This morning I finished laying out my newsletter for this month. Groovy!

Also converted the October letter and some of the previous ones into a PDF for Jesse to post on our web site. We have the archived newsletters from Whirlwind Missions going back to 2001! Cool!

And gave myself a haircut!

I just fixed the batteries in my wireless keyboard. Sure was glad I had some AAAs!

J and I met up with the Kendall family and Ashley to celebrate Miles’ birthday. He’s a great guy!

Jimmy and Cheryl Kendall took us all out to eat at Fire of Brazil.

Great place!

And great company!

After lunch, we hung out at Barnes and Noble for a while, then over to the Mall for Yophoria. Excellent yoghurt!

I thought my children should have been the cover for this book!

Came on home and relaxed.

Then cleaned my room. Vacuumed it all up. K will be proud of me.

Now it’s admin duties before relaxing.

K is out on her bike. Just called her since it’s getting dark.

Tomorrow morning I have to get up early to be over in Marietta for their mission conference.

I liked this license plate. Ride ’em!

Guess where it’s from.

Who comes up with this stuff?

More of this!

I liked these shoes.

This morning I worked on writing my newsletter. Still need to do the layout.

This afternoon I went for a 4 mile run. Sure am tired now.

While I was running, I was thinking about my partner Ian North. Next weekend he’s due to run a 50K course! That’s over 30miles! Yow!

It’s been a good day to relax and work on admin duties.

Have you ever lost anything and just about driven yourself crazy looking for it? Welcome to my world.

I am EXTREMELY careful with my stuff. Especially my techno stuff. I literally have cases for my cases, just in case.

Last night, after I finished editing the video I shot for my team from Texas, I got ready to put my video camera away. No case. What?! It should be RIGHT THERE!

But it wasn’t. I looked for at least an hour for that case. I KNEW it was in my room because my camera was there. And it’s never far from the case.

I spent probably two hours in all scouring every possible place.

This morning I looked under my bed for the THIRD time. And there it was!

Needless to say a black case isn’t the easiest thing to see, but still! What was it doing under there? Bizarre!

That’s why I always ask myself, “Where should it be?” Sometimes it takes the third time I look through it before I find it.

This morning, after I found the case (!) I worked on labels for the newsletter.

Went out and got doughnuts for the kids for helping me with that project.

And stamps!

Went by Walmart to pick up some balls and pumps for the boys at the mission.

My family had lunch at Madina. They repainted during Ramadan.

I wore my Israeli Defense Force shirt there. It’s one of my favorites: even has Hebrew on it!

Actually had a Palestinian guy come up to me and ask me about it! He’s active in his mosque and wants me to be part of an interfaith conference. I reckon I’ll go. Kathy asked him, “Do you guys like Americans in Palestine?” “Oh, yes! Many people want to come here to study.” He was from Bethlehem. How cool is that?

Came home to work on admin duties then over to Azalea to work with the ladies at the mission. We had Ashley with us too! Yeah!

Went by the church first. MORE boxes of school supplies! Cool. One of them was from a church in Waco, TX–home of Baylor University where I went to school. I thought that was uber.

The kids at the mission where their usual helpful selves with the labels. Sure do love those kids!

The ladies did a great job with the Bible story, craft and ESL classes!

We also helped with homework. Mission was packed!

We gave many of the kids balls and dolls, thanks to the churches sending us gifts for the Christmas in August project. That’s great!

They really liked the pump that blew up the balls!

After the mission, we went to Walmart to pick up supplies then back home to finish off my admin duties!

Looking forward to a day off tomorrow! Haven’t run in over a week. Not good!

Not the best parking job Mr. Marta cop!

Sounds like something I would say!

I love Chamblee!

I dig these shoes!

Here’s the video from last Saturday. What a great team and a great time with the kids!

This morning I went to my doctor to pick up some medicine for my wife and Jesse.

On the way home, I met K at East Stone Mountain Tire.

She had the tie rods in the van redone last week. We needed to get an alignment done. The car seems to be driving well, but still a little bit rough. We took it back to T & G to have them take another look.

Jesse is feeling well today! He’s been pretty sick with aches and fever for the last four days. I sure was glad to have him back in the saddle as my wing man!

We went to my partner Reboot to pick up a refurbished computer for the Mocombe family. I’m always glad to be able to help them!

Then to Huntington Creek to drop off a check for water and to see how the Norths are doing. They need to get some repairs done at their apartment. I was checking on that for them too.

I got a call from my team from Statesboro that they were a little bit lost. J and I led them over to Huntington Terraces from the gas station. I was glad they were in the area!

Got some new keys made for the mission at Azalea. I promoted a couple of the kids who have been really helpful. They’ve been taking more of a leadership role lately.

J and I helped the kids with their homework till the ladies got there for the mission.

My team from Statesboro did a great job with the kids at the missions. I really liked their coloring of the JESUS word.

The English Class was packed!

I ran the AC all night long last night. It was unbearable hot for the folks there yesterday. Nice and cool in the mission. I had one of the older kids do nothing but police the door so that we could keep the cool air in!

I put a note on the back door. It worked surprisingly well!

I thought this baby Jesus looked like he’d gotten sunburned.

I liked these roots.

This morning I picked up my Bulloch County team at their hotel and led them over to Clarkston International Bible Church where they helped my partner Mary Hoyt with the registration for the Mommy and Me ESL program.

They were a HUGE help!

I took they two single use cameras to get developed. I was surprised that Walmart no longer handles film cameras! Thankfully, Walgreens could develop the film for me.

I came back to my office to record some new podcasts. Check them out! I think they’re some of my best work and really worth listening to.

Went to the bike store to pick up a tool to fix a couple of the kid’s bikes. Nothing is standard on those bikes!

I had lunch with my friends at Vikhyat. The Patels are from Kenya. Sadly, their restaurant is going out of business. They hope to open a new store soon.

Then we went to Huntington Terraces to help the kids that Bayo works with.

Later, they came to Azalea to work with my kids! BIG crowd of kids.

The mission was totally packed out with mothers working on their English skills and kids listening to the Bible story and doing crafts.

Unfortunately, that meant I didn’t get started with helping the kids with their homework till nearly 6:30pm which means I didn’t leave the mission till nearly 8pm.

Long day!

Back home now getting admin duties done.

While I was at Walmart this morning, I noticed this bike helmet for 5 year olds. Do we really want them to be “psycho?”

The store next to the Bike Shop had this caution tape up. They allow smoking!

Looks like Steve Jobs is everywhere!

One of the most important projects I work on is Verbal Surgery! I use what I’m talking about every day to make my life even better.

I think you’ll really enjoy them too!

Keeping your eye on the ball and not the scoreboard is one of my best efforts. Check out Eye on the Ball! You’ll be glad you did!

Are you dealing with tough times? Don’t we all? If so, I think you’ll benefit from listening to “Rough is Interesting!” Give ’em a test drive!

Sad morning today, as I took my folks and my two friends from Georgetown to the airport.

The got on fine and Delta treated them extra well.

They were really a great time with a super attitude. Rarely does a team really get to see what my week is like. They basically shadowed me the whole time. It was fun to have such great helpers.

I left the airport and went straight to Quality Inn in Chamblee to meet my new team! Four great ladies from Statesboro and Register, GA came in last night.

I gave them a briefing at my office then we went for Mexican food at my “Oficina Dos,” also known as El Toreros.

We went around part of my International Village covering the idol shop and Carneceria #1.

Then over to the missions at Azalea Place and Huntington Terraces.

They had some really great crafts and a super story on creation. I’d forgotten how effective a flannel board is!

Half of the team worked with English as a Second Language ministries.

I went to many of the moms of the kids and told them “We have a special class for YOU!” Then enjoyed learning more English.

I then led the team over to the Terraces where they worked with the kids and Bayo Otiti–the director of that mission.

Then back to Azalea to help the kids with their homework since the team had a Backyard Bible Club for them.

Got home around 8pm and started working on admin duties! Sound familiar?

Jesse is still not feeling well. I haven’t seen him awake in a couple of days. Rest is always the best medicine!

I liked this phone card.

I took my Texas team which includes my parents, Al and Peggy Cummins, and Sueann Mansfield and Katherine Taylor to Clarkston International Bible Church this morning.

I love to hear Pastor Phil Kitchin speak. He’s a good friend and a wonderful preacher.

CIBC is a really cool church with people from all over the world in the congregation.

My parents and Texas team thought it was awesome!

We had lunch with the congregation and enjoyed speaking to many of them.

As we left, we met Josephine who is a Kikuyu from Kenya! That’s the tribe that I worked with the most. My parents and I really had fun speaking Swahili to her and completely blew her away when we added in some Kikuyu phrases. “You speak my language!!” What a delight!

After a nice rest, I took the ladies back to Stone Mountain to ride up the cable car and see the Metroplex from a bird’s eye view. It’s always fantastic on top! It was kind of hazy, but still terrific.

I also showed them around the Quarry exhibition and my sweet favorite spot: the Evergreen Marriot Hotel. Awesome.


Finished off our week together at Asian Buffet: One of the top 100 Chinese restaurants in America!

Then to Walmart to do the home grocery shopping.

Finally got home around 10pm. Admin duties await.

Jesse has been sick today. He’s running a fever. Pray for him! I need my wingman!

I liked this little tree coming out of a stump. That’ll preach!

This morning my Texas team and I went to Azalea to host a block party!

We had a great time.

Because the team was small, the kids did a remarkable job of helping out, including cooking the hot dogs for us.

My Dad supervised! And had a good talk with my brother Bayo Otiti.



We had games with the kids.



Face painting and balloons. Jump Rope! Candy Throw! and the Water Fight!

I’ll post video of that excitement soon!

This evening we went out to El Torerros for Mexican food then over to Stone Mountain to watch the fireworks. Beauty!

Good day!

Now admin duties.

I liked Nishi’s shoes.