P3 = Power from God!

Greetings once more from upstate NY! Summer is upon us and the thought of anything but blue skies and warm days just escapes me! God’s creation all around us gives us a mere glimpse of His handiwork! Since we last shared with you, God has also shown Himself to us, so we offer this update in His name…the power of the 3 P’s… Praise + Patience + Prayer!





Praise!

On June 1st, Lee Ann and I returned to our former home church in Pennsylvania, Christ Covenant Church - it was definitely a wonderful homecoming. We were honored by the warm reception - this was our first time returning as missionaries. We look forward to someday planning a church building trip with this congregation!

I have returned from California to help fellow Partnership short term trip leaders Eric & Gloria Hodel at the Harvest Gathering missions conference. We spoke with many folks about the plans and vision of Partnership Ministries. Eric & Gloria are dear friends that have been positive role models for us and helped Lee Ann and I develop our new and improved retirement program – thank God for their dedication and desire to serve our Lord!

Recently, I made a connection with a company that I want to introduce you to – Total Resources International. They specialize in First Aid and Emergency Preparedness Products – and it is clear that the company was founded with God’s heart in mind. We were blessed by them just a couple weeks ago – they donated a case of first aid kits to share with our church building teams. Thanks especially to their National Sales Manger, Joe Fisher for their generosity!


Patience!

Recently, one of my devotions was based on the scripture verse of John 16: 13 - But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. Sometimes, we need to wait on what God has in store for us. Recently I was personally challenged by this concept and God showed Himself to me just yesterday. As some of you may know, there was a TACA airline crash at the Tegucigalpa airport on May 30th which closed indefinitely. Immediately, we contacted Humberto Del Arca, our contact in Honduras, to move to another area closer to the San Pedro Sula airport. These changes were made without skipping a beat, but in the process, our purchased airline tickets got all messed up and up until yesterday, I was not sure we could even fly into Honduras. We were offered a full refund but at this point any existing tickets from other airlines were 40-50% more expensive than what we had already purchased. After spending over fifteen hours on the phone and online, speaking with six CSR’s from three airlines, I was blessed by meeting up with Edward from Confidential Airlines. What seemed impossible to others was simple to Edward… within 3 minutes on the phone, his “we can do this!” was music to my ears! Thank God for that lesson from the book of John!

Prayer!

In 2 weeks, Lee Ann and I will depart for La Ceiba Honduras to meet up with the team from Calvary Baptist. We will be working alongside the ministry of Humberto del Arca and the many pastors of that region. Please keep us in your prayers for God to reveal Himself to us and the team in a way that could only be construed as His… that the team forms a bond that will last for many years…that we are invisible and that the people in the village we serve see God at work!

We are setting up meetings for later this summer and into the fall – there will be a lot of car travel and possibly time away from Lee Ann – please pray for traveling safety as well as for us during times of being away from each other.


How can you help – can you feel the power?

Become financial partners with us – we thank all our faithful supporters but for those who are new to us, we promise to be faithful stewards of your contributions and desire to welcome you as “part of the family”. We have been blessed recently with several generous one-time gifts as well as promises for ongoing support, but we need to press on – we are just over 40% supported now and are striving to achieve full support by year’s end. For details, please either contact us to meet face to face or go to http://www.missionsdoor.org/ and click on “donate” button

If you have been blessed by a short-term missions experience, spread the good word to those that haven’t heard!

Please continue to pray for our ministry…for all the connections we are and will make with churches and individuals.

Your prayers and financial support mean more than we can express in words – may God continue to bless you and yours!

Peace, Rick & Lee Ann