End of a Season

 An end to another busy week, another one full of surprises for the ministry. As we prepared to deliver on Friday and arrived at the distribution point, there was a  picnic table full of cases of bottled flavored water and orange drink. Another ministry had extras and had delivered them for use for our people. What a wonderful surprise. Along with the overflowing supply of produce we also received bottles of hand sanitizer which made for overflowing boxes to hand out. The previous Tuesday we handed out to 80+ families and Friday was over 200 families. We are so very thankful for our helpers and the suppliers that we too are awed by what we receive. Fred spent one day with a supplier bagging up 500# of sugar coated cereal (not very healthy but the kids love it). I know I should not be amazed, but I am every week with God's provision.

One of our chaplains purchased a mobile home in his park for use of chaplains and preachers who need a place to stay for a few days- either as a much needed break and a time to relax, or as a stopping point in a change in appointment, during training, or any reason. He is naming the home "Simon's place" in reference to Luke 7:36 when Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to come to his house to rest. How very appropriate. 

We took a few hours one afternoon and browsed through a huge flea market close by when if you can dream it, it probably could be found there. The merchants cater tot he Winter Texans, so there is a multitude of things there from fake nails, to boxes of cards. silver jewelry sales, Amish canned items, all sorts of fresh fruits, leather belts and purses, diabetic socks, fabric, etc. A nice place to visit to relax. Along with those tempting items, the smell of donuts and restaurant food abound - the best being the freshly made kettle corn. As we were making our way through the stands, Fred stopped to ask the vender a question when I noticed something different about him. He was of Hispanic descent, but had blue eyes!! We have a grandson whose father is from Honduras and he too has the Hispanic look but his eyes are sort of a blue gray. I told the vendor that the blue eyes were not common to his culture and he explained that his grandparents were from Spain, (Castilian). He seemed very proud to share this information with me.  This is also true of our grandson. It is truly a striking combination.

                                                              

                                    

                                     our youngest grandson as well as our youngest grandchild, Calton

The end of the Winter Texan season has arrived and a lot of the residents have left for their Northern homes. We will miss them throughout the summer, but will the enjoy the quietness of the summer months. The stores and roads will not be so busy either. We have year round folks here, so we will have a bit of company though.

Now we come to the one of the most famous women of the Bible, Bathsheba, whose name means daughter, the seventh daughter,  or daughter of opulence. She was a woman whose beauty resulted in adultery and murder. She came from a God-fearing family, the daughter of Eliam, one of King David's gallant officers. She then became the wife of Uriah, the most loyal of David's men. I think you know how David saw Bathsheba bathing on a roof, coveted her, and finally had her husband killed in order to  marry her. You can find the full story in 2 Samuel 11. God was displeased with David, and allowed his son with Bathsheba to die within a week of His birth. this incident with Bathsheba was the only blemish upon David's life. God forgave both of them, blessed them with another son, Solomon, and Bathsheba brought him up with godly diligence.  After that, the Bible is fairly quiet about her. A lesson that we can learn from Bathsheba is that we can be assured of God's forgiveness. She used her mistake as a guide to better conduct. 

Jesus identified Himself to claim His deity. "Jesus told them, "I am the Way and the truth and the Life", no one comes to the Father except through Me," John 14:6. Don't let your hearts be troubled. (John Hannity ends his nightly news broadcast with these words). Jesus told us that in this world we would have troubles.  Jesus himself had a troubled heart. He had the sorrow of losing a loved one, Lazarus. He was troubled when He told Phillip and Andres that His hour had come. He was troubled when He revealed that His disciples would betray Him. It is ok to have a troubled heart. Even in trouble, take heart, for Jesus will overcome the world. We have to trust Jesus as the Son of God. We can be assured of this because He has prepared place for us (John 14:2)/. This world is the land of the dying that we are going to leave for the land of the living. There is a story of a lady with a terminal illness who was giving the undertaker instructions for her funeral. She asked to be buried with a fork in her hand. When asked why, she explained that after a church dinner and before the dessert, she was told to hang on to her fork, as the best is yet to come. She wanted to hang on to her fork and be ready for the best to come. God has promised to come for us. God has provided a way for us to get to Him - through His Son.  Place your trust in Jesus as a way to the Father. Tell others about this. Live your life for Jesus.

This is Palm Sunday when Jesus was praised and welcomed as He rode into Jerusalem. Less than a week later, they demanded His crucifixion. Use this week to focus on the greatest event of all - the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.     

 

                               

Bicycles, Doors and Couches

 What  week this has been! We received two bicycles, 10 wooden doors, and a davenport (couch to those not from the North). These will be so loved and well received by our colonia family. We were pleasantly surprised by a group of missionary kids from Kansas City Christian School who, on their mission trip, gave up their spring break to come to serve in the Valley.  As we made our delivery in the new colonia, we noticed a van in the yard. All of a sudden, the doors opened and the kids piled out. I was totally surprised. Apparently, besides planting gardens for the colonia people, their mission was to help distribute food and other supplies. What a blessing they were as we had a huge load that day. In addition to the normal produce, we received gallons of milk, toilet paper, boxes of Farm to Family boxes containing yoghurt, chicken patties, oranges, potatoes just name a bit of what was in the box. and boxes and crates of canned food. Those kids made short work of unloading and packing boxes. Two girls were assigned to packing donuts with me - one asked if it was ok if she just tied the bags as she did not want to get sticky!

                                                

                                            

                                                               the unloading almost done

                                               

                                                         they had a perfect system going

                                       

                                                          boxes packed and ready to go           

                                            

                                                              

                                                     at least I did not have to pack these on Tuesday 

                                                  

                                                              Ida and Brother Sandoval loading vehicles

After we finished there, we drove to one of our suppliers to pick up individual packets of oatmeal, as well as more canned goods. Well, this was a first for me, as the big tote of oatmeal was almost empty and someone had to climb into the tote to pack the oatmeal in boxes to deliver on Friday. Guess who was the one doing the climbing - yep me .Now that was really a video worth watching!!

                                                                

                                                   picture of the oatmeal packets while standing in the tote

                 

                                                     finally crawled into the tote - getting out was another story                                   

Then on Friday the kids showed up again to help - I forgot to take a picture of the raised garden they planted at this home.                              

                                            Many more boxes packed - you can see the resident dog who was blessed                                                                  with a flea collar. 

                                                            The kids busy at work. 

Before we left, we prayed for these kids, who are learning how to serve the Lord, and the blessings that they themselves receive from it.. 

Almost next door to where we were distributing, this house has burned the night before - a family of 8 made it out safely, but as you can see it was a total loss. Someone was there, so a box of food and supplies were delivered to them, also. 

There were 3 ladies in the Bible whose name was similar - Bashemath, Basemath, and Bashemath, who names meant fragrant or perfumes 9 balsam). Bashmath was one of the wives of Esau, who was also called the daughter of Elon the Hittite. Esau married her out of spite because his father was not pleased with his other wives who were among the daughters of Canaan. Basemath was the daughter of Ishmael, and the last of Esau's wives according to Edomite genealogy. They had a son named Renel, from whom 4 Edomite tribes were descended. Bashemath was the daughter of Solomon who became the wife of Ahimaaz, one of the king's tax collectors at Naphtali. 

Matt Tibbet, the youth minister at our home church in Arkansas delivered the message this morning continuing in the book of John. Matt gave us a background of verse 10 by explaining the shepherds. They were one of the three most common professions in Israel. It was the lowest of professions as they could ont observe the Sabbath as they had to continuously tend to the sheep. They were considered unreligious and unclean. A shepherd knew the names of his sheep and they knew the sound of his voice. Therefore, he could lead his his sheep and they would follow him. He led them to a pen at night (usually a high stone fence of some sort) and actually slept in the gate opening to keep out predators and keep the sheep in. There were  usually more than one flock of sheep in these pens and more than one shepherd. In the morning, because the sheep knew the sound of their master's voice, they would all follow their own shepherd. Jesus had healed a blind man near the temple,  and everyone was talking about it. The Pharisees were mad, because they seemed to be losing their power, and claimed Jesus was wrong because He healed Him on a Sabbath day. That seems to be the world today - those in power do not like to face the truth and try to lure us into the ways of the world. Thieves and robbers (the Pharisee type folks) do not come i by the gate - they sneak in at night - just as those who tried to steal the sheep. That is why the shepherd slept in the gate opening. The sheep would not follow a stranger, only their master and someone who would come through the gate. The person you can trust comes through the gate. Jesus said that He was the gate - if you want peace and rest come through the gate. He said He is the good shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep. He tells His people not to listen to the world but to trust Him. We have a good shepherd whose way is good for us even of the world tries to lure us astray, but that way is the road to destruction. We have to know our shepherd's voice. We can only do so by not spending so much time listening to the world through news and media and spending more time in church and in the Word. Do not listen to any voice in the world that does not come through the gate. the voice of the world promises false happiness. Stop dancing with the wolves. If you have been listening to the voice of the world get back to the Lord. We as believers need to listen to the Shepherd's voice and come running to Him and to follow Him because we trust Him. 

Peeps Update

I am sure you all are getting tired of my Peeps addiction. Guess if that is my worst vice, you can forgive me. The latest Peeps news - there is a Peeps cereal! No, I have not tried it and do not intend to. I assume it is probably like Lucky Charms. If any of you try it let me know what you think. 

                                                        here it is - available at Wal-Mart

     We again had an awesome week n the colonias - full loads of food and other items on both days. On top of that, we received many donations all week long - we even received 4 cases of hand sanitizer as well as over 50 Farm to Family boxes containing yoghurt, potatoes, apples, precooked chicken patties and more. Along with that we also received several cases of gallons of milk. The usual variety of veggies were plentiful along with sliced lunch meat, Jack fruit and cactus. The people just love the cactus - one of our ladies took the left overs and promised to bring me something on Tuesday - either cactus fried with eggs or made into a delicious salad. I bagged two large bags of donuts as well as two bag of kolaches. Then the worst job of all was delegated to me - putting cactus pads into boxes for the people. Oh dear, I had no heavy gloves so I carefully and daintily  picked up the cactus pads, only pricking my fingers a few times. The people just go crazy over this stuff!!!

                                   

                                       I had 4 crates to pack - the  people were so happy

Baara was a Moabite whom Shahariam, a Benjamite, married when he went to the land of Moab. Husbaim was his other wife, Braara's name has an interesting connection and is derived from Beera, meaning to burn. This was an allusion to the  kindling of fires as beacons to announce the appearance of a new moon. She is referenced in I Chronicles 8:8. 

We had our last CRM Chaplains meeting this last Saturday - I cannot believe the season is almost over here in S Texas. A lot of folks have already left and I am sure many more will leave before Easter. Our organization has really been hit with medical problems this year - Satan is not happy with the progress we have made in spreading the Word. One new chaplain had to return to Michigan to receive a liver and kidney transplant, one had a bad reaction to the covid shot, one had 2 knee replacements, while his wife had to return home for medical treatment. Another chaplain's wife is in early stages of dementia. But in spite of all of this, they continue to serve each Sunday with a message from the Lord - some in person and the rest online. It has been trying year for all of them,  but they continue to press on. We said goodbye to those who are not returning and welcomed a few who want to become part of us. If you are interested in serving on the Rio Grande Valley as a chaplain in an RV resort for the winter go to crmintl.org and check it out - an application is available online.

Florence Chadwick was the first woman to swim the English Channel and attempted to swim from Catalina Island to the Coast of California - a distance of about 21 miles. Because of the fog, she quit, not realizing that she was only 1 mile from shore. She lost perspective because she could not see the land. This can happen to us. We have been in a fog for over a year now with nothing but uncertainty in our lives. What do you do when the fog rolls in? We tend to take on a victim mentality - blaming and criticizing, which turns into anxiety.  We feel powerless about the world around us. As Christians, we don't have to tune into this uncertainty. Zoe, the Greek word for life, is what Jesus says He is. " Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life". John 8:12. The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy. They would not accept His deity so they lived in darkness. Jesus loves us so much that He does not want us to live in darkness - He wants to being us into the light. The Jewish people celebrated the Feast of the Tabernacle by living in tents for a week to remind them of their wandering in the desert. The people would parade to the temple and the priests would get water and pour it on the altar. Jesus told them He was the living water. Then they lit 4 huge candelabras to remind them that God was the pillar of light to lead them. It represented the presence of God who was always with them. Jesus again spoke the words that He was the light of the world. This was a radical claim of His deity. Jesus claimed to be God. Light is a metaphor for God. He reveals the truth about God to us. He exposes the truth about us to ourselves. He reveals the sin in us. He reveals the darkness in us. He reveals the truth about God Himself. . He issues a radical command to follow Him. How do we do that? We trust Him as our Savior and recognize Him as the Lord. We have the promise of His presence, protection, and guidance. We have to decide to follow Jesus as our light. We have the promise of His perspective. Florence made another attempt to swim from Catalina to the California coast despite the intense fog. She pressed forward, focusing on the shore because she knew what was on the other side. We keep moving forward because we too know what is on the other side. 

Q Tips Anyone

 We are so very often surprised at the donations that we receive, but I never could imagine that we would receive 132,00 Q-tips!!! 4 huge boxes of 33,000+ bulk Q-tips in each box. I bagged enough for our Friday distribution and the people were so excited to receive them. Yesterday and today I packaged the remaining two boxes. It was a mundane project but went fast as I watched TV and packaged about a quart size bag full for everyone. No, I did not count them - just filled the bag and continued on. As I was filling bags, I got a call from a member of the RC club (remote control cars, trucks, boats, etc.) that there was a  large amount of cooked chicken left over from a dinner they served - did we want it? Of course we did. This afternoon was spent packaging chicken which Fred will take tomorrow. We have opened up distribution in another colonia last Tuesday, so this will be just right for them. We also received 9 nice tables that we are going to be using for distribution. They will be set up tomorrow, and Brother Sandoval will take the chicken around the area to folks that he knows can use it. When it rains, it really pours. God keeps heaping blessings on the ministry!  The reason for opening up a different colonia is for the opportunity to serve a different different group of people in a different area. We were afraid that because of the freeze we had that the supply of produce would slow down, but this last Friday we had the largest supply of produce that we have ever had. Nothing goes to waste - even the 50# bags that the beans come in are used - either as toe sacks (tote bags) or even as insulation or used on the dirt floors as sort of a rug. We also had a small amount of non perishable items as well as those wonderful chili pepper suckers. Honestly they are very good - a mixture of sweet and spicy. We also received 8 adjustable tables that will be just what we need for distribution in both colonias.  

                                             packages of chicken - we received two large containers like this one full!

                                             not a great picture, but these are the great tables we received

a huge load of food - notice the trailer house to the right - a family lives there - there is no front door. 

                                                                    bags of Q-tips I packaged

                                                        this is how they came to us - in a big box

I will try to get pictures of the orchards that were frozen with all of the fruit laying on the ground. It was so sad to see this as we passed orchard after orchard. The growers are most likely insured, but if the trees themselves froze, all is lost. This is the way most of the palms trees look - brown and droopy. The small one in our front yard looks worse. We will wait and see if it comes back. Even the larger, taller ones were frozen. 

                                           

                      perhaps these bordering a driveway will come back - this is the scene everywhere

Azubah #1whose name meant desolation. She was the first wife of Caleb, not Joshua's friend, but one of his descendants. She became the mother of Caleb's sons Jesher, Shobab ,and Ardon. 

Azubah #2 was the daughter of Shilhi, and the wife of King Asa, the third king of Judah. She became the mother of Jehoshaphat, another admirable king despite of the alliances he formed. She was one of the God-fearing women of her times, and a strong religious force in the life of her son. 

Fill in the blank- I am ______ ( happy, sad, a wife, mother, blessed, etc.) This is meant to reveal the truth about yourself. John Chapter 6 reveals who the son of God was - God's son but equal to Him. In Scripture, John seemed to be Jesus' best friend. John's gospel helps us to see Jesus more clearly. We get in trouble today when we say the only way to God is through Jesus. We need to understand what Jesus means when He says He is the bread of Life. He fed 5000 men with 5 barley loaves and 2 fishes. Remember, barley was the flour of the lowly ones - there is a significance there. Because He gave the people free food, they wanted to make Him king - that way He could continue giving them free food. Jesus left the crowd and went to the other side of the sea - while on the way He calmed the stormy water. The crowd found out when He went and followed Him, wanting to be fed again. But Jesus told them not to look for them eternal things of life but for food that endures eternal life. They wanted to know what to do to get more. Jesus told them to do the work of God and to believe and trust in Him. Jesus told them that He was the bread of life after they asked Him to give them the bread from God. They began to grumble as they knew Jesus from his parents and wondered how He could say that He came down from heaven. We can know about Jesus but not really know Him. The people began to argue about having flesh to eat. Jesus meant we were to digest who Jesus really was and make Him a part of our lives. Jesus used the bread as a metaphor of Himself. He must be central, our everything to bring us life in Him. Don't run after things that will spoil or control your life. Everything other than Jesus is spoiled bread. Only Jesus can give you a true life - you need to die for yourself in order to live. Follow Jesus' way - a sacrificial life. Many people quit following Him after He told them this. It was lonely for Jesus and it may be lonely for you to follow Him. If we leave His teaching, where do we go?   Be in the Word every day, be in worship with others.