Mrs. Soltero

Just wanted to post to let everyone know when specifically to pray for Mrs. Soltero. She is in California and ready for surgery. She goes in tomorrow at 8am for preop and a procedure to cut the blood flow off to the tumor. It will be a very delicate procedure. Her "main" surgery will be done on Thursday at 7:30am. She covets your prayers!

One step forward, and a few back

<p>Please pray for the CEF club.&#160; Today they had just two kids-one of which was Kadin.&nbsp; It certainly feels like the club is under attack.  Last year the club had about 15-17 kids; the ladies teaching grew tremendously, and everyone was excited to start the new year.  Plans were made to attempt to have two clubs in the area-at the elementary and at Baca. It appeared that another church had about four ladies interested in participating and helping out this year.  After missing the first training session, it was agreed they would go to the upcoming training this weekend. Well, sadly they are unable to go or commit to helping with CEF.  Erin was hoping that after the training, the ladies could help with the teaching rotations in December.  (for insurance reasons, workers must be trained before teaching) So, plans will need to be adjusted.  Erin is looking for more workers willing to commit to the necessary training and club days. Today she lost about five potential workers she had been counting on. It is difficult to get Christians to commit nowadays, and Erin is a little discouraged. It is a time of trusting that God is still in control and we just need to be faithful to the call. So pray for the club. Praise God for the ladies (Esther, Carol, Gina, Norma, Gail) that have stepped up consistently to help, and pray as we are, for more faithful workers. Jesus was right- the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. This begs the question-how faithful are we all being to the calling God has given us?

Progress at last!

Well, it is official.  Rory called the other day and confirmed that the dates of July 9 - 13 will work for him.  So now we have three coaches lined up.  Now to find the rest! I also got an email from a friend I had asked about being on the board.  He is still praying about that decision.  Jim Stanley emailed and gave me a couple of questions to answer, and he will take my response to the elder meeting this Thursday.  I will now contact the principal at the high school to make sure we can use the gym for that specific week in July.  Then I will see about getting a house reserved for the camp staff.  (they will stay at the church, the UIM houses next to Crosslands, or at church members' homes, or a combination of each)  So it looks like a big question has been settled and now we just continue to make more detailed preparations. Pray for us as we continue to seek God's leading in putting the pieces together to get this camp going.  I would really like to have more local coaches as well (maybe some UNM Lobo players?), but I don't know of any leads in that direction just yet.  God will provide what we need, we just need to be faithful to His leading.  Good night, and God bless!

Pray for CEF

Erin is going to BACA tomorrow to see if a meeting can be set up to discuss starting the CEF club at the school.  The school has not returned phone calls or emails concerning this request, so Erin is going personally to see if progress can be made.  It appears there is some resistance coming from somewhere, and wisdom is needed to see how to proceed at this point. Pray for Erin as she tries to set up that meeting tomorrow.  Mrs. Soltero will have surgery on the 10th, so keep her in your prayers too please.  The club at the elementary school has had a low turnout lately and it would be nice to see more kids come to the club.  On the other hand, the smaller group allows for more individual attention, so there is a positive to a smaller group as well.  The ladies teaching the club are doing more, so that is an answer to prayer.  The ladies from the Baptist church are traveling to Albuquerque this weekend for training, please pray for their safety.

Concerning camp, it feels like we are still in the hurry up and wait mode as we await word from others.  I will let everyone know the latest when I find out more info.  I am still working with the three coaches to plan the best dates for the camp.  We are still praying for more coaches, so thanks for your continued prayers as well!  I have talked to the UIM folks that rent out the houses next to Crosslands, and will reserve a place for camp staff as soon as I can finalize a date. It will be this week, Lord willing, as we need to move on to other planning phases. 

That's the latest for now.  Hopefully in the next few days I will have some more substantial news (and progress) to report!  Thanks for your prayers! 

Oops! Has it been a month?

Wow!  Time flies when you keep telling yourself "I need to blog... " but then you don't.  I have been busy with the ending of the 9weeks and all, but I would rather just be honest.  The truth is, I coasted for a while with the camp stuff.  I was kind of depressed about the whole lack of progress, and in a sick way figured the best way to deal with the lack of progress was to ignore what I should focus on.  It was a total lack of faith and faithfulness on my part.  But God used my wonderful wife to wake me up the other day.  She said, "Matt, not to be mean, but-".  You have to love it when your spouse starts off a statement like that!  (it was already late at night, and we were fixing to go to bed)  Erin then proceeded to tell me how she just didn't see how the whole camp thing was going to get done-especially if I wasn't going to do what I needed to do.  These words of brutal honesty woke me up, and I thanked her and God right then.  The next day I started working more diligently on things I could do to keep the whole camp vision going.  I wish I could say I have a ton of good news to report, but the truth is we are awaiting the answers to several issues currently.

Issue 1- we await the response from Angelo Bible Church and our nonprofit status.  We know it's just basically a matter of time to hammer out the specifics, and we are working with ABC to get this done as soon as possible. Please pray that we can get this finalized in the next week or so.

Issue 2- the EXACT timing of the camp.  I have the high school gym available for the summer, but I can't reserve an exact week until I talk with some of the coaches that have expressed an interest in helping.  In answer to prayer, I talked with a former coach from Cornerstone Christian School, and he committed immediately to helping out.  He and his family are totally excited about coming up.  His quick response was an answer to prayer and a great encouragement. (isn't it amazing how God does that- encourages you at just the right moment?)  I will have more to report next week, Lord willing, as I will be talking with another coach on Wednesday to see if the dates of July 9-13 will work for him.  So far I have three coaches that have committed to helping us.  Pray for us all as we try to coordinate their schedules.  I will also need more staff of course, so pray for that as well!  I want to let you know the names of the coaches so they can be lifted up specifically: Mike, Rory, and Sean.  Sean says he knows a coach from Angelo State University and will ask him if he is interested in coming out as well.   This is another encouraging development.  Pray that it leads to another coach if that is God's will.

Issue 3- board members.  I have talked with three folks locally, but have not gotten a definitive answer from any of them.  Pray that they see clearly God's will concerning their involvement.  I personally would love to have a board organized now, but God's timing is not mine! 

So we have been working on camp stuff, but it feels like we are moving slowly as we await answers to these issues.  In other news, I was able to meet with the pastor of the local Baptist Church, and he said they would be willing to help.  I sent him a brief memo describing specific ways his church could help us in getting the camp started.  I have also talked to Mark Morris, the UIM missionary that has houses for rent.  The plan is to have the camp staff stay in a house or two there at the mission property, which is right next to Crosslands.  (our church for those who don't know-)  I will give Mark a specific date for renting the homes once I have the exact dates for camp.  (Lord willing, by the end of this week!)  So that wraps up the camp stuff for now! 

CEF- Erin and the ladies still have only 5 or so kiddos coming to the club.  It is nice on one hand, because each child can really be focused on.  But it would be nice to have a few more kids.  Mrs. Soltero has gone to California to meet with a specialist there and they plan on doing surgery in a few weeks. 

Lastly, here's some specific prayer requests-
Pray for Erin and I as we continue to do CEF and prepare for camp.  At times we feel alone in trying to get the camp thing going in particular.  Pray too that we can get the nonprofit, exact date of the camp, and board member issues moved on to more final solutions.  I still need coaches, so pray that God gives us the folks we need.  Pray too for unity among the staff as we will be bringing folks from all over to work together.  Pray too that we could find more local support in the form of churches and individuals willing to help.  We want the camp to be long term, so the need is to find local Christians to get behind the camp idea as well.  Pray for CEF and the kids to be reached; pray for Mrs. Soltero and her treatment. 

Thanks so much for all your prayers. I say it a lot, but the it is true- it is encouraging to know others are behind us in prayer.