Thank you, Jesus

I just thought I would take a moment and blog my thank you to God out here on the Internet. I ask for prayer many times and I know people are faithful to pray. Every year our team has to raise funds for the trip and every year God is faithful to meet our needs.
It would be amazing to see the number of people that God used to fund this trip. I don't know if it would even be possible to know how God orchestrated it all and how many people were used by Him. We have heard testimony after testimony of how the givers were blessed or how God made the gift possible when someone had nothing to give. The Spirit was teaching one family about tithing and they saw the promises that His Word spoke about and did not give just one time, but two times. One faithful supporter came to the school after the team left and found out how much was still needed for each person who was not able to raise all the support they needed and she covered the remaining amount. God just never ceases to amaze me with His care for us.

Not that I should have a favorite gift or story, but if I did (and I think I do) then this would be it.
My oldest son, Mike, started going on this mission trip with SA Christian School since the very very beginning of our trips. I think it was 8 years ago...maybe 9; I'm starting to lose track. On that trip, he met a little girl named Anya, who he became very close to. Every year that he went back, he would see Anya and hang out with her. Meridith (Mike's friend) also loved Anya and they would let her listen to their Christian music and talk about Jesus and spend a lot of time with her. One year, when Anya was about 14 or 15, she was adopted and we are all so happy that she has a wonderful Christian family who adopted two girls from Ukraine. But the part of the story that I was getting at is that Anya has given money to support the mission trip this year and also in the past. I just think that speaks volumns of what God has done in her life and what the relationship means to her. She feels so strongly about the mission trips that we take there that she wants to help support us financially. Praise God for this and thank You, Jesus!
What an amazing opportunity to be used to reach kids who need Jesus. It doesn't matter where they are. They could be here in San Antonio or way across the world, but when we allow God to use us to give or to go and tell it is amazing!
We know that we can do nothing without God and we would not attempt to make these trips without God leading the way. He gets all the glory and praise. May He be glorified.


So, I just wanted to thank all of you who prayed for our finances to be raised and I wanted to thank all of you who gave. I want to praise our Savior for meeting our needs once again, as I had no doubt that You would!

Please continue to keep our team in prayer as they teach the kids in the village about Jesus. Thursday will be the death and resurrection of Jesus and they will be teaching about Salvation. Satan will not like that so he will be trying to destroy in any way he can. Please pray for unity, good health, the armor of God, protection, good weather, and that they will not be feeling too tired.
Friday they will leave the village after lunch and head back to Odessa. I will also be in Odessa on Friday and I cannot wait!