Sweet Surrender

This is a great question and probably represents the BIGGEST change I have seen in my dad. And in this he is teaching all of us a brand new lesson - his daughters and all of his grandchildren. Absolutely overwhelming to watch this transformation.

How have you seen the way God turns things upside down--strengths are weaknesses and weaknesses are strengths?

GARY: 

I have traditionally been very hesitant to depend on others or even accept help very readily.  Perhaps the way I was raised?  Some of you will know what I mean, - Be your own man - Step up, no one else is responsible for your success, and the like. These are not bad lessons to get from your father, but they do overlook or ignore the help that our Heavenly Father provides.  For whatever reason, my ability or proclivity not to ask for help, which I always considered a strength has been an issue that I am learning to correct.

For example, in raising support for our mission work, I have consistently resisted making the request for support.  The personnel at One Mission Society have tried to explain to me that what I am offering is a way for those who can't go, aren't led to go, or won't go to still be effective in the work for the Lord in the Great Commission of Matthew 28, "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Generally, what I have found is that most things I thought were my strengths were in fact areas of weakness that I incorrectly thought I had taken care of. 

Fortunately, as it says in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

God is faithful and He has sometimes almost miraculously provided needed funding for trips where we were making reservations and purchasing airline tickets with no clear idea of how or where the money would come from to pay the incurred expense.  Our month end balance has been less than $300.00 far more often than it has been over $2,500.00 which is about the cost for our typical trip to Honduras.  We are just grateful that God is taking care of the books and the accounting

Some Divine Protection

IF you have a single bit of doubt about how or IF your prayers for Gary and Diane are being answered, check out this response from Gary.

How has God shown His protection of you in your travels thus far? 

When we were in Costa Rica last year, we were robbed at gunpoint, so it hasn't been all roses.  Going to dinner at a restaurant with two classmates from Language School, we were stopped by two young men who demanded our money.  I didn't realize we were being robbed, so I refused and kept walking. I had Diane on my arm and I told the other two girls from our class to keep moving.  One young man ran around in front of me again and said "I said give me your money."  I responded that I had said no at which point he showed me his gun.  At the very same instant, his partner had grabbed the purse of one of the girls with us and had thrown her to the ground and she screamed.  I am not sure why, but I responded to her scream rather than the sight of the gun.  What resulted was so much better than it could have been.  The thug saw me running back, he got up and ran, and he had a gun as well.  The guy who pulled the gun on me ran up beside me, grabbed her purse where the other fellow had dropped it and then he ran off as well.  Could have been fatal errors committed here - I am only blessed that God was in control. 

The girl lost about $40.00 in cash, a NJ driver's license, and a VISA card that was cancelled in less than 20 minutes after the robbery.  She was scraped up from being thrown to the ground, but was really only shook up.  God is good, all the time!

These are the two "girls" that were mugged with us.  To the left is Caitlin (in her 30s), She was our classmate and is now making four week trips about every six weeks to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala etc doing water supply projects, solar panel powered water delivery projects - all as part of and in support of missionary work in Latin America.  She is a civil engineer and has specialized in projects related to providing reliable sanitary drinking water to communities in poverty stricken areas of Latin America.  The other is Cathy who has gone on several mission trips with Caitlin and who is a member of her home church in New Jersey.

Hot Seat Questions START UP AGAIN!!!

As you read Gary's question today, take a moment and consider if you might take just a few quick moments and show your support for both Diane and Gary and for the kingdom work that they are doing. You won't likely find many easier or more direct ways to sponsor world missions. Your support goes directly into their account and may ONLY be used on one of their trips. Any amount at all will do so much to encourage them as they obey God and step out where He has required them.

Click here to support them!

Question: Why is being an American somehow helpful in this situation?

Gary: I am not sure if I addressed this before or not but here goes and maybe if I did, this gives a new spin.  There is a significant influence by American culture in Honduras.  When it comes to such things as, the television shows, name brands of clothing, automobiles and, restaurants and the like, the American influence is everywhere.  The people seem to have a fondness for all things American and we fall into that category.  The mere fact that two old Americans are showing an interest in these people in prison lends a sort of extra validation to what should already need no further validation.  On initial visits to the prisons, we seem to add credibility and perhaps garner more initial interest, but the materials and particularly the message carry the day in the follow up growth that has occurred in each prison that our team of volunteers is working in.

Early Indications of a prison ministry!

This is too cute not to share. I got this email from my dad a few weeks ago and we all got a big smile out of it!

Hey Girls!

You don't suppose this was my first warning about getting a call to the prison ministry do you?  They were a cute pair of inmates though!

Love,

DAD

PS:  Sorry Carrie, it appears I was called before you were yet born.  Only by a couple of months!

Freedom in Christ

As we celebrate the freedom we have in this nation this weekend on July 4th, might you consider celebrating that freedom by contributing to Gary and Diane's ministry with OMS? We are able to exercise so many freedoms in this country that we often take for granted. Freedom to worship, freedom to travel freely across this great nation, freedom to speak freely about our convictions. And with this freedom, Gary and Diane are choosing to take the message of freedom in Christ to a country and people that are desperate for it.

This isn't without cost for them. They have literally spent thousands of their own dollars, saved for what they thought was a free and easy retirement to travel to other countries and prepare eager believers to spread the gospel. This is God's desire for them and they have adopted it as their own. I am grateful for all of you who support and encourage with prayer and financial generosity.

Click here to go to their donation page.

Gary shares what they were up to in the Dominican Republic

In early May, Diane and I participated in the Latin American National Coordinators Conference held in Pico Escondido, Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.  The conference, which was held at a Young Life camp in the mountains in the Dominican Republic was attended by people involved in the church leadership from seven different nations. Some of these leaders have responsibilities and influence in the churches of an additional five or six nations.  So as you can see, we had a pretty broad representation of people from South America, Central America, North America and the Caribbean.

In addition to encouragement and  reinforcement of the basics of the Train and Multiply program we were discussing how to overcome what appears to be a "barrier" to expansion into the third generation of church group expansion.  

Our model, when it is properly implemented should and does lead from an initial church group establishment (First Generation) into those people in that church establishing several satellite groups which develop into churches in their own right (Second Generation) who in turn help train and develop several other satellite groups that organize a cell or house church group (Third Generation.)  And the process goes on.  In some of these countries, there are Seventh and Eighth Generation groups gathering and worshiping together every Sunday.  Many of these house or cell church groups are small consisting of only two or three families or perhaps only 8-10 people, but others have grown to the point where their attendance on a given Sunday might be 80-100 people or more.  This is why the program is called Train and Multiply and why you can develop many churches and many believers in a short time. 

In some locations, each established group that becomes a church is given the expectation that they will develop at least two new groups within a short period of time in order to keep growing and multiplying.  That obligation does not stop with the development of one or two groups, but is part of their commission, i.e. to "Go forth making disciples......"  Matthew 28:19.

The work and the results emanating from these Latin American nations is so very encouraging.  Colombian leaders have developed materials separately and independently of OMS and they are printing out this material for their use and are offering it to be shared with the other Spanish speaking nations.  The material is first class and was enthusiastically embraced by the others at the meeting.

Hearing the first hand stories of successes in such places as Haiti where they are constantly working against Voodoo and other dark forces and the miraculous things that have occurred to bring the light even into those dark areas is just amazing.

Along with everyone else at the seminar, we felt recharged, motivated and determined to keeping the process expanding and multiplying.  We are looking forward to our next visit to Honduras to see what God's work is achieving there in the areas of the prisons of that nation.

Why Go On A Mission Trip?

Once upon a time, Gary and Diane asked that same question and it rerouted their whole retirement plan. Check out this week's post by Diane.

People ask, " why go on a mission trip?". Well, I would answer if you feel that the Lord is prompting you to do it, then listen to His promptings and do it! 

Gary and I waited until we were in our sixties to take our adventure and answer these promptings. At first we went almost fearfully to the meeting for the trip to Mexico with our church. We thought,"What would they want with two old people on this trip?" We thought they would think we were too old to go, since they said there was some strenuous walking and other problems to deal with. As it turned out the Lord clearly wanted us to go and so did the others on the team! It was the best thing we ever did! 

We were part of a dental team with two dentists, two assistants and me to do dental work in the remote mountains of Mexico. They flew us out to that remote mountain area in a small single engine plane, making approximately four trips to get us all out there with the equipment. We also had some teenage boys with us and a translator, who was invaluable!  

It is hard to put into words how wonderful our experience was. The accommodations were not great. We slept on sleeping bags on the second floor of a government building. There was electricity but no bathroom! A local lady cooked for us and that was just wonderful. Plain and simple, but wonderful. But the best part was the people and interacting with them. We could not speak the language, but we could still communicate Gods love for them through us. I cleaned teeth sitting on a 5 gallon bucket with my patients on a chaise lawn chair. It was very primitive. It was one of the most physically difficult things I have ever done -  and one of the most rewarding. When we were flying away from the mountain, an overwhelming sadness came over me. I realized that I would never see these people again! It was very weird to me, since we really did not have conversations with them. But there was a real connection. We were showing them Christ's love and they were receiving it gratefully.

I believe that trip was a very important part of our call into missions. Gary and I both felt that those few short days changed our lives. I guess my only regret is that I waited so long to go on a trip. But I trust the Lord's perfect timing in this as with all other aspects of our lives. This was the time for our call. Needless to say - I would encourage anyone and everyone to answer the call to missions. It Will Change Your LIFE!