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From Waveland, MS May 21, 2006 |
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Greetings Friends!
Well we are currently winging our way back to Waveland via Dallas and New Orleans. Should get back about 1:00 in the morning. Ugh! This week has been awesome. We started the week, actually last week, by traveling to Hesperia, CA to stay with our good friends, George and Lona Beardsley. What an encouragement they have been to us in Mississippi. As you may recall, before our trip we learned that my uncle, Bill Ritter, was terminally ill with cancer and "happened" to live in Victorville, the city next to Hesperia and where High Desert Church is located. High Desert is the church George and Lona attend and where two of their sons serve as pastors. High Desert has sent volunteers to Waveland and will be sending more in July. Martie and I were able to visit my uncle and my cousin Karen's family. That was such a blessing. Karen has been caring for her father for some time .. Honoring him and God through her sacrificial service and care. We met David, Karen's husband, who is a Messianic Jewish Christian. Their family, including Bill, all love the Lord. My uncle Bill passed several days after our visit (we remember that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord). We are so thankful that the Lord allowed us the opportunity to spend time with Uncle Bill and his family. Our visit would not have been possible if we had not met George and Lona and had we not been invited to attend the Purpose Driven Church conference by Floyd and Marilyn Moore. God is good! Please pray for Karen and her family, that God will strengthen them and give them assurance of His promises about this life and life with the Lord in heaven. The Purpose Driven Church conference was awesome. As you know from our updates, we intend to plant a church in the Waveland area --- soon. The conference sharpened our focus. We met several pastors who have an interest in sending volunteers to Mississippi and spoke to small group leaders from Saddleback who want to send volunteers from their small groups as well. In fact, they plan to tell other small groups about Pathfinder (Saddleback has 3000 small groups). Pretty cool, huh? One of the small group leaders is a relative of Steve Watson who works with us at our camp. Steve is from Oregon … and Jennifer, the relative, moved from Oregon 17 years ago to Orange County. So God continues to weave the web of connections. Frankly, Martie and I find it all pretty amazing. Please pray that God will prepare the way for us … provide the place … prepare the people …. Aw oh … starting to alliterate, better watch it! :o) ….. Sunday Morning … my computer ran out of battery power on the airplane :o( We met a pastor and his wife from Kenner, LA at the Dallas airport last night who also attended the conference -- there were over 4000 people at the conference. He is the pastor of an Hispanic congregation. I told him about our pod ministry and our work in Mississippi. They are going to visit the camp and may be sending folks to help us. When we arrived at the camp at 1:00 am, the first thing we noticed was the office tent was gone. Well, needless to say, that woke us up! Actually, the camp team intended to be a surprise for us, it worked! We knew tent had to be moved because of a drainage problem associated with the church that was preventing the church from being completed. But first, a house had to be removed --- torn down --- to make room for the tent. So that's what they did while we were gone --- they tore the house down and moved the tent. New Challenge and Opportunity. This morning I was told that the city of Waveland is requiring that all portable buildings (permanent and temporary) be tied down -- with hurricane straps -- effective 1 June (the beginning of hurricane season), so that adds a new twist to our Pod project. We have over 250 pod requests which means that we have a need for over 1000 rods and straps … there are always giants in the land … but the Lord is on our side! If anyone who receives this knows of someone who is in a business that would have access to tie down rods and hurricane straps, please let us know as soon as possible. Please pray that the Lord will continue to stir the hearts of those in His Church to join us in our ministry to the people of this area. Pray that He will tenderize the hearts of the residents to draw them to Himself. Pray that He will continue to provide for the needs of the camp and that He will provide for our personal needs as well. Blessings …
Charley
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Pathfinder Mission, P.O. Box
3313, Bay |
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228-469-0507 |
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