Teddy and I are enjoying a trip to the US. My doctors wanted me to come back for a check-up, and we decided if I needed to do that, we would take a little extra time to visit the girls and their families.
Before we left Ecuador, Teddy kept asking me if there was going to be any snow at Grandpa's house. I kept telling him, I didn't think so, because it was March, and they live in Tennessee. It is the beginning of Spring there. Well, wouldn't you know. Tuesday before we arrived, they had 3 inches of snow. A lot of it had melted, but there was enough left in Mom and Dad's yard for him to have a wonderful time playing on Thursday morning! He managed to make 2 small snowmen.
Yesterday, I had my first doctor's appointment. That went pretty well. My blood pressure is a little high, but he thinks since it was doing well in Ecuador, that it might be the "stress" of traveling and just everything that we are trying to do in the next few weeks. So we will see what happens. I appreciate your prayers concerning this.
Next week, I have another appointment with my surgeon, just to make sure everything has healed properly, from my surgery last fall. That will be on Tuesday and then on Thursday we are heading to Springfield, MO. to visit with Ashley, Lexi and their families. Thank you for praying for our travels.
While we are away, Tony is continuing with 2 Bible Institute classes. One meeting on Tuesday evening, and one on Thursday. Also the construction on building continues. March 12-14, we will be having a Youth Retreat. Please pray that we have a good turn out from our church. Pray for Tony as he works on organizing everything, also.
Then on March 24-28, they will be having VBS. We have already done quite a bit of planning for this, but as you know there is always more to do, and of course just the last minute stuff involved.
We are excited to see how the Lord continues to bless the ministry in Manta! Thank you so much for your prayers. God bless you as you serve him.
Joy
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Where did February go?
I can't believe the month of February has gone by. We have been very busy around here! On the 7th our church celebrated it's 5th anniversary. We had over 135! Cliff McGhee came down from Quito and was our special speaker for the day. We recognized 17 people that had been baptized this past year! God has been so good to our church and ministry here.
After the service we had a great lunch that the ladies had prepared! Everyone had a wonderful time.
Tony, Teddy and I made a trip to Quito this month too. We left Sunday afternoon the 14th and drove to Santo Domingo, where we spent the night with our friends, Joe and Sylvia Wells, and then drove on to Quito on Monday morning, the 15th. While there we stayed with Cliff and Neoma McGhee. It was nice to visit the capital again, and we had good meetings while we were there!
On our return from Quito, Tony started Bible Insitute classes again. They will be meeting on Tuesday and Thursday evenings with our weekly prayer meeting in between on Wednesdays. Last Saturday was our monthly Ladies meeting at the church. We had about 25 ladies attend.
This afternoon our younger women had their monthly get together. They take turns hosting this meeting and always enjoy the fellowship. Today it was my privilege to bring the devotion.
On Wednesday morning, Teddy and I will be flying to the US. We will be in the States from the 3rd to the 30th. I have 2 doctor's appointments, and I appreciate your prayers about that. Everything seems to be going very well with my health and I am thankful for that. Because of the problem I had with my blood pressure before we left, my doctor told me he wanted to see me again so here I go....Also it will be 6 months since my surgery and my surgeon wanted to see me again too. :-) (I'm just a very popular person these days! )
We are looking forward to having some time visiting with my parents, and are planning a couple trips to visit the girls and the grand babies! You didn't think I would make a trip all the way back to the US and not see my grand babies did you? :-)
Appreciate your prayers for us as we travel. Also for Tony as he is here. During the month of March there is a planned Youth Retreat and a VBS...(I know it seems weird, but here on the coast of Ecuador, we are actually in the middle of our "Summer Vacation"!)
Have a wonderful week!
God Bless,
Joy
After the service we had a great lunch that the ladies had prepared! Everyone had a wonderful time.
Tony, Teddy and I made a trip to Quito this month too. We left Sunday afternoon the 14th and drove to Santo Domingo, where we spent the night with our friends, Joe and Sylvia Wells, and then drove on to Quito on Monday morning, the 15th. While there we stayed with Cliff and Neoma McGhee. It was nice to visit the capital again, and we had good meetings while we were there!
On our return from Quito, Tony started Bible Insitute classes again. They will be meeting on Tuesday and Thursday evenings with our weekly prayer meeting in between on Wednesdays. Last Saturday was our monthly Ladies meeting at the church. We had about 25 ladies attend.
This afternoon our younger women had their monthly get together. They take turns hosting this meeting and always enjoy the fellowship. Today it was my privilege to bring the devotion.
On Wednesday morning, Teddy and I will be flying to the US. We will be in the States from the 3rd to the 30th. I have 2 doctor's appointments, and I appreciate your prayers about that. Everything seems to be going very well with my health and I am thankful for that. Because of the problem I had with my blood pressure before we left, my doctor told me he wanted to see me again so here I go....Also it will be 6 months since my surgery and my surgeon wanted to see me again too. :-) (I'm just a very popular person these days! )
We are looking forward to having some time visiting with my parents, and are planning a couple trips to visit the girls and the grand babies! You didn't think I would make a trip all the way back to the US and not see my grand babies did you? :-)
Appreciate your prayers for us as we travel. Also for Tony as he is here. During the month of March there is a planned Youth Retreat and a VBS...(I know it seems weird, but here on the coast of Ecuador, we are actually in the middle of our "Summer Vacation"!)
Have a wonderful week!
God Bless,
Joy
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Every Sunday when we go to church, it amazes me to see how the Lord is working! We are thrilled to see people growing and serving the Lord.
This morning after the sermon, Tony asked everyone who wanted to make a public commitment to discipleship, to take up their cross and follow Christ. We had about 10 people go forward to pray. What an impact just those 10 people could make if they are sold out to the Lord, not to mention those already sold out!
I have a couple specific prayer requests for you today,
1. Please pray for Cristian and Monica. They are a young couple whose marriage started out in the not the best circumstances, and they are struggling right now. Pray that the Lord would be glorified in their marriage, and that they would work together to establish a Christian home in which to raise their baby boy, Ismael.
2. Please pray for the leaders in our church to be unified and to work out differences that they have with one another.
Have a wonderful week.
Joy
This morning after the sermon, Tony asked everyone who wanted to make a public commitment to discipleship, to take up their cross and follow Christ. We had about 10 people go forward to pray. What an impact just those 10 people could make if they are sold out to the Lord, not to mention those already sold out!
I have a couple specific prayer requests for you today,
1. Please pray for Cristian and Monica. They are a young couple whose marriage started out in the not the best circumstances, and they are struggling right now. Pray that the Lord would be glorified in their marriage, and that they would work together to establish a Christian home in which to raise their baby boy, Ismael.
2. Please pray for the leaders in our church to be unified and to work out differences that they have with one another.
Have a wonderful week.
Joy
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Off and Running!
We are approaching the end of January! I know I'm always saying I can't believe how fast time is flying by...that must mean I'm getting old! :-) I remember as a kid, thinking time just stood still!
We have had a great start to the New Year! The church is growing. We've had some new families coming and are excited to see what the Lord is going to do this year. We are praising the Lord for a special offering from Battlefield Baptist Church toward the construction of our building. At this time we are meeting in the unfinished 2nd floor of the education building. Our contractor is working this week on getting the electricity in up there... then we hope to get the small bathroom put in the "nursery" and that room tiled, and our other bathrooms and small kitchen in the ed. building tiled. After that we are planning on starting the main auditorium! Goal for getting that under way is March! Thank you for your prayers as we continue with this.
We are also in the process of planning our VBS which will be the last week in March, and because of the cost of youth camp this year, have decided to do our own thing near by...so that is also in the works. You ask, how much youth camp is costing this year...well it's $50 a camper, plus about $10 in transportation. I know you are thinking that is a really good price, but when you consider that that average salary is $300 a month, you realize that it is a lot of money for the people here, especially those with more than 1 teen! So we have found a few alternatives that will make it more reasonable, closer to $25 a camper. Please make this a matter of prayer as we iron out the details.
At this time Tony is meeting with 2 different families for discipleship classes. We are also getting ready to start Bible Institute classes up in February. There will be classes on Tuesday night and Thursday night. We have been having a Wednesday night Prayer meeting, that although not as well attended as we would like, is steadily growing. I think we had about 20 out last week.
This Saturday afternoon we will be having our monthly Ladies meeting. I appreciate your prayers as we get ready for this.
On February 7th the church will celebrate it's 5th anniversary! Cliff and Neoma McGhee are coming down to be our special guests. The women are planning a meal to serve after the service. God has been so good to us! What a blessing to see the work He has established in the last 5 years here in Manta!!!!
On February 14th, we will be adding our Sunday School hour again to our Sunday Morning Schedule. I have been working on getting the worksheets ready for the adult classes. So far I have the first 9 weeks done! YAY!!!!! We are using some basic discipleship lessons. This book, is called "Fundamentals of the Faith". Also on the 14th, we are planning to have an adult fellowship that evening. Still working on the details for that. :-)
I appreciate your prayers for me this week. I have meetings every afternoon we different ladies. Yesterday, the meeting was about our plans for VBS. Today, I'm not sure what it's about, :-)...Tomorrow, will be meeting with the director of a children's home in our area to find out some ways that the ladies and the church could be more involved in this ministry. We would like to be a blessing to them, but not cause them more work! Also tomorrow we will be meeting with a young single mom. Then on Thursday or Friday, I will be meeting with our Children's Ministry leader to discuss some things with the Sunday School....plans and problems. :-)
Well, I should post this. It is getting late, and I need to get breakfast on the table and school started with Teddy.
Thank you so much for your interest in our ministry and for your prayers!
God Bless you and you serve Him this week!
Joy
We have had a great start to the New Year! The church is growing. We've had some new families coming and are excited to see what the Lord is going to do this year. We are praising the Lord for a special offering from Battlefield Baptist Church toward the construction of our building. At this time we are meeting in the unfinished 2nd floor of the education building. Our contractor is working this week on getting the electricity in up there... then we hope to get the small bathroom put in the "nursery" and that room tiled, and our other bathrooms and small kitchen in the ed. building tiled. After that we are planning on starting the main auditorium! Goal for getting that under way is March! Thank you for your prayers as we continue with this.
We are also in the process of planning our VBS which will be the last week in March, and because of the cost of youth camp this year, have decided to do our own thing near by...so that is also in the works. You ask, how much youth camp is costing this year...well it's $50 a camper, plus about $10 in transportation. I know you are thinking that is a really good price, but when you consider that that average salary is $300 a month, you realize that it is a lot of money for the people here, especially those with more than 1 teen! So we have found a few alternatives that will make it more reasonable, closer to $25 a camper. Please make this a matter of prayer as we iron out the details.
At this time Tony is meeting with 2 different families for discipleship classes. We are also getting ready to start Bible Institute classes up in February. There will be classes on Tuesday night and Thursday night. We have been having a Wednesday night Prayer meeting, that although not as well attended as we would like, is steadily growing. I think we had about 20 out last week.
This Saturday afternoon we will be having our monthly Ladies meeting. I appreciate your prayers as we get ready for this.
On February 7th the church will celebrate it's 5th anniversary! Cliff and Neoma McGhee are coming down to be our special guests. The women are planning a meal to serve after the service. God has been so good to us! What a blessing to see the work He has established in the last 5 years here in Manta!!!!
On February 14th, we will be adding our Sunday School hour again to our Sunday Morning Schedule. I have been working on getting the worksheets ready for the adult classes. So far I have the first 9 weeks done! YAY!!!!! We are using some basic discipleship lessons. This book, is called "Fundamentals of the Faith". Also on the 14th, we are planning to have an adult fellowship that evening. Still working on the details for that. :-)
I appreciate your prayers for me this week. I have meetings every afternoon we different ladies. Yesterday, the meeting was about our plans for VBS. Today, I'm not sure what it's about, :-)...Tomorrow, will be meeting with the director of a children's home in our area to find out some ways that the ladies and the church could be more involved in this ministry. We would like to be a blessing to them, but not cause them more work! Also tomorrow we will be meeting with a young single mom. Then on Thursday or Friday, I will be meeting with our Children's Ministry leader to discuss some things with the Sunday School....plans and problems. :-)
Well, I should post this. It is getting late, and I need to get breakfast on the table and school started with Teddy.
Thank you so much for your interest in our ministry and for your prayers!
God Bless you and you serve Him this week!
Joy
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