Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Greetings His Precious Ones in Christ...

Wow! We serve an awesome God, don’t we! I am sitting in the home of Jeff and Leslie Sjurseth who serve on our board at Pure Joy International. Last night I had the great privilege to share at a women’s conference put together by St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Houston, TX. The title of the conference was “Taste and See that the LORD is Good!” It was wonderful. The women in attendance represented several churches and mission organizations and had the most gracious and sweet fragrance of the LORD coming forth from them. I was able to also share about Pure Joy and our needs for the Africa trip, plus many other opportunities for the ladies in this area to get on board with missions at a local level. If I wasn’t flying out tomorrow I would be right in the middle of helping with Little Footprints tomorrow night. It is a ministry to babies of the street kids ages 17-25. Please go on line and read about it when you can. www.littlefootprints.com The ministry to the parents 17-25 is called Montrose Street Reach. http://www.montrosestreetreach.org/.

We received donations that will sponsor 5 more ladies to attend the Africa trip! We have 11 paid for as of today (Monday). Patty would say almost 11. But I like to round up! (ha,ha,ha) Don’t miss out on this opportunity to encourage these women!

We have 50 women signed up for the Retreat with 20 on the waiting list as of today. I want to encourage you give, give, give. As we can see the need is major for these ladies to have a break!! Partner with a couple of your girlfriends and determine to sponsor one of these ladies for this Retreat. Again, cost per missionary woman to attend for 4 days-3 nights is $500. There are a lot of places we could put these ladies up at ½ the price. But I believe this ministry is a vehicle God uses to remind the ladies that He wants to lavish His Love on them because they spend their lives lavishing His Love and Word on others that might never have heard the truth of the Gospel.

I also want you to see how God works in the lives of women on this side of the continent when preparing their hearts to go. Following is a testimony from one of the ladies that will be part of our Africa Team from the states.

I Love you all so much…(The Body of Christ),

His,
vickie


Vickie asked me to blog and share my testimony with you about the upcoming Retreat in Africa. My first Retreat with Pure Joy was in 2007 to Quito, Ecuador. Early one morning, while there, God put a “whole” rainbow in the sky – I could see where it began and where it ended! I had seen rainbows but never a “whole” one. My roommate and I were so excited! We were in awe, jumping up and down, squealing, calling and waking up other team members to tell them, but I had no idea how God would use this in my life. There is not enough space to tell you about every incident, but since that trip, every time I have gone on Retreat with Pure Joy, God has given me a “whole” rainbow! I know it is His confirmation for me! If you know Vickie, you know before you can go with Pure Joy your husband has to be in agreement. Recently, I told my husband that I was feeling led to pray about going on the upcoming Retreat in Africa. Immediately he replied, “No, you’re not going!” He did not feel comfortable with me traveling there. Later, I told him, “You know if God gives me a rainbow on this, I have to go!” This began to soften his heart and it wasn’t long before he said, “You have to go where God leads you.” I knew I had overcome my first hurdle! The other love of my life is only 2 years old. He has blonde hair, big blue eyes, dimples and is my only grandbaby, Marshall Isaac. If you have grandchildren, you know how hard it is to be away from them for any length of time! Especially, to travel so far away to a place that is so different from our way of life and is even a little scary! Below is a picture of the Sunday School project that Marshall made and gave to me this past week! Yes, God gave me a “whole” rainbow! I am excited to say that I will be part of the Team traveling to Africa in March! From God’s canvas in the sky to a work of art made by tiny little hands – HE is so Faithful! Always Seek Him. Always Listen for Him. Always Look for Him. HE Is ALWAYS There!

Praying you Revel in your Rainbow!
Penny Morrow

1 comment:

heather said...

love the rainbow! what a great testimony! excited for you ladies :)