Political Crisis in Honduras
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Monday, 29 June 09 - 10:52 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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I'm sure most of you have heard about the political crisis in Honduras. I wanted to post a quick update to let you know that we are doing well and are having a great week of ministry. We have two mission teams in Honduras this week. John Sessions is leading a team in Santa Fe, El Paraiso (on the border of Nicaragua) and Amy and I are leading a team to Guinope (a rural village about 1.5 hours east of the capital). Every thing is calm and tranquil here in rural Honduras. People here are talking about it, the Christians are praying and we're certain that other Christians all over the world are praying for the situation.
We have been in touch with our friends in Tegucigalpa daily and they say things are relatively calm there too. As you know, the news reports focus on the sensational and the small pockets of protest are what is getting the most coverage. The rumor mill is also alive and well too so don't believe everything you hear. The truth is, it's not as bad right now as the news is making it out to be. People are still flying into Honduras and the country is operating as normal as possible.
This is a volitile situation because Hugo Chavez is a friend of "former" president Zelaya. With that in mind, please be in prayer for the Christian missionary teams all over Honduras and for those scheduled to come. We have almost 40 North Americans here in Honduras this week and another 10 scheduled to arrive on Friday. We know God is in control and we are trusting Him in this situation.
LTW Summer Staff - Jared Marshall
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Saturday, 06 June 09 - 01:48 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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This will be the third year that Jared Marshall has joined us as part of our Honduras summer staff. Jared is a very talented musician and has a servants heart. He helps lead worship for our team and when we are in Tegucigalpa he helps lead worship at Iglesia Renacer. We're excited about Jared joining our summer staff for 2009. Please pray that God will continue to reveal His will to Jared.
LTW Summer Staff - Abby Brack
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Friday, 29 May 09 - 03:59 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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Why am I introducing our summer staff to you? So that you will pray for them. You can save their prayer cards to your computer and print them out if you like. That way you will have a visual reminder to pray for them during their time in Honduras.
Today I introduce to you, Abby Brack. This summer Abby will be returning as part of our summer staff. In 2007 she was a mission team member from her church (Calvary Baptist, Gastonia) and a part of our summer staff in 2008. Abby just graduated from Gaston Christian School and will be attending North Greenville University in August. Abby feels like God is calling her into some type of missions ministry. Please pray that God will continue to reveal His will for her life during our time in Honduras this summer. Pray that God will use Abby in a mighty way to impact the lives of our mission team members and to the Honduran people with whom and to whom we'll minister this summer.
Earthquake in Honduras
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Thursday, 28 May 09 - 08:04 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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By now most of you have heard that a 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Honduras. The epicenter of the quake was off the northern coast but it was felt as far away as Tegucigalpa and even Mexico. At the time of this writing 6 people have been confirmed dead because of the quake and Honduran officials expect the death toll to rise over the next couple days.
I talked with Daniel Gomez and he said he was awakened around 2:30 a.m. with his bed shaking in the middle of the night. Even though they were over 200 miles from the epicenter he said pictures were knocked off their walls. I haven't spoken with my friends in San Pedro Sula, but I have heard they are all well. I'm sure the "shaking" was much worse there due to the fact that they were only 100 miles from the epicenter.
Although the earthquake was a tragic event for the country of Honduras, it will not affect our summer mission trips. The areas where we are ministering were not affected by the quake.
Please, however, pray for those who lost loved ones and for those who will be ministering in those areas this week and in the weeks to come. Our children's pediatrician is going on a mission trip to Honduras tomorrow and would have crossed the bridge pictured above to get to the village where they will be ministering. Because of the quake now they will have to take an alternate route that will add three more hours to their journey. Our prayer is that God will be glorified through yet another natural disaster for this poor country. In the words of Daniel Gomez, "The shaking of the earth reveals how powerful our God is. Maybe those who don't know Him personally will come to know Him through this earthquake."
LTW Summer Staff - Kristen Griffin
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Wednesday, 27 May 09 - 03:44 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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Over the next couple days I will be introducing our summer missions staff. I'm starting today with Kristen because she has a specific prayer need before we go to Honduras. I know many of you who read my blog are praying people. I'm asking you to intercede on for Kristen because she has a physical need that may keep her from going to Honduras.
Kristen, like our daughter Mariah, is hearing impaired. She has a cochlear implant and a hearing aid. For the past week or so Kristen has been having trouble with her implant. The worst case scenario is that the internal device is failing. If that is the case it will keep her from being on mission in Honduras this summer. Please pray that the problem with her implant is minor and that her audiologist will be albe to fix the problem before we are scheduled to leave for Honduras (June 10). Thanks in advance for your prayers on Kristen's behalf.
Kristen lives in Swannanoa, NC and this will be her first time in Honduras. She has been on an international mission trip to Bolivia. She is a member of Montreat Presbyterian Church. Kristen is a gymnastics instructor and was our daughter Makenzie's instructor when she was in the 3 year old class. She attends East Carolina University. We are excited about Kristen being a part of the Louder Than Words 2009 summer staff.
Honduras Fashion Shoot
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Monday, 11 May 09 - 09:07 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Orphan Care |
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I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I guess I've had blogger's block. I decided tonight that I would post a few pictures from one of our orphan camps last month. One of our crafts was making tie dyed t-shirts. It was my first time making tie dyed t-shirts, and we had lots of fun! We decided to take our group photo in our shirts and while we were waiting on everyone to get ready I decided to do an impromtu sibling group photo shoot. These are a few from that shoot. Enjoy . . .
Orphan Camps 2009
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Tuesday, 31 March 09 - 01:01 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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Words cannot express my excitement as I prepare to leave for Honduras on Saturday. I get the privilege of spending the week with some of my favorite people in the world! I, along with John Sessions, Bobby and Maridith Lane, and a team from Hillside UMC in Woodstock, GA, will be putting on a children's camp for the children of Faith, Hope and Love Orphanage in Tegucigalpa. This will be the second year the kids of FHL have been to camp. As their director told me in January, "From the youngest to the oldest, they all said that the camp was the highlight of their year." Wow, It was one of the highlights of my year too!
If you think about it, or as you read this please say a prayer for us as we minister in the fields of the fatherless next week. Also pray for me as I try to shoot some video for an upcoming promo we'll be doing to raise awareness of our orphan camps and to recruit future teams. I'll try to post some pictures from the camp if I can find an internet cafe in Zambrano, Honduras.
BTW . . . I'll be in Honduras April 4-11 and Amy and Madison will be there April 11 - 18. Pray for us as we will trade off with our kids for those weeks. For those who don't read Spanish our camp logo reads: Camp Hope: Laugh, Learn, Play.
Kids are so literal . . .
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Thursday, 26 March 09 - 05:32 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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Funny thing happened this afternoon. David pinched his finger in the front door. No, that wasn't really the funny part. The funny part came after he stopped crying when he said, "Dad can I call Daniel and tell him I've got gangblue!" To which I replied laughingly, "You've got what?" "Gangblue . . . see," showing me his bruised finger. I guess he's heard us tell Daniel that he's going to get gangrene (I had to look up how to spell it) if he didn't keep a wound clean. So, it made sense to him . . . and to me . . . David's got gangblue!
Distractions in Worship . . .
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Sunday, 08 March 09 - 03:39 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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I must admit I'm often easily distracted. One of my sisters says I have ADD. I took a test one time and scored really high (not a good thing), but I promise I've never taken Ritalin (maybe I need it now and then). I confess I find myself easily distracted in worship. Call it ADD or blame it on the Devil, but it was really bad today. Here are a couple things I noticed this morning . . .
Someone spilled their coffee on the second row. It was not a small spill by any means. It was more like 12 oz.'s of a 14 oz. mug! I noticed a lady on the second row and other lady and her husband on the third row cleaning it up. It took a couple trips to the restroom to get enough paper towels to get it clean. Near the end of the service I noticed a guy on the front row reach under his chair and take a drink from the cup. I don't think he ever realized that he had knocked his own cup over and that three people behind him cleaned it up! It was an act of selfless service by those who cleaned it up. It also made me wonder if he thought someone behind him had drank his coffee during worship!
I also noticed a "worship invasion" on the front row. It happened during the singing of How Great is Our God. There was an elderly man on the front row who was "caught up into another realm" (I thought of Paul being taken up into the 3rd heaven as this guy worshipped). He was lifting both hands and swaying side to side, but the thing that struck me most was that his "neighbor in worship" was leaning on his wife or girlfriend. Why was he leaning, because his "worshipping neighbor" was all over him! At one point the elderly man lost his balance and bumped into his "neighbor". I'm assuming they knew each other, but it made me think about personal and corporate natures of worship and if there is anything like "worship etiquite".
The other thing that caught my eye and my thinking this morning was that two of the moving stage lights were pointing straight down making a spotlight over a couple worshippers. I'm not sure it was intentional, but it was kind of like God shining a celestial spotlight down on two individuals. One was standing there with there motionless singing and the other was raising her hands as she sang praises to God. Now I was not judging their worship by their outward actions, but it just triggered my ADD.
All in all it was a great day of worship at Bethlehem Church. The music was awesome and Pastor Dickie preached a great Gospel, salvation message and people responded outwardly to both aspects of worship. Why did I write all of this? I just needed to get it off my chest. I guess it's like going into the public confession booth! Or maybe it's like updating our facebook status with what we ate last night and how we are listening to the new U2 CD.
Who really cares that my ADD kicks in during worship and that I drank Honduran coffee this morning before church. Someone must care because we keep blogging and updating our Facebook status. Ok, I've got to stop blogging and get ready for church. My small group is meeting to discuss Tom Davis' book Fields of the Fatherless . . . why did I just tell you that?
For my non-Facebook friends
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Wednesday, 04 March 09 - 11:27 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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I know I've been a horrible blogger lately. It's probably due to my feeling like a bear. I really need to get rid of some of this winter weight. It's made me a bit lazy when it comes to keeping up my blog. For those of you who've seen these pictures on Facebook I apologize in advance. These are for my non-Facebook friends - a few shots of my girls . . . .
A little video of Mariah
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Thursday, 19 February 09 - 03:10 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Cochlear Implants |
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As many of you know, our daughter is deaf, but was implanted with cochlear implants almost a year ago. The following video is of her trying to talk (repeat) and simply "hamming it up" for the camera. At times I had the camera's viewfinder turned where she could see it. I'm sure you can pick out those parts. Enjoy . . .
Who is John Rosemond?
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Wednesday, 18 February 09 - 10:52 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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WARNING: Long post . . . but it does have a little humor along the way.
Who is John Rosemond? If you would have asked me that question on Sunday of this week I would have answered, "I have no idea, I've never heard of him!" That was before I heard him speak at Grace Anglican Church on Monday night.
The guy is a best selling author on the subject of children and parenting. He's been on GMA, 20/20, O'Reilly, The View and Focus on the Family. He travels 9 months of the year speaking all across the country . . . and he lives right here in Gastonia!
Why did we go hear him speak? We went because Amy's mother bought us tickets. What? Your mother-in-law bought you tickets to a parenting seminar? Yes, she had read his latest book, she was his kids nurse when they were little and the proceeds went to support the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Gastonia.
Was I excited about going? Not really, after all it was being held in the chapel of a local funeral home! I told Daniel before we left that we were going to this parenting conference at the funeral home so we could learn how not to kill our kids! Maybe I did need a parenting seminar after a statement like that?
I was a little more comforted when we walked in and saw one of our neighbors, but when I saw Mariah's Sunday School teacher I thought, "Oh no, is she hear to learn how to deal with my child?"
Enough of the small talk . . . the seminar was incredible! It was just common sense stuff. No tips, tricks and formulas for raising kids, just common sense stuff. Really, it could be described as "old fashioned" parenting methods. He talked a lot about how psychology had ruined parenting in the last 35-40 years. He also reminded us, more than once, that he was a psychologist.
Ok, I know I've lost most of the people who started reading this, but if you've stuck it out this far, I'll give you one of the things he shared with us. "Let your yes be yes and your no be no!" Sounds biblical? Well, it is. Jesus said it in Matthew 5:37. He asked the question, "How many of you knew that when your parents said something you knew they meant it?" I think every hand in the room went up. He then asked, "Do your children know that your yes means yes and your no means no?" ONE hand went up! We bargain with our kids way too much!
He ended the seminar with this statement, "When you walk into the house tonight call the kids together and declare, 'It's over!'" Our kids were at Amy's parents. So I walked in the door and declared, "Kids, it's over! If you don't like it, take it up with Mimi because she paid for it!"
If you want to know more about John Rosemond you can check him out at www.rosemond.com.
The Tooth Fairy and the Failing Economy
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Saturday, 07 February 09 - 09:59 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in General |
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I thought I was going to fall down the stairs I laughed so hard. As we went up for be the other night we discovered a note Daniel had left for us. He had lost a tooth and we told him he wasn't going to get anything because he'd been talking trash about the tooth fairy. I couldn't resist writing a reply.
Why would he ask for $4? Well, last week David lost a tooth and the tooth fairy left him $2. He was a little disappointed the next morning and I asked him what was wrong. He said, "I thought that was a $4 tooth!" I'm not sure even in a good economy that there are $4 teeth. Who knows, maybe with the Obama "stimulus package" even the tooth fairy will see better days?
I must confess I was a little disappointed in the spelling mistakes, but I was reminded the next day that even high school students make spelling mistakes. I saw yet another facebook status update using the word "tomarrow."
My New Car . . .
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Tuesday, 03 February 09 - 10:25 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Ministry |
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. . . well, it's new to me! Some of you may know that I had a tragic month of December. My computer died, my passport died, and my car died. I had to travel to DC to get a new passport and found out when I landed in DC that my car was not worth repairing. That was good and bad news. Good in that fact that it was a V-8 Suburban and was addicted to Gasoline! I called a friend from the Baltimore airport on my way back from DC and was telling him of all my tragedies and reminding myself that my faith in God was being stretched. It was a few more faith lessons that I needed to learn. 
We hung up the phone and about 30 minutes later he called me back and delivered some great news. He said that his 92 year old uncle could not drive anymore and that they were just going to donate his car. WOW!! I couldn't believe it. God had just given me a car. How does that happen? It happens when you are trusting God to provide. I tell people it's my "Jesus car". Last week one of my friends said, "It's a Holy Roller!" Why am I sharing this? One to give glory to God for his awesome provision of a 1996 Buick Century (that gets a lot better gas mileage than that 1999 Suburban)! Yea God! Two, I posted it for one of my friends in Honduras (Daniel G.). I wanted him to see pictures of my new race car. That's why I drove two miles from my house to take pictures of it at the Carolina Speedway! If you look closely you can see the "welcome race fans" banner on the fence. Three to say Thank You to my friend who was a channel of God's provision! To God be the glory!!
It's that time of year . . .
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Thursday, 22 January 09 - 11:25 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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Basketball season . . . which means we have 3 kids involved with 3 different teams! That means 3 different games each Saturday. It also means 3 different practice times each week. The good thing about that is that they are all on Thursday evening. I don't know what it's going to be like when we have 5 kids doing 5 different things.
Two weeks ago David scored 18 points in his game and Daniel scored 4. That was really good for both of them. The funny thing was I asked David when we got out of the car, "how many points are you going to score?" to which he stoically replied, "probably all of 'em." After he scored the first 8 points of the game it was like someone on drugs. He couldn't get enough. His coach kept telling him to pass, which he did, but the lure of the basket was just too much.
Now to Mackenzie . . . she's our little cheerleader. She's on the cheerleading "squad". It's not a cheerleading "team". She's quick to let you know it's a "squad". What makes it a squad rather than a team? Who knows. She's just happy to have a stage for everyone to see her!
I'm glad they are involved in sports at our church. It's good to see them interaciting with other kids their age . . . even if they're dreaming of being the next Shaq . . . or is it Okafor!
The Most Incredible Story of My Year . . . so far!
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Wednesday, 14 January 09 - 09:46 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Cochlear Implants |
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I thought I was going to cry in front of a room full of women! If I didn't hear it with my own ears and see it with my own eyes it would be hard to believe (warning: this story could get long).
Today we went to Chapel Hill with Mariah for her 9-month check-up for her cochlear implants. All went well with her check-up and she's doing better than I ever expected. Our appointment ended with one of the medical students telling us there was another little girl adopted from Guatemala who had just received her cochlear implant and that we may want to take Mariah in to meet her.
We went into the room and met Hannah and her mother. Come to find out Amy had talked to Hannah's mother the night before Mariah had her implant surgery. Mariah's audiologist had given Amy her phone number and said there were alot of similarities with Mariah and Hannah.
I was BLOWN AWAY when we actually realized how many similarities there were to these two little girl's stories. One of the audiologist asked, "How big is Guatemala?" To which I replied 8+ million (it's actually more like 13 million). The following question started the ball rolling, "Do you know where Hannah was born?" "She was born in Escuintla", her mother replied. WHAT? Mariah was born in Escuintla, Guatemala too!
Hold on, the story gets more bizarre. We already knew Hannah was 2 years old, but Amy asked, "What is her birthday?" December 27th was the reply. WHAT? Mariah was born on December 28th in Escuintla, Guatemala!
These little babies sitting in a doctor's office in Chapel Hill, NC were born within hours of each other in the same small town in Guatemala. They both were in the NICU and possibly shared those first tenuous weeks side by side. Both also have profound hearing loss and are now with Christian families in NC. Moreover, both have had cochlear implants by the same doctor in NC!
How does that happen? The only way I can explain it is a loving God chose them to be with our families. What would have happened to them if God had not chosen them to be with our families? Who knows? It's my speculation that they may have ended up in 
an orphanage and never had a way to communicate (like our deaf friends in orphanages in Honduras).
I don't know why God gave these two precious little girls to our families, but I'm confident that He has Big Plans for both of their lives.
New Year's in Honduras
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Friday, 26 December 08 - 11:58 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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All the Christmas gifts have been opened, and the commercial Christmas has come and gone. Because of Christmas the follower of Christ has a reason to celebrate all year long.
I know I've had too much blog silence lately, but it's most likely coming again. Tomorrow I'm leaving with a team from Zebulon, NC on a mission trip to the mountains of Honduras. It's not likely that I will get to update my blog so I'm attaching this photo with a few requests for prayer. If you think of us we would appreciate your prayers during our time in Guinope, Honduras. It will be my first time in Guinope and I'm a little apprehensive, but excited to see what God has planned for this trip.
If I don't get a chance to update from Guinope then to all of you, "Happy New Year from Honduras."
A Dios sea la gloria!
2 Families . . . 12 children!
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Monday, 22 December 08 - 10:33 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Family |
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Yes, I can count. I know there are 13 children in this picture, but one of them is a cousin. Yesterday we spent a few hours in Weaverville, NC (our former home). Our friends and former neighbors, Dirk and Julie Helmling, were visiting family in WNC so we met up at McDonald's so our children could play together for a few minutes. I'm sure the other families in the Weaverville McDonald's wished they had gone to one of the Asheville McDonald's. Our two families basically fllled up the play area!
The two "babies" Mariah and Ezekiel. Two families, twelve children, five adoptions . . . I guess you can figure out that the Helmlings have adopted four (all from Liberia, Africa).
Passport Update . . .
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Saturday, 20 December 08 - 11:39 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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Some of you may have read of my passport blunder this week. I said on Wednesday night in my post that I needed a miracle. I'm happy to report the miracle is on it's way. Yesterday I went all the way to Washington, DC to the passport office. It's a story too long for me to write here, but I'm sure many of you will hear me tell it soon. Amy said on Thursday night (before I left for DC), "I guess this is going to be another one of your stories I get to hear 100 times." Yes, I am a storyteller and I'm sure she'll hear it a few times.
Many thanks to those of you who prayed. God cleared the way and I have a passport coming in the mail on Tuesday. I didn't get to see much of DC, but I did get a chance to hang out with a good friend (and former LTW intern), Eric Bebber, who is a minister in the city. It was great to hang out with Eric for a couple hours and to meet his lovely new bride.
Here are a few shots to prove I was in DC. My trip was like this first picture of the Metro . . . a blur.
I Need a Passport . . . QUICK!
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Wednesday, 17 December 08 - 10:19 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark Moore in Missions |
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Tonight Amy and I were cleaning our bedroom and for some unknown reason she looked at my passport and discovered that it expires in January 2009! That wouldn't be a problem, but I'm supposed to go to Honduras with a team next Saturday. Yes, next Saturday . . . now that's a problem. Why am I putting this out here for all of you to see my stupidity? I need your prayers! I'm going to get on the phone first thing in the morning, but I know it is next to impossible without the prayers of God's people. So, if you're reading this I would appreciate your prayers in the matter. I NEED A MIRACLE! I'll update on any progress . . .
... More items are available in my News Archive
