Archive for the 'Personal' category

Robbed in the US

April 12, 2009 11:21 pm

We returned home from a long trip last week to find that our house had been broken into. We noticed this immediately because the thieves were not real careful in putting stuff back where it belonged when they finished ransacking the house. Fortunately we were able to get the police to the house pretty quickly, before we touched anything. They looked for fingerprints and clues, but did not find much that will be a help.

We are finalizing a list of items stolen to give to the police, but they have a short list they are working from right now to check pawn shops.

Somehow we expected this to happen in another country, not right here at home. We were initially shaken up a bit and very saddened at the loss of some items. Thankfully, with the exception of Stephanie’s computer, most everything taken we consider to be tools. There was nothing of sentimental value taken (that we have discovered so far). However, we did lose some valuable tools. We will be adding up the value of everything in the next day or two. But initial estimation is that they took between $2000 and $3000 worth of equipment.

We are praying that we will get the computer back with the data. While we have most things backed up, there were some items that were not.

The big items taken were the computer, two LCD monitors, a DVD player and a bicycle. Some of the “jokes on them” items taken were some computer equipment that I keep around for parts. They may be surprised to find that all the things taken from the laundry room were actually broken. The funniest (yes, we can laugh at some of this) thing taken was our $20 bathroom scale. I guess they wanted to work on a weight loss program.

We do appreciate your prayers over the next few weeks as the police search for our items. Our personal best hope of tracking down the criminals is through the stolen bike. While it is not unique, it will be easy to see and may lend a clue as to who the theives were.

January Summary

February 5, 2009 8:44 pm

We had a few meetings in January. Most of the churches we have scheduled for the first half of this year are new churches. As a result we have picked up 2 new supporters already. Our support level currently sits at 67%. We lost support due to the economy and there is a need to raise a bit more monthly than what we needed before. Pray with us as we are in new churches seeking support over the next few months.

My (David) mom has been in the hospital since just before Christmas with pancreatitis. Though she was able to leave for a few days she had to return for some emergency surgery. She is getting better daily and we expect that she will be back home within another couple of weeks. We would appreciate your prayers for her physical needs. We are able to be with her during the week when we are not traveling.

My grandfather on my Dad’s side passed away early in the month of January. Dad and I attended the graveside service. It was a blessing to meet the people in Grandpa’s church who have actually had a  closer relationship with him than we have been able to over the last few years. They were encouraging to us and gave wonderful testimonies as to Grandpa’s salvation and how he lived out his love for others.

Most of February we will be traveling close to home. We won’t have to be away for more than a week at a time until March. We will use this time to help Dad prepare to take care of Mom over the next few weeks.

BIO Office Building

December 8, 2008 10:50 am

Last week I got to take a working vacation of sorts. I went to Jefferson City, Tennessee where our mission board is building a new office. A church donated land to our board for the office and the building at the new site started a few months ago. They are trying to use as much volunteer labor as possible.

I volunteered to help out. Terry Childers, one of our missionaries to Kenya, is home during this time. Initially he came home because of the political unrest in the country. The Lord has used him to supervise the construction of the building since this was the type of work he did before going to the field. He is doing a marvelous job overseeing the construction. He will be headed back to Kenya sometime in January and will hand over the next phase of construction to someone else.

I worked at the site from Monday to Friday of last week. Mostly I was doing work on the rafters and laying roof sheathing. The goal is to have the roof ready for shingles in a few more days. Getting the building dried in is the ultimate goal before Bro. Childers leaves in January.

If you are interested in providing labor or money towards the project, you can contact BIO directly. Even if you can only spend a day or two, that would be a tremendous blessing. You can contact the office for more information at 865-992-0999.

Georgia and Tennessee

November 18, 2008 9:48 pm

The last few weeks we have had meetings in the Atlanta area. Many have been churches that already support us. We were in a couple new churches and also scheduled some meetings in the area for next year. During our time in Atlanta I preached in a deaf church in which one young man was saved. It was a blessing to talk with 12 year old Luis after the service and show him how the Lord died for his sins.

Stephanie was ill part of this trip. We took her to a doctor to get some medicine for the illness. When he checked her blood pressure, his concern for the illness was lessened because of immediate concern for her high blood pressure. We were sent to the emergency room to get started with some long term care. I was able to take her home and get her scheduled in with a doctor. She is undergoing some tests and treatment to take care of the blood pressure. In the process the doctors have found some other issues that we are going to be checking into. Pray for her health.

After leaving Stephanie and the kids in Pensacola, I returned to Atlanta for two more meetings before going to east Tennessee. Our mission board holds a conference each November in which the board of directors meet for planning and business purposes. The missionaries who are home and pastors who are very closely associated with the board attend this time of fellowship and preaching. It was great to be with some old friends I have not seen in at least 4 years. Some I have not been with for almost 8 years.

I have returned home and will be home for a few more days before heading to another church this weekend.

We appreciate your continued prayers for our traveling safety. Also, please pray for Stephanie’s health issues that the doctors will be able to care for her. I will keep you posted with any significant news about her health.

We got our car

September 10, 2008 11:04 pm

Thank you for praying. We were able to purchase the exact vehicle we were looking for. It is a silver 2003 Honda Odyssey.

Typical of missionary life, we bought it while on a trip. So our current truck, 1990 Suburban, is sitting in a church parking lot outside of Atlanta waiting until we drive back through that area so we can pick it up and take it back to Florida.

We will be back in the hunt for a house by the middle of next week.

2003 Honda Odyssey

House and car hunting

September 9, 2008 9:28 pm

We spent 8 days in Pensacola (our home base) looking for a house and a car. The house is to rent for the year and the car is to buy. We stayed with David’s parents during that time of searching. Neither a house nor a vehicle presented itself before we had to leave on our first furlough trip.

Currently we are just outside of Atlanta headed to North Carolina for a mission conference in a supporting church. It has been humorous today trying to remember everything that we need to pack for a conference. I am sure we have forgotten something, but there is always a Wal Mart nearby.

Pray with us about finding a house to move to when we get back home. We are also looking for a car. We have hopes of finding the right one on this trip. We have some leads and options, but have not gotten peace about any of them so far. We know the Lord will lead and give us clear direction.

Moving to a new phase of ministry

August 24, 2008 11:21 pm

Now that our work at the church here has officially ended, it is time to finish packing and get on the road to return to the US. We will be traveling from Tuesday to Saturday (or beyond) to get back to Pensacola where we will call home for the next year.

Today at the church service, we had a wonderful turn out of people. I don’t think a good count was ever gotten, but we had 30+ at the service and there were close to 20 other pastors, missionaries and friends who came by the church after their services were over.

One pleasant surprise we had was that two of the main administrators at the local Deaf school came to the service this morning. These are two ladies who do not participate in a hands on way at the school, and therefore I rarely see them. But they are government officials who are in charge of the administrative tasks and are usually present for all the school functions when the public is invited. These ladies have been very kind to us and spoke very highly of the work that the Lord has helped us to build. They probably have very little understanding of all that we are trying to do, but they have been supportive in our efforts to provide spiritual guidance to the Deaf community.

I have felt for some time that things have gone well with the ministry and that God will continue to bless the Greens and the work here. After today, I feel even more confident that we are able to walk away knowing that we have done what God has called us to do and that He will continue to build this work through other people.

Yucatan camp 2008

August 15, 2008 10:48 pm

Today we drove home from the Deaf camp in Yucatan. We were there from Tuesday to Friday of this week. There were 22 participants in the camp, which is about what we expected. We did not have any salvations during the week, but we were privileged to spend individual time with the Deaf and their hearing family members which we normally do not get to do in our normal ministry.

This week of camp marks the final stage of our ministry in Merida. We have finished four years here and are excited about leaving the ministry in the hands of another family. The next 10 days will be spent packing and tying up loose ends.

We will also have one final event at the church which will be a going away party for us. We have worked to invite the many Deaf that we have met through our four years of ministry here. Of course it will be an exciting and emotional time for all of us, but I am thrilled about having one more opportunity to present the Gospel to those who have not made a decision for Christ. That special day will be August 24. We would really appreciate your prayers that God will lead the people to the service and that they will be willing to hear the Gospel one last time from us.

Website update

June 29, 2008 9:10 pm

I have been working on getting this website set up for easier updating and to make it easier for you to follow future updates.

If you have not previously done so, you can sign up to receive our prayer letter via email by placing your information in the box in the right side bar. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed which will give you updates in your feed reader each time the site is updated. The old RSS feed address no longer works.

One of the other advantages to the new site is that you will be able to leave comments and ask questions with each update. As always, you can also email me directly.

Look for more regular updates to the site along with pictures of different activities that we have at the church.

Happy Thanksgiving

November 22, 2007 9:43 pm

Today we got together with some other missionary families and had an enjoyable day. We started off with the men and boys gathering at the park this morning to play some football. There were 17 of us and we had a great time.

We then went to the house of one of the missionary families and had a feast! There were 48 of us (if my count was right). It is just like getting together with our family back home. Some of the people we know very well, while others are mere acquaintances. We enjoy getting to catch up with those we know well and get to know the new families.

After the meal we sat around and talked and shared what we were thankful for. We also sang some songs and, of course, watched football. Most people stayed around and talked for several hours after the meal. It is a lot of work and way too much food, but it would be nice to do this three or four times a year just to get everyone together as a family of missionaries.

This has never really been limited to just the missionaries. We have invited other American families to join us who are either church members or good friends of the missionaries. This year we were joined by a family from the US Consulate as well as a few family members who were in town visiting the missionaries.

May God bless you as we move into the holiday season and remember our Savior who brings us together as one family.