Kathy went with me this morning to go to First United Methodist Church–Norcross. I spoke to the New Beginnings SS class. It’s where Don and Vicki Devlin go. Don is the Director for our missions at Adelaide Park and the Ambers on Beaver Ruin. He’s doing a great job. I was glad to be able to support his work there and hopefully some of his SS class might go over and help. He reminded me that we’ve been working together for SIX years now. Time sure goes by fast when you’re having fun.

Just finished going through all my email.

I’ll work on layout of the newsletter when I’m done with the blog.

Make sure and check out Ashley’s blog too! There’s a button for it on the home page of the web site.

Kathy and I went in to Chamblee this morning. We hosted a team from Atlanta Chinese Christian Church North at Azalea. The team had a cookout for the kids and some games. Everyone had a great time.

Kathy also went to meet the Bengali mothers who might be interested in studying English. She got to meet about 7 families. Hopefully, she’ll be able to start some basic classes for them. They’re all Muslim, so it’ll be a challenge to share the Gospel with them.

I also took a few of the girls from ACCCN to help me paint part of the mission at Huntington Terraces. There was a leak in the AC unit which messed up the ceiling in the hall. I had a team from FBC Mountain Park repair the sheetrook and tape and float it. The girls and I then painted the hall, the bathroom and a closet.

Just got finished working on my email. I need to work on my newsletter next.

Peace.

Saturday, August 24th, 2007

Ran 5.2 miles this morning.

Did some office work. Ashley and I are working on updating the maps for the web site.

Really strong thunderstorm this evening. It blew over a tree in my neighbor’s yard. Didn’t hurt anything, just a big mess.

I had the pleasure of working with Ashley and Kathy today. What fun!

We had a meeting with a new partner from Open Table Church working in Chamblee named Todd Taberer. He’s a cool guy interested in working with the immigrant population. He’s already plugged into my partners at Cross Cultural Ministry.

We went to the office at FBC Doraville where I worked on a proposal to the owner and to Gwinnett County to work at Alexander Mill which is a tax credit property in Lawrenceville. Pray that God will open that work soon. I faxed the proposal to the manager and we’ll get her take on if we need to tweak it before we send it on to corporate. She’s a prayed up woman of God named Destiny.

Then we went over to the mission at Azalea. It was so hot is was unbelievable. I’d run the AC but the kids constantly open the doors and all the hot air just rushes in. So we sweat. We need a lot of help for these kids. I was glad to have my girls with me so we can split th kids up some.

I worked out on weights this morning. It was awesome outside with the birds.

Peace.

Got up early this morning and did a 4 mile run. Still hot.

Picked up a special cake for my friend Bob Speer who just got remarried! We saw each other at our monthly manager’s meeting at Sheltering Arms in Chamblee. He’s the manager of Shallowford Gardens and is a dear friend.

Our meeting at lunch revolved around a new clinic that specializes in the uninsured in the area. According to their stats, over 40% of the residents of Atlanta (5.2 million!) are ininsured. I know that’s true for most of the immigrants here. I plan on working with them more in the future to help us with Health Fairs in the area.

I’m at my office at FBC Doraville now. Just finished my email.

I’m headed over to help the kids at Azalea in a moment.

Peace.

I had a good work out on weights this morning. Always feels good to push hard.

Had a meeting with two partners of mine: Todd Harrison and Tyler Recker. We talked about the mission work with Youth Outreach United in Lawrenceville especially.

Tyler and I met with the manager of two properties. If all goes well we’ll get to start a mission in both.

Todd also loaded us down with lots of drinks and cookies and chips for the kids at the mission.

Went to Chamblee to help the kids with their homework. Almost all of my kids are from Bangladesh. It’s something.

Just finishd up my email and admin work.

Peace.

I had such a great day!

Whenever I get a few of my partners together it’s always a terrific time. I had some of my favorites there today including my brother Tito Ruiz, Steve and Ruth Nolen (missionaries to Argetina and India), Derrick McGee, Amy Turner and Robert and Shelita Carter! Very exciting to hear the plans we have for reaching this community for Christ!

Ran 4 miles this morning.

Fished up my admin work at home.

Lots of email. People treat me like I’m something special. It’s weird.

But nice!

Kathy and Ashley and I got back from NYC last night around 1am. We had an awesome time in NYC. We met a lot of great folks. I led four sessions at the conference. We also got to go around the city and check out the different ethnic areas. We lived in Queens and our confrerence was held at the French Speaking Baptist Church in Brooklyn.

Ashley and I went shopping one day before we took off on the air plane. Never too much Ashley.

I’ve been working on the pictures I took. Click on the Photo Gallery link at right and look at the featured galleries.

Peace.

Physical morning.  It’s been so hot that I’m trying to work out early.  Ran four miles and lifted weights.

More school supplies.  Bought around $500 worth.  Plus I delievered over 140 book bags.

Finished up my DVD project.  I’ll take them with me to the conference.

Packing and getting my stuff together for our trip to NYC tomorrow.

Peace.

Today I played catch up. I had about 20 phone messages that I went through and figured out.

Set up an Outreach Event in the Brookhaven area with my partners there at First Baptist. They’ll be hosting a back to school party this weekend.

Also set up for a Health Fair this weekend at Northchase. I got all the food and supplies today since I’ll be in NYC this weekend. Paul Reynolds is doing a great job over there and I’m glad he’s a part of the team.

Split up the back packs given to us by FBC Atlanta. They gave us over 140! So far they’ve gone to help the kids at Azalea Place, Gwinnett Crossings, Kensington Station and Concept 21 Roswell. That’s a lot of happy kids!

Been working on my financial report so I can turn that in to my treasurer before the conference.

My temperature guage in my car briefly went to 105 degrees this afternoon. Dude, that’s hot.

Peace.

I’m back in the saddle here in Atlanta.

Kathy and I spent a week together up in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  It’s one of our favorite places.  We stay at a little Indian run hotel for about $40/night.

We especially enjoyed the bike rides around Lookout Valley, Camels and Crested Cranes at the Zoo and the Veterans Memorial Cemetary.

I took over 650 pictures.  Check them out at the Photo Gallery!

Just in for a couple of days before leaving for NYC to speak at a conference.  I’ll be giving out the school supplies to my kids at Azalea on Monday and Tuesday.  We leave on Wednesday morning then come back on Saturday.

Tired.

Ran 4 miles.  We’ve been doing a lot of biking in Tennessee.  REALLY hot the last few days.

Peace.