Busyness

Hello everyone!  Sorry for the delay, but we have been crazy busy this last week and a half!  The movie night at St Bon was a hit, and I was able to talk with a young man for several hours about life and God.  We dropped off a Bible last week, and I hope to spend some time with him this week when we do another movie at the trailer park.

I am entering my second week at Crownpoint.  I truly enjoy the job, but I must admit that the drive is the biggest drawback.  I love the extra time with God- I listen to sermons or the Bible on audio, but I sure wish we just lived in Crownpoint!  Obviously God has other plans for now!  I praise God for the job and the doors He is opening up.  I have met a couple of Christian teachers, and we are planning on starting a pray group once things calm down.  (I will suggest next week before the habit of NOT meeting gets a foothold!)  I teach 6th graders, and it is apparent this is the age to reach the kids!

In camp news, I must admit I have been a little slack.  I feel bad because I feel like I am falling behind in what I want to do.  It has been hard to find time with the new job starting this week.  (I also had to replace the transmission in the jeep over the weekend, but still that's not an excuse!)  Pray for me as I want to contact some folks about being on our board this week. (it is my goal for the week...) I need to make the time to get some contacts made. I am still working on letters to send to prospective people or organizations that may want to partner with us.  Frankly, this is all new to me, so I am learning as I go!  God is still working, and it is exciting to see where He will lead!

Summer is over

It's official, summer is over.   I had my first day of work at Crownpoint today, and it was good.  I still have some things to sort through and set up, but I will be ready for the kiddos on Monday.  I say kids, cause I found out last week I will be teaching 6th grade language arts as well as two 6th grade remedial classes.  The students are just 11-13years old!  It will be fun!  While at the school the other day,  I met the science teacher and found out that her husband is the pastor of the local Reformed Church, so I said we would have to check out their service sometime.  It is nice to know there are fellow Christians on staff.

In camp news, I am sorting through goals and timelines in order to make a workable schedule to go by.  I am also revamping my vision/mission statement so that it is more like a business plan. (not that I know what that would look like!)  Angelo Bible Church is prayerfully considering taking us on as a missionary.  They would not help so much financially as much as they would allow us to fall under their 501c3 status.  This would give us more time to focus on the camp aspect and not getting together bylaws and other requirements necessary to be an independent nonprofit.  We are still praying about which direction to go with the nonprofit stuff, so please continue to pray for us.  Either way, we would still form a board to be under, so pray for us as we seek out folks willing to serve in that capacity.  The goal is to get the board and nonprofit stuff settled in the next few weeks. 

Tomorrow is another movie night at St. Bon.  We will be showing a couple of Veggie Tales.  (if we don't get rained out!)  Pray that the kids would not just enjoy the shows, but that lives would be touched by the truth of the Gospel.

The drive to Crownpoint is pretty, but not something I want to do all year.  We are lowering the price of the house again in the hopes of getting more interest and a sale.  I found out today that there are no teacher homes available in Crownpoint, so we would have to live in Thoreau or the trailer park in Crownpoint. So that's kind of an answer to prayer!  We have one less option to consider once the house does sell! ;-)

That's it for now.  Pray for me as I learn my new job and balance it with my greater desire for ministry.  Pray for Erin too, as she will be starting school with Kadin next week as well.  God bless!

Weekly Update

Hello all!  I am trying to figure out the best way to keep up a blog and remain faithful to my other responsibilities.  For now I will try to post an update at least once a week.  So here's the latest--

CEF-pray for the school board at Baca.  They are hesitant to allow the club access to the school.  The next meeting is in August, and a decision will need to be made.  Erin feels it would not be right to force the school to allow the club, so we are praying that God will work through the board members and allow the club to proceed.  Just because we can do something legally for Christ does not mean it's the best move to make- especially in a small community.  So we need prayers lifted up for the final go-ahead.

CAMP- our family went to Angel Fire this past week and we got to talk to my family about camp stuff.  After talking with my family, one thing became clear- we should focus on running with the original idea.  We will have a basketball camp for one week in the summer- a skills camp for the older youth in the area.  The tentative date will be July 9th- 13th.  I say tentative because I have not talked to my former principal yet, and with school starting I will not talk with her until after the first week of school.  Making an actual decision and date is an answer to prayer.  Things may still change some, but the overall camp will not.  Although the camp will be focused on skills, I plan on incorporating much of what I saw at T Bar M.  They do a sports camp for younger kids, and we will follow that model closely.  As I type out these ideas and plans, I am aware of James 4:13-17.  I need to make plans (doing the good I know is needed), but ultimately this is all dependant upon God's will and timing.

We still have much to do- from deciding on nonprofit stuff to finding board members. (Not to mention making actual plans!) So pray for us.  We don't want to rush off ahead of our Lord, but we also must start trusting that He is guiding specific decisions we must make.  Thank God that He is sovereign!

COMMUNITY DINNER- December 3rd.  Those of you that have been on the email list long enough may remember this one....  Last year St. Bon was unable to put on their annual Christmas dinner.  We tried to see if all the churches could work together to put on a dinner at St. Bon, but things just did not work out.  Well this year Erin has already been asked to help plan the dinner.  The date has been set, and now Erin is beginning the process of contacting churches to see who is willing to help.  Pray that all the details work out in such a way as to make this a community dinner that shows how churches want to share not only God's word but His blessings as well.  Pray for Erin to not feel overwhelmed as she and the secretary from St. Bon (Cindy is her name) plan the event.  If any of you would like to help, just let us know:)

Lastly, I wanted to share something God graciously reminded me of- Blessings.  As we traveled back from Texas a few weeks ago, a rock hit our windshield.  (It was the second time- I stopped to fix a chip in the windshield on the way to Texas.)  Our immediate reaction was anger, but then both Erin and I started thinking.  We were excited to see what a chipped windshield would reveal about God's plan.  Erin called the insurance company to set up a time to get it fixed.  The man comes out to our house and fixes our windshield.  He notices my old 47 Jeep.  Long story short, my jeep gets sold for the asking price because we got a rock in our windshield.  I have been trying to sell it all summer, and God used a rock to do what I couldn't!  Isn't God cool?