Saturday, October 28, 2017

Costa Rica Team is heading home...

See you Sunday, family and friends!


Wonderful Friday conference day...

God continued to show His wondrous works among the group on Friday with a great day full of fellowship, worship, gifts and teaching from His Word. Please continue to pray as they finish strong this morning.
Team prayer
Group worship


Sweet fellowship
 
 
 Favorites bags always bring a lot of smiles!


 
 Counting it all Pure Joy,
Mary

Friday, October 27, 2017

Thursday and the conference continues...

Today was full day for the team and the missionaries. Four messages from God's word were presented; three testimonies of His faithfulness were proclaimed; great meals, sweet fellowship, and precious gifts were shared. What a wonderful God we serve!

Counting it all Pure Joy,
Mary




 

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Wednesday and the conference begins...


The conference has started and the team is very busy! Vickie asked me to give you an update with these pictures! Keep lifting them up as God has many wonders in store for them!
Counting it all Pure Joy! Mary


  
Final preparation and prayer by team.
The missionaries arrived
Wednesday afternoon
All 50!


   
At check-in the Team was there to meet
 and greet and show the ladies around.
Coming together with the Word!




And with worship!

And prayer!

And gifts!
                           
      

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

More Tuesday News...

First, we made a good decision not to go out on the catamaran today. It started raining pretty good by eleven. The wave in the ocean were nothing we wanted to be on! Ha ha

Please continue to pray as it is suppose to get worse tomorrow. We have asked God to calm the storms so all the Missionary women can make it to and from the conference safely.

Today the team kind of did their own thing. Here are some pictures from the day.

Love you and keep praying!

His,
Vickie





Costa Rica Tuesday...

We  had a full day yesterday (Monday). We started with a team devotional from Jennifer. Then off to nearby places.






First stop....Alligator River. Check out this picture with Makenzie.


Locals said, when Nate brushed the county the rain brought water up so high it washed the alligators down the river into the town below. eek! Guess whose coming to dinner? Ha Ha Ha

 Then headed out to do some local souvenir shops. I am sure some of you will be seeing the results of it. (Smile)

We came back toward the hotel and stopped at a local grocery store for coffee to bring home.(Smile)

We had  some sweet, sweet  prayer time for the missionaries that will be coming tomorrow, dinner and lights out!

This morning (Tuesday) was suppose to be our big outing day. A ride on a catamaran and some snorkeling and hiking. However, there is a major storm coming through. The problem is we don’t know for sure when it will hit, but it is suppose to be pretty serious. So we cancelled the trip this morning. Your loved ones will be safe!

However, please pray for God to intervene. The storm could possibly be as severe as the one a couple of weeks ago and cause mudslides, flooding, etc. Pray for the missionaries that are registered for this conference. They are also having to make decisions based on this storm.

Love you all.. Keep praying.

His,
Vickie

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Good evening,

As I write this blog we are at dinner waiting for our order to be taken.

We have had a great day!! Sylvia did our team devotional for us this morning. We then had a sweet time of sharing about what God has been doing in our lives the past 6 months as we have been preparing for this conference. There were some awesome stories shared about His work in our lives during the process.

We then had lunch and decided to do our final preparations for the missionaries coming in on Wednesday. The team building that goes on during this time is amazing. God has truly put together the right team for such a time as this! After we finished preparations we spent time in prayer... praying for our missionaries, but also really praying specially for all of you that give to sponsor these ladies, give gifts, pray, etc., etc.

The staff at this hotel is incredible. So friendly, so kind. They are so mindful of any needs we might have.

I suppose today I could sum up by saying we have all felt very blessed to be a part of God’s plan for this conference!

Love you all,

His,
Vickie



Saturday, October 21, 2017

Greetings All,

The Costa Rica Team is sitting in the airport waiting for our flight out of the country. Everyone is so excited and having fun getting to know each other. Well, fill you in when we finish up the evening.
Blessings to all!

His,
Vickie

Thursday, October 19, 2017

2 Days and Team Departs for Costa Rica

Saturday morning the team will leave their respective states and we will all come together at Atlanta International to fly out of the country. Once we arrive in San Jose we will have a one hour and forty-five-minute bus ride to our hotel. I will be blogging daily. If you follow Facebook, you should be able to stay in real time with us as we journey. The blog to email will be a day behind. There will be pictures and anything interesting to share along the way.

The most important thing we need is your prayers for us and the missionaries as they prepare. The conference starts Wednesday. We will get in a couple of days of free time before finishing the final preparations for the conference. I will write again on Saturday evening.

Can’t leave you without something to ponder, so see below. It answers every question you need to know about the importance of family. At least it does for me. I came up with that illustration because I think the visual is a powerful reflection of Abe’s words.

His,
Vickie

A child is a person who is going to carry on what you have started. He/She will assume control of your cities, states, and nations. He/She is going to move in and take over your churches, schools, universities, and corporations. The fate of humanity is in his/her hands.
                                                                                               Abraham Lincoln              

Friday, October 13, 2017

He Loves Me…..

For many of us middle aged (or slightly older, ha, ha) we remember the days of our youth picking Black-eyed Susan’s (daisy) and playing He (or She) loves me or loves me not. Usually, the flower looked like the one in the picture having only 13 petals. There are daisies that have more or less petals and come in all kinds of colors, but this is the one we usually found growing in the fields around us. I may have been a slow learner at this, but eventually, I figured out that whichever statement I started with, he loves me or he loves me not is also what I ended with as I plucked the petals away. So naturally I started with he loves me. (smile) You know, even as youth, we knew that was just a silly game.

But today I see people all around me doing that with real life and it’s not a game. He bought me something… he loves me. He didn’t get me something… he doesn’t love me. He called me 3 times throughout the day even though he is working… he loves me. He didn’t call me 3 times today while working… he doesn’t love me. She washed the dishes… she loves me. She didn’t wash the dishes…
she doesn’t love me. She cleaned the house and did laundry… she loves me. She didn’t clean the house and do the laundry… she doesn’t love me. She cooked, she didn’t cook, he put gas in the car, he didn’t put gas in the car, etc., etc., etc.

 “Spurgeon Daily Quotes” 
Christ Jesus has no quarrel with his spouse. She often wanders from him, and grieves his Holy Spirit, but he does not allow her faults to affect his love. He sometimes chides, but it is always in the tenderest manner, with the kindest intentions: it is ‘my love’ even then.


Have you allowed your spouse, children, family-member, friend and or co-worker’s faults to affect your love for them? Go back to the start, remember the Black-eyed Susan. Forgive them and start with ‘love’ (His Love) which ends with ‘love’ (His Love).

Costa Rica last lap before departure…
Ok, I am confident we are in the last lap before leaving the country a week from this Saturday. How do I know this? Because my brain is on overload of thoughts. The other morning, I put my mom’s oatmeal in the cabinet to heat it up, instead of the microwave, and I plugged the hairdryer in instead of the iron for my shirt. Yep, I’d say I have a few distractions in my brain. Ha,ha,ha.

All that to say…this is the very last week of preparation. Trunks are and have been packed. So it is now to the finite details for each team member to address to be ready to step on that plane. So, Pray for us!!! And my brain! Ha,ha,ha

He Loves Me…

His,
Vickie

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Restoration...


Recently my brother and his wife moved from Houston, Texas back home to Arkansas.  Well, I should say they are mostly moved, he still has another month or more at his job before official retirement.  Therefore, my sister-in-law is here while he goes back and forth.
Last week my mom went to spend the week with my sister-in-law to help her unpack and help where needed.   Now let me just stop a minute and say we are unpacking things and organizing.  Why would this require any type of trip to flea markets?  Why? Ha,ha,ha,ha!  However, it did I suppose.  Because, when I checked in on them one day they were restoring a dresser they picked up at one of the flea markets.  Well… the very same day my mom was telling me about them restoring that dresser, I read something very interesting in one of my daily devotionals.  It was encouraging to my soul and a good reminder of a truth.  The quote was from A.W. Tozer, and reads, “The supreme work of Christ in redemption is not just to save us from hell, but to restore us to Godliness again.” 

Romans 8:29 (ESV)
 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

So, I got to thinking about how God has redeemed those of us that have placed our faith in Jesus Christ (literally, paid the price for us). Just like my sister-in-law bought that dresser.  It now belongs to her and my brother (just like we belong to God).  She bought that dresser with a picture in mind of what it could be. (He redeemed us knowing the plans He had for us.)  They went to work on the restoration process.  (Just like He began a good work in us.)  They didn’t finish the restoration process in one day.  (Just like we are not restored to godliness in one day.)  I’m sure she has had to do some cleaning, stripping, sanding/buffing, filling, etc., etc. (Just like God has to utilize different circumstances and situations in our lives to restore us to godliness.)  All this to say to you dear ones, be patient with yourself and others.  It is a process. (smile)

1 Timothy 4:8 (ESV)
....for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Prayer for Costa Rica (Hit by tropical storm)
Costa Rica is Red Alert today (Thursday) meaning the potential for mudslides, flooding, electrical outages, etc., is high.  There have already been some deaths related to mudslides and flooding.  Please pray for our missionaries that might be in some of those areas, as well as the locals.

Restoration in process,
His,

Vickie