Davis Park Missions. . .

Krista Gray, my wife, arrived in East Kilbride, Scotland today and everything seems to be going well. They took a couple hour nap after arriving and went to the church building for food and fellowship. When I talked to her there was a lot of laughter in the background. Tommorrow(in just a few hours) they will go door to door to invite people to the Holiday Bible School and to the gospel meeting Dale Foster will be preaching. Let us hold them up in prayer as they bring Christ's message.

John Greff and Walter Leonard have headed for Guyamas, Mexico today. They will be there for a week working with a medical missions team from Nashville. Walter will preaching a meeting for the local church while he is there. John will help dispense glasses while there. Pray for them as they take the good news to foreign soil.

Matthew and I are doing well. He misses his mommy. He woke up crying in the middle of the night wanting Krista. He went back to sleep after a half hour or so. I remind him that we are doing our part this time by staying at home. Not everyone gets to go everytime.

The Red Cross is looking for some volunteers to deploy to the east coast immediately! They will pay airfare and expenses. They are accepting two week commitments or longer. This is a great opportunity to take Christ to a disaster zone.

Pray for our people on missions abroad, pray for ys to do our work here.

make a difference for Him,

Buddy

Responding to Family. . .

Krista left for Scotland today for a 13 day mission trip. What a switch for us? She is usually taking me to the airport for some type of mission adventure. The point of departure was filled with emotion. Matthew was crying, I started to cry, but Krista told me to stop. . . Matthew had tear stained cheeks when I let him off at Pre-school. I wonder what he thinks of us leaving home to take the message of Christ to someone new. I am excited that Krista ventured out to the mission field for a while. I pray that it is a time of renewal and a time that will build her zeal for serving God. Pray for her as she travels 8000+ miles over the next few days. Pray that those that are waiting to hear Gods word from her have hearts that are ready for change. Its time to change because the Kingdom of God is at hand

Buddy

Weekend on the Delta . . .

A family time on the Delta, more specifically, Brannan Island State Recreation Area. The summer campout for the Davis Park Church of Christ was a time of great fun in a time of adversity. Temps were above 100 degrees and the wind seemed like gale force winds. The water at the swimmin hole was 72 degrees. Most of the time I stood in the water up to my neck and just enojoyed the natural coolnes of the water. Matthew had a blast with the other kids, throwing mud, boatriding and ridge-running. Most of the my time was spent talking to my brothers and sisters in Christ that I usually do not have time to visit with.

Have a great day

Buddy

The Real Response

This past week was a reminder for me concerning what response is all about. Two souls were added to the kingdom. Cary Higginbothom and Art Walsh were both baptised into the Kingdom of God. Art is the husband of Debi Smith Walsh and the son-in-law of Wayne and Sheila Smith. It was my first baptism in a working hot tub. Choice was the 66 degree water of the swimming pool or a hot tub next to the pool. I choose the hot tub. After the immersion we kicked on the bubbles for a little while to experience some heaven on earth. Cary is a seeker from Modesto. Her and her husband Leonard started attending Davis Park a few weeks ago. We have had a few sessions of welcome covenant studies, after responding to the invitation on Sunday morning she asked Mike to baptize her. The angels rejoice for these two new souls saved from the world. Pray for them in the coming weeks . . .

Praise God for letting us make a difference for Him,

Buddy

Family Promise. . .

Family Promise tour # 5 ended for us on Sunday morning Many Thanks to Jennifer and Sheila Smith for all the work they put into this program. Sheila coordinated the 21 meals the families ate while we were sheltering them. Jennifer made sure someone was their to host the families during the night.
I know the two families that moved on to St Paul's Episcopal will do well. Both are on the verge of finding places to live.

7 different families stayed overnight this time and 5 different families cooked supper for the families, I wish to thank each of you for helping in the capacity that you helped. I also want to thank the ladies who helped wash laundry after the program concluded. Each time the families leave their is a mountain of of sheets, blankets and pillow cases to be laundered.

Thanks for making a difference!

Buddy

Family Promise . . . Last night

This is the last night of this rotation of Family Promise. It is always amazing to see how we respond to taking care of the needs of the families in FP. Tonight we have a family of four and a single mom who finishes her shift at 2:00 a.m. Our volunteers will get up when she arrives to let her in. I appreciate their dedication to this great work. I am always worn out by the last day and this is no different. Managing the familes and making sure our volunteers all have a good experience takes a little work. Sheila and Jennifer Smith are great volunteer managers for this program. They are dedicated to making Jesus available to the people in this program, I applaud the work they do God in this program. We wll have had over 30 volounteers involved by the end of tomorrow when we take the beds to the next Church.

I will blog more tomorrow about this great program. Pray for the families in the program.

Buddy

Family Promise Day Three . . .

Thanks to all who have voluntered to make life better for the two families we are caring for this week. I can see that they appreciate all that is being done for them. Pray for the Flores family, on Wed. they find if their application for housing will be accepted. The other family is closing in on housing also. Pray that God will work us out of a job.

Pray for the children in the program that lives are not disrupted while they are displaced from homes and moving from church to church.

make a difference for God,


Buddy

Family Promise . . . Night # 1

Right now its 11:15 p.m. and all seems quiet here at the church building. The two families from family promise are here, one is a family of four and the other is a single parrent family of two. I cooked supper tonight for the group and no one seems sick at this point. I ate the pot roast, green beans, mac and cheese also. It was actually pretty good. This time we are having an unusually hard time finding volunteers. Our core group is busy doing a lots of other things. School years are ending, graduations, first real weekend of summer break, etc. If you can help with either a meal or by staying a night at the church building call me at 380-3851 and I will get you plugged in.

The families make it all worth while. Trying to make them special in time of distress, and hoping we can help them bump into Jesus while they stay a week with us at the Church building.

I will update you more tomorrow.


Buddy