Today Ashley and I went up to the North American Mission Board. I teach a class to the new missionaries each month on how to raise up volunteers.

Then we went by a supporter’s house–he has some clothes for us from his wife who recently died. Ashley will give the clothes to the mothers of the children at Kensington Station. They seem to really appreciate them.

Yesterday was UT–University of Tim day. Ashley rode with me and so did Jesse! Love having my kids with me all day.

We started out at Total Grace Church. We were supposed to meet with Deon, one of the local mission pastors. She ended up running late from another assignment so we met with THE main missions director of the church Myrtle Smalls. We were able to share how we mobilize people and get the church involved. It always works out. We’ll meet with Deon too, probably next week.

We went over to Doraville where I met with Larry Aultman–he’s the new Missions Director for First Redeemer Church in Cumming. I had another partner of mine try and help us mobilize this great church. I pray we’ll be more successful this time. I took Larry on a short Prayer Walk and vision trip in the International Village. We went to Asian Square on Buford Highway. We got out of the car and heard “Boom, bang, bang, bang!!!” It was Chinese New Year yesterday and they shot off more firecrackers at a single go than I’ve ever heard in my life. They had guys dressed in dragons dancing around while the firecrackers exploded. Pretty cool.

We also checked out where they sell the idols, the herb doctor’s office and Ranch Market 99. We then went across the street to Carniceria Numero 1 where we visited a typical Central American market. Larry was really impressed by the international flavor of the area. Then we drove around the Chamblee area where I showed him several of our missions and described how a church gets involved in what we’re doing. We’ll see what happens. . .

Then Jesse took center stage as we went to North Peachtree Baptist Church. Jesse is going to design the new website for this partnering church of ours. We had a great discussion with Jonathon Carnes who will be our main liaison for the project. I was very proud of Jesse. I’d help him get a presentation together and he did a good job going through it with Jonathon. I kept the ball rolling whenever it seemed he needed a little help. Ashley is a natural at talking with folks and communicating with them. It’s a lot more work for J who would prefer to spend his time studying or working on the computer (which he built!).

Final assignment was at Azalea where we helped Fameda and Mustek with their homework. I also went to Office Depot to pick up an presentation board for Navila. Visited with several families at Azalea to check on the kids and see how things were going with them.

Jesse drove us on home. One reason he comes with us is to practice his driving skills in heavy traffic. Welcome to Atlanta. He’s getting pretty comfortable with it, but I still need to give him a lot of directions. He’s just not sure where he’s going yet.

Kathy and I enjoyed a fun evening together. I helped with cleaning up the house and then we watched the 3:10 to Yuma on DVD. Liked that movie a lot. Russell Crowe is terrific and Christian Bale is one of my favorites too.

Peace.

What a sad and yet blessed day.

This morning I had a meeting with some of my favorite partners. I’m trying to get all my church planting buddies together. It was great to see my brother Tito Ruiz there, along with Drew Grubbs, Paul Reynolds, Alex Villasana and other Spanish pastors and friends from Dunwoody. Barb Newman is the local missions director for Dunwoody Baptist Church. She encouraged me to get the guys together and I’m glad I did. I think there will be some great synergy from this group working together.

Went straight from that to the funeral for Bob Speer. I sat at the very front right next to his wife Gloria. I was just sobbing. It was ironic that the widow was comforting me! Fortunately, I was able to keep it together during my parts of the funeral service. I spoke about Bob’s love for people. How he had made a difference in so many people’s lives because of his caring. Then I read most of 1 Corinthians 13 and had them imagine how many ways Bob had show us these qualities.

Bob was one of the good ones. He was a great example of leadership by servanthood.

I got home about dark and went for a 4 miles run. I hate running in the dark. But I really needed to run. Get all that sadness out of me.

Peace.

I had a fun day with Alysia and Adrian Crawford and their two kids Anna and Silas.  They are folks who really love the Lord and are passionate about our refugee population.  I enjoy helping people along on their journey.  It was fun to talk about missions in Clarkston and all the work that needs to be done there.

Went over to visit with Bennett at Willow Branch.  We’re trying to help determine the best use for the new folks coming into Clarkston to work with us.  I also got to talk with Susan Coker, one of my favorite volunteers!

Stopped by FBC Doraville to pick up the usual stack of bills for the missions then shot over to Azalea to work with the kids.  I helped Fameda, one of our little Bengali girls with her perimeter and area math homework.  She seems to be getting it, albeit slowly.  I’m just looking for progress.

Went to vote this evening.  Pretty cool techno-voting chip/cards.

I needed to run this evening, but I was just too tired.  This funeral I’m doing on Wednesday for my friend Bob Speers has really taken a lot out of me.

I talked with my Dad in Georgetown this morning.  He said my brother Jim has had a really bad muscle spasm in his back that has kept him bed ridden.  LORD, please help my brother feel better and let his medication be effective!  AMEN.

Just got an email from my good friend Chip Sweeney from Perimeter.  He told me that one of my favorite youth was just killed in Colorado in a car wreck.  She was in a mission training school.  Jessica was on the front cover of the Whirlwind Missions brochures for years.  She really exemplified a life lived in the service of others and the Lord.  What a loss for the Kingdom!

LORD, please comfort Jessica and Bob’s families as they go through this time of grief.

What a week for tears.

I had one of my saddest days ever today. One of my best friends and a dear partner, Bob Speer, passed away today. He retired just last week, then into the hospital, now this. He was a constant support to me and really a true friend. I’m still in denial about it. I really can’t believe he’s gone. I can just hear him say, “Well Hi Dere, ol’ Tim O!” I will miss you so much, my friend.

Still work goes on.

I had a great meeting with Alex and Bennett Ekandem today. Unfortunately, the real guy that needed to be there ran real late and couldn’t come. We still hashed out a few things. We have some new people coming into the Clarkston area. We’re trying to make sure we make the best use of the resources God is sending us.

Went to Azalea to check on the kids. No one had homework today. That was strange. I talked with the young men a long time. The company that they were working for had the contract for cleaning up Kennessaw State University. Apparently, some of the other employees came to work drunk last night and the whole company got fired. So all my guys got laid off in one whack. I hope they’ll find something better.

Jouvens still needs to get his birth certificate from Bahamas. We’ve been working on that for a full year now. Then he’ll have to have a Haitian passport (since his parents are Haitian), with that document he can get USA documentation. What a nightmare of paperwork.

I have a large project to turn in for Perimeter church. They always help me come up with better ideas and ways to do things. It’s a lot of work, but worth it.

Spent a lot of time on the phone today. I’m constantly encouraging people to get involved with ministry NOW. There’s always some reason why putting it off is better . . . .what nonsense.

Vote tomorrow. Google Ron Paul.

Kathy and I had a wonderful time of rest in Chattanooga this weekend. It’s great to get to know your wife again! February is shaping up to be another super busy month. Be praying that I will always prioritize time with my family.

We enjoyed biking around Lookout Valley. It’s a beautiful place.

I also like shopping at the antique stores there. I almost always find some little something that intrigues me.

We had fun at the bookstore on our way home. I found a couple other origami books that were great. I’m enjoying making these little paper sculptures and sending them to friends and supporters.

Bob Speer took a turn for the worse over the weekend. I’ll check on him at St. Joseph’s this afternoon between assignments.

I have a meeting with Jon Hamby at 3pm. We need to figure out how the team leaders for Friends of Refugees moving to Clarkston will interact with the rest of the team. Looks like it’ll be too many chiefs and not enough indians if we’re not careful.

Peace.

I’ve missed you guys on the blog!  So much going on.

I met with Dr. Mel Colon this morning.  We worked on developing a strategy for offering low cost healthcare for those with no insurance.  He’s established a great clinic to help with our immigrant population.  I’ll go out next week with some of his staff to set up some events in the businesses around the area.

This afternoon I traveled to Roswell to meet with Kevin Sanderson, one of my favorite partners.  He’s a great guy and just recently got married.  We  went to Park Ridge apartments to set up some regular outreach with his church.  One of their leasing agents was actually louder than me!  She really seemed interested in our work and looked eager to help.

Then to St. Joseph’s hospital to visit with my good friend Bob Speer.  He was hospitalized on Monday.  I just heard about it this morning.  He’s having liver problems.  He seems to be doing better and looks pretty good.  I was glad about that.

Helped Ailen and Famedha with their homework.  We don’t have many kids coming for homework help.  So mainly I just hang out and visit with them.  One of my favorite kids, Chris, got suspended from school for 12 days for blackmail.  He saw another kid steal a PSP game system and told him he’d tell the teacher unless he gave him money.  I thought 12 days was harsh for that.

Been working on admin stuff at my house.  I still need to do a report for FBC Conyers and my financial report for my treasurer.

Tomorrow I go out of town for a few days with Kathy.  I really need the time to recharge and spend time with my wife.

Peace.

Just finished up the newsletters.  I really needed to get them out because of the invitations.  That’s been taking a lot of time.

Was in Lawrenceville on Monday with my partners from Sweetwater Church.  We enjoyed planning for future ministry and visiting residents at Greens at Hillcrest.

I had a great albeit super busy weekend.

I actually had two mission conference the same weekend.  On Saturday I represented Whirlwind Missions at Roswell United Methodist Church–one of my favorites.  They were super organized and had a lot of ministries represented.  I was in a room with three of my best partners:  Adam and Mary Hoyt, friends of mine working in Clarkston, Joshua Siewiecke from World Relief and Cindy Hunnicut with Square Peg ministries working at our mission in Roswell. Fun to be with friends!

I also had a conference at Peachtree Corners Baptist Church.  This church was hugely instrumental in our work getting started here in Atlanta twelve years ago.  I owe them a great debt of gratitude.  Ashley and I along with my partners Matt Johns and Bennett Eckandem were there sharing our vision of reaching Atlanta.

Saturday evening I went back to Roswell to share with the New Dimensions Sunday School Class at one of them member’s homes.  We had a great time explaining what we do and the class committed to helping us with three events this year.  Terrific.

Sunday I preached at the 65 and older SS class at PCBC.  I really like working with Seniors.  They are real prayer warriors. They also committed to working with us several times this year.  Excellent!

Last night we had the mission fair and a spaghetti  supper.  I always enjoy talking with new friends and folks I’ve seen over the last decade.

I also had a meeting with Rebecca Hampton, another of the Mission Service Corps missionaries from NAMB that I supervise.  We went through some initial documents that NAMB likes us to fill out just to make sure that the new missionary on the field is going in the right direction.

It’s Monday morning now.  I didn’t get home to nearly 11pm last night.  Just finished going through my email.

I need to make copies for the newsletter and then I have a meeting for lunch with my partners from Sweetwater BC.  They’ve moved their congregation to the Lawrenceville area.  I’m looking forward to showing them the mission opportunities we have going in that area.

I’ll try and get all those 220+ letters in the mail today.

Full speed ahead, baby!

Peace.

Thursday! Ashley day! And Jesse came today too! What a blessing. Jesse came to practice driving around Atlanta. He did a great job in a difficult (putting it mildly) driving area.

We went to Lowe’s first to pick up three more boxes of tiles for Bill Hickey. He’s working on the outside lobby and the bathroom of our church secretary now.

We had a pre-site visit with Kevin Wilson from W. Georgia today. He’ll bring the kids from Ephesus Baptist Church to work with us in April for his kid’s spring break. We ate at Vikyhat Indian food, visited the shopping areas around the International Village and went by several of the missions where the team will be serving.”

We also went by N. Peachtree BC to see the facilities where they might stay and also to see Pastor Tony Romans. Jesse will probably help them revamp their web site.

I just finished going through my email and catching up on phone calls. In a few minutes we’ll go over to Azalea to check on the kids.

When I picked up the tiles (which are about 30 pounds a box) I dropped one of them on the tips of the fingers on my right hand. Talk about pain. Hard to type now, but getting better.

Peace.

Google Ron Paul.

I had a great day today with a good friend of mine Bob Burton. He’s with the North American Mission Board and in the Multi Housing department. I took Bob over to eat at Cafe Istanbul–one of my food faves.

We explored Clarkston then over to Norcross to check with a manager at Huntington Ridge. I needed to talk with Millie about a renovation I want to do in the apartment. She had just gone out to eat. I’ll catch her next time.

Bob and I went around the International Village along the Buford Highway corridor. I always have a good time doing that.

Got some stationary to write “Thank You” notes. I’ve been making origami butterflies for our supporters. I’m writing a note and putting a butterfly in with it.

Checked on Bill Hickey and the renovation project at FBC Doraville. He’s done a great job on the kitchen over there. It looks like a totally new place. He’s repainted all the cabinets and replaced the old tile. Looks terrific. We’re going to redo the bathroom for the church office next. Then back downstairs to do the outside hall area.

I think it’s a good investment to keep our buildings in the best possible shape.
Peace.

I’ve been working diligently on our banquet that we’ll have on February 16th.  Today I bought stamps for the envelopes.  Went over to Azalea later today.  The kids always get a kick out of helping me with the labels.  I buy them doughnuts as a reward.

Had a great meeting with Gary Hall this morning.  He and his wife Suzanne recently moved to Duluth from Miami. He was working with the Haitian community there.  I hope that they’ll plug in with us here.  We ate lunch at Torreros and then went to visit the Hamptons at Lenox, one of the locations where they could live and work.

Went through all my phone calls.  Good discussions.  I bet I talked over three hours.  I tried to listen more than I talked.  That’s hard for me.

I’m working on an origami project.  I’ve been fascinated by that art, but never took the time to learn the skill.  It’s been fun to learn something new.  I bought some special Japanese paper so I can make butterflies and send them as a special “Thank You.”

37 degrees outside.  Brrrr.

Peace.