missionaryMAC

I found out yesterday that YLM was named the Rocky Mountain District's Mission of the Month for February! Praise God! Attached to the e-mail that was sent out to all Rocky Mountain District congregations were a Powerpoint and bulletin insert in color and B & W--which I couldn't inlcude on here, sorry...if you're interested I will forward you the e-mail--and the following prayer: Gracious God and Father, we come before Your throne of grace on behalf of the Ysleta Lutheran Mission, as well as San Pablo Lutheran Church and the other mission congregations connected with Ysleta. We give You thanks for your blessings upon these ministries as they reach many people along the border, sharing Your love and Your good news. Lord, protect those who work in these ministries from all harm and temptation. Provide them with the means they need to carry on in this ministry. Grant joy to Pastor Heimer and to all who labor in this mission field. Raise up teams of volunteers to assist them...

So I'm sure you've seen those commercials for the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program where if you give a day of service to a "participating organization," you get a free pass to a Disney park? I kept seeing them, and I kept thinking about if the mission would qualify as a "participating organization." It wasn't until after my mom told me that the Bethesda Thrift Shop she volunteers at in St. Louis was included in the program that I looked into it further; it turns out that YLM did qualify since it is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, so I signed us up! That's right, you can do a search through the Disney website, and you will find Ysleta Lutheran Mission!!! The link that shows the search results for zip code 79907 is http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day-Search. I just entered our opportunities yesterday, and already this morning I had 3 e-mails from potential volunteers!!...

Two days after I got back from St. Louis, the last group of 2009/first group of 2010 arrived from Mayer Lutheran High School in Mayer, MN. They drove 27 hours on a charter bus and arrived the morning ofTuesday, December 28, 2009, to a wet, snowy El Paso. As a group we decided that it was anything but ideal weather to begin building in, especially since the rest of the week was supposed to be beautiful (and that it was), so we toured all the worksites, visited families they had built for in previous years (this was their 5th), and then went to the market. Wednesday morning, though, we got right to work. The process of getting started was made a little easier because Chris and I spent a good chunk of Monday sorting the wood, siding, and OSB into 3 piles and taking it to the sites. Apparently last year it was all at the church and they were impressed; next year we're going to have to square everything or lay out some walls or something! The group of 36 was divided into 3 work crews--C...

I guess this post and the last one are somewhat out of order, but anywho...I did have the chance to go home to St. Louis for Christmas. I left on Saturday, December 19, and came back on Sunday, December 27. And no, I didn't bring Freddy home even though I could have on Southwest (for $150!)...Chris took care of him for me. I had a wonderful visit. This was my first visit home during which I actually stayed in St. Louis the whole time. I have to admit, it was kind of nice to be home and not be tied down to working at the library. Nonetheless, it amazed me how fast my days filled up! Within a few hours of my plane landing, a whole bunch of my family came over for my sister's birthday party; she turned 12 on December 17. Sunday I went to church in the morning, and then spent the afternoon helping my godmother, who lives in an assisted living facility, address her Christmas cards. I didn't think it was going to take as long as it did, but I wound up going straight to my sister...

Well it's 2010 now, a new decade! This morning before we left for Anapra with the group of 36 from Mayer Lutheran High School in Mayer, MN, I wrote 1/1/10 on the van mileage log. Honestly, I didn't even stay up until midnight; building 3 houses in a week is exhausting! I'm not going to bother making a resolution this year either since my goal of actually drinking the recommended daily amount of water everyday was a complete fail, but I am going to read the entire Bible for the 3rd time in 2010. If you're wondering, I'll be reverting back to the plan I followed 2 years ago (http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/), that includes OT, NT, Psalms, and Proverbs everyday, but I'm going to set down my trusty Concordia Self-Study Bible and read The Message . If you're not familiar with that, it's the Bible in "contemporary language." I did today's reading before dinner, and I can already tell that some of it I'm going to love, and some of it is goi...