Note: I tried to break of all of this info...the next 4 posts are what we've been up to over the last 2.5 weeks...
Sunday morning we went to church where we are staying. The preacher spoke from Matthew 2 about the wise men. He raised the question of whether others could see the star or not. If they could, why didn’t they follow it? Based on what he said and what I’ve read about the star, I would say that everyone could see it, but most people didn’t notice it…the just continued on like normal. How often do we walk by and not notice what God is doing? It made me think!! The Bosarges sat with us during church although that wasn’t their normal seat. At the end of the service, DuJuan asked if we wanted to borrow their spare car, the one Hutch had been using. We couldn’t believe it!! We didn’t have a car, and God gave us one. He provided for us to be able to go to the Christmas service!!!
Once that service was over, we headed over to
Pastor Rawls' church…they started a little later, so we only missed a little of the service. We got their just in time for the message “This Baby—Mission Accomplished.” He shared of God’s plan to send Jesus even before time began. I never noticed it before, but in Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let US make man in OUR own image, in OUR likeness…” Jesus and the Holy Spirit were there from the beginning!! What a master plan?!!! He also used Isaiah 9:6, Luke 2:15 & John 1:11 in his message. Then there was a time of sharing at the end of the service…it was so good! Lyn shared that Kim had been healed almost a year ago. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with her, but God did. The church prayed over her, and she said that she could feel something snap inside of her. She’s been well ever since! After the service, we were so happy to tell Pastor Rawls that we could go with him on Monday morning! (God gave us our present early!!)
Sunday night, the Jordan family (Kenneth, Sheila, Dakota, & Hannah—and Amanda, Dakota’s girlfriend) invited us to go with them to what they thought was a singing Christmas tree program at First Baptist Biloxi. On the way there, we talked about some of the needs in the community and their desire to have a youth pastor at their church. After the storm, a lot of the people left and didn’t come back, and it’s been difficult to get people back in to work in the church. 
Please pray that pastors and people to work with the youth will be raised up to come to this area. Another family ended up meeting us there…Jay, Katt, Selena, Neva, & BJ. Even with the rain, there was a huge crowd. It ended up being a Candlelight Service, but we really enjoyed it!! After we took the picture of the group, Sheila said, “Y’all need to get one by yourselves.” So we got our Christmas picture…last year it was in our apartment on S. 4th St., and this year it’s in front of a huge tree in God’s house!!Monday morning, we got the other part of God’s Christmas gift to us for 2006. We already have Jesus the best gift ever, but He gave us a little more. We went to
Triumph Missionary Baptist Church with Pastor Rawls. Dr. Beck, the preacher of the church, also rode over to Poplarville, MS with us. This Christmas morning service has been going on for over 45 years. Dr. Beck shared that he had been lead by God all of his life, and that God lead him to start this service because he had been in a service where all of the preachers didn’t get to share what God had laid on their hearts. So he opened the doors and 6 preachers came in to preach to a packed church. The numbers have gone up and down over the years, but he planned to continue what God called him to do until he couldn’t physically do it anymore. The service was incredible…There was some amazing music, singing heart-felt, praises to our King! Then the preaching began…15 preachers spoke for 8-10 minutes each. We’ll be sharing with you about that later…wow…what a gift!! We were there for 3 ½ hours.On our way back to the car, both Pastor Rawls & Dr. Beck shared words of wisdom with us and insight on our journey through life. It was wonderful…then
Pastor Rawls invited us back to his house to have Christmas lunch. Sister Rawls can cook!!! We enjoyed spending time with them and their 
grandchildren (Jaylin & Catera) before the rest of their family arrived. Sister Rawls even sent us home with a take-out plate for later!! While we were there they told us about several stories of God’s amazing rescues and protection during “The Storm.” A tree almost came through the window of the room they were staying in…they had no idea until it was all over and they went outside to check the damage. The branches were jammed up against the window, but they never broke through. They also shared about Jack, a man who normally secures his boat to the trailer, flattens the tires, takes out the key, etc. so that nothing will happen to it during a storm. Well, with Katrina, there was no time, he just had enough time to get himself and his family to safety. When the water started rising, and the boat floated off of the trailer. Two of his neighbors were stuck in a tree, so they started calling for Jack to come. Jack wasn’t in his boat, but his boat “floated” against the current back to the tree where they were. His boat had gas in it and the keys were in the ignition. So his neighbors were rescued and they were able to rescue several others with the boat!! Isn’t God amazing?!! They also asked for prayer for the community…specifically they asked prayer for Billy Ray. He’s Sister Rawls’ brother who lives across the street from the church. There’s usually a crowd of people in his yard on Sunday morning, but they aren’t exactly worshipping the Lord. Their prayer is that the hearts of those men will be softened, and they will be in church on Sunday instead of in the yard watching from the outside.The VA group invited us to eat lunch with them as well. So much for not having to worry about eating too much over the holidays!! Just kidding!! Then we finally got back to the church to spend some time talking to friends and family and wish them a Merry Christmas!!
Not only did God give us a gift, He also provided for us to give each other a gift…
Hank & Linda offered to let us borrow their internet and TV while they were gone since their RV would be empty. So we were more than happy to look after it for them and to water the plant. Linda makes cards for the residences because many of the elderly can’t get out as much as before and there’s no where to buy cards around here. Plus if your house needs repair, cards are a luxury. They are a sweet couple as well!! She offered to let us use some of her supplies to make a card if we wanted to. Chris & I were excited because we didn’t think we’d be able to get anything for each other this year. (We’re always together, too far from a store to walk, and there’s nothing either of us would be willing to carry with us!!) Sometimes God even provides for our wants as well!! We spent hours writing and working on our cards…Chris wrote a poem called “They Walk by Faith, Not by Sight” and he made me 12 little paper presents each with something on it like a foot rub or back massage or bag of chocolate…so creative…I think it might be one of my all-time favorite gifts. I decorated my card for him and told our story with stickers and facts and figures…I guess he must love me to appreciate all the details that I point out!! He, he, he!On Tuesday, Chris caught up on his journaling in the morning and then worked on putting up vinyl siding in the afternoon with the VA crew…there was also a group of Hondurans who live in Georgia who came over for the day to work on vinyl siding as well. We really enjoyed chatting with them!! I spent the day working on pictures…after reading these posts, I guess you can see why it took a whole day to get the pictures posted!! I was working in the Walls of Hope office, so I learned another testimony about God’s perfect timing. Before Chris & I got to Pastor Rawls’ church on Sunday morning, a man stood up and said, “I’m a plumber. Is there anyone here who needs his plumbing installed? I’m here to do it!”
Mr. Calvin said, “I need for my plumbing to be taken care of.” The story isn’t over though…on Tuesday morning, another group called and said, “We’re coming to fix Mr. Calvin’s plumbing.” Gene had to tell them that someone else was already taking care of it. They replied, “Oh, that’s okay we’ll do his drywall, we just knew that the plumbing needed to be done first.” So now both of those things are going to be taken care of…right on time!! That evening, we ate supper with the folks from VA just continuing to enjoy their company! 
They’re just a fun group (some of them are pictured holding each other up...l to r: Sam, Amanda, Kim, John, Adrienne, Lyn, & Gene) to be around!!On Wednesday, we worked on cleaning up the church in the morning. Then Chris went with the VA group to lay concrete
block pillars for a new house that they are putting up. Unfortunately one of the 30+ pound blocks fell on Chris’s thumb, so it split open. Pray for quick healing on that!! (John from the VA group split his thumb open the day before, so pray for him too!) I spent the afternoon organizing and cleaning out the food pantry at the church where we are staying. They provide food for all of the volunteers, and the groups are beginning to come again since the holidays are almost over. I wanted to make supper for the whole crew before they left, so I decided to try out some recipes that I’ve learned on the road in Waycross, GA & Milton, FL. I think that everyone enjoyed your recipes, Carol & Sister Bonnie!!!Wednesday night, we went to Pastor Rawls’ church again. He invited us to tell our story to his congregation. There was somewhat of a spiritual battle that day…it didn’t seem like things were flowing as they should…I can’t really explain it…but it was a struggle. As we got ready to share, a man walked in and sat near the back. I had never seen him before, but we both smiled back at him. As we spoke, we felt that God was leading us and that people were listening, but in my mind I was still wondering if the Holy Spirit was ministering. We finished and sat down, and Pastor Rawls called Gene Butterfield up to close the service. Before he could say anything, the man who came in late stood up and told Pastor Rawls he needed to say something. He explained that his name was Billy Ray (Sister Rawls’ brother) and that he used to be a minister. He drifted from the Lord after a bad accident in 1983 and hadn’t really been to church since then. He apologized and called out to the Lord and to Pastor & Sister Rawls for help in coming back to the church. He wanted to clean up his yard.
Billy Ray (pictured with Sister Rawls & us) claimed that if we could walk to Pearlington from NC, then he could definitely walk across the street to go to church. We prayed over him as a church, and now our pray is that he was sincere in his repentance and that the Holy Spirit gives him “power & love & self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)On Thursday, I could barely contain myself because Megan and Mike were flying in from Maine to see us…they would be here sometime around 8 pm. I had to force myself to focus and work on posting.
Chris went to help pour cement in the pillars that they laid the block for the day before. (He has a cold or something, so please pray that he gets well soon!!) He had so much fun with a family from Ohio (left to right: 
Ashley, Joe Willie & Mary), but he was so dirty and wet when he got home. He gave me his clothes and shoes at the door, and I started praying. I knew that only God could make those clothes clean again!! Just like Jesus’ blood can make people white as snow and clean up all their dirty sin…He made those clothes clean too. I’ve never seen cement come out of clothes before, and I’m pretty sure that the white shirt and socks he was wearing weren’t that white when he put them on in that morning!! Praise God!Thursday night, Terri & the Butterfields that are still here came over…Terri brought supper for everyone. Gene had a huge praise to share. A 39-foot camper was donated to the ministry that day, and it was big enough for quite a few volunteers to sleep in when they come down to work on the houses!!
Megan and Mike finally got here!!! I was so excited. Another lady, Juanita, came in before they did & I almost bowled her over…thankfully I paused before running and jumping on her! Ha, ha, ha! We had a good time hanging out and catching up on what all of our friends are up to and how Christmas was.Today…Friday, Mike & Chris are working on the Bosarge’s house again. Tom got in yesterday.
Megan and I are finishing up this post and then we are off to work too!! I’m pretty excited to see what God’s going to do over the next couple of days…it appears that He is already revealing some of the puzzle pieces to us!! We love you! God bless you!Pictured below: 1) Adrienne & John showing some sibling love. 2) Ashley holding Daisy...she's going to be getting Daisy's first puppy pretty soon!! 3) McKinley and Dexter riding in the trunk!! 4) Jacqui & Jordan pulling each other around on skates 5) Ashley & Geno walked back from church with us on Wednesday night!!
