New Volunteers and more

Well, I seem to be having more time to write these days. We just finished up Kids Club and I am upstairs in the office while Frank, one of our volunteers leads the Junior High boys. It's amazing. At the beginning of the year, he was handling the boys by himself. There was one night when he had six of them! And they can get a little crazy, as jr high boys do. However, over the last few weeks, we have four new volunteers who are all guys and working with Frank. It's quite a contrast! The good news is that this means we will probably be able to add more guys to the program. Please pray that these new volunteers can commit to the year. They are all excited about the ministry and seem to do well with the guys. At the beginning of the year one of my concerns(I was going to say worries...maybe at time it was a worry?) was that we wouldn't have enough volunteers. Now we have them in abundance, which is so exciting. It's amazing to see how God works. He always provides, as He promises He will do. The picture is of Tim and his daughter Nicole with a couple of our girls, Carolyn and Catrina. The Davis family has been coming for over a year and helping at Kids Club. They add a lot of enthusiasm and creativity to the evening! The kids really love them, and we are so thankful to have them.
Tonight, one of our girls(who also happens to be my neighbor!) shared with us just before we prayed as a group that her younger brother Abram is having open heart surgery tomorrow. He's only four! We prayed for him. If you read this before tomorrow(Nov 17) please pray for this little guy. During the summer, one of our workers, Cassie, worked with the kids on praying outloud. Each day after Bible time, she had a volunteer come up to pray. It was really neat to see them pray in front of everyone. She encouraged them to pray to God anytime, and that it could be more than just praying before a meal. I have decided to keep this up. Tonight, Ajaia(who's brother is having surgery) prayed. It is so great to hear them pray to God in their open, child-like faith.
We are taking next week off of programing. This Saturday, we are delivering Boxes of Love, which are Thanksgiving food baskets to many of our families. Please pray for this great ministry opportunity. Pray that as the food is delivered families will feel the love of Christ and that those delivering would have opportunities to share more than just food with the families!

Ready for a New Week

It's Tuesday, although it feels like Monday! I went home for the weekend and ended up coming down with a bug of some sort, so stayed an extra day. My family totally spoiled me while I was ill! Sunday night, my sister made me some yummy soup and mom baked chocolate chip cookies. Their so awesome! It's great to be feeling healthy again.
We've had a great week here in Highland Park. I've been really encouraged about the time spent with the older girls. We are going through James with the high schoolers. This week, we were in James 2 and had a lot of questions and discussion about the passage. The girls were asking about what it means to show favoritism, how are we suppose to treat those who mistreat us? When we got into our smaller groups one of my girls asked me "If we sin everyday, why do we need to still ask for repentance?" It was a great question and an amazing way to share with her about God's forgiveness and how sin affects our relationship with Him. This week, the passage is on faith and works. Pray about that one! It's a great passage, I just don't want it to be too confusing. It seems that they are still confused about salvation being the result of good works. And yet, there is not an understanding that once you are saved, your life should be changed. It's a hard balance and one that even mature Christians struggle with!
Thank you all for your continual prayers. It was so great to be back at my home church(Forest Hills Bible Chapel) and to receive so much encouragement from everyone. God Bless!