Puerto Rico!

 Sorry for the long delay in blogging. Life got busy the last couple weeks of February as I prepared to come to Puerto Rico. I am thankful God opened the door for me to come and teach for a friend who is getting married. I am teaching 3rd-4th grade. Some of the students I had in after school when they were in k4-k5. Many of my former students are still here.

I came down a week early thinking I would get a chance to rest up before beginning classes, but God had other ideas. Due to a teacher being sick, I ended up teaching 6-12th grades in various subjects. It was fun having some of my 1st and 2nd graders in the classes I was teaching.

The ministry here is very busy. The pastor is caring for two churches, so we have church on Sundays at 9 am in Humcao, 10:30 am -1pm in Ceiba, and then we have Wednesday night church in Ceiba and Thursday night church in Humacao. Saturday, we visit for the church in Ceiba. I was able to visit three boys who were some of my first students. I am very proud of how they have grown up. 

I am happy that although I still cannot speak a lot of English, I can understand enough to listen in church without needing a translator. I will be playing piano for the Wednesday and Sunday afternoon services in Ceiba. We had a good crowd at the Ceiba church on Sunday. Please pray that the Humacao church will begin growing, and that a pastor can be found to take over the work.

Please pray for the online Bible study I am trying to have for the young people from my church in Maine. I am hoping it will be an encouragement and help as they grow in Christ. I truly believe God is moving among the young people. Many of the great old preachers, teachers, and soul winners are dying off, and sadly the middle generation is failing in many churches today. We have seen young people across our nation and around the world who are interested in revival. I truly believe Christs return is very near.

Please continue to pray for healing for my mom. Pray for our church, Anchor Baptist that it will continue to grow through the outreach ministries we are starting.

Please pray that God will open doors for me to travel to England and Europe to complete trips that were cancelled in 2020.

Praise Report

 When I flew to Alabama three weeks ago, I was able to witness to several people on my flights. While witnessing to a young man named Cody, Jamie overheard our conversation, and turned around asking about Christianity and church. She said she had begun questioning if Christianity might be true because people hate it, but they do not hate other religions. Jamie said she had been praying that God would reveal Himself to her. We exchanged phone numbers, and I messaged her when I got back to Maine two weeks later. 

Jamie came to church last week and trusted Christ. She said that it had only been four days from the time she started asking God to reveal Himself to when she heard me giving the Gospel on the train. Today, Jamie brought her fiance, his parents, her sister and father to church to see her get baptized. Besides Jamie's family, we had eight other visitors. Another young man trusted Christ at the end of the service.

Tomorrow, we are kicking off our Crafternoons which will be a community craft time for ladies to gather and have fellowship. We are starting with four ladies from our church, and our prayer is that we can reach out to the community and gather in people who might not come to church but may still have an opportunity to hear the Gospel during these times. 

This coming Friday, I am hosting an activity for our young adults. I am expecting 6-8. I am hoping this will allow them to begin gathering for fellowship, and eventually they will learn to reach other people their age and bring them into the group. Winning souls is the ultimate goal of this endeavor.

In one week, I will fly to Puerto Rico to teach school for the last nine weeks of the school year. Please pray that there will be no weather delays for my flights, and please pray that God will bless my time in Puerto Rico. Please keep my mom in prayer during this time as she will need to have another care giver come in to help.

I have several special unspoken requests that need God's miraculous touch.

Alabama

 I decided to take a much needed break before I get ready to go teach in Puerto Rico. I came to Alabama to spend time with my youngest sister and get to know my nephew Colton better. It has been so much fun! He is turning one next month, and already he is running around, learned to jump this last week, and learned to do somersaults from daddy this week. He is a ham. We can already tell he will be sarcastic like the rest of our family as he does fake falls, fake coughs, fake laughs, and fake cries. He is a good baby overall and smile all the time.

I was able to share my missions ministry with Grace Baptist in Scottsboro, AL. I really miss the spirit of southern churches. I love the people in other churches I have been in, but there is just something about a good, old fashioned, southern church. 

Please continue to pray for my mom's health. She has several appointments coming up to talk about her hip muscle tears and some natural health things. 

Please keep our church in prayer as my dad continues to try to grow it to reach the community. Please pray as we try to restart our kids program. Pray for faithful workers and faithful kids, and pray that we can reach many more kids for Christ. Housing and cost of living is a big issue as well.

Please pray that everything continues the go well as I prep for Puerto Rico.

A New Year with New Opportunities!

Yay! I am heading out again on missions trips. I have booked my flight to Puerto Rico for the first part of March. I will be teaching for the last nine weeks of the school year. I love the people, the ministry, the food, and the weather in PR, so I am very excited to be returning.

We are gearing up for a reboot to our kids program at our church. Last year we had a pirate theme, and this year, we will begin with a cowboy theme. I have ordered backdrops, cowboy hats... Please pray that we can get this ministry to grow again. We have lost several children over the last few months due to some moving.  

Please continue to pray for my mom's health. She has tried several different medicines over the last few months, but they have not helped. She now has several oils which we hope will improve her heart rate issues and blood pressure. So far we have seen some smallchanges.

Please pray that God keeps flight issues down so that I don't have to worry about getting stranded somewhere. Please also pray that countries remain open in Europe as my hope is to be there by the end of the year.

Please pray for Uriel, a Jewish man I am communicating with. I have asked him quite a few questions about the Jewish culture and beliefs, and I have shared the truth of the Gospel several times. I believe he is a Rabbi, so I am sure it will take awhile for him to receive Christ if he ever comes to that decision. Pray that God can send someone by who knows how to witness in a way that will help him to to think about Christ. 

Another person who needs prayer for salvation is Veronica. My mom and I have picked her up a few times, and so far she has been very responsive to us. We have not yet witnessed to her, but we have invited her to church several times.

Please pray for a lady in our neighborhood who lost her husband in October. I have visited her a couple times, and I plan to do so again. I am hoping to invite her to church and that she will come.

Merry Christmas!!!

 Tonight, I am 33 years old in Christ.

Christmas Eve 1989- I was 5 years old. My dad was my pastor, and I had been in church since before I was born. We had a rule in our house, once in bed, no coming back downstairs. That night, I could feel the conviction of God, although I didn't know what it was at that time. I afraid. I knew that sin was all the bad things I had done like lying, fighting, disobeying..., and I knew that there was punishment for sin, death in Hell. My dad may have preached about Hell in church on that night. All I know is I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about my sin.

 

I quietly slipped downstairs and stood at the doorway to the living room watching my dad as he sat in the light of the Christmas tree. He finally looked up and said, "What do you need?" I didn't say anything, I just went and crawled into his lap. He then started asking me questions, and I told him I needed to get saved. He explained everything I knew by heart from church. he then asked me if I understood I was a sinner. I shook my head yes. He asked if I believed Jesus died for my sin, and I said yes. He then told me that if I wanted to ask Jesus to forgive my sin and save me, I could pray and tell Jesus. I bowed my head and prayed. I don't remember what I said, but I do remember that my heart felt light, and I wasn't afraid to go to sleep.

 

Today, I passed out 75 loaves of gingerbread to our neighborhood. Everyone who accepted the breads, which was all but one person, were so happy and thankful. The one who didn't accept the read was a lady who lost her husband in October. She told me she wasn't doing anything Christmasy because she didn't want to think about it without her husband. Please pray that I can be blessing to her and win her to Christ. Each loaf of bread had a tract and a short Christmas story and plan of salvation with it.

 

Tomorrow, we will have a carol sing at our church. Please pray we have a good attendance, and that we have visitors.

Tis the Season to be Jolly

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas season even through difficulties they may be facing. So far, we have had two light snows, but we may be getting a heavier snow this weekend. While I am not a fan of the usually extremely long, cold winters of Maine, I do like snow. This year, I decorated our porches and tree outside with lights and garland. I will be putting up a manger scene banner when it arrives. We have had our Christmas tree decorated since October, but that was so my mom could celebrate with my brother's family while they were here.

We held our annual children's Christmas play this past Sunday. Each year, I choose a theme for the play even though it is always the same, simple story of Christ's birth taken from Scripture. This year's theme was Have You Any Room For Jesus. There were mishaps for me and interruptions, but the kids did fabulous as always. We had 12 visitors, and 9 of those were first timers. The spirit was great among the people. Please pray that some of these visitors will return for other services. 6 of the visitors were from group homes for people with disabilities. While some of our regular members were missing, God sent us the ones we compelled from the hedges, the halt and hurting.

Mom held our annual Ladies' Christmas party last night, and we had 12 ladies attend. The spirit was great, and the night was full of laughter. At the end, some shared testimonies. It was a nice time of fellowship. 

The 20th is fast approaching, and on that day, we need everyone who will to pray for God to work some mighty miracles. Satan is working overtime to destroy families because he knows his time is short. Pray that truth will be upheld and for Satan to be bound.

If all continues to go well, I should be in Puerto Rico starting in March. I will finish out the last 9 weeks of school for a friend who is getting married. After that, I hope to begin preparing for trips to England and Europe. Again, if all goes well, I hope to be headed there by the end of next year.

Baby Joel continues to do well. He had another heart cath today, and he had a stent put in to the artery which was narrow. He is just about to walking stage, and knows quite a few words including my name. :-) Yep, this aunt was pretty proud that he said my name before Mimi or Grandpa.

Blessings to all who support me and pray for me.

Thanksgiving Vacay

 My parents and I finally got away to see baby Colton, my parents 22nd grandchild. He is 9 months old already and is full of life and smiles. He started walking holding on to things, and he has so far said Mama, grandpa, and I love you. I'm trying to teach him to say coffee, one of the most important words in the English language. :-) It's been fun being with my sister, Jacqueline, and her husband, Phil. We have stayed up late every night playing games and talking. Tonight Phil deep fried a turkey which turned out amazing. My aunt and her son came, and we enjoyed a good time of fellowship and food. Thursday, we will spend Thanksgiving with my aunt and her family, and then we fly out of Nashville on Thursday night. 

With the many burdens we have dealt with over the last year, and the many more to deal with when we get home, this vacation has been a respite. Please keep us in prayer as we have some very important things to deal with in the near future. Please pray truth will be known and that God will intervene on behalf of some children. We need some very definite miracles.

We will be holding our children's Christmas play on December 11. Please pray that all the kids will know their lines, and please pray that their parents will attend. We are praying for souls to be saved because of this.

Baby JJ has a heart cath coming up, so please pray all is well. Keep my mom in prayer too as we continue to monitor her health and try to help her heal her hip.