Full Steam Ahead

It has been a great couple of weeks. Last week we were at an awesome missions conference at our home church, Trinity Baptist.  We got to share and update on our mission work and catch up with other  missionaries we know.  The church was a huge blessing to us.

This week I finished my 5th ozone treatment.  I have several more treatments left over the next two weeks.  I can tell they are helping.  There have been several days in the past two weeks that the extreme fatigue, etc. has subsided. It comes back, but with each treatment it seems to get better.  I appreciate your prayers.  If you missed my last update and have no idea what I am talking about, here is a link for you to read it: “Health & Service”

I ran across this article recently and it was a great reminder of what happens to these children if we are not able to get to them first.  It is hard to believe we were in Thailand just a few months ago working with our project for refugee children.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/02/world/asia/thailand-child-refugees-hrw/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

This is why we do what we do.

Roller Coaster

Life definitely has its ups and downs, as has my health over the past year or so.  I don’t share much about my medical status because I never want to complain.  I have been blessed beyond measure and honored to do what I do.

However, several people have been asking about health updates, and more people are aware of the issues I am working through.  So, I thought I would send out an update on where I am at and what is going on.

After 64 vials of blood, a week in the hospital and about every test known to man, I can safely say that having had West Nile, Malaria, Lyme Disease, E. Coli, Epstein-Barr Virus, candida, multiple bouts of pneumonia, and other infections aren’t the healthiest things for your body. LOL.  But, the Lord is faithful and has sustained me and allowed me to continue doing the mission work.  I have not felt well for a long time and after having seizure-like episodes every 72 hours for months I was put in the hospital back in March.

There is too much to list everything, but here is where we stand right now.  It appears the Malaria caused my immune system to drop to the point that the Epstein-Barr virus from my mononucleosis 17 years ago reactivated and began attacking my body.  Both diseases have damaged my liver, which was causing the seizure-like symptoms.  The doctors have me on a strict regiment of vitamins and medicine to repair my intestines, thyroid, kidneys, pancreas, adrenal gland and liver as a result of everything.

This week I started my first treatment of a new ozone therapy that was developed in Italy to help combat the reactivated EBV, among other things.  Basically, they take out my blood, fill a bag with it and some other things, then infuse ozone into it.  Next, they run it through a machine and back into my body.  It will be several weeks before we can evaluate the effectiveness of the treatments.

Through all of this I can see how much the Lord has taken care of me and all that He does in my life.  There is no way I should be able to do what I do if it wasn’t for His provision.  I am even more grateful and appreciative of the honor to do this work as a result of this.  Thank you for your support and letting our family do this work on your behalf as well.

I am excited to announce that we picked up another supporting church this month and we will be their first foreign missionary to support.  There is so much to be thankful for.

A Summer Looking Back

It is officially September and summer is over.  The kids are back and school, and football is back on the field.  I love the fall, and cooler weather.  It is hard to believe how quickly the summer went.  How was your summer?  I know ours was amazing and blessed.

As a family, we flew over 60,000 airline miles and spent time on 3 continents.  I want to thank everyone for their support of our mission work.  It is because of your support that we were able to to travel to Thailand, Romania, and Guatemala and minister to hundreds of people around the world.  Whatever impact we may have had in their lives it was directly because of your support and you enabling us to do this full-time on your behalf.

It is an honor to partner with you as we reach this world together.  Here is a video I put together with pictures from our travels this summer.  I wanted you to see what you were a part of.

Romania Video

Last week I sent out the KDKR radio interview of my trip to Romania.  This week I wanted to send out a quick video that was done about the trip.  We had an intern, Austin Crow, join us on the trip and take photos and video footage.  He put together a video (less than 2 minutes) to illustrate what MANNA is doing in countries like Romania and why we are doing it.  I hope the video blesses you like the trip blessed me.  He did a great job with the video.  Click on the link below to watch it.

As an FYI, if the HD symbol in the bottom right hand of the video is not an aqua/blue color, then you can click it to watch the video in high def.

KDKR Romania Interview

I had the privilege of being a part of MANNA’s trip to Romania in June. The Lord used the group in great ways. Here is the interview I did with KDKR radio regarding that trip. (91.3 in DFW) I cannot thank KDKR enough for giving me the opportunity to share with their listeners about what we are doing.

Here is a link for you to listen to it at your leisure if you missed it.

Also, most of our support and connections come from people that know us and recommend or connect us to their friends, church, etc. So, if you know someone that you’ve wanted to tell about our mission work, this is a great opportunity to share with them this interview. It will help them know more about what we do.

Thank you so much for your connections. You are opening many doors for us to minister around the world.

KDKR Thailand Interview

Last month we were interviewed by KDKR radio regarding our trip to Thailand. (91.3 in DFW)  I cannot thank them enough for giving us that opportunity.  We had a wonderful trip to Thailand in June and were able to have several friends of ours join us.  There has already been fruit from the trip.  A teacher fund was established for our schools in Thailand and the orphanage’s soccer team got new uniforms.

KDKR gave me a copy of the interview that I can share with people.  Here is a link for you to listen to it at your leisure if you missed it.  It lasts 26 minutes.

Also, most of our support and connections come from people that know us and recommend or connect us to their friends, church, etc.  So, if you know someone that you’ve wanted to tell about our mission work, this is a great opportunity to share with them this interview.  It will help them know more about what we do.

Thank you so much for your connections.  You are opening many doors for us to minister around the world.

Vamos a Guatemala

What a weekend.  We started today with feeding the homeless in downtown Fort Worth with our home church, Trinity Baptist Temple.  Then we will wrap up the weekend tomorrow evening by leading TBT to Guatemala!

We are so excited to be able to take them to Guatemala and let them experience first hand what MANNA does.  We are taking an awesome group with us.  They will be in Guatemala for a week, then Kim and I, and the girls, will stay in Guatemala a second week to help lead a church from Alabama on a mission trip to Guatemala.

I know the Lord is going to do amazing things on this trip in us and through us all and I feel honored to be a part of such a great group going.  I can’t wait to keep you updated on our trip.

Month of June

As many of you know, June was a crazy busy month for us. Here it is a picture of some kids in Romania and my trips by the numbers.

30,000+ airline miles
5 Languages over
4 Weeks in
3 Countries on
2 Continents, but
1 God.

The God we serve needs no translator and the world we are living in is larger than we can ever imagine. At the end of the day, there is still 1 God, and He is still on His throne. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, but I have learned the following things:

God is in control, I’m not.
I can only do what I can do.
This world needs what we can give.
God can use everyone.

Thank you for your support and prayers. You each mean a lot to us and you help encourage us continually. Join us sometime on a trip and see how big our God really is.

Thailand Video

It has been a whirlwind of a month. It feels a little strange being home and doing “normal” things again.  Kim and I went to Thailand, we came home for one day, then I was off to Hungary and Romania.  But, the Lord has blessed and I feel unworthy to be able to do what I do.

Kayla Bishop went on our trip to Thailand and put a video together of where we went and what we did.  She did a wonderful job with it and I wanted to share it with everyone.

Here is a video of the people’s reaction when we brought them water filters.

Thank you so much for your support.  Because of you, many were ministered to in Thailand.

Thailand Update

We arrived back home late last night and I am repacking today to head to Budapest tomorrow.  Words cannot describe how amazing our trip was to Thailand.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

We got to see kids who had grown up in our project as refugee children now become teachers in that same school.  We got to take clean water to a community that had never had it before.  Kim got to use her physical therapy training to help a boy that could barely walk regain his range of motion. We got to go to church and worship the same God in multiple languages.

I have posted many pictures and stories from throughout our trip on Facebook.  If you are not on Facebook, I will be working on a video when I get back from Romania in July.  For now, click the button below for a short video I took of us singing with the kids to give you an idea of who we are ministering to.

After the song we did a skit of Jonah and the whale. They asked me to be the whale. Not sure if I should be honored or offended. LOL