Ashley and I worked on calling the 70 apartment complexes where we’ll have the 700 Campus Crusade students giving out food to over 500 families.  Should be great!

Kathy and I went to eat at Matthew’s in Tucker.  Their corn is the BEST!

Then we took a look at the Sears Outlet store and to Discount Appliance on Hwy 29.  We got a new drier for about $200. 

I thought that was pretty good.  It’s new but has some small dings.  Who cares about that?
Good bye to an old soldier!

After calling all the managers I went for a 4 mile run.  I walked a lot in Texas, but my run here is a LOT harder than walking in flat Texas.

It was a beautiful sunset during my run.

Here are some of my favorite shots from my time in Texas.

During my vacation I had a problem with my bank card.  Apparently, one of the places where I used my debit card was “breached.” So every card that was swiped in their machines were frozen. . . .just in case.  Today I went by my bank to restart another card.  What a hassle, but what’s the alternative?

Picked up the mail at the office and checked on partners.

Went to Lowes to make a copy of my key to the mission at Azalea.  Jouvens lost his key so I made another one.

Checked on the kids at the mission.  Clinton gave a TV to us so the kids could use it on the Nintendo64.  They were happy about that!

Saw my partner Cathy Wilson at Azalea.  She was seeing how Rosena was doing with her pregnancy.  Cathy made us some delicious bread!

Talked with the people at Alstate.  Ashley was involved in a fender bender when this guy ran a red light.  We’ll be getting a check to get it fixed soon.

We just rolled back into Stone Mountain after a 991 mile road trip!

I’m uploading pictures right now.

We’re all safe and sound and we had a great time!

More to come!

We had a great time with the residents at Audobon East at Fairington in Lithonia today.

I had two of my favorite partners helping at that location:  Toni Branyon and Joseph Scott.

They’ll be leading the ministry at that mission.

We had a lot of kids and their parents come to this initial outreach at this new mission.  I’m very excited to see the results from this new ministry!

We had representatives from First Baptist Church Conyers, FBC Atlanta, FBC Mountain Park and partners from WinShape/ChicFilA all help “Take the Church, To the People!”

It’s about 4:20 pm.  We’ll start packing my car and we should be on the road before 6pm.  I hope!  We’ll drive several hours before we stop for the night.  It’s about 1005 miles to my parent’s house in Georgetown, Texas, which is in Central Texas.

Pray for our drive and for the families that we touched today at Audobon East in Lithonia!

Love you guys and Merry Christmas!!

Still working on writing my newsletters.  Almost have them done.

Ran 4 miles.  Felt pretty good!

I saw The Day the Earth Stood Still today.  Just ok.

We have a big outreach at a new mission in Lithonia tomorrow afternoon.

Then we’ll pack up the car and start driving the 1,005 miles to my folk’s house in Georgetown, TX.  That’s about 30 miles of Austin in Central Tx.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to update the blog when I’m in Georgetown.  If not, I’ll be back in Atlanta on the 29th.

Merry Christmas to you all!  THANKS for reading this blog and praying for us!

Had a great day today.

Spent the early afternoon in Roswell with one of my best partners, Cindy Hunnicut.  She is doing an awesome job at Concept 21-Roswell.

Her ministry to the kids over there is outstanding.

Also got to meet Kimberley Scales who is the director of Flood–an outreach ministry that uses high school students.  We’ll provide their teams locations to work in the community.  I think it’ll be a great partnership.

Finished up the newsletters. Got all my copies made.  The kids at the mission helped me get everything labeled.

This evening I had a team from First Baptist Church Mountain Park host a Christmas party for the kids at Azalea.

We had a tremendous turnout.  The team did a super job telling the Christmas story to the kids, many of whom are Muslim.

It was also terrific to see a whole group of my grown men who are still helping us at the mission!

Pray for the seeds that were planted tonight!

Worked on the newsletter today.  I got everything edited and laid out.

Went to the Post Office to get stamps.  What a line!

Got a call from Eduardo Zamora.  He’s trying to move into the apartment at Huntington Ridge this weekend. 

Bill Hickey is working on painting the apartment again.  It’s the colors that Sheila Zamora wants.  I’m glad we can help make it something they like.

Called the gas and power companies to re-establish  utilities over there.

Bill and I went out to eat and take care of a bill from Huntington Ridge.

Then back home to work on finishing up the newsletters.

Pray for the events coming up on Saturday at Audobon East and the Falls!

We had a fun day today!

Jesse and I went to meet up with Paul Bowman and his friend Ira from Jacksonville, Fl. 

I’m working with him to help reach out to more people and to help churches get more involved with missions.  Paul has a family he’s been working with at Villa Nueva in Norcross.  Keith Harrell is the director of the mission there and also came to meet with Paul.

We ate lunch then checked out the international community.  We visited Al Madina which is the main grocery store that serves the Muslim community.

Also to a local Latino market and to the new Hindu Temple in Lilburn

Fun!

My back is feeling better today.  I’m going to try and exercise and see how it goes.

Came back home to work on my financial report for my treasurer.  Giving is down.  People are hurting. Please pray that our financial situation will stabilize and that the missionaries that we support will be able to continue doing their work.

This morning we got up early and I took Ashley over for her oral surgery.  She had all four wisdom teeth taken out!  She seems to be doing pretty well so far.  Hurts her.

Yesterday, we went to FBC Mountain Park where we listed to Dr. Blanchard preach about Christmas–the most important thing–HE LOVES US!

After we went to church we met Kathy’s sister Ann for lunch.

The rest of the day I rested.  I hurt my back Saturday.  So I’m not sick any more, but I feel like I’m walking like an old person.  It’s better today.  It especially hurts getting in and out of the car.  Bahd luck.

Jesse and I had a good meeting with Marco and Chris Solano today. 

They are some of my best partners.  I’ve been working with Marco since 1996!  I had collected some Christmas gifts that they’re going to give out at our mission at the Falls in Duluth, GA.  Sure was great to see them!

I also took Bill Hickey out to eat.

He’s helping us repaint the apartment that the Zamoras are going to move into.  I’m glad he’s here to help!

We went by Azalea to check on the kids at the mission.  Everybody is excited that school is nearly out for a week or so!

I’m back at my home office now.  Finished my calls and email.  Everything seems to be on target with my team from Campus Crusade giving out the food on December 31st.