Thursday Morning Sewing Classes

Thursday morning at the Iglesia Bautista Emanuel is sewing day. Thanks to the wonderful donation of sewing machines from the saints at Riverbend Church in Ormond Beach, FL, these ladies have an opportunity to learn a new skill.

Dr Bruce Ware talks to Josiah

Dr. Bruce Ware is a highly esteemed theologian and author in the evangelical world. He is a theology professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Resurgence Training Center (Re:Train), and has served as president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2009.

It was an honored privledge to have him come to the graduation party for Josiah.


2 Timothy 2:15 (KJ21)Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Mark selected this verse for his son, Josiah.

Graduation

Graduation: could it be an acronym for a “Goofy Reason Another Delirious Unbridled Adolescent Thinks’ “I’ve Obtained Notoriety”!”

Gladly, that was just a gaff, a gag to generate your gaze!
Graduation is a generous gift granted by a gracious God.
Let’s take another gander at graduation as an acronym:
God has gifted you with Generosity: As you gather a glimpse into the gateway of this gigantic goal of generating a gentle yet genuine gesture of growth in God, Go with a heart of generosity toward all who gather to help you and be grateful in gratitude for their gusto to get you to your goal!


God has gifted you with Respect: Respect the reality that you can read! Respect the rebirth with regard and reverence to the righteousness of our regal redeemer who reigns over us all. Respect the responsibility that arises from reaching the rank of reliable recruit into the rat-race!

God has gifted you with Ambition: Arise! Accept your assignment from above with adoration and amazement. Appreciate the ambition awarded you and accomplish all aspects and accounts of the assets accorded to you.

God has gifted you with Decisiveness: don’t delay, don’t dilly-dally, don’t be double-minded, deliberate, decide, do your daily deeds with determination, direction and decisiveness!

God has gifted you with Understanding: Unless you understand that you are unique unemployment will be unavoidable. Understand that you have an unfair upstart unfamiliar to unbelievers. Use your unity with upright believers to help you understand the universal utility of untainted understanding to usurp and upset unrighteous utterances. Utilize your utmost for God.

God has gifted you with Awareness: Avoid arrogance, assume absolutely nothing, affirm all things, achieve all things, according to, and in acknowledgement with the almighty word of God.
God has gifted you with Taxes (oops sorry taxes are a gift from your government. God has gifted you with Talent:
You already have a testimony of truthfulness, trust, tact, and tenacity. You have the talent to Triumph over untenable tolerance with tenderness and thoughtfulness. Give thanks to God for your talent!

God has gifted you with Imagination: Imagination is the impetus for ideas. It is important to ignite the imagination to identify instruments of increase to implement important and intelligent items of interest and to invoke involvement in issues of faith. Impassioned imagination is indispensable.

God has gifted you with Optimism: It is only occasionally that we observe such outward optimism. You have an opportunity to observe and own objective truth! With that ownership comes and obligation and oath to obedience. Occupy your mind on the operation of offering this objective truth to outsiders, onlookers and even obstructionists. Overwhelming? Only for the opposition! You own order, organization, open-mindedness and you will have opportunity. With your optimism nothing is to overwhelming with an omnipotent God officiating over you!

God has gifted you with Nourishment: The necessary nourishment you need to neglect negativism and nervousness. You now have a network of notably knowledgeable and nurturing believers. You will soon have a new network of believers near you some will be neighbors and others you may meet on the internet. Now negotiate through your nervousness and enter into the narrow gate of Christian education and announce the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to all!

4th of July Celebration

Today, we celebrate Independence Day. We celebrate freedom/liberty. Many men and women sacrificed their lives for the liberty we enjoy today. Without their commitment and dedication, patience and perseverance, unity and determination, liberty would never have been won.
The Revolution was like David versus Goliath on an international scale and the rocks inside the slingshot, which fortified the Revolution, were called Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. This nation was established with a pioneering spirit. That same spirit can drive change today, if we as a people are willing to remember our heritage and adopt a pioneering attitude and hold fast to our faith in God.



Our founders showed every nation on earth that the God given right to be free is the greatest force and noblest quality that humanity can ever experience. The writer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, once wrote “The God who gave us life…also gave us liberty.”
One Nation Under God carries a familiar voice to all Americans. It is the voice of Liberty, the voice of Justice and the voice of God. What makes the voice familiar is the fact that it is the voice of the men and women that gave their full measure of devotion to secure to themselves and all of us the rights and virtues of Freedom. Are we indeed one nation under God? Ronald Reagan once said, “ When we are no longer one nation under God, we will be a nation gone under". He must have read Psalms 9:17 The wicked will [a](A)return to [b]Sheol, Even all the nations who (B)forget God.



I know today, we celebrate Independence Day. I suggest to you that if our nation is to be spared the wrath of God, we need to celebrate Dependence Day! Today, we need to celebrate the day of the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! That is the beginning of real freedom, like no one has ever had before (except Adam and Eve before they sinned) a freedom for those who have believed in Christ’s atoning blood for their sins and have trusted and believed in Him.
John 8:36 (NASB) says: So if the Son (A)makes you free, you will be free indeed.



People get ready for a freedom like no one has ever experienced before. But, what can we do, how do we get ready? In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we read, “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

Let’s Pray:
Lord, there is no greater feeling of liberation than to experience the freedom from sin and death that you have provided for us through Jesus Christ. Today our hearts and our souls are free to praise you. For this we are very thankful.

On this Independence Day we are reminded of all those who have sacrificed for our freedom, following the example of Jesus Christ. Let us not take our freedom, both physical and spiritual, for granted. May we always remember that our freedom was purchased with a very high price. Our freedom cost others their very lives.

Lord, today, bless those who have served and continue to give their lives for our freedom. With favor and bounty meet their needs and watch over their families.

Help us to live our lives in a way that glorifies you, Lord. Give us the strength to be a blessing in someone else's life today, and grant us the opportunity to lead others into the freedom that can be found in knowing Christ. Lord, look with favor upon our nation, we pray the words of Psalms 85:6 Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?

Please Lord, bless this day, this meal and all those who know you as Lord and Savior. We pray all these things in Jesus Holy name! Amen.

Ladies Conference at MEDA

June 23-25, 2011
Hermana Ester Pidal came to MEDA to teach a "Ladies Only" conference for 2-1/2 days. The topic came from Jeremiah 2:13 (NASB)

13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That can hold no water.

In a nutshell: When we look to places other than GOD, we only find frustration. GOD is our fountain of living water! Remember Ephesians 3:20 "20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,..."

Thank-you my dear friend Dela for so patiently translating this conference in English so I could also receive the beautiful message.

Clean-Up after the Storm

Friday afternoon, June 24th. The guys did a great job of cleaning up the grounds.

STORM! Wednesday night, June 22

We had a brief thunderstorm on Wednesday evening, but it took out about 8 or 9 trees on MEDA. Mark, Rhich and the Patterson boys clean up the fallen trees and branches after the storm.

Everyone gets involved.

Caleb uses the axe to chop up the tree into managable pieces.

More of June 21st

Close-up of the beets.

(as of June 27th, the beets need to be thinned out as they are about 3 inches tall)

June 23, 2011

This is the little garden that Rhich and the men from Riverbend Church made.

'Tori and Rhich planted a few seeds, and WOW!

June 21, 2011

Back to gardening again.

(This was around June 21-22, 2011)

A week after the Riverbend group went back home to Florida, Rhich is back at work trying to spruce up the landscape at our local church. While he's planting the "Mother-in-law's-Tongue", some of the Dayhome kids are also having fun.

The kids love to have their pictures taken.

Playing Catch-up

We have been enjoying so much of time in Siguatepeque, that we've been a little too tired to post.  In between the time that the wonderful group from Riverbend Church came and left and before the next conference (it was only a few days), we were reminded that we should stop work and take some time to play.



A neighboring cow escaped after her morning milking and decided come over to play on the teeter-totter, but she didn't have a partner.



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She investigates the slide, but it's not quite big enough.




She stares down the swing set at MEDA, but . . .  Oh, well.