Living Water

Jesus answered and said to her, "  Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."  
The woman said to Him, "  Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."    John 4:13-15

This is a portion of the conversation that took place between Jesus and the Samaritan woman who met at the well.  I have read this story a few times but when I read the woman's response to Jesus recently, the Lord showed me something.  I saw that the natural water in the well represented the world & the flesh.   I saw the very act of the woman going to that well & lowering the bucket down & pulling it back up full of water which she then carries back to her home.  I saw the need for her to do this every day. I thought of the water itself and how it satisfies the thirst for a while but there is a always a need for more.  I can appreciate that now that we are living in a desert.  It seems like my thirst can never really be satisfied no matter how much water I drink. That woman began to understand that the living water that Jesus spoke of would mean that she would not thirst again or have to go to the well to draw water.  I think of the past and how I would 'go to that well' to satisfy my thirst for the things of the world.  Before I knew Christ, that list of things I tried to satisfy with included the same things so many others are trying to satisfy their thirst with.  After knowing Christ, I still found myself  'going to the well'  to quench my thirst.  The things I was pulling up out of that well were:  good works, emotional experiences, popular & charismatic television preachers, a new, deeper revelation of scripture (given, of course, by those same preachers), looking to those people who I thought were so much more 'spiritual', and even relying on worship music.  The end result was that the satisfaction I got from those things did not last.  Sometimes they only left me covered up in condemnation because I saw my failure and weakness when I compared myself to those 'more spiritual' people or the 'high' didn't last.  I kept going to that well and pulling up those things because I thought that was what I needed to do.  Even though I was saved, I did not know Jesus as the source of that fountain that I needed.  I see now that my faith was in those other things to satisfy my thirst.  I see now that He alone is the source of that constant flowing fountain of life water! I also think that so many in the church are not even looking to the water in the well to satisfy their thirst but are finding their satisfaction in the very act of going after the water...the 'works' of it...they don't even recognize that they're thirsty!  
How do I receive the Living Water?  I ask...by faith. I take my focus off of me & put it on Him.  I worship Him for who He is and what He has done for me, not what He can do for me.  I see my need for Him as my source, not those other things.  I understand that I am nothing without Him.  I see that His work on the cross is a finished work and I am in Him and He is in me.  I have the source of the fountain in me and it's an ever flowing spring!  My faith in Him alone keeps me quenched!  When I feel dry & thirsty I look to Him.  I realize that if I do feel that way, it's only because I've begun to trust in another source.  What is that fountain?  It's the Holy Spirit!

Balmorhea State Park pool. 

Balmorhea is called the 'oasis of the desert' because of the San Solomon Springs just 4 miles outside of town, in what is now called Balmorhea State Park.  The park itself is 46 acres and has a 1.75 acre freshwater pool built right over the spring. Scuba divers enjoy the deeper parts of the pool because of the beauty of it.  There are many different types of fish & even turtles in it.  The pool is completely spring fed and a canal runs from it and extends in a network of canals that irrigate thousands of acres of farmland.  A canal runs right through mainstreet Balmorhea.  Another canal feeds Balmorhea Lake.  This spring puts out a constant flow of 22-28 million gallons of water a day!  So much is dependent upon this ever flowing water.  The water is almost always flowing through town but  occasionally it's not and we know it is being diverted elsewhere to irrigate fields.  We also see it navigating the network of canals throughout town and being directed to flood certain yards so grass will grow.  That fountain of fresh water springing up and flowing here & there bringing life to whatever is fed by it.  

There is another arm of the pool to the right...it's big!

If we know Christ, we have no need to look to any other source to satisfy our thirst.  Jesus said in John 7:37-38..."  If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."    Believe in Jesus and His finished work on the cross!  Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit and believe that He will give you that flowing fountain of living water!  Drink & be satisfied!

 This picture is of Tia, one of the girls in our youth group. That girl can catch any animal...even wild turkeys...by hand!  She pulled this turtle out of the pool at the park. This is the larger of the two she brought to us that day.

 As I write this entry, this area has received a good amount of rainfall over the last 3 days which is much, much needed.  The ground is soaked and the desert is greening up.  We need the Spirit of God to rain down on this place!  


Thank you for praying!


We love you all!
 

                                                                          

In the trenches

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  1 John 4:9

Tom teaching at youth group

This verse just so perfectly sums up what we have been teaching the children (& adults) here.
  
 There is a good dose of superstition and witchcraft thrown into the mixture of belief systems here...most likely because of Indian roots not only here but Mexico as well...ie...there is a good size hill just outside of town with a cross on it.  The reason the cross was put there was because there is a belief, based on an old tale, that the devil danced with a woman on top of that hill.  The kids are always willing to tell us 'ghost stories' about this town.  I can probably handle the superstitious beliefs better than I can the mixtures of 'religious' beliefs.  Based on what we've seen & heard, what I mean by mixture is...a confession of faith in Jesus Christ and that He died on the cross for our sins, that He rose again & is seated at the right hand of the Father and we await that day when we get to be with Him eternally.  This is the gospel. Right on. But, sadly, this is not enough. This is where the mixture comes in.  Faith in Christ is added to and mixed in with Mary & the saints. People want to be sure that 'all bases are covered' so to speak. This is not new...different versions of this mixture are being played out all over the world. Jesus is not enough...His blood is not enough...His sacrifice is not enough...this is very sad. There is also a knowledge of the person of the Holy Spirit and His gifts but a denying of the power.  The greatest gift given to us is salvation through Christ...and the second greatest gift given to us is His Holy Spirit!

I know this is not a good picture but I included it because I love it!  Scottie reading Tom's bible next to him and Amaya reading out loud to the group.

  
That is why I titled this blog 'In the trenches'.  We are dug in, shoulder to shoulder, proclaiming that Jesus is enough...His blood is enough...there is only one Way, one Truth, one Life...and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for us today! We know & believe that the Gospel is the power of God and there is no need to go on to greater knowledge, greater wisdom, some new truth. The Word tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:30...'But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption'. He became everything for us...all that we need...I have everything I need...in Him! There is no need to pray to an idol or a 'saint' in addition to praying to God the Father.
 
So...we stand...not compromising.  We are praying & waiting. While Tom & I were praying this morning, the story I heard or read, about the village (in South America I think) where the Gospel came & was received and the whole village was transformed, came to my mind. Oh, how I want to see that here!

Tom praying for the children.

 The Lord has been encouraging us along the way with testimonies that we've heard.  One was from someone here in the church who testified about being a 18 yr old boy who went into a youth meeting in a church for one reason...girls...but he found himself accepting Christ when the gospel was preached.  Even though he fell back into the world for several years, the pull of that gospel that he'd heard & received, brought Him back to Jesus again.  Just the other day a woman, who lives in Odessa, shared her testimony with us.  She spoke of being a little girl of 5 when her brother shared the gospel with her at the time of his water baptism.  She had been questioning him and he told her about sin and the need of Jesus.  She said she felt convicted and gave her heart to Jesus.  How amazing!  She shared about being insecure & shy as a young girl.  She didn't talk about her faith in Christ & wouldn't participate in youth meetings.  She had strayed from Him also and gone her own way but she has not been able to resist the pull on her heart to return to Him.  She had led the youth ministry here at our church for a couple of  years before moving. Her 2 youngest children are here in our church and always here for youth meetings and hanging out almost daily. Of course there's Tim Tebow's testimony.  We took 3 of the youth here to see him last Sunday afternoon. He shared about being a young boy when he gave his heart to the Lord.  He had been raised in a missionary family and did and said all the things he was suppose to but one night he was convicted and saw his need for the Savior.  He went right to his mom in the morning and asked her to pray with him and he got on his knees and surrendered to the Lord.  Most of us know who he is. He has a tremendous platform to share the gospel.

Most of these kids have never had someone lay hands on them & pray for them.

  
We have been told by different people that the Lord has sent us here.  We visited with the Justice of the Peace (Tom calls him the JP...haha) and his wife last weekend. They are our neighbors. Incidently, he was the pastor here at Believers in Christ for a few years.  They have it in their heart to help us feed the kids who are coming and have offered to help us however they can.  They are excited about what's going on here with the children. He told us he believes the Lord sent us here and spoke Isaiah 55:11 to us..."
"  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; 
 It shall not return to Me void,
 But it shall accomplish what I please,
 And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

This has been spoken to us before by different people and encourages us everytime!  Our job is to preach the gospel...preach grace & truth in love...it's His job to see to the seed that is planted!

Some of the youth that gather here to play ball & hang out.

A man in our church, Miguel, stopped by one afternoon this week and seeing all of the kids commented that they (members of Believers in Christ) have not seen that much activity here on the church grounds before.  They are amazed & excited! So are we!
But feeding them, playing ball with them, even showing them we care will not save them...only Jesus can!

Waiting for youth group to start!

To those of you back home in Illinois... I can't say it enough... Thank you for praying for us & for the people of this town!!!  

 



 



 

catch up blog

Wow...it's been a few weeks since my last blog! Now I have to play catch up which is not easy...it's hard enough for me to remember what happened yesterday, let alone 5 weeks ago!  But...here goes!

After my last blog post, we returned to Watseka for about 2 weeks.  Man, that's a looooonnnnnnggggg drive!  It was so good to see everyone though.  It made my heart happy :) especially seeing all of the kiddos!  I was 'chompin' at the bit' to get back here though.  I felt very restless while in Illinois.  I needed to get back to the work here.  I guess that surprised me...how I felt.  I admit to being a bit selfish about my time...needing space...alone time...peace...good quality 'down' time.  Those things are not part of my life down here really!  And I know the Lord is changing me and I love that He does that almost without me realizing it.  (of course, as I type this, nobody is home...it's quiet except for the wind blowing through the window...ahhhhhh)

So, since we've been back here in Balmorhea, we have been so busy.  Tom & I discovered while talking during that looonnnggg drive back here that we both were more focused & determined to preach the gospel.  To preach the message of the cross as the only  means of victory.  During that first few weeks here, everything was new & very different for us...like another country.  We were trying to get settled and acclimated.  We were coming into a church body that was already established and so we were figuring out our place, I guess.  And it has been an adjustment on their side as well.  And...my quiet time is over...hahaha...I knew it would be short lived! (there are now 6 other children here besides our own...and here comes another down the road...haha)

Children's ministry is available to us pretty much every day.  We have the 'regulars' who are here almost every day.  Then there are the ones who come & go.  You never know from day to day who is going to show up.  It's so funny, one minute we look out the window and see certain kids & turn around and look again & there are more...or different ones...different ages...sometimes adults.  Yesterday I looked out at the basketball court and saw an adorable little 1 yr old girl toddling across it...with a teenager following closely behind, of course) This basketball court really draws people and what an opportunity it is for us!  Kids are just showing up, out of the blue, to hang out here.  But we don't want it to just be a good place to hang out...we are glad that we have a safe place for them to be, given the alternatives...but it is opening up opportunities to minister to the kids. 

So, we have a projector now!!  We introduced the kids to worship via the projector last week.   Then we introduced some of the adults to it at prayer on Thursday night.  It's new to all of them I think!  We have discovered just how incredibly spoiled we have been all of these years.   To be in a church where worship is so important and led by the Holy Spirit...where the intent is to worship Him for who He is and what He has already done for us...to know His Presence. Thank you, Erik & Sally, for seeking only to worship the Lord and glorify Him...for surrendering to His Spirit...for...oh my, I could go on & on...we have learned so much from you both!  Your focus is Jesus, not yourselves or your music...which sadly is very rare in the church today. 

We have been meeting in the church daily to pray. By we, I mean our family.  We have invited everyone in this church body to join us.  Whether they come or not, we will continue to pray. It has become such a sweet time and a time with the Lord that we must have!   We cannot do this work without Him!! 


Thank you all for praying for us!!

I am including some pictures of the children. We made homemade pizzas here at the church last Friday night and the kids loved it! I recruited 2 of the children to help, as you will see in the pictures. They are siblings, Scott & Elena. Please pray for them. Their circumstances are not good but we are loving them & telling them about the great love the Father has for them. The mother stopped here yesterday and said she would like to talk.  We are waiting to see if she comes back.  

Also, there are pictures of  our kids that we took on Easter Sunday.  

We love you all! 
 









 

Kids, kids & more kids

This is the group of young people, from Trinity Christian High School in Lubbock, Tx, who spent the week with us. The girls slept in the Baptist church down the road and the boys camped out in tents on the edge of town. They used our church building as their main meeting place & headquarters. They arrived on Monday and left Friday morning. They got dirty during the day doing various projects around town and at night they hung out here, playing basketball & such. Every night at about 9 pm, they had praise & worship and one of the chaperons (one is a superintendent & one a professor) would give a short message.  On Wednesday afternoon, Tom & I went out & tried rounding up kids & adults to come for a cookout. The HS kids had gone to the school earlier that day & had an announcement made to everyone. I was not expecting the response that we got. I told the lady chaperon that maybe 25 extra burgers besides all of ours would be enough but I was wrong!  This place was crawling with kids & even several adults. We ate, had fellowship, played & later that night had praise & worship outside. The young man, Philip, who led the band & sang, related to the kids so well and he shared the Gospel with them & urged them to respond.  We couldn't believe the amount of teenage boys that came from the town. I also met a young lady who lives across town who I spent a lot of time getting to know. She is in her early 20s & has a 4 yr old daughter. She also helps raise her 2 younger siblings. I look forward to ministering Jesus to her.  Thursday night, our church family fed the Trinity team. Four huge beef brisket were smoked & barbecued...Oh my! Delicious! We had many kids & teens show up again despite the cold, nasty weather. Big switch from the day before when it was 90! After we ate, the Trinity teens shared their testimonies using pieces of paper or cardboard. Their life before Christ & their life now. They did not speak. It was pretty powerful. We had praise & worship also and then they played the movie 'Courageous'. Before praise & worship, Tom shared brief testimony & preached the Gospel. 


It was good for us to have this group show up so soon after our arrival here. They were an encouragement to us. They gathered around us & prayed for us and blessed us in many ways that were unexpected!  We were also able to meet many small children & teens from here in town and establish relationships. Adults also are responding and our friends here in the church tell us that they are shocked at some of the people who have showed up & offered help, brought their kids & stayed to fellowship, even dared to come! There is a strong Catholic domination here and I know of one older lady who came & immediately was called by others in her church who questioned her about it. She firmly told them that she had a good time and she would come back again if invited! 


I'm going to be honest, it is overwhelming to us when we hear of and see the bondage of religion, the stronghold of Catholicism, the mindsets, pride, etc.  We have to hang onto Jesus and trust Him! It is really no different here than most other places but then in some ways it is. We are the new guys on the block and must work on developing trust & relationships. We must prove our commitment & faithfulness all the while speaking the truth in love. When we hear of the different struggles and conflicts of past attempts to reach the people, we start to look at our weakness and inabilities. We have to encourage each other to trust Him and know that He is able to break all bondage and tear down walls of separation that man has built! We have to trust that if He sent us here then He has a plan that we cannot comprehend with our understanding! The Gospel is the power of God! If we lift up the name of Jesus, He will draw all men unto Himself!  


We are excited about working with the youth. We are expecting more children. We see the great need for a teen ministry. We don't know how this will all happen but trust Him. That is where my heart is right now...the children & especially teens. Tom has spent time talking to some of the teen boys. The need is great and the door is opening! We are praying the Lord will provide the means for us to have praise & worship...have church...with & for teens. We are not musical in any way! We would love to have a projector so that we could have worship the way we have done at Living Hope with the kids. He has shown His provision to us in many ways, so we trust Him to provide what we need. 

Finally, here are some more pics from the week...thank you all for praying for us!! We love you all!!

Also, here a couple of video clips. The first one is from Wednesday night after we were essentially done but the kids just kept playing...this was taken fairly late that night. The second one is from the praise & worship on Thursday night.

Phoebe

http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Great-Granddaughter-of-Zig-Zigler-fights-brain-canceer-140778233.html

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/phoebefair/journal

Please join us in praying for this beautiful little girl. The first link I included is a news story done about Phoebe and the second link is the journal her family updates daily regarding her health and the road that the entire family is traveling right now.

 This young family lived on the farm in Waco where Becky lived. We met them when we all went down there for tent meetings. They have been a missionary family to Mexico. We are praying for God to heal this sweet little girl. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever!! Please pray for the family who needs His grace every minute to carry them through. They are trusting in Jesus to heal & trusting Him for strength & grace to stand. They need to be able to get back out on the mission field, healed & restored.  I find myself crying so often when I read the journal updates because I can't imagine what they are going through but I know Jesus is able!!! 

 Becky had commented that we should maybe stop & pray for Phoebe on our way to move down here to Texas and in my heart I wanted to do that. I didn't say anything to Tom about it and neither did Becky. When we were in Arkansas, Tom told me that Phoebe had been on his heart very strong that morning & the Lord told him to stop & pray for her! Oh, He is so good! So, we stopped at the Dallas Children's Hospital & saw her & prayed for her. We could not touch her because she is in her chemo treatment and has no immune system right now. The picture above is one I took of her with my phone while we were there. She was sleeping when we got there but woke up as we were praying. As you can see, she is very groggy but she has the cutest belly giggle!!  
             
I just wanted to share that because the Fair family has been on my heart so much and I know Becky is crying out for her healing also and is heartbroken over the whole thing. Please pray!


Well, on the Texas front...we are anticipating our 2nd kids church meeting this afternoon at 5. I expect to see more kids today. A couple of boys from down the street finally made their way over yesterday & they are coming. I have a feeling our place will be loaded with kids daily in the future! Funny thing is, so far it's been boys...big switch for Noah who has been surrounded by girls for so long!! 

We heard from a couple who were here Sunday for our service and they were so excited. The husband is unable to attend church most of the time due to work. He played the keyboard & sang for us in worship and the Holy Spirit touched both of them and they said that they were filled again & refreshed & headed out to minister that afternoon. 

Tom has been preaching about the work of the Holy Spirit in our daily life and keeping our faith exclusively in Jesus Christ & Him crucified, which allows the Holy Spirit to work. Sunday, the Spirit of God was touching many after this message. They were weeping as the grace of God washed over them! 

We love you all & are so grateful for your prayers!

 

This is the Calera Chapel which sits about 5 miles outside of Balmorhea. It was originally built sometime in the late 1800s I believe and was an adobe structure. It has been plastered over in efforts to preserve and restore it. It is open all of the time to the public. It is so neat and I think it's the most beautiful chapel I've ever seen! I've been strongly encouraging my girls to have their weddings in it! It won't hold many people but how neat it would be! The view of the mountains around it definitely helps!

Well, we've been here 2 weeks now! We have pretty much settled into the house. In case you didn't know, we are living in the house that is a 5 step or 20 ft. walk from the house, depending on which door you go out. It is a one bedroom and the kids have taken that over. It is cozy in here but at least we have a decent place to live! We spend a good amount of time in the church now. It's a good place to be when the house gets a little tight! We made an office space and the church has a laptop and has just purchased a printer/copier.  Our brothers & sisters here at Believers in Christ have been amazing! We have felt so welcome and they have  made sure we have whatever we might need for the church. We started putting together pages in English & Spanish for the worship music because the brother who had been coming down from Pecos to do the worship was going to be leaving to evangelize...well...funny thing is, he & his wife have been here every Sunday and today he brought a friend of his who played the keyboard (normally we only have guitars). Oh, we had a great time in the Lord today! We had the windows & door open. I saw people driving by & stopping to listen. They sang me & Tom a song for our anniversary(27th). Today was a good day! More worship after the preaching and the Holy Spirit ministered to people.  There is excitement in the air in this church again! 

We met a lady, in her 50s I suppose, who lives on the next block. She suffered a stroke and is physically disabled and cannot speak words.  She goes to the Catholic church when someone picks her up. We invited her and she hobbled down the street for prayer/Bible study Thursday night and came to the meeting this morning. How awesome! She is very open to being prayed for. Oh, how we'd love to see God heal her! One of the ladies testified on Thursday night that she's gotten back in the Word again and 'havin' coffee with Jesus' in the mornings now. She's excited! The Lord is giving her better understanding of scripture, particularly ones shared on Sunday mornings.

We are getting to know a family who live about a mile out of town who have a ranch. A man lives there with his mother and has a plumbing business and they own property outside & in town. They have a double wide trailer, just outside of town & just a short walk from us, that they would like us to rent. He is re-doing the bathrooms & other things so it's not ready yet. We checked it out & it needs a good cleaning but it's a good size for us. Tom is going to be working for them for awhile doing cleanup on their properties so that will bring in some income. We also met 2 teachers from the school here in Balmorhea while out at the ranch.  I was told to go apply to sub. It's so much different here in Texas than Illinois. Way more laid back & not heavily regulated. You don't need a degree so...I will check that out & Tom's interested in doing that too. It will be a good way to get to know all the kids & get them into youth group & minister to them.  We have to be careful to not get too busy with working outside of the church. We have to remember why the Lord sent us down here & always be available to Him first & foremost. He has promised to provide! And he has in a few different ways just since we've arrived. We keep getting cucumbers & tomatoes from a neighbor, grown locally at the hydroponics place at Ft. Davis. We have a fresh egg supplier also!  Before we arrived here, Tom had received a call from Kat, the evangelist who has been leading worship. Kat said that the Lord told him to buy Tom a new pair of boots. Tom had, just days before that, been thinking that he needed a new pair because his were damaged in the toe part! Kat told a friend of his about it and that friend  insisted on buying them for Tom, who he doesn't even know! THEN when Kat shared the testimony at church, another brother stated that the Lord told him to buy Tom a pair of boots also. Well, we figured since Tom had just gotten the first pair that it was over...No...that man picked Tom up & took  him to Pecos & bought him another new pair of boots...very nice ones! Wow! 

The Lord is great & worthy to be praised!!

Love to you all!!

How we got here

It all began a couple of years ago on a Saturday morning drive...Well, it really all began 10 years ago when two people had decided to give up on their marriage and faced hurting, not only each other more, but four children also...two still in diapers. That couple was us. We had a mess. Drugs & alcohol had finally won. At least that's what it seemed. Then we somehow found the courage to walk into a small, newly established church called Living Hope. That's where Tom heard about God's incredible, forgiving love for him...and I finally surrendered to Jesus after knowing the truth for several years but letting my pride & stubbornness keep me bound. The Bible is true. 2 Cor. 5:17 says "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation...old things have passed away, all things become NEW"!! Life has not been the same since! We have not looked back...only to tell of what great things God has done for us! These last ten years have been amazing! It has not all been easy...there has been great cost along the way for trying to live for Christ. The growing process has hurt at times...but He is faithful and His grace is sufficient! He is worth it! I believe the Lord will have us share some of that growing process with you throughout this blogging process. We don't mind sharing our failures and shortcomings because that just gives us opportunity to glorify Him! There is a small scripture in the beginning of 1 Corinthians that is pretty easily passed over but grabbed my attention one day. 1 Cor. 1:6  says "even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you..." I got out my Greek word study book and  when I got done studying those words, here's what I came up with...'You are proof of the Grace of God'!! Wow! The testimony of Christ, ultimately His death, burial & resurrection, is confirmed in us when we place our faith in Him and what He did for us on the Cross! I am living, breathing, walking, talking proof of God's grace which was poured out for me on the Cross...because the old Robin is dead & buried and the new Robin is alive to God in Christ Jesus! And I am sitting here at a desk in a little church in the West Texas desert because of that fact! 

Ok, so back to how we got here...a couple of years ago the Lord began to test our obedience in small ways, all the while doing a work in our hearts to prepare us for the big step. He spoke to Tom, while he was hauling corn from Watseka to Lafayette, Indiana and told him to go to a little town called Oxford. I was going through some medical issues at the time so we didn't go right away but a  few months later we finally went for a drive to that town, not knowing what we were doing.  Long story short, we met a lady and her 2 children at a church and developed a relationship with them. A beautiful family! She had a large tent that she was interested in selling. Her &  her husband used to hold tent revival meetings throughout the South. Living Hope bought the tent & then a trailer to haul it in. Incidently, our church set up that tent next to her church in Oxford this last summer and held a meeting. Shortly after buying the tent, a group of us from Living Hope loaded up in 2 vehicles & pulled that trailer down to Mexico & set it up in a little village. We held a couple of meetings under it there. This was our first mission trip together as a family as we all went. Tom & I were learning through all of this to keep our hearts open to whatever the Lord might want to do in whatever situation, no matter what it looked like to us initially. We also met Pepe and his beautiful wife, Maria on that trip! A mariachi singer who now sings for Jesus. Fast forward a few months which brings us to 2011. This last year has been a full one! The tent was set up for meetings in a few different locations in the Watseka area. Meetings out at Watchekee trailer park will always be special to me  because I have met some people who are very dear to me! I thank God for the many people He has brought into my life & my heart. Through these new friends I was beginning to sense a special work in my heart being done. My heart was changing almost without me even realizing it! Only the Holy Spirit can do that! Pepe, who lives in Texas, came up & we held meetings in the park in Onarga. Tom also flew out & ministered with Pepe in Texas & Mexico. It was during Pepe's stay with us last summer that we learned about a small church in Texas who had no pastor and were looking for someone to come & lead them. It stirred our hearts. We looked at ourselves and said "How in the world would WE be able to do that?". A group of us loaded up that tent again & held meetings in Waco, Tx this past fall also. That's where the Lord really began to speak to us about His provision for us as we step out by faith.  Tom went to India again and his faith was built so much by seeing God work miracles in the people. Jesus is the same yesterday, today & forever!
We knew we had a decision to make upon his return from India. We either settle back into life & work or we decide to trust Him and answer His call. So, with the bank account pretty much empty but an excitement in our hearts to serve Him...here we are!  There was such a work in our hearts & lives throughout all of this that I can't share it all now. I will share it at some point because it will hopefully encourage and/or challenge someone to surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit in their own heart...for what purpose you might ask? To fulfill the great commission...Jesus did not go to the Cross so that we could live for ourselves...go to church once, or maybe twice a week because it's just what we do...get fat on the Word and wait on blessings...does that sound harsh? It might, but when the Cross did it's work in us and the Gospel came alive in our hearts, we were done with living for ourselves...living to please the world. This is an ongoing process. There are so many believers who are serving the Lord in conditions that I can't even imagine.  I know that He will require even more of us than we have already given up through our clenched fists. But He is worthy!! He is good!! He is not willing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). That's why we're here... 
We are stepping out by faith and trusting Him as best we can. We are leading a small church called the Believers in Christ Church. We have since learned that there are 3 churches in this small town and no pastor living here! Only one of the churches has a pastor who travels 40 miles on Sundays but is not available for the people the rest of the time. There is a need for a preacher of the Gospel here!! It will take time for us to establish a relationship with the people of the town. We have been told that most people have quit going to church here. Lack of a pastor or preacher of the Word has been blamed. We have been warmly welcomed by everyone we've met so far. We are settling in and love it here. 
We have been very BLESSED to have a family in Living Hope Church who have lovingly supported us and who pray for us daily. We cannot thank you all enough!!  You are a big part of our being here! 
And thanks to the internet, you can join us on our adventure!