God's Worthy Women

It has been a whirlwind of a week, highlighted on Friday by our 6th annual God's Worthy Women's Conference. Even though we got through this week, we are in the process of planning for next year. From it's beginning of 24 mature ladies on a sleepover (what in the world were we thinking???) to over 150 ladies in 6 years (we had 174 signed up) is nothing short of a miracle. God has so blessed us by bringing many ladies together to hear God's Word, to listen to amazing stories of His plan to  turn people's life around, and just allowing us to praise and worship Him.

some of the early arrivals

ready to hear His word

 

Nathan, manager and sound man from Ranchero Village opening the conference with the call to worship on the chofar.

Chaplain Stacey Smith, our featured speaker, held the women mesmerized as she gave her testimony. Stacey was incarcerated the age of 29 on a drug charge in Arkansas and given a sentence of 60 years in prison. Her story held everyone spell bound, as we all began to see how God worked in her life, as she is now the only ex-felon to serve as a Chaplain - in the very facility in which she was imprisoned. Her sentence was stayed by then Governor Mike Huckabee after 12 years, during which time she turned her life over to God. She taught us that there are 5 areas of forgiveness - motive, attitude, thoughts, words, and actions. Stacey is a powerful speaker with a message that everyone should hear - go to crmint.org,click on home, then on God's Worthy Women, part one, to see her message.

Chaplain Stacey Smith sharing her story

 our Chaplain ladies listening intently

 all those choices!!!

 our Chaplains serving us the great meal they prepared! Our own Chaplain, Bill Artherholt, is on the right.




After lunch and a time for fellowship and some door prize fun, Chaplain Bob Reusch, Director of the RV ministry,  spoke a bit about the RV division of CRM International, then sang a moving song "Master of the Wind".

Chaplain Reusch




Our afternoon speaker, Lettie Gutierrez, a local speaker from McAllen, taught us how to become a Crown of Splendor for the Lord. After she spoke, she related to us how nervous she was seeing so many "Gringo faces"!!! She had a message that reached the depths of our souls as women, worthy of God's love.

Lettie, praising God

It was such an inspiring day, and we hope that we touched the hearts of many ladies. And now on to next year's  planning.

 

I came down with a miserable cold (thank you Chaplain Bill for sharing), so missed some of the fun things our park had planned for the week. Saturday was a County Fair Day with all the fun of an old fashioned county fair, including a picture booth, games, hot dogs, and root beer floats. I stayed home, sniffing and shivering.

 

 

It really seems impossible, but some residents are already planning to return to their Northern homes. Please pray for travel mercies until they return again in the fall. We hope we have helped them in their spiritual journey through church services and fellowship. Until next week, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny Sunday

The sunshine has returned to the Rio Grande Valley. It is beautiful here, with the flowers blooming and smiling as the sun warms their blossoms and roots, as it also warms ours.

our neighbors across the street - the flowers look happy

next door neighbors have colorful flowers

looking across the full lake

the golf carts, as well as bicyclers, walkers, and runners are out

our key lime tree is growing!

I look forward to our Monday night Bible study at CHI where we are still in the book of Luke. It really does not matter how long it takes us to get through each chapter as we have such great discussion, questions, and most of the time, answers. This past week we felt blessed as Rhonda's husband Fred joined us. It is a blessing any time we have some one new or different in our class. We all come from different religious backgrounds, but the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is the same - He is our Savior, Redeemer, Strength, Abba Father, and Protector, just to name a few. I certainly cannot mention Monday night Bible Study without mentioning all of the wonderful fellowship over the evening meal, too. It does not matter how many are there as "For where two or three are gathered in My Name, there I am among them".

Matthew 18:20

 

Our wonderful Canadian residents had a pot luck today and collected canned goods for the Great Oaks Food and Clothing Ministry. The word spreads throughout the park, and many come with items to add to the food pantry. God has so blessed this ministry and it is certainly true that "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more that we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever, Amen". Ephesians 3:20-21 The ultimate goal of our existence is to glorify the name of our Lord in all things - the good and the seemingly bad, which often turns out to be for the good!!! Isn't God amazing??

 

Watching the Olympics amazes me. The variety of talent seems endless. We all are blessed with some sort of talent - be it academic, athletic, spiritual, compassionate, hospitable, administration, etc. God has created each of us so very different - it is our responsibility to  use these talents and not waste them. Be thankful for yours and don't yearn for a different one - you may not like it.

 

We had a great week, very busy and this coming week proves to be so much busier. The highlight of the week was dinner with good friends (coconut shrimp - yum), time for relaxation and spending time this morning in church service as Chaplain Bill warned us of  Satan's lies. These lies come from within us, planted there by the evil spirit, waiting for us to believe them ( you are no good, you are not pretty, you will never succeed, you are useless). Open you minds with the truth, study the Word, and you will defeat the Satan, the Devil (take the D from Devil and you see evil!!).

 

Pray for us this week as we take each day as it comes - the God's Worthy Women Conference is coming up on Friday - pray that we reach many women with the Word of God, that some hear the word that have never heard it before, or that even if they heard the Word before it has new and wonderful meaning to them. Pray for all of those who are in physical need - let God's healing hand be on them and comfort them.

 

 

 

  

 

Sunday's Blessings

I cannot believe that another Sunday has almost gone. Again, the weather has been so sporadic - warm and sunny one day, and then cold and rainy the next.

Last Sunday was rather nice - in the 70's. It was friend Karen's birthday and so we headed to South Padre Island for the day. We checked out the visitor's center for the sand castles not realizing that there were a plethora of castles all up and down the road. A small one was at the visitor's center, then a very large one was outside. It was sprayed with something in order to keep it from weathering, especially in the rain. As we drove along the road, there were many smaller ones at various businesses.



this smaller one was inside the visitor's center

this largest one took 500 hours to compete

almost impossible to notice every detail

love the dragon

a realistic pelican

We drove to the northern most part of the island (at least as far as a car can drive) and noticed the sand drifted into the roadway - some places there was one way traffic. There were people camping along as well as many kite fliers. Seeing that the weather had not been good for awhile, a lot of people were out enjoying themselves.
 

 one way traffic on this stretch

                                                              kite fliers enjoying the warm breeze

 

We stopped at the turtle rescue center as we had often seen it and decided that this was the day! It is truly amazing - turtles are rescued, brought back to health, and then either released or kept in the center. Many have been there many years - some too used to people that they cannot be sent back to their natural environment, some were badly injured as a result of other sea animal attacks, or even tangled in fish lines. Some had broken shells and could not survive on their own - one even had no back feet or tail (lost in a battle of some sort), so a man made rudder was attached to his shell. He swam beautifully. It was very interesting and fun to see all the different species and sizes of turtles.

 

                               this turtle was HUGE and loved to swim towards the window to show off his beauty

                                 smaller turtles almost ready to be returned to their natural habitat

 he was colored so uniquely

 

We did have to stop on the beach to feed the sea gulls. Karen brought along a half loaf of bread which they begged for ever so nosily. We walked a bit on the beach where I found some interesting pieces of coral. We were told that the star fish were washed up on shore but we did not see any - although a few people were carrying some.

    

  

                                      even though the waves were pretty high some people were surfing

                                                         feeding 5000 with 1/2 loaf of bread!!!

                                                   they were so patiently waiting for food - so cute

                                                 waiting to take some crumbs from my hand

 

 

After all this excitement we headed to Port Isabelle to Penguin Station (a division of Dirty Al's on the Island) to enjoy the best fresh shrimp ever. I do not eat shrimp anywhere else, so usually only have it once or twice at the most a year.  We had a lovely view from our table - when all of a sudden a wind blow in, dropping the temps 20 degrees from when we went in to eat. Cannot believe we had the heater on in the car on the way home.

 

 

view from our table - some times the dolphins swim into the cove

                                               Karen's birthday brownie gift from the restaurant

our fantastic waiter took the picture for us -

 

 

Now comes the Sunday blessings - last Sunday Chaplain Bill and Ali had their daughter and family visiting from California - (the weather did not cooperate for them, though). They and their 5 children are missionaries for Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU). What an amazing family - Steve, the father, gave our message on Sunday. Daughter Addie played the piano while other daughter Ellie sang a beautiful solo. It was so wonderful to see a family so tuned into God and His work. We are so blessed at the Church @ Alamo Rec Veh to have talented musicians, a great choir , and a Chaplain who shares his family with us.

 

 Elli seems so very relaxed as she sings for us

 Addie is a very accomplished pianist

 Chaplain Bill leading us in prayer

  Steve Michaelin delivering the message

 

 

The park manager sponsored a wild boar meal this last week. The owner of our park owns a ranch and donated 5 wild boars to smoke so the men really got into the swing of it. There were three different types of smoking with 3 different marinades. Of  course, we could choose to eat smoked turkey instead, which I choose. Fred choose the wild boar and was able to sample all three choices as well as pork loin. The meal included the meat, coleslaw, raw veggies, beans, bread, dessert, and a beverage. It was a festive time as nearly 250 people filled the hall in anticipation of a new taste. The boar meat was really very good (I sampled a bit of Fred's) and the company was awesome!!!

 

 

As we begin another week full of activities, high and low points, and even some great disappointments, look to the Lord for strength, talk to Him often, asking for forgiveness, forgiving others  and glorifying His

 Holy name,

I'm Back

Well, I do believe I have skipped a week. It certainly was not intentional as Sunday was truly busy, then the days seemed to go by and now it is time for another preussless pathways!!

So many things going on here in the park as well as every where else it seems. The weather seems to be the main issue all over the country. We had very cold mornings - icy conditions which caused the closing of the expressway here - don't know that we have ever seen that happen. Even the Wednesday morning park meeting with donuts was cancelled. Our church board and spouses have been serving donuts for the month of January and we were relieved of our duties last Wednesday!!! It is a fun thing to do as we get to visit with all the residents as we hand out many dozens of donuts as well as serve coffee and hot water for tea. We had made 6 large pots of coffee for Wednesday morning - from all reports, because of the cold, it was all gone by afternoon. Yesterday and today the weather was mild, in the 70's with a brisk breeze.

Our "Helping Hands" sewing group donated 32 quilts to the Great Oaks Food and Clothing Ministry just in time for the cold front last week. It was totally heart warming as many received quilts with tears in their eyes and looks of surprise as they realized the quilts were for them. As we were finishing up the distribution a lady and young boy came as asked if the quilts were for sale. She was walking by and saw people leaving with quilts. We told her that they were free and after registering she and her son chose two quilts which she said were greatly needed as they had a large family and needed extra warmth. It is stories like this that stay in our hearts as we serve those less fortunate than ourselves.

all the beautiful quits donated by "Helping Hands"

the food pantry is full - praise - the Lord!

two children with donated Bibles they were happy to receive

Fred with a very happy girl

her brother chose this colorful one

another two happy kids - arms full of warmth - quilts, food, and love

smiles all around knowing that they will have food for a few days

she was so proud of her choice - she spoke very little English, but knew "God bless you".

after everyone was fed and supplied with quilts, we indulged next door in fried pickles!

We did get a chance to fill a van for a tour of CHI/RIN in Reynosa. Some of the people are headed back up North already, so we squeezed in a trip (after the one the day before was cancelled because of ice). A very amazing couple from our park were aboard - they are pastors from Kentucky who arrived here because the Lord led them  - to S Texas, to our park, for a specific purpose (which is not made clear to them yet). All they know is that God said He was leading them into the wilderness - what a faith they have. "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, "Here I am , send me". Isaiah 6:8. How awesome would it be if every one the Lord called answered in this way!!! After we arrived at RIN, we visited the schools where all the kids were excited to see us. One of the couples who are from our home state of Arkansas) sponsor Jose who was thrilled to see them - he would not let Bob alone!

 

 

the English teacher - the very first year the kids are earning English

diligently studying a "foreign" language

 

 

                                                                      little Jose loving on Bob

 

  

 

 

                                                         3 little ones who loved to have their pictures taken

 

                                                                Bob, smothered in love and hugs

                                                     the old and new schools connected by a roof

    some of the kids from the outside homes waiting for their parents to pick them up - the school at RIN is open to area residents who pay a small amount (300 pesos or $30 - $40 a month) for their children to attend a Christian school).

 

our tiniest baby - Sarah, born in November to housemother (Tia) Susanna

 

proud Mama Susanna

 

The week has been filled with Bible study, meetings, a fish dinner, volunteer work, visiting, collecting donations and delivering them, but it is a good feeling of being tired. I can say my housework has suffered because of it, but I have learned to shut my eyes to it. Tomorrow is Sunday - not a day of work, so we are going to the island for a day of a bit of relaxation - housework can wait. A very dear friend of mine showed me how to do this very thing. I had three small girls (she had 4 children). Joyce called me one morning to say that it was a beautiful summer day in Wisconsin and we should pack up the kids and go to a neighborhood lake for the day. My house was a disaster as we had a birthday party the night before and I had not cleaned up anything. I tried to make excuses, but Joyce would not hear any of them. So off we went - two young mothers and 7 kids. What a day we had - our youngest at that time was only two months old, so she slept all afternoon under a shade tree as we all laughed and splashed and played and even ate a picnic lunch in the warm summer sunshine. I'll always remember the lesson she taught me - to take advantage of the things God has made for you with laughter and thanksgiving. It was not many years later that Joyce passed away, but she will always remain as she was that day - full of love and always praising God for the little things. What a lesson indeed I learned that day!!!