GREAT day!

I always love starting new work and today we had brand new outreach at two missions!

I started out the morning working with a new partner, Dekalb United Pentecostal Church. 

They are located right around the corner from Hampton Village where the manager has given us a whole building to use for outreach!

I spent most of my time rounding up people throughout the complex which is huge!

We had a good turn out, especially since this was the first time we’ve ever done anything over there.

I went from there to Highland Chase where my partners from Truth Tabernacle of Praise hosted a Christmas Party.

The team had things well under control and the residents seemed to be having a super time.  Excellent!

Ended up my afternoon at Azalea Place where I checked on my team from the University of Tennessee.  The kids at Azalea were having a fantastic time and really enjoyed the team that came!

They certainly were a blessing to me!

I’m back in Stone Mountain now working on email and my blog and posting pictures!

Pray for the outreach today and for the new believers!  Pray that the teams will want to be more fully involved in the ministry.

I finished up a project with the apartment managers this morning and took the letters to the Post Office.

Also went by Walmart to buy some bird food.  I know they appreciate it!

Then Jesse and I went back over to Chamblee to work with our team from Tennessee.


The team was doing great and the kids just loved having them there!

We’ll have parties at Azalea and Huntington Terraces tomorrow with them before they leave to go back to Tennessee.

I’m feeling better!  Today I even thought about going out for a run.  At 41 degrees, I decided against it.

I took Kathy out for Mexican food at El Torreros this evening.  We had the fun of eating with Debi, Kerri and Kristi Lamb–some of my favorite people! 

We missed having Edwin there! He’s working a project for Coke in Puerto Rico right now. You might remember that they were the family that opened up their house for us after we had our house fire.  What a debt of gratitude we owe them!

Fun night!

I had fun with my team from the University of Tennessee @ Chattanooga today!

I had a briefing with them at N. Peachtree Baptist Church this morning.  It was raining and traffic was horrific.

We went for a tour of the International Village. 


I like to take the to several Asian stores then across the street to  see Central America!

I always enjoy seeing people experience new things!

They also helped clean up the mission at Azalea!


J and I helped the kids with their homework. Fractions!

I was glad to have Bill Hickey to come help us.  He’s my main construction partner.  He’s really handy to have around!

We had fun with the kids at Azalea.

The team had them making Christmas cards for their moms.  It was cool!

Jesse and I stopped by Best Buy to look for headphones.  His keep shorting out.  We didn’t see any we liked.

Back home to do my homework. Always plenty of email!

Struck me that I only have 2 speeds:  Stop and flat out.

Guess what mode I was in today?

Wet day.  (Thank ya, Lord!)  Did you know that the aquafers recharge primarily in the Winter?  The cooler temperatures and lower water consumption helps the lakes to catch up with the demand.  I also heard recently that the average American uses 200 gallons of water a DAY!

Enough green talk.

J and I went up to the North American Mission Board for their Candidate conference.  I get to speak to all the new missionaires on how to mobilize volunteers. 

They’re always a fun group. And cute!

I had the Christmas party for the Chamblee-Doraville Property Manager’s Association.  They’re some of my best friends!  We’ve worked together for twelve years now.

Went by the mission to check on the kids and let them know that we have a team from Tennessee coming in tomorrow and working with us through the weekend.

My partners at the Georgia Baptist Convention dropped off a bunch of goodies for Christmas for the kids at the mission! Man! That’s great!

I heard that Missions Mosaic magazine wants to do a feature on Kathy.  She’s cool. 
She loves working with her refugee babies!

Still sick.  It’s my last day to rest.

Tomorrow I have an assignment at the North American Mission Board, plus a meeting with the Chamblee Doraville managers.

I’m glad I’ve had some time to recouperate.

It’s over 60 degrees outside now.  That’s a blessing.  I need that fresh air.

Keep praying for me!  Ashley has her Spanish final at school today.

I’ve spent the last four hours working on a project for Campus Crusade.  We’ll have outreach to 70 different apartment complexes serving nearly 500 families on January 1st, ’09.  So I went through the list of the folks we did last year (68) crossed out some and added more.  Very time consuming stuff.

Then I wrote a letter to the manager explaining what we were doing and gave them a simple form to fill out with family’s names and addresses if they thought they really needed the box of food.

In the years past, I’ve always just phoned everyone.  I think the hard copy letter will be more effective.  At least I hope so.

Jesse and Ashley helped me write the manager’s address on the envelopes and helped me stuff them.  So that project is pretty much done.  We’ll call them a day or so before the event to remind them.

I’ve been out of commission for the last two days.  Didn’t get out of bed all of Saturday/Sunday.

Still feel weak.

At least I went through my email.

Pray for me.  Ashley’s started running a temp.  She has her finals this week.

Back to bed.

Yesterday it was cold and wet.  I had lunch with Ashley and my partner Joe Scott.

He’s one of our newest North American Mission Board missionaries.  We talked about missions in Lithonia and about his home country of Grenada.

Ashley and I went by the church and also by the mission at Azalea. It was rainy and cold. Kids were at their own houses.

The weather made the road slippery. Some guy ran a red light and Ashley slid into him. Fortunately, he had insurance. Ashley’s car, “Big Red” looks like it got a busted lip. Still drives fine. She was just fine as was the other guy. Sure was glad Ashley has a big car!

I was feeling weak yesterday and worse today. Spent most of the day in bed.  Glad it was my day off.

Jesse got his first letter from the bank for his own checking account.  I thought that was kind of cool.

Went through all my email and calls.

We had a guy come clean the carpets.  They look good again.

Tomorrow, my partner Keith Harrell will host of team from my church FBC Mountain Park to his mission at Villa Nueva.  Jesse and I will probably go help with that.

Back to bed.

Woke up feeling weak again.  Not terrible, just not good.

Did grocery shopping today. Gassed up my car. GREAT prices these days!

I got to see Miles today.  He came over for a little while this morning to spend some time with Ash.

Jesse and I went to the office to check on the mail and to take some chairs over to the mission at Azalea.

The kids didn’t have any homework to do.  We hung out for a while then went back home to get back in bed.

One of the worst things about really cold weather is the thought of people who don’t have the clothes they need.

I can remember working with the taxi drivers in Doraville.  It was absolutely freezing cold.  I saw this homeless guy walking down the sidewalk.  The dude had no shoes on!  I went over and talked to him about it.  “Where you staying, man?”  “See that car over there?” He pointed across the street.  “Yeah.”  “I sleep under it.”

I’ll never forget that night.  I gave him a blanket, some socks and old shoes and the rest of the food I had in the car.  He promised me he would go to a shelter, but I never knew if he went or not.

We’re working on getting coats for the refugees in Clarkston.  I’ve been in contact with my partners at St. Vincent de Paul.

Today I went by to see the director of the clothing distribution center.  Jane was super helpful and I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to get the ladies from the “Mommy and Me” program over the center for help.

I went to lunch with Ashley and Jesse.

I’ve been feeling slightly under the weather.  Throat a bit scratchy.  Not my usual 10+ on the energy scale.  Kathy has been sick for weeks.  She’s around sick babies a lot in Clarkston.  Pray that I’ll throw off the germs so I can get back to my tiger tank self!

I went over to Azalea this afternoon to check on the kids.  I helped Johan cut out numbers from magazines.  Also taught Clinton how to do lowest common denominator math. Also made the kids some origami animals. They had fun, me too!

Came on home and went to bed.

Another cold day in Hot ‘lanta!

Spent the morning at Office Depot and Best Buy.  Our laminating machine stopped working last night.

I took it over to  see if I could get a replacement.  “Sorry,” they told me.  Bahd luck.

I was working on admin stuff this morning and I started hearing this “beep, beep, beep.” Never a good sign.

The UPS for my electronics had gone dead.  Went to Best Buy to get a replacement.  If you don’t have a surge protector for your electronics you’re planning for a problem.

J and I went to FBC Doraville to get the mail and to the bank to deposit our check from NAMB.  We had a meeting with my partner Eduardo Zamora who will be moving into Huntington Ridge on the 20th of this month.

We went through some details for their move.  Looks like everything is going to work out fine!

We also went over to Office Depot to look at desks for Jesse.

Then to Azalea to check on the kids at the mission.  Also had Bill Hickey come over to the mission so I could make sure he has enough food at the Terraces.

Also got to see my partner Cathy Wilson.  She was at Azalea to check on some of the young women who are having babies soon!

J and I picked up Kathy on our way home.  She had spent the day helping Ashley.  She’s almost finished with her first semester! Kathy’s sister Ann came over to bring our niece Ali Sullivan to our house.

She needed to borrow a car of ours. Glad we could help.