Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Step of Faith

Hi everyone. A lot has happened since our last blog.  God is doing great things and we are excited about this next step of faith.  First off, it is official that we will be moving to Guatemala sometime in the summer.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  God has confirmed in many ways that that is our next adventure.  We will be visiting there April 4th for about 1 week.  We will be going with some other people that are praying about moving there with us as well. So please keep us and the team in your prayers for safety, and for God's will to be done.  We will be moving there to start a Calvary Chapel and are very excited to see what the Lord has in Xela Guatemala.  Lalo has been a missionary there for a while and continues to share the gospel and love of Christ.  We will be joining him there to help further God's kingdom. We will need extra financial support as some other unexpected things have come up and our team is growing. We also will not be supported as teachers at the school anymore, so we ask that you please pray for us in this next chapter. Where God guides He provides.  If you are interested in supporting us financially please see our support information below.  Thank you

Some other great news is we have temporarily adopted a 13 year old boy from Hocaba. (small town about 45 minutes from Merida.)  His parents abandoned him when he was little and his grandma has been taking care of him.  They were living in the church because the roof of their house was leaking, but his grandma is sick with diabetes and he really had no one to care of him properly.  We are praying about what the Lord wants for his life.  He is a wonderful kid and has brought much joy into our life.  He hasn't been to school since the 3rd grade so he is working with Juan Carlos at the school.  Juan Carlos specializes in Special Education and he has been a blessing to our life.  He is also giving Jose and I guitar lessons.  :)  So please keep Jose in your prayers as well and that God will show us His will for Jose's life.

On a ministry note, we have had a few missions team come to visit.  We had Pastor Todd and Denise Doxzon from Calvary Chapel West Omaha, Nebraska bring a team and it was very fruitful.  They were such a blessing.  The whole team just came with open hearts willing and ready to serve and be used by God.  They were a blessing to all :) Please look at the awesome video they did.Click on the link on the right side of the blog.  (Todd and Denise are actually praying about adopting Jose so PLEASE be praying for that.) Thanks guys!!!  We also had the 678 Middle School ministry from Calvary Fort Lauderdale come for 10 days.  So awesome to see young kids be used by God.  They also brought lots of clothes and things for Jose.  Such a blessing how the Lord provides using the body of Christ :)

As for future trips, we have Calvary Chapel Boca coming in April after the Easter Break so we will praying for another fruitful trip.  Tizimin is going strong and it's awesome to see the Lord work there.  Calvary House guys and girls are continuing to grow in the Lord and we are thankful that we can be a part of their spiritual walk.  One other trip we have is the first week of May.  We will be having the 6th graders here from Merida go to Florida for their graduation trip.  Jeff, Asher and I will be joining them.  We are happy to make a trip home before we go to Guatemala. We have also been invited to Omaha in June and are looking forward to spending time their as well. Lots of traveling coming up. God is good.  We have a lot of exciting things on the horizon and just taking each day at a time walking by faith.  Thank you for coming along the journey with us.

All our love,

The Stones

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  We hope you had a blessed Christmas and New Year.  We were blessed to be in Las Vegas with Jeff's family.  It was so nice to spend time with family and Asher really enjoyed being there.We also were able to go to Aunt Linda's cabin in Utah and play in the snow :)
We are now back in Mexico and settled in once again.  Jeff was immediately on the mission field with the CCA Junior class and they had a very fruitful time.  There were over 100 students who came to serve and share the gospel.  There were different teams that all rotated visiting the different mission locations.  They did VBS, music, drama, work projects, and sharing the love of Christ in all they did.  I love to see young kids on fire for God.  Please pray that these students go back home and keep the fire burning and that their lives are changed by this experience.  Many people here in Mexico were touched and received Christ as their savior and we pray that their lives are changed as well. They were also able to pass out  boxes  from Samaritn's Purse to the kids in some of the villages.  What a blessing that was for these kids. 
The students were able to do a lot of work in Tizimin at the church.  We have knocked down a wall and made the sanctuary bigger.  The kids were able to lay down some concrete and continue to build and work.  It is still a work in progress but God is moving and we are so thankful for all the great things going on there.

We are currently praying about an upcoming opportunity in Guatemala.  We are not sure for how long, possibly just temporary but we ask that you will join us in prayer as we seek the Lord and follow Him wherever that next step may be.  We want to make sure this is a calling and that we are just not fulfilling a need, and we could possibly move there this summer.  As most of you know Jeff and the Calvary House guys went there a while ago on a mission trip to help build a skate park.  Since then, Lalo a guy from the Calvary House has been living there as a missionary.  The skate park has closed, but Calvary Merida has gotten the legal rights to start a church and has attained a building for our possible future home and Calvary Chapel.  We are excited to see what the Lord is going to do with this new venture. 

On a family note, we are doing great.  We celebrated Asher's 1st birthday and so enjoy watching him grow.  He has such a little personality and we think he is pretty darn cute :)  His Granny gave him a birthday party at Chuckee Cheese and he really enjoyed it.  We are very thankful for our family and friends.  We have truly been blessed with great people in our lives and we couldn't do missions without all of you.  We pray that this 2012 is a year that you grow more like Christ and let His love shine through you.  I watched an interview with  Pastor Chuck Smith (the founder of Calvary Chapel) and he said "Your life will come and pass, and only the things you do for Christ will last."  That really spoke to me and I want my life to reflect a life of living for Christ.  So, we hope this year is blessed for all of you and thank you again for being such great people in our lives.

Con amor,

The Stones