Living in the Country 2011

Posted on February 20, 2012 by sarah

This past year the Lord has blessed our family in too many ways to count. It has been a very busy year full of joy and peace in knowing that the Lord is always in control. Another year has passed that the Lord has blessed us with being able to spend time with lots of  family and friends. It seems 2011 has come and gone very quickly, but we praise God for every moment that we were able to serve him.
2011 began for us, trying to get settled into our new home. We moved in and are remodeling and old farmhouse. Then in February Dad & Mary had the privilege to go on a mission trip to South Africa for 2 weeks with some of our church family.

We were blessed to have enough land to plant about 2 1/2 acres of garden. It was a lot of hard work but also very enjoyable doing it with the family. The Lord blessed our efforts and we had a wonderful harvest.

The Construction business also did very well, capturing most of the guys time during the week.
Another thing that was a huge blessing is that our new home is right next to the river, a great joy for us kids, running down to the river for a swim nearly every evening after a long hot day of working in the garden or building homes. On Thanksgiving, a few of us decided to go swimming which ended up being a COLD experience but one I don’t regret.
In June, Dad, Mose, & Mary were able to take a trip to Nicaragua, spending 2 weeks there,  which has opened many new doors for us. Our family plans to move out into the rain forest of Nicaragua sometime in 2012 to minister to the Miskito Indians. (You can read more about this in my previous post.)  Mary moved to El Crecedo, Nicaragua in September and is currently serving at the New Hope Children’s Home there. You can read stories and updates from her at her blog (http://inthepottershand.blogspot.com/)

We have had a very interesting year full of fun experiences. We pray that the lord will use us in the coming year to fulfill his purpose for our lives.

Here is a short video clip that I put together of our family over this last year. To watch click the link below. Enjoy and God Bless,  Sarah

http://www.youtube.com/watchfeature=player_detailpage&v=17OrIWR54mY

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Nicaragua Mission

Posted on February 20, 2012 by sarah

  This past June the Lord called us to move in with some precious people who are desperately searching for the favor of God. The Spirit of God has revealed to them that their native religion, which is a mixture of Catholicism and Voodo is not sufficient to bring them Gods peace and blessings.
  Our plan is to move to the rain forest of north east Nicaragua the first part of 2012, to minister to the Miskito Indian tribes, and teach them the truth about God, His Love for them, and about salvation through Jesus Christ.
  They are having a serious problem with their children dying from malnutrition and diseases that plague them. There are also many parents who die, leaving their children to fend for themselves, or be taken   in by a relative who can’t even feed his/her own family, so they usually  end up being seriously neglected and abused.
 Much of the rain forest in this area has been cut by big logging companies, so the food source they have relied on for hundreds of years is gone. Therefore we are also planning to teach them how to raise food for their families through agriculture.
  We are teaming up with New Hope Childrens Foundation to build an orphanage which we are planning to take care of when we get there. Currently there are 14 children who are waiting to go into this orphanage as soon as it is completed.
  We will also be overseeing  the 3 feeding centers that New Hope has started in the area, feeding rice to the hungry, as well as sharing the Love and Good News of Jesus with them. We will be starting more feeding centers further up and down the river as resources allow. There are more then 120 Miskito villages along the Coco river that are eagerly waiting for us to come to their village to teach them about Jesus, and how to feed their families. What makes this even more challenging is the fact that almost all of these villages have no road access, only foot trails and the river. Please prayerfully consider being a part of this exiting mission through prayer or donation.

        

                   Transportation                                                Miskito Indian Children

  

           House of Hope Kisalaya                                          A Nice Nicaraguan Home

   

   Heading up the River to hand out rice                        Giveing rice to the needy

      

            Miskito Indian Children                                          A little girl we rescued

                                                         

                                                                Surveying the land

                Click the link below to watch a small clip of the Miskito Indian People.

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OJThjBcJFQc

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Africa 2010

Posted on January 13, 2012 by eli

I also got the opportunity to go on a short term mission trip to South Africa in Feb. of  2010. That was one of the most soul wrenching experiences that I have ever had. Millions of people live in these shanty towns in conditions so bad, that if animals in the US lived in such conditions, authorities would be called to have them removed and put in a better place.   Hopelessness has taken on a totally new meaning for me since I was there. I think every one of our team members had a time of weeping because of  feeling helpless and the inability to get these people out of their situation. But God heard our prayers, and many people gave their heart and life to Jesus in the two weeks we were there.  He also brought us to the church and pastor we were praying for, one that is all about serving God and the community. They grew up in these conditions, got saved and asked God to use them to make a difference in that place. They were feeding the hungry once a week with the little that they had. For many, that was the only meal they  got all week. We were able to connect with this church to provide the finances to feed 3 times a week, and also feed in two more areas close by.

As we were walking through a shanty town, a teenage girl came up to me and asked if we would pray for her mother who was very sick, and the doctor couldn’t help her. We went with her to her house and found her mother in bed, unable to be up and about. We found out she was a Muslim, but her people couldn’t help her, and her god didn’t answer her prayers. So we told her about Jesus and prayed for her, that God would heal her, and He did! A few days later the local pastor went back and she came out of the hut and greeted him and praised God for healing her from her sickness. There are many more stories to share, but space doesn’t allow it. I would like to ask you if you would partner with us in praying for these people.

   

 I will share one more event that happened when we were there. We were helping out with the feeding one day when many more people showed up than were expected. We were filling cups with soup from the big pot they had prepared, as people went through single file. As the soup in the pot went down, we soon saw that the line of people left was much longer then the amount of soup we had left in the pot.

We discussed the situation, about what the people were going to do that will go without, because it was obvious they were really hungry. Going and getting more food was not an option, so we started praying hard, that God would take control of the situation, and somehow cause things to end out well. The soup kept going down until the dipper was scraping the bottom, with just several cups full left, and still 50 or more people waiting in line. At that point the level of the soup didn’t get any lower until the last few people were comming up, and as we filled the cups we poured out the last soup into the last cup with just enough to fill it. All of us who were working around the pot knew that we had just seen God do a miracle. Again, our God is an incredible God!   Shared by Eli

 

 

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Food Drive for Families in Kentucky

Posted on January 13, 2012 by sarah

We had shared the true Gospel of grace with these families and for four years we prayed for them,  and in the summer of 2010 they surrendered their life to Christ and were born again. Eventually they took a stand for their faith and were excommunicated from their Amish community. Being shunned by their families and friends as well as loosing their jobs. As winter set in and they still had not found any jobs, food started to become a concern. In their hour of need they turned to the Lord and began to pray desperately. They told few people of their need (we were one of those few).

We started praying for them and asking the Lord to provide for them. Earlier when they were facing excommunication for their faith, the Amish bishop told them that they better reconsider about following their new beleif, because they have families to feed and their jobs and income will come to an end if don’t repent and obey the church. These families told the bishop that they will follow Christ reguardless of the cost, so we begged our Lord to not let them suffer from a lack of food.

One night as I was praying for them the Lord told me to get up and do something about it. I was at a loss because we were having hard times that winter as well, and didn’t have money to send them. Through more prayer the Lord showed me to talk to our friends and our pastor about it, which I did the next morning.

It was amazing to see the Lord touch the hearts of our friends and church family to help out with food and money. Through our friends at New Harmony Church and others who so generously donated food and money, the Lord provided enough meat, food and clothing to last these families until spring when they could find work again. We were blessed to be able to take these things to Kentuky and bless these families in their newly found faith. God is so good, and is aways faithful!   Shared by Eli

A thank you video from the families in Kentucky who received the food, clothing and money donations.  Thank you, people of NHC and many others who answered Gods call and were faithful and compassionate!

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Welcome!

Posted on May 15, 2011 by apollos

Welcome to our new website.  We have decided that the best way to keep our many friends up to date with what God has called us to, and what He is doing through us, is to start a website or blog. Blogging is all new to me, so I don’t know how many updates I will personally be doing, but maybe my daughters and Leah can help keep you in the loop.

At the moment our best guess is that we will probably be leaving for Nicaragua some time in May. It will depend on when we get all the jobs done that are on our schedule, and we get all sold out and ready to go. In the mean time, thank you for your prayers for our family and for the Miskito Indian people we will be ministering to. Eli

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