Showing posts with label ministries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ministries. Show all posts

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Holiday Heart Burn!!!

Well, We made it through all of the holiday activities from Thanksgiving and Christmas to the beginning of another New Year. It's been a strange time for me because in the past I was to one doing the cooking and making sure everything was all set for the "festivities" and this year I made 1 Pecan pie for Thanksgiving and our yummy Sweet Potato cassarole for Christmas!!!  I guess this is a sign of the "changing of the guard" that happens in families from generation to generation! My daughter-by-love, Lena, did a great job on the Christmas dinner and my daughter Leslee was the one who whipped up a delish Thanksgiving dinner for 3! No way am I able to cook for only 3 people!! No matter how hard I try it always ends up being enough to feed an army!!!  Part of me really enjoyed that "not having to cook cause "we'll" do it Mom", yet another part sees it as my time to let the young uns take over.

That brings me to the title of this blog of, "Holiday Heart Burn". My heart burns with regrets that I'm not cooking like I used to do and with great joy that my "girls" can and have stepped up to the plate (no pun intended!) as some really great cooks in their own rights.

All my memories of the holidays are centered around a table laden with food surrounded by family and friends. Memories of my mom cooking all day long and then people coming in the house with arms loaded down with more home cooked delights. It was never a "Norman Rockwell" holiday cause there were just too many accidents and mess ups for that! Just a great big family holiday that focused on Jesus Christ and family.

I will always love the holidays and all the fun, food, friends and family that go along with it. So weather I am sitting on the couch or in the floor playing with my grand kids while the other cooks work in a hot kitchen or I am asked to whip up a single dish the family loves my heart burns with the love and gratitude that comes during all the Holiday seasons.

I pray that you will focus on the things that make your life most precious to you in 2011 and forget about the things you can't do anything about. Enjoy and Embrace all God sends your way today.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Harrell's trips to Viet Nam and Philippines

It has been 1 week since Harrell and Brother Woody Godbey of the Trinity Baptist Temple Church in Fort Worth, Texas began their journey to the Far East! Harrell has reported in each day and made me the happiest woman around! He has shared with me all the places he has gone and the experiences he has had ans I will try to relay them to you.

The guys arrived in Ho Chi Mihn City (formally Saigon) at 11:45 pm and were met by a national pastor we had made contact with through e-mail. They got settled into a motel and tried to get a few hours of rest. Then the adventure began. Harrell relayed that the city is a beautiful mix of the old and new. It reminded him of a mix of Romania and Honduras. The old worn buildings and a feel of the ancient yet dripping sweat from the oppressing heat! I am so proud of him, too! He actually went shopping all by himself! He was able to find and pick up some hand painted silk fans for some friends in Virginia.

As far as the food goes...if you know anything about Brother Harrell you know that he is a basic meat and potato kind of guy. So his experience with the food has been an adventure for sure. He has been eating Spring Rolls and Fried Rice mainly. (Those are the only things he said he recognized what they were!) He and Brother Woody did find a little cafe downtown that served Hamburgers and onion rings. He said to was the best food he had ever eaten, he didn't care how much it cost him!!!

brother Woody served in the military during the war there so it was an opportunity for him to revisit a lot of the area he had been in back in the 70's. Harrell said the visited the Cu Che tunnels and he even when into them. Now for those of you who don't know it, he has Claustrophobia. He said by the time they made it out of the tunnels he was physically ill!!!
They also had the chance to go to one of the underground church services. It was a Teen and College age service and the guys really enjoyed it. It was hard for Harrell to stay awake though because he was so tired and the room was so small and warm.

They checked out of their hotel and rode a bus for 4 hours up to the village where this pastor lives and serves. It was here that God moved and opened the hearts of both men. Harrell told me of one day how they drove in a car they had rented until they couldn't go any farther and then began trekking through the jungle. he said he kept expecting to run into George of the Jungle it was so over grown. Then they came out into a clearing and there stood a small shack made of bamboo pole. You could see straight through the walls. Inside they found a small widow woman living here all alone. She lives on a hand full of rice a day and has no one to care for her. Harrell said the pastor took them to 10 such women living in remote sections of this jungle area.

With God's help we will take on these dear women and try to help them in their last days. Our main goal will be to lead them to salvation if they do not already know Jesus as their Lord. At the Sunday morning service God blessed them with seeing an 80 year old woman accepting Christ as her Savior. So there is much to do for our Lord no matter where we find our selves at.

The guys left Viet Nam this morning and flew over to Cebu, Philippines and I will report back to you as I hear form my precious husband. He is already excited about God expanding our ministries and what God has planned for our future. Please pray for them as they minister that God will go before them and prepare the hearts of the people. Pray also that God will give both men health and rest as they work for him. When you get extremely tire your immune defences are let down and you are susceptible to sickness. So please help me hold them up before the Lord that they will come back healthy and okay.

Check back here in a couple of days and I will have some more adventures ready for you. Once Harrell gets back I can then down load some pictures and tell you even more.
God bless,
Jeannie