Hi there. We are so excited about our Christmas project. Yesterday, we took the opportunity to visit with our friends at River Parishes Campus. These people have such a huge heart to serve and they are all getting involved. What started out as servings five families has turned into seven families and RPC is ready to meet all those needs. Isn’t that awesome? Their excitement is infectious and if we weren’t already excited about meeting our financial goal we are overflowing with joy now! So a big THANK YOU to every hand that is touching this project and most of all we praise God.
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Concerning our project to adopt three children for Christmas from the New Orleans Mission, we are waiting to hear specific on the children’s specific sizes for clothing and their desires for toys this Christmas. As soon, as we receive this information, we will update you further.
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On another note, Friday December 5, 2008 the street team beat the streets armed with 30 degree sleeping bags. Now that winter has set in and the cold makes the days & nights seem longer for our friends who sleep outside, we want to do everything we can to equip them to remain warm & healthy.
It was really a special outreach event for us as there were some really meaningful times of prayer with our friends. Ricky and Tim are becoming more open and receptive to the God we love. As we were talking with them both on the corner of Decatur Street and St. Ann Street Tim shared with us the challenges and difficulties he is facing with the home he leases. There are many structural issues which are creating great amounts of stress for him. We offered prayer as a solution, he responded positively, and he asked us to pray with him. There the six of us stood hands locked and each of us took turn in praying together. Please pray for Tim as we did, that he will find more ways and make time to spend with God each day. Also, pray that he would experience less stress related to his house.
Next we were able to reconnect with our friend Norman who had requested a pair of thermal pants and shirt, and some art supplies. In contacting him earlier that day, we found out that he had found some housing and was in need of some pots to cook their meals. As a result we were able to meet him and give him a pair of thermals and a set of pots. He was really grateful and we look forward to future opportunities to plant more seeds with him.
Then we met up with Miles, one of the balloon artists, and James, our friend and brother. In all of our previous experiences with Miles, he has brought up this book he read that is “better than the Bible.” He claims for it to be the words of Jesus verbatim. We know with confidence it is not the word of God and that Miles does not speak truth. As usual he mentioned the book and was more pushy this time. As a result, I withdrew from that conversation and led the children out of earshot of Miles voice. Miles pushed even further telling my children not to listen to me, which led me to confront Miles directly. I told him, “I do not believe what you believe because it is not truth. My children are impressionable, and I do not want you influencing them.” Even though my children did not understand why they could not have a balloon it opened up an impromptu discussion about false prophets and an elaboration of scripture we read together earlier that week. James, our brother in Christ, was nearby and was able to reinforce with the boys what I had already established with them.
James is doing well. He and his wife are expecting their first child and she is due this week. Please be praying for them both, their unborn child, and those in their support group. Please pray for the health of the baby and his wife Ashley. Please pray that James would continue to walk with God and now be the Godly husband and father he is called to be. Last of all, please pray for his family to receive abundant financial blessing as he supports his family, ministering in the quarter as an artist.
On the river we met up with Coolio, Orosco, Jim, and Chuck. You can pray for Coolio’s health, he was just released from the hospital with heart and knee issues. Orosco said he is doing okay, and that his most basic need is to keep warm. Chuck has been working. He said, “I finally decided to get up and work and now I am working. I understand things won’t happen for me over night, so I will keep on working.
There are some very specific requests for clothing items, winter accessories, and sleeping bags. We are looking to you our supporters to equip us with men’s winter coats sizes extra large and 2 XLarge, thermal pants and shirts sizes large and extra large, winter gloves, winter hats, and sleeping bags rated 30 degree or below ( preferably one that has a compression sack). You can equip us with these items three different ways:
1. Donating the item/s listed above.
2. Purchasing gift cards so that we can purchase specific sizes per individual.
3. Make a financial donation to Celebration Church on behalf of Celebrate Blessings STREET
OUTREACH.
We are so very thankful to you for your prayers, encouragement, and support.
