What a summer it has been. In June we started our day camps at the Mission. I prayed for 40 children and adults and we averaged about 32!! God did amazing things this summer! He brought back families who had not been here in a while and one of John Allen's friends accepted Christ as his Savior. Please pray for him as he is struggling right now with things that are going on at home...Satan is already attacking. This year we had some teen aged volunteers who got to experience what ministry is like here at the Mission. They were such blessings and were such a great help. My ladies loved them and were impressed by the patience and love they had for the children...especially the very young ones. My prayer for these young teen aged volunteers is that God would bless them in their future endeavors in serving Him. They had such sweet hearts. You don't see to many young teenagers giving up their summer to volunteer their time being in charge of games, listening and teaching verses to at times, very rambunctious children. They were such a light of Jesus to children who are hurting and just needing someone to take the time to love them. The Bible lessons that Tim taught this summer were from our Mission BCM's (Bible Centered Ministries) God Gives us Victory. It talks about the Giants that we face as children of God such as Fear, Unbelief, Disobedience, Discouragement, Revenge, Pride, My Own Way, Self, Selfishness just to name a few. The kids soaked it up!! One Sunday Tim did a review and had the kids tell the adults about the different giants that they had studied about over the summer. With little prompting they were able to quote the corresponding verse that went with each story/giant!! I was very impressed as were the adults. When it came to singing songs there were two that the kids really loved. They were Faith is Just Believing and Trust and obey. I cried while the kids were singing...to hear their sweet voices raised to God and knowing what they are going home to blessed me so much. Its funny because I was wondering "God are they getting it." Is the getting up early in the morning, buying stuff out of our own pocket and not sure if we will get reimbursed because of lack of donations coming in, is it really worth it? God showed me in a very humbling way that yes this is where I need you to be....stay faithful and keep your eyes on the prize. It has been a very good summer of blessings and growth. On July 22nd our oldest turned 15!! Where did the time go?? Just yesterday he was a baby in my arms and now he is growing into a very neat young man. He has been such a sweet blessing to me and his dad. The love that he has for his brothers and the concern that he is getting for his friends and others to know Jesus is so precious to me. When John Allen was born Tim and I prayed over him...that God would use him for His glory and that he would become a mighty man of faith. My prayer for all of our boys is that God would use each of them for His glory and that God would give Tim and I the wisdom and discernment to raise them to love, obey, serve and worship God with all their heart soul and mind. There have been a lot of bumps along the way but to see the fruit when you least expect it has been precious.