What a busy week!

Well, a lot has gone on since the last time I posted. We had a late valentines party on Wednesday night for the kids. We had a great turn out. 41 kids and 14 adults. We sang songs, talked about the definition of love, watched the dvd of their Christmas party, ate lasanga and then cake and icecream. The cake was cute. It said Jesus loves you on it with hearts and sprinkles. I decorated the tabled with confetti and stuff, but I should have known it wasn't going to stay a table decoration for to long! It became a hair decoration, a shirt decoration, and a beautiful floor decoration! Lets just say it was a lot of fun to clean up afterwards. After the cake and icecream, the kids were quite hyper. So I waited until they were on their way out the door to give them their cup full of candy and other valentine goodies. My mom sent them balloons and stickers. They were quite excited to get surprises all the way from Texas. To end the night we gave each family group a chocolate rose to give to their mothers. It was quite fun.
On Friday, I went skiing again. This time around was more successful than the first. I got off the bunny slope and on to a real one. I made it down twice with some minor falls due to rocks and ice, and up the mountain on the lift. I still am not quite sure if I like the sport. However, I paid for a package deal of three lessons so I at least have to go one more time. Rebecca says I have to go again with her when she comes, so maybe by the time I come home I will like it more.
Saturday, we had another spaghetti dinner sponsored by the Christian motorcycle Association. We had a good turnout for it also. We didn't have any leftover spaghetti and passed out several Bibles and tracts to families. This time music was provided by a couple in the group. They did some old gospel songs and some modern praise songs. It was a great mix for all those who attended. We look forward to another dinner in the middle of March.
Church today went well. We talked about how it is important to read and memorize God's word. We talked about the temptation of Jesus and said that He was able to overcome that temptation because he hid God's word in His heart and lived by it. Then we had fun memorizing verses in all kinds of fun ways. I think their favorite was doing it in different voices.
I guess that's about it. Looking forward to another busy week and what God is going to do in the lives of these children.

Not as easy as I thought

Well I went skiing for the first time ever yesterday. I have usually been able to pick up things easy and learn them right from the start. That was no the case with skiing. At the very beginning, I was quite nervous. I could see mountains across the way that just reminded me how hi we were. Then I had an instructor start telling me all these things at once and I was overwhelmed. I learned to get the skis on and get started but I fell constantly. My instructor said part of my problem is I look down instead of ahead. I have always done things with what I call my faith moto. Close your eyes and trust God that you will be okay. That doesn't work for skiing. If you don't look at your skis supposedly you will just move them naturally and everything will be okay. I did not even get down the beginners slope without falling all morning. So at lunch I wanted to give up. I dint even want to eat I was so nervous and frustrated. I had to remind myself that I would never learn if I gave up and that I had already paid for the whole day so I should try it again. The main instructor that had paired me up with my instructor for the morning came and talked to me. She said I looked like I would feel more comfortable with a lady instructor and so she would find someone else for my other ski lessons. She came and helped me in the afternoon, and not only did I get down several times without falling, I also learned somewhat how to turn. I still have to work on that a little bit. Linda (the instructor) told me what days she was there and said she would be happy to work with me again. She was really great because I didn't pay for an afternoon lesson so she didn't have to help me. So I went home feeling a lot better than I started. However, after you do something like that for the first time be ready to be sore the next day. They all told me I was going to be even more sore than normal because I had used up so much more energy from being nervous. I am sore, but it's not to bad.
I met some really nice people in the ski lodge. The concession worker's name is Fran and she talked to me all about being from Texas because her son went to A&M and now lives in Houston. She let me put a tack on the map to say where I am from. Another lady I met was from England. She came to visit a friend but couldn't go skiing because she broke her foot early in the week. So we talked about England and where I had visited when I was there. So my first skiing trip was quite an adventure.

Please Pray

I have a prayer request for all of you. We have a little boy at the church I'm working with, about ten years old, who has awful beahavior. Several times he has cussed out adults and other children, but Wednesday night he got violent. He hit one of the adults and kicked another child. Another one of the adults had to hold him down in a chair to keep him from hitting others. The whole time he was cussing and threatening until the adult said he would call the police. He has been in and out of alternative schools and his teachers and parents don't know what to do. Now he won't be coming back to church anymore and thats sad, but we can't have him disrupting the whole group. Please pray for him and his family. His name is Jesse. This is the family God has been working with and now satan is trying to destroy.

The Patriots vs. The Eagles

Yesterday we had a youth super bowl party. We had 9 youth and lot and lots of food. 3 boys and 6 girls came to the house to watch the game. Well they watched bits and pieces of it but most of the time they spent running around having snowball fights with each other. Their wasn't even that much snow to throw. I watched the whole game including the half time show with the other adults. That is probably the first super bowl I have watched all the way through. At first it did not matter to me who won, but after the kids started cheering for the Patriots, the adults thought it would be fun to cheer for the Eagles. I guess the youth chose the right team to cheer for. They rubbed it in too. We spent the afternoon eating pizza, chips and dip, oreos, beans, sausages, and sodas. There was plenty of leftovers. I am probably going to be eating leftover queso for days. We had lots of fun and were all ready for bed when it was over.
Today we had our weekly Bible study and the couple that has been coming was there again. As a group, we decided to meet more than once a week because we want to cover more than one chapter a week. Right now we are just starting off at the very beginning of Genesis and working our way through the Bible. It is neat to see this couple learn about the creation and fall of man.

God is at work.

On Sunday our lesson was about making wise choices. One of the children had a great example for us. He spent the night with a friend and when the van got to his house to pick him up he wasn't home. His parents said he wasn't going to church, but when he woke up, he told his friends goodbye and rode his bike all the way to church. I was really impressed. No one made him come, he chose to come. All of these kids choose to come. His brother missed church on Sunday but on Wednesday asked me if I could tell him what he missed. Yes, they still have behavior problems but God is working in them. Their parents are the ones that came to Bible study last week, and they came again this week. They said they might be interested in coming more than once a week. Isn't that great! That family is being changed,
On Wednesday, the kids had an activity page to do and the back asked them to look at the pictures of the people who help provide for them and protect them. Then it suggested that they say a prayer thanking God for each one. None of the kids usually do that so I told them they could if they wanted to or they could just think about it and we would pray together. As I walked around to see if kids needed help with their books, I noticed one little boy with his head down. I asked him if he was okay and he said yes I was just praying for the people! I was so excited. I told him sorry for interrupting and he went back to praying until he had prayed for each one. God is Awesome!