Saturday, June 21, 2008

Team SB







What a great week we have been having with the Santa Barbara team!! Lots of this and that getting done at the church ie-painting, repairs, etc. All the things that aren't big by themselves but add up to lots of work!! It was great to walk into the church and see all that the guys had done!
Lars and Emily also taught the youth group some fun stuff-lots of crazy fun to be had. The time in the Word was a great reminder of Jesus being the door and the safety we can find in Him alone!
Yesterday proved once again to be a day where we saw God do amazingly and abundantly above and beyond all we could think! We had a Kid's Day and weren't expecting more than about 20 kids. Well, over 40 kids came and not only that but many of the parents came in the afternoon and joined us for lunch and more fun games at the park. It was great to see kids from all ages playing, hearing and acting out bible stories, doing fun crafts and singing praises to the Lord!! Such a blessed time!
Here are a few photos from the youth group. Charles from SB has a great talent for art and led the kids in painting the skateboard ramps. I'll add the ones from kids day when we get back.
Please keep us in your prayers as we travel today to make our way through Budapest, Austria and then on to Italy with the team. Pray for energy as we endure the heat and humidity, travelling graces, health, etc. We will be in Padova for a few days with the team and Jim and I will stay on after they leave in hopes to find a place to live. Actually, we MUST find a place so we can begin the moving process.


















Thanks for praying!! :)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Little Miss Juliet

Finally a sweet little photo of the most beautiful grandbaby!!! Am I a bit biased ??? LOL!!!
Jim finally got to meet his little granddaughter and was thrilled to feed her! What a blessing!
Thanks for all your prayers and those who helped make this trip happen for Jim. It meant so much to him!
Jim was able to get a lot of our paperwork done for Italy also. So much to do to apply for our Italian citizenship but it will be worth it. Now all the kids want to apply too. You never know how the Lord might use it in the future! I think it's funny how our ancestors were all trying to get to America and become citizens and now we are trying to go back to the countries they came from.

Please be praying for the team that will arrive from Santa Barbara next week. We will be busy doing fix up work around the church, having a kids day and if I am lucky, maybe get some more packing done. We will also head to Padova the following week and look over the city with the team, pray and perhaps scout out places to have an outreach the following year. Lots to do and so we covet your prayers. Pray they will be healthy and for good weather to do all we want to do!
So without further ado.....here is the Princess :)





Sunday, June 1, 2008

Siegen Conference

We were so blessed to be able to go to the Servanthood Conference at the Siegen church a couple weeks ago. We went last year and it was awesome but this year it just didn't seem possible to go. The dollar has dropped so much and everything is more expensive. Gas alone is between 7.50 -8.00 dollars a gallon. (sorry to our US friends, we don't feel your pain) :) just kidding :)
Anyway, the conference started on Tues and we rec'd a phone call on Monday telling us that if we wanted to go it was covered!! How amazing is that! God is so good and we knew there were things the Lord wanted to speak to our hearts since He made the way for us to go. It was a double blessing because we were able to go a couple hours from the church and pick up some boxes that were shipped full of clothes for the church. We brought them to the church yesterday and everyone had a great time picking out things to wear!! Thanks Kim and Martha!!!! :)
At the conference we were able to see some old friends from SB church and meet some new ones. The messages were great and Jim and I both went up for prayer to have a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. There was such a joy and a power in the prayer! It was one of those that I just want to carry with me as a reminder when I feel blah. Our friends Sadie and David were there and Pastor Ricky and some others prayed for us too. We are ready!! Ha ha-just remind me I said that!! There's just something about it when people are praying for you and you know they really want to be praying. It was a good reminder to me too because when I pray with people I want them to know that I want to be praying for them, it's not just a formality or something I do.
I wrote down a few highlights that spoke to my heart during the conference. Of course there were many things, but these are the main things. (You can click on it for a bigger size)