The Joy Bus

Today was the exact opposite of last week. We had 16 kids who showed up for VBS!! Russ drove his minivan (he called it the joy bus) to one of the neighborhoods and picked up as many kids as they could pile in to bring them to VBS. I can't tell you how excited I was to see all of those precious faces!! God is so good, and I thank all of you who have been praying for this endeavor! I told the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Next week I will wrap up with the acension and talking about how we are called to be witnesses for Jesus. On Aug. 12, we will have our culminating event by hosting a special program during worship to show the congregation what the kids have been learning about this summer. Please pray that the children's parents are able to come to this event. Thank you again for all your prayers! Here is a picture of the whole group of us today:

No Kids Came to Play Today :(

Well, today was a little bit of a let down. We got all set up and ready for VBS, and then no kids showed up. :( Kelton was highly disappointed. He wanted to know where the other kids were. But, the good news is that I wrote eight weeks of curriculum, but we actually have nine Tuesdays. So, we're just pushing back the last day of VBS by one week. And Russ, one of the other missionaries, offered to drive the "joy bus" next week to pick up some kids and bring them. Please pray that these last two weeks of VBS will go well and that God will send children who need to hear his Word to participate. Please pray also for their parents and the special program we will have on Aug. 12 to culminate VBS and try to get the kids and parents more involved in the church. Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Sunny Day....Sweeping the Clouds Away

Finally, Murphy's Law is broken! We had a day off, and it was sunny, so we got to enjoy the beach!! Our theory is that the LST campaigners took the rain and clouds with them because it has been sunny ever since they left! Ha, ha! Unfortuantely, I cannot post pictures of our day at the beach to prove how nice it was because we only took the disposable camera and not the digital. Oh, well. Suffice it to say it was beautiful. Laura and I enjoyed playing in the waves, reading, relaxing, catching up on our journal and getting tan! (Yes, I did remember to use sunscreen on my legs today, for those of you who were curious.) :) Anyway, we just got back to shower and clean up and are about to head up the hill to get pampered some more with manicures and pedicures. What a great day off!

Tomorrow we will begin work on some of our projects up at the church building and then we'll have our last Youth Night for a couple of weeks. It should be a fun day! Please continue to keep all of us and our work in your prayers! Please pray especially for Laura's mom who is going to the hospital in Dallas next week for a special heart procedure and exams with some specialists. Thanks for reading!

What's New This Week

Kelton the pirate...arrgh!

We made a thankful poster at VBS this week. The kids drew pictures of what they are thankful for, and then together we composed a prayer of thanksgiving in the middle.

Aloha! Me and Laura all dressed up for the last LST party that was Hawaiian themed.

Kelton and I played Musical Chairs as one player. This is me "sitting in his lap."

Kelton is riding in a boat in the middle of our bed. I love that kid's imagination!

Ahoy maties! Here we are dressed up for our Pirates of the Caribbean Movie Night

So as you can see, we've up to a lot of things this week! From VBS to themed LST parties, it's been busy! Next week marks our official halfway point, and lots of things are going to change as the LST campaigners from Alabama head home. Laura and I will take on some more LST readers to help with the campaign follow up. We will also get to work on a couple of projects that have been on hold until the LSTers left like organizing the office and working on a mural in the children's area. I'm very excited about the new work, but I'm also sad to see my American friends go.

So my funny story for the week: Our apartment is on the tenth floor, and our bathroom has a window in the shower that we usually keep cracked open a good nine inches to let the breeze filter in. Randy told us never to leave our shampoos on the window ledge because if a strong wind comes, they will blow off. We have been very careful to follow his advice, but today the cleaning lady did not know this tidbit of information, and she put all our products up there to clean the shower floor. When I came into the bathrooom this afternoon, only Laura's shampoo remained on the window ledge. I looked out the window and saw two bottles floating in the pool below. When I went downstairs to fish our conditioners out of the pool, I saw they were the only products that had survived the ten story fall. Both of our containers of body wash and my shampoo were smashed to oblivion on the concrete, and the only evidence left behind was a large puddle of soap and a few plastic shards of the lids. I was slightly annoyed at first, but as my budget has plenty of room to purchase more shampoo and body wash and it was an honest mistake, I just laughed and added the experience to my list of Things that Would Never Happen to Me in Abilene. Hope you enjoyed a little laugh too! :)

Thanks for reading, everyone! Know that I love you and I still covet all your prayers! Ate logo!