We have started adult Bible studies in our house Friday nights and Sunday evenings. Last night a young lady, about sixteen years old, knelt in our living room and prayed to be saved. We thank the Lord! Please pray for Karen as we start to disciple her. She doesn't know how to read. We hope to try to teach her to read as we teach her the things of God. We really need your prayers. Praise God for this new believer!

This is our church sound man. As you can see he takes his job seriously.

We have started a new theme in Sunday school. The Fruits of the Spirit. It has been going very good. We have a tree on the wall where we put a new fruit each Sunday and then on the opposite wall we have a big ugly tree where we put a fruit of the flesh. God has been helping us. Please pray for these precious children who have been attending the class.

This past Wednesday we invited some of our friends over for a Jordanian meal. Hannah did a terrific job preparing, uzzie, humus, falafel and a peanut butter and jelly pie to top it all off. I helped by grilling some beef kabobs. We had a good time.

I would appreciate your prayers in behalf of a man I have been visiting, his name is Jorge. About a month ago he was taken to the hospital with a bleeding hemorrage that would not stop. The doctors didn't know what to do, people began to pray and God did a miracle. He really touched Jorge. The doctors were stunned, to this day they still are not sure what happened.

Through all this I got to know him and his family. I had the chance to tell him and his children about salvation. God really helped me. Being a Catholic this experience has opened his heart and now we have become good friends. Right now he is Houston, Texas to be checked out by the doctors to make sure everything is ok. Would you please pray for him that God would continue to speak to his heart and open him to the gospel.

Saturday afternoon I headed for Sicuatepeque, a town two hours from us. I was to preach a weekend revival. Saturday night heavy rains hindered some from come to the service but nevertheless God really helped us. The singing was heart-felt, the guitar duo did a great job, and God helped me to preach.

Sunday morning on our way to the house we came upon a very terrible scene. Early in the morning about 2 a.m. a taxi driver had hit a man in the street. The brake marks were long and clear. Apparently he had hit the man and totally ran over him dragging his body. When we arrived on the scene it was about 8 a.m. this man had been laying there for about 6 hours dead. A small group of people had gathered, along with some of the man`s family who had died. I watched as a pickup truck backed up and several men loaded the body. The women were sobbing, one almost became uncontrollable, screaming not to take him. Tears filled my eyes. It was so sad. I had never seen anything like this in my life. Who was this man who had died? Did he know Jesus? Who is going to help this grieving family? Will the taxi driver ever be brought to justice? It was a gripping scene.

We went on to the Sunday morning service. Despite a sad and sickening morning God met with us once again. Pastor Roger Ortiz brought the morning message, talking about the family, it was a very good message. That afternoon we came to the pastors house where we enjoyed a good meal. All the food was cooked on a adobe stove. It was really good. What was especially tasty was the coffee, the pastor`s wife had a special way of making the coffee over the fire. It was great.


One of the games the children like to play here is the wooden top. Roger showed us his skill in being able to throw the top and catch it in his hands. I didn`t try my hand at it but it was neat to watch.

Sunday night was a wonderful service. God helped me to preach a message on Holiness. God`s presence was real. The people listened very attentively and at the end of the message I opened it up for questions. Some of the questions asked had to do with, can we sin again after we receive Holiness? Why do we need Holiness? Etc. After the questions I asked if anyone would like to pray and receive Holiness. Eight people came forward to pray. With tears streaming down their eyes, we gathered together and had a really good prayer time. It was so refreshing. It was a beautiful ending to a very wonderful weekend. Thank God for his help. It`s time to celebrate the victories!

I would appreciate an extra prayer for a weekend revival I will preaching starting tomorrow night. I will have the pleasure of preaching in Spanish, pray that it will go ok. The revival will be held in a new house church that has recently started about two hours from here. Hannah and Joseph will be holding down the fort while I`m gone and Hannah will be teaching the Sunday school class. She would appreciate your prayers as well. More updates to come. Have a great weekend.

Breaker breaker 1-9 this is the big JZ calling churchmouse. Are you there grandpa? I got a smokey sittin' up here on the left so takr' easy.
Be sure to use that jake break on these rough roads its not like driving in the states over and out.

Feliz Cumpleaños hermano. Me gustaria celebrar con usted pero no puedo. Lo siento. Ojala tiene muchos mas años. Lo merece un dia muy especial.

Dios le bendiga

Really this story started yesterday when I saw my gas light was on in the car. Now I know many think that I`m irresponsible and sometimes probably so. One memory that haunts me was the time I ran out of gas on the way to school in my Ford Escort. Having that story in the back of my head I stopped yesterday to put gas in the car. However, they didn´t have any regular. Here, you never know when they will have gas sometimes they do and sometimes they don`t. This was one of those days they didn`t which added to a long list of other frustrating things that had taken place that day as well. Anyways I tried, so just remember that, I did try to put gas in the car. So, today I went to visit a man in the hospital. When I had nearly arrived at the hospital the car began to chug up a hill. I knew it was now a crisis point. I remembered passing a Texaco at the bottom of the hill so I quick did a u-turn, shut off the engine and coasted to the bottom. At the bottom of the hill was a red light, of course I stopped. But when it was time to go, it wouldn´t start. Thankfully I could coast from the red light all the way to the gas station, where we had just enough pep to coast right up to the pump. Whew, thank the Lord we made it. So the attendant came to tell me they were...out of gas!! They only had diesel. NO way! I couldn´t believe this. By this time it was softly raining. The guy told me there was another Texaco about a block away. He gave me an empy Coke bottle and off I went. Thankfully, this station did have gas. I was able to get back, pour that beautiful gasoline into my car and get to the next station. So, in part it was my fault, but not 100%. I did try to put gas in the car before it came to a crisis, but hey, they just didn´t have gas at the pump.

This is Joseph´s new cheesy smile.

We enjoyed getting to know pastor Luis Manuel. We were introduced to him through a friend. He was a pastor with World Gospel Mission for many years until he went to the states seven years ago. He recently had to return to fix his paper work so he can remain pastoring a Nazarene church in Wisconsin. He is a great singer and wrote many of his own songs that he has recorded on a cd. A tremendous guy!

October 1st kicked off the Christmas season. It was a bit of a shock to see lights, trees and manger scenes. But as you can see the baby Jesus won`t be there for another two months. Merry Christmas everyone!

If anyone is really interested in travel, I would highly recommend http://www.travellerspoint.com/ You can upload your own photography, find really cheap motels, start your own travel blog and even plan a custom made trip around the world. They have a special deal right now from New York City around the world for about $2,000. It`s a great place, check it out.

I've been tagged as well so here it goes.

1. I've called three different countries "Home." I've moved 10 times in my life 8 in the last 10 years.
2. My dream car is a Red Corvet Convertible.
3. When I was a 5 or 6 years old my dad would bring home chicken hearts for me to dissect because i wanted to be a Dr.
4. I've done a lot of falling through the air. The first time was when I bungie jumbed on my senior tirp. The other was when I came through the attic cieling at Beavertown Church.
5. I've gotten 4 speeding tickets in one year. 3 of them within 2 months. One of them I got right in front of the Beavertown parsonage with Bro. Plank Eric and Doug laughing at me. Oh yeah That was also the time that the God's Bible School Choir was singing at the church and the choir bus went passed me as I was talking to the policeman. Talking about the policeman he was the same one that had given me a warning the week before.
6. I'm going to be an aunt again. Ask my sister Sarah about that.
7. I would love to travel around the world some day. I would love to visit the Taj Majal, Great Wall of China, Irland, New Zeland..... the list could go on and on.

1. I was born with a hole in my heart. At the age of eight I was anointed at my church and God completely healed me.

2. I preached my first sermon at the age of twelve.

3. I won the school geography bee when I was in eighth grade. I still remember the question and answer. The question had something to do about which country had recently tested a nuclear missile on a deserted island. The answer was France. Thanks to a recent discussion I had had with my older brother Scott. That was the clincher.

4. I have traveled to at least 13 different countries.

5. I love to eat peanut butter on just about anything. Such things as bananas, pancakes, cookies, and even corn-on-the-cob mmmmm yummy.

6. My first date with Hannah was on September 11, 2001

7. I have several autographs in my Bible. C. Helen Mooshian, Larry Smith, and Leonard Sankey.

There you have several random things about my life.

I thought I was prepared for this exciting trip to Belize. I had called the boat agency found out times of departure, price of tickets, and had asked if they went to Belize City which they said they did. Well, when we arrived at the port I was wondering where the big boat was. I was expecting like a ferry or at least a large cargo ship. Wrong! We were met with a little twenty passenger tour boat with a little tarp roof over half the back of the boat. And no they didn't go to Belize City only to Dangriga, 3 hours south of Belize City!! I couldn't believe this. Well what else could we do. So I quick made phone calls to Belize and made arrangements that we would have to take a bus to Belize City once we got to Dangriga which I had never heard of before in my life.

Hannah and Joseph had to sit in the back because it was too dangerous up front. So they sat in the back and I was right up front on the side with a rope rubbing my knee. The sky was overcast with a 40% chance of rain and we were about to embark on a three hour journey across the open sea. I was really praying. All the luggage was piled in the front of the boat including some bikes. That was my front view throughout the duration of the trip. Well we took off. The wind was picking up and our little boat was ramping about 3 to 4 foot waves. It was amazing. The water was splashing over the side onto my arm. My sleeve was soaked on the first ten minutes of the ride. What would the next three hours entail?

Well the closer we got to Belize the calmer the water became. We passed some beautiful little islands. A few had people living on them. It was just gorgeous.

So we arrived in a little town called Dangriga. We got info on buses leaving for Belize City and also where we might find a room. We got a nice little room for $35 with a balcony overlooking the ocean. It was great. It was also close to the bus station where we took our bus the following morning. So thankfully, everything worked out.

Our first part of the trip was a visit to Crooked Tree. What a thrill to get to see all of our old friends. It had been two or three years since we were last there. Everyone is doing good. This was Joseph's first visit and there was a quick bond between him and the people of Crooked Tree. They didn't want him to leave and he didn't want to leave either. We had a really good time.

There are four Holiness churches along the Guatemalan border of Belize that have now been handed over to Hope International Missions. Part of the reason for our trip to Belize was to preach, build relations with these new pastors and help in the transition efforts of the mission. We met up with our Spanish director doctor Glenn Reiff, and a Spanish pastor Rigoberto Vasquez who pastors in Fort Meyers, Florida. God blessed our trip. It was a joy to get to know these five pastors and their families.

Pastor Honorio and his family.

Joseph clowning around in the mission house.

Enjoying a swinging bridge at the Green Iguana Park. We did see a lot of iguanas there too.

The work in Belize also comes with two Christian day schools. Here are some pics of the teachers and some of the students from the Santa Familia Christian school. They are doing a great job.

Our boat trip home was much nicer. The boat was bigger and was roofed, much more comfortable. However, I was almost left behind. As I took the picture of the dock, the captain was firing up the engines and within minutes had the boat undocked and was headed out to sea. I quickly ran up to the men on the dock and told them I was going on the boat. Thankfully they got the captains attention and he came back for me. It was a close call. I took this picture of the boat from the dock as they were trying to get turned around to come back for me.

On our boat trip we got to meet a very nice guy named jas. He was born in India and as a young boy his family had moved to Canada where he grew up. He had been visiting a friend in Belize but also wanted to visit Honduras a few days. Since he didn't know anybody in Honduras we helped him out. We gave him a few pointers, took him with us to San Pedro Sula where we had supper together and dropped him off at a nice hotel. He was very appreciative of our help. We really enjoyed getting to know him. We exchanged emails and phone numbers. Hopefully we will keep in touch.