Sunday, 29 June 2008
-
Summer Fun
Hey Everyone,
Well, we're well into summer and things are going great! We've already had 4 groups in 3 weeks as well as several overnight teams and lots of missionary families. Needless to say, we're all looking kind of shell shocked at the moment, but it's a happy shell shocked! Thank God Kay and Keith and Carole are here this summer, or we'd never have made it.
Last Friday we had over 70 here and the next day on Saturday, we had over 100! Keep in mind we only hold 72, so Saturday there were some sleeping on the floor of the new meeting room. Yep, you heard right. Our meeting room is usable and was ready for our 4th full week team of the summer. They are enjoying using it for their devotional meetings and such. They say it's much better than holding them in the unfinished girl's bathroom from last year! Rick and Keith worked extremely hard right up until the day the 102 got here to get it ready. It still needs tile on the floor, paint on the walls (they're only primed to this point) and light fixtures on the ceiling, but it is usable the way it is. We even have it air conditioned! Good thing since it's been over 100* without any breaks and very little rain for the past 4 weeks or so. If any of you are in the flood prone areas, you can shift a little of it this way! Back to the main subject, the girl's bathroom now has a working shower/tub in it as well as a functional sink and one bathroom stall with working toilet. We're waiting on the funds to finish the tile on the floor and shower walls. The boy's bath house is framed in with all the tile board on, but has nothing functioning at the moment. We have someone willing to come down and finish the dry wall for us that remains and offers of coming to lay tile, but we don't have the funds to go much further at this point. With the country being in such hard economic times, and we're sure you all have felt it too, there aren't as many donations coming in. Pray with us that God will raise up those who can give to give and help us complete this project. It's not just tile or paint, there are lots of little things that need done as well, like fixtures for the showers and such. Not a lot by themselves, but figure valves for all the tubs and shower and it comes up to $1040.00! We've put in a new photo album to the right with the new pics of the bath house/meeting room/construction. Thanks to the teams who have helped us over the last several weeks, drywalling, pouring concrete, doing stippling on the ceilings, etc.!
Another piece of news is that the St. Clairs will be leaving us at the middle of August to head to Guadalajara to attend language school for 9 months. They'll be coming back for 1 month in December to help us out with our busiest month, and then returning in May, right before next summer's busy season. Keep them in prayer as the kids will be having to readjust again, as will they, after having been here for a year and just settling in here at LSS. Pray that God will continue to clear the way, bring in the support they need to do school and live there, keep the support they do have consistent and help them learn easily. Rebekah and the boys will be attending a new school YWAM is just opening there for the missionary kids and Hannah will be attending language school with her parents. They are hoping that when they return in the spring, their house will be far enough along that they can move into it. Slowly but surely, the groups are helping to do more on that as well.
Particularly pray for the kids here at LSS. Even here, the board, because of liability issues, have decided we can't have many things that kids in a private home can have to help keep them busy and get a lot of exercise. We've been able to put up a fort/swing/sandbox which the younger ones enjoy, but other activities like bicycling out here is difficult. Main roads are dirt and the neighbor's dogs aren't to be trusted. Prickers get in the tires very easily and cause flats. As hot as it is, a pool is not an option either. At present, they are using a large plastic tub meant to be used as a horse trough to swim in, but that's rather difficult to get 5 kids into! As busy as we are, as far away as town is and with gas prices the way they are, it's difficult to be able to get away and take them to other activities in town as well. It's a challenge for us to keep them occupied and physically fit. TV, video games, etc help keep them from being bored, but don't do much to get that energy out! Those of you with kids know what we mean.
Continue to pray for Judah as he struggles still with reading and his ADHD. We're concerned with his weight as well. The medication has decreased his appetite and we're making him watch what he eats more, but it's still a struggle for him. We want to send out our congratulations to our founder, Randy Leyendecker and his new bride, Jeannie. As of Thursday afternoon, they are now Mr. & Mrs. Randall Leyendecker. After spending a few days in San Antonio, they are headed for a road trip to Alaska! Our blessings go with them. Pray that God will bless them as a couple and always be the head of their relationship as they grow together in Him.
Pray for us as we head into next month and all the groups who are coming here to minister. Oak Hills 8th graders from San Antonio, Meadow Park from Columbus, OH, 1st Baptist of Slidell from Slidell, LA and Believer's Fellowship from Lynchburg, VA. We also have lots of overnight teams. Pray for teams from Rob Rolison's ministry, Church of the Cross, Central Baptist, Wes Foster, Jennifer Kennedy and Danny Johnson. In addition, several missionary families will be stopping through. Pray for safe journey for the Davids, Lees, Jones and James families as they come to do business, rest and rejuvenate while here at LSS. These are the ones that we know of, but others are always buzzing with just a few days' notice or emergency visits.
We can't forget to mention Kay. She's been such a blessing this spring and summer. It's hard to think she's been here since the end of February and will be leaving us to go back home to Oregon at the middle of August. Our interns mean so much to us here. We couldn't do what we do without them. Local volunteers are great and we have some VERY faithful ones but the fact is they are only here for a few hours for one to a couple of days a month. We're not trying to minimize what they do at all, but full time interns are a huge blessing, because they are here with us 24/7, working along side of us all the time. They know the ins and outs of working here at LSS and fall in love with the ministry more and more every day. When surprise things come, like an unexpected group or missionary family, we can count on them to jump in and help out, no matter what time of day (and you'd be surprised how many times one of us is up til 2 or 3 in the morning or later to accommodate those surprises!) We thank Kay with all our hearts. She's in the kitchen with me (Kim) cutting up the tomatoes for the group for supper right now and has been up since early this morning when she helped Rick with breakfast. Our days and our intern's days can go from 5:30 in the morning till 9:00 or later at night! Remember all of us in prayer that God will grace us with His strength and stamina, especially during this summer season and as some of us are not spring chickens any more! Satan loves to throw in those aches and pains to try and keep us down! Pray for Kay and our other summer interns that will be joining us in the next few weeks for a couple of weeks at a time. Alicia Wallace, Jayme and Stephanie Brown w/ children Eden and Calen and Tristina.
Pray for Rick and Kim as after September, it's back to just them to run LSS. The St. Clairs will be in language school and Kay will be back to Oregon. Rick has several weeks in September where he'll be out of town as well. It's not as busy in the fall months, but there is still plenty going on, and the ministry continues to outgrow us. Pray that the Lord will send us more full time staff and that the board will approve them to come work here at LSS. We claim the verse for the Lord of the harvest to send more workers into His harvest field and that the ones who belong here and will fall in love with LSS as we have will be sent here. We and they have to know that we know that we know they belong here! It takes special people with a special call to be missionaries and especially to work at a place like LSS. It's not a 9 - 5 job, you have to raise your own pay (which is tough to do, especially in times like these!), it takes a toll on you emotionally, physically and spiritually every day. You have to be willing to leave family, loved ones and friends, your comfort zone, and come to a place where you are not part of the culture. You struggle to make a new friendship base because you're so busy, as does your family, learn a new language, we could go on and on, but we think you get the picture. Pray that we'll all have wisdom and certainty when those God has called here come.
Of course, there's always more going on at Stepping Stone than we can tell here. But it's already 11:30, we've just finished cleaning up from a late dinner and we're still waiting for a late overnight group to arrive, so we'll close for now. Continue to keep us in prayer for those requests listed above and an unspoken for the Halls. God bless you all, and once again, thanks for keeping up with us! Your prayers are the backbone of this ministry!
-
recommend
- recs 0
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Post a Comment