Mood:  a-ok

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Mood:  lazy

Sarah was gone again today. She's been gone a lot lately. Let's recount the past week or so.

Last Thursday she rearranged the boy's therapies so  that she could take one of her ladies, "G", to the courthouse in the next county to see her daughter in court. It seems that G's daughter had violated her probation and G went to see if she could do anything to help. G, by the way, is 67, has outlived two husbands, and is one of the hardest workers that I know. You can regularly see her at 4am walking the streets in the project (low income housing area) and picking up the trash. Yes I said 4am! Then, during the day, she volunteers her time to help the maintenance men clean and fix up the apartments after someone has moved out. G offered to pay for lunch, but Sarah wouldn't take her money. Instead, Sarah treated.

Sunday, of course, is Mission day. Sarah is over at the mission early to spiff up and begin the meal that she is going to serve the folks who come that day. She has her computer with her so that she can study her lesson that day. She spends time greeting the people as they come - sometimes a half hour early just to talk. She is still smiling and greeting as I run with the van picking up folks that need a ride. After the meal, I take the kids and Sarah teaches the ladies. She  loses track of time and ends up being late to help with the youth at our church. That evening she tells me that she doesn't even know what she said. It just seems like the Holy Spirit took over.

Tuesday afternoon she's out with some of her ladies again. Helping them run errands and doing some shopping for the mission. That afternoon we have Bible Club and, of course, another meal. Sarah is once again in the kitchen cooking. Bible Club went great, and so did the meal.

Yesterday she mentioned that she loved her ladies but was glad nothing was planned for the day. This morning she gets up and she and the boys attend the Thursday morning Bible study that they have been going to for the past few years. It has a fantastic homeschool group that the boys love. When she finally gets home and props her feet up she gets a phone call. I hear her say "Give me about 40 minutes and I'll be there." It seems that another one of her ladies, "L", was in tears. She had taken out a loan and, when she went to pay on it, the people wouldn't take her payment. Sarah went with her to the loan office to find out what was going on. She was able to explain to L and they got everything taken care of.

Tomorrow, after she takes the kids to therapy in the morning, she's taking "A" into Cookeville. A doesn't have a car and her daughter has a birthday coming up so she's taking her shopping.

So, Sarah will be gone again tomorrow. She's been gone a lot lately. Thank you, Lord, for my wife, Sarah.

Sarah and John Allen at a recent youth event.

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Mood:  a-ok

Poverty is all around us. It's in our town. It's in our state. It's in our country. It's on our continent. It's in our world.

We can't get away from it. I know. I work with it every day. I see the children. I hear the adults. I know their struggles. Some struggle because of their own faults. Some struggle because of no fault of their own. Some were raised that way and they know nothing better. They don't know how to get out.

It's no different anywhere in the world.

I'm a firm believer in helping those around us first. It's so easy to go on  a missions trip to some foreign country, but then look the other way when you pass the low income housing area in your own town. I like this verse in the Bible:

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts. 1:8 (NIV)

You need to begin where you are - your Jerusalem. Then go out from there until you reach the "ends of the earth".

Not everyone can physically go to the ends of the earth. Some are called to stay. Some are called to send. Some are called to go. However, we should all do something to help in all areas.

Sarah and I try to live that way. We direct Good News Mission here at home. We travel to other areas to work with other missionaries. We sponsor children with Compassion International.

I know that everyone can't do the things that we do. You have jobs. You have a life. You may not be financially or physically able.

I don't have all of the answers, but I can give opportunities.

Right before Christmas I found out about "Bead for Life". It's a fantastic organization that works in Uganda training impoverished women (and some men) to make beautiful beads out of paper that are then made into jewelry and sold all around the world. It's hard to explain, so let me show you this great video:

Don't you love it? These ladies are finding a way out! They've been given a chance. As I said before, not all of us can pledge to financially give monthly to support a child with Compassion International, but, could you buy a necklace? What about earrings or a bracelet? How about shea butter soap or lip balm?

Almost all ladies where jewelry. Sarah does. I bought her some earrings that look just like this for Christmas.

Sarah loves them. What a great way to help release folks from poverty and receive something beautiful and useful as well. Oh, and by the way, they partner with Compassion International so, in a way, you are helping them too! And, don't think the price will be too high. Bracelet's can cost as little as $5.00! These earrings - only $10.00. A bar of Shea butter soap or lip balm is just $4.00. And shipping and handling is low as well!

Have I convinced you yet? Why don't you check out the Bead for Life website by clicking here to find out more about the organization. Then click here to get to the store and check out their beautiful products. Thanks for helping!

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Mood:  a-ok

Sarah, my hard working wife, has just sent out another prayer letter about our ministry here in Tennessee. In the past, I have published our prayer letters on our prayer letter blog and just mentioned that there was a new one on this blog. Well, I've decided that I'm going to publish them on both blogs. Since most of my readers read this blog, then this is the most logical place to publish it. I'm going to continue putting it on the prayer letter blog so that anyone that wants to read all of our past prayer letters can do so without having to sort through all of my blog postings to find them. You can find my prayer letter blog link in the left column of this blog. Thanks and here's the new letter.

"The king will answer them, 'I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant [they seemed], you did for me.'        

                                                                                               Matthew 25:40 (God’s Word Translation)   (1995)

Greetings in Jesus,

Praying that this finds you being blessed and having a great day!! The Tinkels have been doing pretty good. It is hard to believe that another year is almost gone. When I think back over this past year I am amazed at all God has done for us and how big He has shown himself. It has been a great year of ministry. Our numbers have increased with new families and the spiritual growth of my ladies has blessed me in their understanding of who God is in their lives. This past weekend we had our Holiday Meal in which we served 210-230 individuals! When we delivered food to the shut ins the look on their faces made our day. We were so blessed to be able to be Jesus’ hands, feet and words. One of my ladies, who helped deliver the food, kept saying what a good time she was having and how she loved seeing the look on the people’s faces.  We want to say a special thank you to all of those who helped, donated, gave, etc. toward our Holiday Meal. God blessed it and He especially blessed Tim, me and my ladies. Thank you for co laboring with us in this endeavor. You reap the blessings as much as we do.

We have had a lot of health issues with Jacob over the last few months. We found out that he has a type of bone degeneration on the bone that fits into his hip socket and that one leg is longer than other (come to find out all three boys have one leg that is longer than the other). This is what is causing him to be in so much pain, especially at night.  We were supposed to go to Vanderbilt to see the orthopedic on the 14^th but a major snow storm came and we had to cancel. Our new appointment is 1/25/11. Please be in prayer with us that we can find out what needs to be done with Jacob to alleviate the pain that he is in. Pray that we can get in sooner to see the doctor and get something done quickly. John Allen and Joshua are getting excited about the new year of competitive BB gun shooting that will start in January. Tim and I are busy home schooling, Bible studies, running the Mission and taking kids to therapies. God is so good and faithful and we praise Him for allowing us to serve Him where He has placed us. We are greatly and richly blessed at what God is doing in our lives and the part you have in it.

Please be in prayer for our extended families. Tim’s mom has had some major health issues and at one point we thought we were going to have to take an emergency trip to New Jersey. She is doing better now and we pray that within the next month or two we will be able to go and visit with her. My mom has been in the hospital twice in the last month due to heart issues. I have had to make trips to Oak Ridge, TN in order to help her and my grandmother, who she takes care of. My sister and niece in the last year have gone through some major life changes that have been very difficult for both of them. With Tim and I being the “spiritual leaders” in our families, when things fall apart or go wrong, we are the ones that everyone calls. Not only do we have our ministries here in Livingston but our families are our ministries as well. We at times get overwhelmed and tired with so many pulling us in different directions but God has blessed our obedience and our faithfulness.

Please be in prayer for our support. Over the last year we have lost some supporters. We have also gained a few, but not enough to fill in the gap. Pray that God would raise up a remnant of faithful financial and prayer supporters in addition to the ones that He has already provided. We are in need of an extra $400+ a month. Any money that is sent in to BCM Intl. for us is tax deductible. If you would like to know more information about our ministries please contact us. We would love to share our hearts with you at what God is doing in our lives and different ministries. If you would like to know how you can become a prayer or financial supporter we would love to share that as well.

Thank you for your prayers, giving, encouragement etc. We are blessed and greatly appreciate what you do on our behalf. May God richly bless you this Christmas and in the New Year.

Hearts GREATLY blessed,

Sarah & Tim Tinkel

Sarah & Tim Tinkel                                               BCM International, Inc.

829 Hi Tech Drive                                                 201 Granite Run Drive Suite 260

Livingston, TN 38570                                           Lancaster, PA 17601

Tim – Tink38570@yahoo.com                           1-888-226-4685

Sarah – set1993@gmail.com                             bcmintl.org

931-823-9320

Account #0642

Tim's Blog - tink38570.angelfire.com/familiesagain

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Mood:  a-ok

Believe it or not, we have been the directors of Good News Mission for over 10 years now. It just seems like yesterday that we volunteered to help out - never knowing that it would lead to this.

Sarah and my prayer has always been for the low income folks that we minister to would grow strong in the Lord and that they would lean on Him to help them in the situations that they are in. Sarah especially has been working with the women - she calls them "my ladies" - for these many years and has seen much growth.

I have been convicted for the last few months to take the folks of the mission to a new level in their walk with the Lord. A couple of weeks ago the Lord put a thought in my mind that really worked out in a neat way. I have always been interested in the way the Lord uses numbers in the Bible. The numbers 7 and 12 are used a lot but when God put that thought in my mind, it came with the number 40. Forty is also used many times - it rained for 40 days and 40 nights during the great flood, the Israelites were punished to wander 40 years in the wilderness, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert praying and fasting, there are 40 days between Easter and Pentecost. Forty seems to be very important, and listen to this!

God impressed upon me that I should challenge the folks 40 days of Prayer and I should present it the following Sunday. Here is where it gets really neat. I looked at the calendar to see when the 40 days would start and end. The next Sunday was November the 21st. There were 9 days left in November and there are 31 days in December which means that there were exactly 40 days left in the year!

So, Good News Mission is praying out the year! I challenged the adults to pray by themselves, with their spouses and with their families. I challenged them to let their kids see them pray and hear them pray. I challenged them to pray on their knees if they could. I urged them to encourage one another by calling or texting each other and reminding them to pray. They were to pray for each other, the mission, the projects, the town and then on up to our nation and world. They were to pray for specifics, not just these "Now I lay me down to sleep" type things. And, they were not to forget to praise God.

We have taught on prayer before, but this is really the first time we have presented this type of challenge. The next Tuesday at Bible Club, I passed out these reminder cards to hang on their refrigerators:

Now I am asking you. Please pray for Good News Mission and the people we serve. For some of the folks that attend, this is a big step for them but they really need this challenge. Living in a low income housing area is not easy. There are drugs. There is alcohol. There is sexual promiscuity. There are financial woes - some of their own making and some not. We have to deal with these things regularly as the directors of the mission. Please pray that this 40 day challenge will make an impact. Pray also for Sarah and I and our family as we minister to these folks. We really appreciate all of the support that you have given us over the years. Some of the readers of this blog know us personally, some have just stumbled upon my humble writings and visit every once in a while, but many of you pray for us regularly. Please don't stop. We really covet your prayers. Thank you for them.

Tim

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