we will leave here on the 25th of June, and stay in Laharpe, Il through the 1st or second of July. We will be speaking at one church on the 30th and meet with all the Carpenters Crew and the One Family One Purpose teams as well. I'm trying to get a newsletter done in the next week because so much has happened already this year. We have built as many houses in 5 months this year than we did in all of last year, Praise The Lord! We celebrated Mimi and Beckys 7th birthday yesterday over in Mexico and the kids had a ball with the giant Princess pinata. Lots of food and cake. THANKS FOR PRAYING FOR US AND FOR YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT AS WELL.

FROM DEVASTATION to DEVASTATION, THERE IS NO END TO IT

After returning from Oklahoma Monday, it really took a few days to absorb all that we experienced while there. It's almost surreal, to think that thousands of families have lost their homes and most of their possessions, and thousands of others have to deal with the rebuilding of what is left of their houses that were not completely destroyed. I'm glad we went and Lord willing, we will return to help some more. A couple from our home church in Illinois are heading to Oklahoma next week to lend a helping hand. It's something we all should get involved in, either with some money or with some time to help others. Quite frankly, to be honest, after "super storm sandy" I wasn't moved to help, or to get involved. I kinda thought that those "rich arrogant east coasters" can deal with it themselves. Need I say that is not the attitude God requires from me. And as we were serving in OK, I met a group of guys from the FDNY that were in OK with the Red Cross delivering aid to the tornado victims, and I was talking to one of them about the Judgement of God being unleashed in our UN-REPENTENT NATION, with warning after warning to try to get the nation to turn back to God. All of the disasters, one after another starting with Sept 11, 2001. Washington out of control with their lies and deception, the Harbingers of Isaiah 9 manifesting themselves. How long do we really have? How long will the mercy of God hold back His Judgement? Me and the fireman prayed right there together at the back of the truck that God would start a revival in our land and He would start it with US. So buckle up my friends, what is it that we want? Revival? or Judgement? IF MY PEOPLE, WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, THEN I WILL HEAR THEM AND HEAL THEIR NATION. Read the Harbinger, google Isaiah 9/10 and see if these things are true.

Tornado in Oklahoma

 

 

 

Our group 

Donations from houston  

 

 

 

 

Bruce back roofing 

Only thing left  

only thing left 

INDESCRIBABLE DEVASTATION AND DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

I don't even know where to start describing all that we saw and did the last few days in Oklahoma. We arrived Friday morning to a small sub division of mostly mobile homes in Shawnee, Ok where the One Family One Purpose team had been assigned by Americorp Disaster Relief Organization. Every home was either gone or destroyed beyond repair, except for maybe three out of sixty or so homes. Mobile homes are indeed no match for tornadoes, and neither are well built brick homes for that matter when you reach the EF5 level as was the case in Moore. We worked all day with several families, cleaning up and sorting the salvageable personal belongings from the trash. I don't know how many times I  just stopped and looked around and took it all in and cried. We met people who rode out the storm in underground shelters that thought for sure they were going to die. One family we helped with personal belongings to gather, had just arrived in Florida the day their home was destroyed. They took their daughter Angelina to see the Ocean for the first time and was only able to stay a few hours, when news of the tornadoes destroying their house came and they had to return home. We met a woman that used their storm shelter because they were in Florida, otherwise there would not not have been enough room for her and her family and surely would have perished. God was orchestrating the saving of lives months before the storm by one family planning a vacation only to allow another family to live. WOW GOD IS SO AWESOME!!! A Christian biker group has a tent set up and Larry and his team cook all day for the families and the volunteers. Roy Day brought his Bobcat and made short work of debris removal as the rest of us loaded wheel barrows and took stuff to one of the multitude of piles of debris. We loaded up a few loads of "good" stuff and took it Angeliques storage locker toward the end of the day, and while there, the warnings again filled the air waves of impending severe storms coming right at us. We arrived back at the Church we were staying at, showered and went next door to the Western Sizzler Buffet to eat, while the storm clouds built, just to our north. We all had our eyes glued to the T.V. while the radar exploded with at least 7 confirmed tornadoes on the ground while we ate and I jokingly said that I was going for desert right now, in case we have to evacuate. Just as I returned with my cobbler and ice cream, BAM the power goes out and the restaurant staff is herding everyone into the cooler and freezer away from all the windows. For over an hour we stood in there, praying, wondering, hugging, not knowing what was taking place outside. Imagine standing in a freezer, I mean a sub zero meat freezer for an hour. I called our two daughters and told them where we were, just in case. We got the all clear and exited the coolers but by now, several people with their dogs and kids got off the road and into the restaurant as the storms battered the area. Part of our group had run back to the church before it got too bad and road out the storm there. Twenty minuets after leaving the freezers, we were again commanded to run back into them because two tornadoes were on the ground only blocks away. One to our north and one to our south. They split in two before it got to us. We were on 12th st and one hit on 19th street, and the other on 6th st. Two and a half hours later we were able to get back to the church, just 100 feet away. At least 9 more people died that night, and I'm sure many more have a story similar to ours.