Mighty cold this morning! Bird baths were frozen solid.

This morning I had my initial meeting with new gastroenterologist, Dr. King.

I’m 51 now so I’m going in for my colonoscopy. If everything looks ok, they said I only have to do it every 10 years.

No food at all that you can’t see through the day before. Four liters of powerful laxatives. Any wonder I’ve put it off?

I’ll have the appointment next Friday the 19th. Pray for that!

On the way to that appointment the road was blocked by a fire. Had to go another way.

On the way back, I saw what had been burned. I’ve been in a couple of fires. Scary.

Had a great lunch with my brothers Tito and Lester Ruiz.

Don’t know if you’ve ever played in a band before, but I think it’s the closest thing to being married. There’s something about playing music together that really binds people.

We had a delicious Colombian meal at Reencuentro Colombiano. Great food. Great fellowship! We talked a lot about the missions at Gwinnett Crossings and The Falls in Duluth. Some amazing opportunities over there.

Came back home to pick up Jesse. We went over to Best Buy to pick up a copy of Windows 7. Jesse’s trial version was about to expire. He’s been using an early release beta version.

Then over to Azalea. Man was it a mad house!

We had making literature puzzles with Jimmy and Rebecca, spelling and writing sentences with Josie, Jocelyn and Sanjida, direct and indirect pronouns with Mustak plus kids that come by just to say hi.

We didn’t leave the mission till about 7:30pm. We normally leave around 6pm or so.

But if we don’t help them, they’ll make a 0. And a 0 is mighty hard to have and pass.

Admin work now.

Fun day with my brothers!

I thought this frost was cool.

Jesse and I had a special treat! Kathy came with us today!

I’m encouraging her to do less sub work for the school and focus more on ministry.

We had plenty to do at the mission. I helped Rebecca with a Literature project. We made an interlocking puzzle. It was harder than it looks.

K and J helped with math and reading.

I also went by the music store to get some new guitar strings for our students at Willow Branch.

Studied Spanish for a couple of hours this morning. Also went through all my email.

Jesse, Ashley and I climbed part way up Stone Mountain on the quarry (East) side of the mountain.

It’s incredibly beautiful up there. Many times I’ve seen deer in the area.

I love the shapes of the rocks and how the moss adapts to where the water is.



This afternoon J and I went to Willow Branch. We’ve split the class up. I’ve been working with Aziz teaching him how to read music and how that relates to guitar, and Jesse has been working with brand new students. Good stuff.

Admin work now.

I liked this tile. Hand painted from Mexico probably.

I wonder who smoked this pack of cigarettes?

K and I went to NE Baptist Church this morning.

I did my “Take them to Cambodia” presentation. Their church has been very community minded. We make a good partnership.

Came home and started working on admin duties. I’m going out now to climb Stone Mountain. Groovy!

It was awesome. K and I had a great time!

This made me hungry.

I wonder if they’re still together?

K and I went to NE Baptist Church this morning. I did my “Take them to Cambodia” presentation. Their church has been very community minded. We make a good partnership.

Came home and started working on admin duties. I’m going out now to climb Stone Mountain. Groovy!

Rained about 2 inches.

I met up with Kathy, she and Sugar dog went on ahead.

I had fun shooting my new video camera. I also got my still camera back from Canon. Great images.

I met up with the rest of Kathy’s brothers and sisters at Jason’s Deli. Always great to see those guys!

Studied Spanish this morning. I watch Telemundo soap operas and put the captions on so I can read all the words they’re saying. Great educational tool. Hearing it over and over again. That’s how you get good.

This week the various pieces of gear for my camera came in. This morning I went through it all and stored it properly.

I have a tripod, wide angle lens, shotgun microphone, sport cover, wireless microphone and n/d filters. Still haven’t got the light.

I’m getting all my gear together before I go to Costa Rica.

I”m also thinking of doing some personalized greetings to some of my best supporters. I can record a personal message to them, burn it to a dvd and mail it to them for less than a dollar!

Rainy day today. Nearly 2 inches in my rain gauge.

Jesse and I met up with Ian and Ruthie North and Bayo Otiti for lunch today.

I always enjoy going to Indian food because I get to speak Swahili with the owners who are also from Nairobi!

It was great to hear all the exiting things that area going on in this young couple’s ministry. God is awesome!

We picked up Ashley after her class and she rode with us the rest of the day. YEAH!

Jesse hooked up some other electronics at Huntington Terraces, while Ashley and I did some research for a story she’s writing for the paper.

Later, I met up with Brian Wright. He’s a Pastor of NE Baptist Church. Great guy! I’m looking forward to working with him.

Then over to Azalea to help the kids with their homework. Great to have Ashley with us.

I love these kids.

Working on admin tasks now.

Burn Notice tonight. Oh, yeah.

This morning Jesse and I took a ride out to Alpharetta to visit the North American Mission Board. I met with a group of candidate missionaries. They were a lively group! And good lookin’!

We ran a short errand to visit a colleague of Jesse. J traded this fellow pounds of pure copper pennies for some silver rounds. They look like coins, but they’re not from a country. Cool!

Dropped by my office to check on the mail and my plants. Then over to Huntington Terraces.

Jesse installed the wi-fi system at the mission. Sure am glad he did that! That’s my boy!

Then over to Azalea to help the kids. We stayed to nearly 7pm. Long day!

Then back home to start Phase II of my days: admin work.

I have large teams coming for Spring Break.

Summer stuff starting to ramp up.

Then new missionaries that I’m helping through the process.

It reminds me of something Thomas Jefferson once said, “It’s amazing what can be done if you are always doing.

I thought this looked really weird. Turned out to be a driving bill board. Looks like the wind could blow it over.

I love this merry go round at North Pointe Mall.

This afternoon I met up with my partners Marco Solano, Mark & Cathy Wilson and their daughter Lea.

Of course my wingman Jesse was also with me.

We went to Gwinnett Crossings to talk to the new management about re-establish a mission there. The Wilsons are willing to direct that new work, so I’m looking foward to having it move forward.

The manager was at corporate, but we got to meet the rest of the staff and see the facility where we can have the after school program. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the program started immediately.

J and I also went to Walmart to pick up supplies for the mission and to my office at FBC Doraville to pick up bills. Jesse is really interested in learning about running a business. So I’m letting him help me write checks, enter into the ledger and track it on a spreadsheet on a computer. Good real world practice.

We went by Azalea to help the kids with their homework.

Some of the little ones are so cute.

They try really hard. Good for them!

I bought my tickets for Costa Rica tonight. Yeah! I’ll leave on April 10, returning on the 24th. My goal is extensive language study and recon for mission trip teams. Really looking forward to it.

I still need to finish the last of my admin work. Awesome!

Jesse says they genetically engineered these fish to look these colors. They used genes from jellyfish!