Today was the last day for my friends Tim and Cathy Palmer to be visiting with us.  We enjoyed my favorite Indian food restaurant:  Vikhyat–it means “famous” in Gujarati.  It was a fabulous as always.  I ordered a plate of Samosas (a pastry filled with spicy meat).  It reminded her so much of Nairobi where we grew up that she actually started crying.  It’s a beautiful thing to find something from your childhood!  The cooks are all Indians that grew up in Nairobi back in the 60-70s and we all knew the same places.  It really was extraordinary.  Then we went two doors down to the Indian supermarket and she got an immense kick out of seeing the brands of soap and candy and spices that we were so accustomed to.

It is one of the main reasons I love Atlanta:  it reminds me of home.  I just love all the rich variety of ethnic cultures here.

I’m just another immigrant.

I also took them over to Stone Mountain.  I love that big rock.

I have an Outreach Event tomorrow and I preach twice on Sunday morning in Lawrenceville.  Then Kathy and I will wing our way towards Chattanooga for some much deserved (at least in my opinion!) rest.

Peace.

I had a great time with my partners from Perimeter Church this afternoon!  We got a good start planning our Outreach Events for the Compassion in Action weekend in October.  I’m really looking forward to that!

Picked up some new software for my partners in Clarkston–learning Swahili!

Also got another computer to take over to Oak Forest this weekend for the mission there.

Spent good time with the Palmers.  They’ll be leaving this Saturday.  Hopefully, they’ll love what we’re doing as much as I do!

Peace.

I took Tim and Cathy Palmer to the missions in Clarkston today.  We enjoyed meeting with my partners Bennett Ekandem and Terry Earl.

Tim and I went to Oak Forest to put together the new basketball goal I bought yesterday.  We’ll be using the equipment to share the Gospel in a special Basketball Clinic Outreach Event this Saturday.

We had a team of college students from around the USA working with the kids at the mission at Willow Branch this evening.

I just got home around 11:30pm.

Tired Tim.

Kathy and I came back to Atlanta this afternoon.

I met with Tim and Cathy Palmer–guests from Missouri.  They’re supporters of our work and interested in perhaps relocating to this area.

I got them located at our mission at Huntington Ridge.  I took them around to some of our market areas this evening.

Got home after 10 pm.  Started working on my email.

Keep on keeping on.

Peace.

 Sunday, July 29, 2007

Kathy and I enjoyed hiking around the Tallulah Falls gorge.  We always have fun together!  I hiked from the ridge to the bottom of the gorge twice!  Legs are sore now!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I worked with the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church this morning and afternoon at Azalea Place and Highland Gardens in Chamblee.  We had a great time playing with the kids, teaching them some origami, sharing dramas and eating ice cream.

Kathy and I then went up to Tallulah Falls to spend some time together.  I’ve been working so many days straight that it’s really put our relationship under stress.  We had a great time!

Wednesday, July 25th, 2007

Worked on my newsletter. Got it laid out and written.

Ashley also worked on her newsletter and for the monthly enclosure.

My teams from North and South Carolina are doing great. I’m very happy with their work.

Geoffrey Palmer’s video project is coming along well.

Trying to keep all the plates spinning. We have outreach at three complexes this weekend hosted by two local churches. That’s what we’re all about.

Jesse and I went to Lowe’s to get other material for the painting projects we have going on at our house. Always something to do!

Peace.

I had a lunch meeting with the young men from the mission: Jouvens, Miguel, Tabias and Geoffrey Palmer from Missouri. We discussed the video project we’re working on about the immigration situation here in Atlanta as well as the local gangs. I think we’re getting some good stuff.

Checked on my teams from New Prospect and Ridge Christian Fellowship.

Contacted the manager at Saratoga Springs. I’m trying to set it up as one of the three locations we’ll be covering with Crosspoint Church on Saturday.

Met my new neighbors across the street–at least some of them: Bob and Rick. Seemed like friendly guys. Rick has his girlfriend living with him. Bob had his shirt off and was covered with tattoos. Different.

I ran four miles this afternoon when I got back home.

Went to Lowe’s to get the last few things to finish off Jesse’s room–extra plug sockets and one more face plate. He’s pretty much done it all by himself.

Finished working on my email and uploading pictures of the teams. Sent off the packaged DVDs I burned this morning to the five churches we worked with last week.

I ran pretty hard. My tendons are a little sore. I had another of my neighbors that was running ahead of me. I passed him like a hurricane. Felt pretty good about that. Later I had one of the high school track guys run past me like I was sitting still. Everything is relative I reckon.

Peace.

Worked with my two teams today in eight locations.  Everything seems to be going well!  I love it when a plan comes together.

Went to Office Depot to pick up supplies for the mail out this month and some DVD Mailers for the DVDs I burned for the teams.

Had a meeting with Geoffrey Palmer to keep him on task with the video project.

Jesse took his second half of the GED today.  He stayed up all night long working on his room that we painted.  Then went to the test.  He seemed just fine!

Went through all my calls and email here at home this evening.

Had a great talk with Catherine and Tim Palmer from Missouri.  They’re interested in relocating here to work at the missions.  They both love working with internationals.

I worked on Jesse’s room today. We got the room painted. Now we’re working on redoing the plugs and the lights.

Ashley went with me to brief the two teams I have in town, one from S. Carolina and the other from N. Carolina! We’ll be covering eight locations this week–the final week of teams in the summer.

Peace.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Jesse took the first part of his GED test today. If all goes well he’ll take the second half on Monday morning. He said it was, “Simple.” If he does as well as he thinks he’ll graduate from High School in August as a Sophomore. Pretty good! I helped him move his furniture from his room and started painting. I worked on that till about 2 am this morning.

I worked on editing the videos from the five churches that came to help us this week: Pyatt BC from Arkansas, Agape Puppets from N. Georgia, FBC Bonifay from Florida, Brookhaven BC from Atlanta and FBC Duluth. Here are the videos!

Peace!

I went to Stone Mountain with Kathy this morning.  I rode two miles on my bike then the tire popped.  Bahd luck.  I’m glad I wasn’t hurt in a high speed crash!  When the bike went down I started running and put in another 5 miles on foot.  I was mighty tired after that!

Jesse and I went to Lowes to pick up gear to paint his room.  We’ll also change out all the light plugs, switches and the light.

Finishing up email and admin work.

Peace.

Jeffrey Palmer came into town today. He’s going to be spending a couple of weeks with us shooting video and getting to know the young men of the mission at Azalea.

Kathy and I went to Riverdale to talk to the pastor at First Baptist Church, Jeff Lowe. He’s a cool guy. I’m looking forward to coming down to help them get started establish work in several of the apartment communities in the area.

Our team from Bonifay, Florida baptized to kids in the swimming pool at Briarlake Village. What a blessing!

Michelle Russell, the leader of the mission team coming next week from N. Carolina, flew into town this afternoon. I took her around to several of the missions and showed her the location of the church where the team will be staying.

Worked out on weights this morning.

Traveled over 102 miles today. Our work continues to expand.

Peace.

Wednesday, July 19th, 2007

Our team from FBC Florida helped us with an outreach at Azalea and at the Soccer fields of Chamblee. Brookhaven Baptist Church and the Agape Puppet team also helped. It was a great picture of unity!

Ran 4 miles in the morning.