Praying for Bonnie in Brazil

Bonnie is on her two-week mission trip to Brazil. We hope to post pictures and a blog entry when she gets back home.

Although this is Bonnie’s sixth mission trip (fourth international trip), this is her first time as a co-leader of a team. The team of eleven are from Ben and Bonnie’s church. The mission team will be visiting schools and holding events for children in association with Open Arms Brazil.

Most of the kids they will be working with come from broken homes or are orphans. The children often get involved in crime, drugs, and prostitution at an unthinkably young age. Pray that God would rescue them and they would give their lives to God (as many have in the past and are now working with Open Arms).

Pray that God would guide Bonnie and Joe (the other leader) and their decisions. Pray that the team would be unified, safe, and healthy. (Bonnie had a cold before she left.) Pray for safety in traveling and that God would prepare the hearts of the children they work with.

Thank you for praying for her.

NOTE: This photo is from a mission trip she took to Ethiopia in 2008.

Ben’s Engaged

We’re very happy to announce Ben’s engagement to Bonnie Jones.

On October 23rd, Ben took Bonnie around to all the places that were special in their relationship. Then, as they were cruising down the Potomac, he got down on one knee and presented a beautiful engagement ring to her. Ben took this photo right afterwards with his phone with Bonnie happily showing off her ring.

This past week, they asked Josh to be the best man and asked Jenn to be a bridesmaid. We’ll all be heading to Virginia for a beautiful wedding on May 14th next year.

So… you’ll obviously be seeing more about Bonnie and getting to know her on our blog! She’s a pediatric nurse and is going on a missions trip this December. This will be Bonnie’s sixth mission trip (fourth international trip). We’ll post pictures when she gets back from Brazil.

We’re delighted to see how God has answered prayers and brought a lovely and godly woman into Ben’s life.

Ben’s Post on Haiti

Ben with Haitian kids

Guest Post from Ben about his mission trip to Haiti…

Thank you so much for keeping my team and me in your mind and in your prayers while we were in Haiti. The trip went very well, and God answered all our prayers. Only one person on the team was sick while we were in country, and then only for one day. Also, while the heat was intense at times, we had plenty of water and energy. We interacted and spent time with many children and adults, and passed out food and hygiene kits at several locations. In addition, we had enough energy to assist the missionaries we were staying with by removing rubble from the earthquake so they could complete the re-building of the walls around the compound.

Ben distributing hygiene kits

A typical day in Haiti begins with the sunrise, or just before it, when the birds begin calling. After breakfast, we would go to a “tent city” (an area of people living in tents because their homes were destroyed). The children gathered to watch us sing to them, enact stories from the Bible, and teach us some songs. We played games with them, gave them piggy-back rides, and kicked soccer balls around. After we passed out lunch to the kids, we went back to the missionary compound we were staying at (the missionaries we were working with were David and Beth Watters, who work for World Hope International). Some days we helped them out by clearing rubble so they could finish rebuilding the wall around the compound for security.

The children loved this re-enactment of David and Goliath

Other days, children from the nearby fishing village came over to play with us. Many of the children we saw were under-nourished or worse, but they all had a great deal of joy, even in the midst of destruction and poverty. One of the things that touched me the most was the enthusiasm the kids had to help us out when we were working. They had an energetic work ethic that motivated us to work even harder. At the end of each day, we were tired, but gathered together to reflect on the day and on what God was teaching us.

Children helping rebuild the wall

“The people here don’t need your pity; they need your love.” In addition to sharing her inspiring testimony, Beth shared the above wisdom on how best to serve the people of Haiti. Please pray for the children we spent time with, that God would provide for their needs and protect them. Please pray for David, Beth, our translators, Wilner and Wilson, and all the other workers in Haiti who are trying to show love to everyone around them. And please pray for the country, that God would begin to turn things around and the people would get the aid they need.

How much can you load on to a truck?

NOTE: See more photos when you visit our family’s online photo albums. Visit this earlier post to learn more about what God is doing in Haiti.

Moving Josh to Aiken

We had a great four-day trip to help Josh settle in for his first job after college.

The movers picked up his things on Thursday, August 26th. We drove about eight hours on Friday to South Carolina and shopped for some things Saturday. The movers arrived at 8 PM on Saturday. Twenty-four hours later, we had assembled the IKEA furniture Josh had purchased in Orlando and had most everything unpacked. So, we just had enough time to do everything we thought of to help him. (The photo is of Mike and Josh celebrating with some root beer floats on Sunday night, using Josh’s new table.)

As we were driving back home on Monday, we were near St. Augustine around dinner time and decided to stop. So, we walked around the town a bit and ate delicious fajitas at Acapulco Mexican restaurant overlooking the harbor and the Castillo de San Marcos. It’s always a treat to stroll around St. Augustine!

Thank you for praying for Josh’s new job and for a safe move. We could see God’s hand behind many of the details in getting a job, finding an apartment, and moving.

Related Post:
Sus had an opportunity to get into a bit of a spiritual conversation with the two men who moved Josh’s things. Read more…

Ben in Haiti

Ben just returned from a week-long trip to Haiti. Thank you for praying for him on his first missions trip. He said the people were awesome. You can read about his trip and see a few more photos here and/or see additional photos on our family’s online photo album.

You might also like to read Miracles in Haiti and be encouraged about what God is doing!

Click here for information about Haiti and about Campus Crusade for Christ’s ministry and opportunities in Haiti.

Tim Tebow

You are probably aware of the pre-game uproar about the two Super Bowl ads featuring Tim Tebow, University of Florida’s quarterback, and his mother, Pam. After watching these two commercials, I felt many would enjoy and appreciate them and the naysayers were pre-judging the content.

If you have ten minutes, you would probably be very interested in the back-story for the Tebow family at Focus on the Family. Click on The Tebow Story for a video interview with Tim Tebow’s parents as they reveal God’s hand on Tim’s life even before he was conceived. I could not help but think of Psalm 139.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
~ Psalm 139: 13 – 16 (NIV)

For more on the Tebow family, see this post about Tim and this one about Peter Tebow.

Related posts: on Gainesville.

Christmas in Erie

Click here for a photo album of our trip. Then click on “slideshow” in the upper left corner.

We had a great time and God took care of us when we had to deal with some nasty traffic conditions both coming and going. Read more…

Lily, Elaine, and Ivy

Jenny made friends with three Taiwanese girls while working at Sea World this past summer. One friend, Lily, asked if she could go to church with Jenny. Elaine had been in a church service once before in Taiwan. Lily and Ivy had never been.

Today, we picked up Lily, Elaine, and Ivy and took them to First Baptist of Orlando, which has 14,000 members and has a 130-acre campus. They were impressed how big the church was, but it certainly was not a typical church experience!

The girls are leaving Orlando soon to spend some time in Washington, D.C. before returning home.

A Side of Florida Few Know

I am sitting at the kitchen table with a laptop instead of using my computer in the family room. I can see the family room from here and am hoping a small skink (lizard) will follow the trail of tiny romaine lettuce leaves I put down from the sofa to the porch door. I also am praying something else doesn’t come in while I have the door open a crack!

Also, a few weeks ago, a small frog got in the house right when we were trying to pack the car and take Jenny to college. I wanted to catch it, or chase it out while we knew where it was. Once we left, it could be anywhere! After a few failed attempts, we were finally able to scoot the frog out the front door.

One of the hazards of living in Florida!

Jenny’s Summer Jobs

Halfway through the summer, Jenny landed two part-time jobs. She sold merchandise at Sea World and also had a desk job at Campus Crusade’s headquarters.

One day, as she reported to work at Sea World, she got totally drenched. The wardrobe office gave her a change of uniform and a raincoat.

Jenn commented how different her two jobs were. One, where she was on her feet for hours, and the other in an office cubicle. She was glad to finally find work and had fun working in both places. She especially enjoyed working with the ladies in one of Campus Crusade’s donations departments.