Ashley and Jesse and I met up with Marco Solano today! He’s like an older brother for me. We’ve worked together for nearly 14 years now!
We talked about a team from Florida coming up to work with us and also a team that might be transferring the team to the Falls Apartments.
Keith Harrell also joined us!
We also visited the complexes where my team will be working next week: Huntington Village, Huntington Ridge, Villa Nueva and Retreat at Arc Way. Also made a visit to the Beaver Ruin Baptist church to let them know about the work we’re doing in their area.
Then over to Chamblee where I had a meeting with a new partner, Rick Chaves.
He used to work in S. Africa. He has expertise in running orphanages and schools in Africa. I’m looking forward to getting him together with Bayo Otiti, my partner who wants to start an orphanage in Nigeria.
Had a good time visiting with my team from The Atlanta Chinese Church North! They had a water balloon fight with the kids. Everyone had fun!
We came on home after checking the office.
Jesse and I worked out on weights. Never had him do that before. Fun!
Today Jesse and I met with two new friends. John Graves is a partner in the Roswell area. Francois came from the Congo about 7 years ago. He needs a job and John thought I might be able to help. Francois is fun to be around because he speaks Swahili and French. It’s always amusing for me to work in other languages.
I gave them a few ideas on some things to try and made a phone call to a partner who might have a lead on something.
Then J and I went over to Azalea to check on the team from the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church North. They were doing great!
Went by Kroger to buy the supplies for an event this weekend at Hamptons @ Lenox.
Dropped off the supplies at the complex.
J wanted to get a Money Order from the Post Office for a machine he’s buying. Not too bad a line.
Came home. Ran 4 miles. Got rained on.
Working on homework now! Email, blog, phone calls . . . .email, blog, phone calls. . . .
I had Ashley and Jesse with me. That’s always good!
We met up with Ian and Ruthie North for lunch and enjoyed some time with them this afternoon.
Then over to Azalea to check on our team from the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church North. They were doing great! The kids sure are loving having them there.
Went by to check on things at the office.
Met up with Bennett at Willow Branch so Jesse could do his guitar class.
We had a sad morning today. We met my folks over at the Mission House to help them get their car loaded. Then we went over to the Waffle House for breakfast.
Soon afterward, they left for Chattanooga, TN to meet up with some other missionaries, then head West for Birmingham and beyond.
I took the kids back home then went to Kroger to do the shopping.
Then picked up Jesse and we went to Azalea Place so I could give the team from the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church North a briefing. We had a good time together and got to visit with a lot of the kids at the mission.
Picked up the mail at the office and then went to Best Buy to look for a monitor. We settled on a LG. Looks pretty good!
Came home and ran 4 miles. Seemed like it took forever.
Finished editing and burning DVDs from the four teams I had last week.
Our family went to First Baptist Church Mountain Park this morning. K and I walked my parents over from the mission house that the church has been so kind to let us use.
Music was inspiring and I thought Dr. Bill Blanchard gave one of his best sermons yet! How to get rid of guilt. Something most people deal with.
Then over to the Mission House where my Mom had prepared a speciality of hers, Guatemalan Rice. Excellent.
Topped off by my Dad’s secret recipe (not really!) Ice Cream Pie.
It was great to see our families together and having Ann Mitchell (Kathy’s sister) and Orene Duval (Kathy’s aunt) at the party made it even better.
It’s important to spend time with your family!
It’s been awesome to hang out with my folks over the last couple of weeks. I’ll really be sad when they leave Monday morning.
Had a great time with a large team from FBC Prattville, AL.
Their youth choir had games, music and drama for the kids at the mission at Oak Forest in Scottdale, GA.
We also fed folks hotdogs, had face painting and balloon animals.
The kids really loved the puppets and music the best!
At the end they shared the Gospel and gave them the Christian bead bracelet.
It was good to see my friend Ms. Vickie there today. She’s the “Mother Theresa” of that community. TWO of her nephews were killed in a gun fight this week. “You know, Pastor Tim, if you live by the sword, you die by the sword,” was her response. Sad. I was glad we had a team there to help cheer her up and pray for her.
After the event, I led my parents back home to make sure they got home safely.
Had a fun conversation about their trip back home. They’ll be going up to Chattanooga on Monday to meet some friends of theirs, Marshall and Julia Duncan. Then on west to Birmingham and back to good ol’ Georgetown, Texas.
I’ll spend some time tonight editing video for the four churches I’ve had on mission this week.
Pray for Ms. Vickie, she’s really hurting right now. She plans to see her son in prison in Barnesville this week. He’s supposed to get out in October. She’s concerned about that.
This morning I went around to check on my five teams from First Baptist Atlanta,
the YMCA
and County Line Baptist Church.
Came back to Stone Mountain and then over to my the mission house with my parents. We had tea time with two friends of ours from Nairobi days, Fred and Karen Young. They were two year missionaries who helped us in Kenya when my folks were working with Indians.
It was also great to see my two partners Tim and Cathy Palmer. I’m glad they’re doing well.
Jesse was my wingman today!
We went to the Holiday Inn in Doraville to meet with the team from County Line Baptist Church in Pucket, MS. They were kind of tired, but I helped liven them up with my best briefing of the Summer so far!
Went to my office to meet with my partners Steve from Kindom Wise and Mike Rensel from Apartment Life.
We had lunch at Toreros (mi oficina dos) then over to Highland Gardens to get the team set up in their first location. Spent time helping them gather up the kids. Always the hard part.
We ended up with a good group of spirited youngters, most of which were Bengali. Had a chance to meet some of the Bengali parents. Even got to pray for one of the wives. Her husband translated my prayer into Bengali so she could understand what I was saying.
Funny part was one of the other adults tracked us down so they could take picture of our team for the local Bengali newspaper! I think it’s funny, these Baptist kids from a tiny rural Mississippi town on the cover of anything in Bengali! I reckon they didn’t wake up in the morning thinking that was a possibility!
Met up with my partner Bayo Otiti from Nigeria at my office. Took him to get something to eat and to check on my team from First Baptist at Azalea. I was glad that they had gone home last night. They were able to get a shower and a good night’s rest. Always a good thing! The kids were enjoying the team, even in the pouring rain!
J and I got the County Line team over to their second location and set up and we came back to Stone Mountain.
My parents had two dear friends of theirs spend the day with them: Tom and Nancy Jones.
They’re also big supporters of ours and Tom invited me to be one of the speakers to the deacons at FBC Duluth, one of my best weekends this year! It was great to see them!
And of course the season premier of Burn Notice! What a great show. K and I also watched Royal Pains, another USA network show. Liked that too! “Hank” is a doctor treating the super wealthy clients in the Hamptons. It reminded me of working on the ultra rich people’s homes around the Austin area. That was a cool gig! I remember one house I worked in, the guy was a huge supporter of NASA. He had an actual moon rock in an acrylic case on his desk. Any idea how valuable that is?
This morning, my parents and out went out to the North American Mission Board for me to give a presentation on mobilizing volunteers.
They’re always a fun bunch!
I enjoy getting to share a few thoughts on how they can be more effective in getting people to help them. That’s normally THE biggest problem that we face on the mission field.
They were a good looking group!
Then we went to check on the YMCA team that was working at the Hamptons at Lenox location.
They’re a very motivated team and the kids really love them!
Then over to Azalea Place to make sure that my team from First Baptist Atlanta was doing well!
They were really having a great time with the kids and they seemed to be learning a LOT! Excellent!
Spent a lot of the afternoon hanging out with my parents. I always learn something from them!
Came home and ran my 4 mile route. Took my little Sugar Dog with me. She wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about it. Drug her most of the second mile. She does better once she knows we’re on the way home!
Kathy cooked us a delicious supper this evening. We had fun visiting with my folks tonight too. The power was back off a the mission house. That’s not good. BUT, my cable is working again for my TV! I was really getting upset because tomorrow night is the season premier of Burn Notice! Go get ’em, Michael!
