The Summeys - The Pilgrims Journey

The End of an Era!

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Well, here we are at the end of an era; for Sarah and I at least. You are thinking to yourself what is he talking about, so let me cut the chase. As of this we we are no longer on staff with Adventures in Missions. Sad I know. This decision for Sarah and I to step down has been brewing for a while. It's no fun to remain in limbo for extended periods of time. this decision comes through much prayer and council from our Pastors, and mentors, and family. we are convinced that its the correct decision for where the lord is leading us right. now (more on that at a later date). We love Adventures in Missions and will continue to endorse their leadership, and to support them in prayer. We have made so our best friends through AIM and intend to keep those friendships alive.

As for our future, I will be starting Bible college again, and Sarah will be at home being a mommy.

To our supporters that have been with us for this long haul, thank you so much. You support and prayers have meant more that you will ever know. we pray that God blesses you in ever area of your life.

I will be writing, later on another blog that I have started if you would like to keep us with us, and what God is doing in our lives. that blog is not up yet but will be soon. if you would like to receive that blog send me an email to shawnsummey@gmail.com and I will add you to that mailing list.

Thanks to all of the Aim Staff for the experiences and friendships that you have allowed us to have with you. Thanks to all of the students that allowed us to pour into them. Thanks to all of our supporters for making it all possible. We love you all and God Bless you.

"The Let Down!"

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Have you ever had your heart broken? You start dating a person and you are really in to him or her only to realize that they are not that into you. Well I have been there a time or two. Or you get really excited about about a situation, only to be let down. This always happens to me in situation that I have felt like the Lord was leading me to.

One example that resonates deep in my heart and still hurts, is when we felt the lord leading us to go to Africa. When we heard that word we jumped on the band wagon with AIM and started raising funds to go, and at the end of our time frame to leave last year, "Slam" the door closed by our support not coming in. Another year later here we are in the exact same place. Please don't get me wrong, we have grown spiritually, and exponentially with the birth of our first son. But we still live in the same house, working the same job with no more direction than we had two years ago.

This same type of situation came up this week. Since we are in "limbo" with no real direction accept to be, I decided to try and go back to college and get a degree, while we are waiting on directions from the Lord. So in January I filed all the applications, sent all the paperwork, even registered for classes; when I get a letter to inform me that I am not being accepted as a degree seeking student because my GPA was to low from my previous attempts, and "Slam" the door closed again.

One thing that I am realizing about myself is that, I put my heart fully in every thing I do, and usually get my hopes up high. I get really excited and, "Pop" goes my bubble along with the let down of my heart. This week I have been praying, "Lord is this your way of saying no?" or " are you just closing the doors because I don't understand", "why is this always happening?" It hit me like a rock, what i am actually asking is, "Can I trust you with my heart?" If you are honest with yourself, you have asked this question before. God can you be trusted with my heart?

When I realized this question my heart sank. I realized that I have been blaming God for my situations. I have been accusing Him for my hurt from these situations, but would not allow Him to mend the wounds. Because of situations like this I feel like a failure. It raises doubts that I hear from the Lord, but as I look back I realize that those feelings are lies. I have no doubt that the Lord's leading and teaching process may leave wounds behind, but He is always there to mend our wounds with His love, and grace, and compassion. I am sure that as you look around and see the works of His hands, and see this magnificent world that He has created, you will agree that He is more than able to fix our "problems," and yes he can be trusted with our hearts.

"Lord, continue to confirm in me that you can be trusted with my heart. You are good, not tame and mild but you are good, and I choose to put my trust in you, and to keep following and keep listening you your voice. Please keep speaking and let me learn to recognize your voice amidst all the business of life. "

I am leaving you with this video it is about 15 mins long. I apologize for it being so long, but I strongly encourage you so stop and watch it. Take some time to pray through it. It will rock you to the core. I also apologize, this blog has been all about sharing with you where we are, and to show our faults and failures in hopes that in sharing it will help with the growing process, and help you with yours. If you have had "situations" or "problems" I encourage you to step out and write a comment about it even if anonomous. There is always freedom in bringing things to the light though that process may hurt. This blog is about community so if you are hurting there are people that are a part of this community that I know will pray for you.

God bless you on your journey and enjoy the Video.

Sarah's Sister Rachel

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So tonight I get to be the bearer of really good news. Rachel went to have an MRI done this morning, and after two Radiologist, and her Physician reading the results, what they saw in the CT scan was gone. It was there the other day, but now its gone.

So as you can imagine we are praising the Lord yet again for his faithfulness and His mighty works.

Thanks to everyone's prayers and concerns. We love you and and Rachel extremely grateful to everyone too.

Thank You so Much!

Emergency Prayer Request!!!!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Family, I seem to only have bad news lately, so here goes.

Sarah's older sister Rachel was in a pretty bad car accident last weekend, so the took her to the ER, and she was sent home with a OK. That following day her family began to see that she was having a hard time remembering, and she was real dizzy. So Jeremy her husband took her back to the ER where they did a CT scan that they were told was clear. So today Rachel got a call from her physician asking her if she had made a follow up appointment from her CT. Apparently the Radiologist saw a spot on her brain that they think is either a vascular abnormality or has a small spot that is bleeding on her brain.

Please, Please, Please Pray for Rachel! Pray for her Healing because we know that the Lord is more than capable. Pray for Comfort for her family and for Sarah. Lift her up.

Prayer

Lord I lift up Rachel and ask that you will touch her and bring healing to her. Bring her restoration. Comfort her let her know that you a near. Allow her to feel you love surrounding her. Lord you have not give us a spirit of fear, but of Love and peace. I pray right now against the fear that Rachel is feeling, in Jesus name we declair that you are in control. We put her life into your hands because you love her more that any of us ever could. In Jesus Name

Update on Sarah's Dad #2

Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We were called late last night, and Jim made it through the surgery fine. They were keeping him overnight, and sending him home today. Pray for a speedy recovery.

Urgent Prayer Request For Sarah's Dad!!!

Sat, 16 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Please Please Please Pray!!!

Sarah's Dad Jim went to the ER a little while ago, with sever stomach pains. We just got word that the doctors are thinking that its his appendix. That can be very serious business, so pray that that Lord will touch him and heal him !

As we know more about the situation we will give you an update.

P.S. We think that Gabe may be teething, so he is feeling well. Pray that we will get some sleep.

Upddate on Sarah's Dad!!!

Sat, 16 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We just got a call from Rachel, Sarah's sister, they are taking Jim back for surgery to remove his appendix. The surgeon said that its pretty routine, and Jim is pretty healthy so he does not see any problems.

Pray that things go smoothly.

Urgent Need Update!!!

Thu, 7 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Family,

I just recieved an email from the Arnaud family, and they were able to raise all of the support that they needed for their trip. Praise the Lord! thank you for your prayer and financial support for this family.

Urgent Need!

Tue, 5 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Family

I am not sure if it kosher to send another missionaries support information out, to our supporters, but they are in the family of God and they have a very urgent need. I ask that you would prayerfully consider helping in any way that you can. Remember that every amount is significant and no gift is to small. If 800 people give 2.50 each they hit their goal. That amount can be met by one church. Check out Sara and Remi's ministry at http://www.remiandsara.calvarychatt.org. As I dont think that I could possibly do their need justice i have copied the email that they sent out today on our blog. So meet the Arnaud family, Lord bless them and provide in your timing.

Dear Friends and Family,

Imagine a world that is completely green and lush and yet completely destitute at the same time. A world that is easily one of the most beautiful places on earth, yet probably one of the poorest. The contrast is striking.

This is not an imaginary world, but a place called Ethiopia. And we, students and staff of the Gateways Training School, are privileged to go there in just 3 short weeks, for the purpose of the gospel. Paul says in Acts 20:24 that he counted his life worth nothing, that he may finish the race and complete the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. And, so, in the "style" of Paul, we will go forth in this grace to preach good news, pray healing, and see salvation come to the beautiful people of this precious land.

Will you stand in prayer with us? Our family still needs $1800 to join the GTS team on this mission to Ethiopia. We have considered the option of Remi going alone, but we believe and stand in faith that God has spoken and that we are to go as a (complete) family. There is something very strategic about our working and ministering together. So, we stand in faith that God's provision will come. Will you stand with us?

Please pray with us for this urgent need, as the payment deadline is today.

For those of you who feel like you are to be part of the answer to this prayer by way of financial donation, you may donate online at the Gateways Beyond website. Click here: www.gatewaysbeyond.org/donate.php

and please, designate the funds for "Remi & Sara Arnaud: Ethiopia".

Thank you so much for standing with us, and for your fervent, effective prayers!

Many blessings,

Remi, Sara, Liel & Madeleine Arnaud

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." (Matthew 25:35-36)

Break my heart for what Breaks Yours!

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

For the last couple of weeks I have been reading a book called Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig the founder of 24-7 Prayer. The book has really been wrecking me. The more I read and pray one central idea keeps coming back to me. That idea is that, "there is an essential like between justice & prayer...intercession is impossible until we allow the things that breaks Gods heart to break our heart as well."

Let me repeat that and focus in a little for you,"intercession is impossible until we allow the things that break Gods heart to break our heart as well." The Moment that I read this statement, the lord said, "Shawn you heart is for helping the nations, but is your heart broken for the things that breaks mine? Shawn the Church's heart is for the nations, but is her heart broken for the things that break mine?"

In my opinion, this is not a word just for me to hear, but it is a word for all. Also this word requires a response, so every morning I have been praying Lord Open my eyes to see what you see, to feel what you feel. Break my heart for what breaks yours! Lord break the Church's heart for what breaks yours. Lord show us how to care for the Orphans and Widows. One thing that I want do with this blog is to give you a time to respond the message that the lord is speaking to us And ask you to join in this prayer with me.

One issue that I feel needs to be address about this prayer. This is not a safe easy prayer. When you begin to pray this way with all sincerity, the Lord may ask you to do some things that may be awkward and very uncomfortable, but I believe that he is asking us to join together and be the extension of His hands and feet here on earth. How can we possible be the hands and feet of Christ unless our heart is broken for the things that God cares about? How can we possibly minister in His name without, loving what he loves? That all starts with our hearts being broken for the things that break his heart, so I call all who are brave enough to join with me, and pray that the lord will open our eyes, and open our hearts to be broken.

I mentioned above that I wanted to give you a chance to respond. So I have included some photos and scriptures for you to pray over. If the lord is stirring your heart respond to that call. We are here for you so feel free to give us a call, or leave a comment.

Now Lord, we come before you a broken messed up people. Lord we ask that you will break our hearts, for the things that break your heart. Break our hearts for injustice. Break our heart for orphans and widows. Break our hearts for the people that still need to know you. Give us clean hands and hearts, and allow us to go and spread your Good News.

Is your heart broken for this orphan?

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

James 1:27

How about this Widow?

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Is your heart breaking for the business man or soccer mom that does not know Christ?

I ask that you will not walk away from this, and just go on with your life. continue to meditate on this idea. Put this idea against your life, and truly ask yourself; where does my heart stand. bring this to the lord.

Grace & Peace!

The Blue Hole

Sun, 8 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So today we decided to take Gabe on his first hike. The weather was supposed to hit around 76 degrees today so it was a great day to be outside. Off to the blue Hole we went with our friends the Rhudy family.

The trail to the Blue Hole crosses the creek. I promise that the water was some of the coldest water ever.

Tim & TY TY

This is the Blue Hole

Emily & Izzy

Tim & Izzy

The Fam

3 Weeks Old!

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So tomorrow night at 9:39 Pm, Gabe will be officially three weeks old. His life to this point has been pretty uneventful, but today we decided to try and capture some good shots of him for everyone to see. So here goes with a Day in the life of Gabriel Jude.

Before getting to far into today's pics this is a great pic from Valentines Day! Here is one more jewel of a pic that I like to Call playin with my daddy!

TODAY

This is me and Gabe at his first viewing of Lord of the Rings!

Gabe is nodding off while Sarah reads to him. Pray that this will not be an indication of his study habits.

These two pics are of the biggest event to date, a little thing we call the Roll Over. You got it! Gabe rolled from his tummy to his back today Such an over-achiever.

Sarah shot this beautiful pic of him in tummy time.

Visiting Info

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ok so I know that I promised pictures, but we had a rough night so we both just woke up not long ago. But as I look at my emails and text messages, people keep asking about visiting.

Please feel free to come we are at Erlanger Downtown on the 5th floor in room 5016. vising hours are from 7AM - 10 PM! But if you come by at 7AM visit someone else for about 3 hours because we will not be awake. Park in the main parking garage for hospital off Central Ave. The go in the main entrance of the hospital, turn right at eh information desk go down that hall to the E Elevator. go up the the 5th floor and turn left. Stop that the nurses station and ask for a visitors pass. Turn left at the nurses station go pass the nursery down to the very end of the hall, turn right and were the second room on the left.

Gabriel Jude Summey

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So This was my first look at Gabe!

Gabe Crying! I'm Sure Lots more to come.

Gabe Getting his feet stamped!

Dr. Harnesburger

Happy Family!

I hope that you have all enjoyed these pics. Sorry that It has taken so long there will be more in the days to come. The baby is great, the doctors all say that he is perfect with no problems. Sarah and I are exhausted. We had a pretty rough go at it last night, but we are good. Sarah is recovering well. She is sore but that's to be expected. Thanks for all of your prayers. And we should be going home late tomorrow or early Wednesday. Thanks for all of your comments and encouragement. especially thanks for you prayers. It has sustained us more than you know.

The Baby's On His Way!

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Family,

We are checked in our room at the hospital. Hopefully before days end we will have Little Gabe.

Pray that everything goes smooth, and that Sarah and the Baby are safe.

The Arriving!

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So after a long, long day. He is here 6lb 8oz. Sorry for such a short post but we have both been awake for about 36 hours or more. We love everyone, and promise to have pictures up for everyone to see tomorrow.

Just to leave you with a small tidbit. Man the Lord is good!

The Preparations Have Been Made!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This is a blog that I have been waiting to put out, so that everyone can see Gabe's Nursery. We have been so blessed over the last nine months, and now that the pregnancy is winding down we are excited to see Gabe, and how God will provide for us in the future. Everything that you see in these pictures was given to us. I love to see the Family of god at work. Anyway on to the goods!

Here are a couple of pictures of some toys that friends have bought for Gabe, we hope that they are some of his favorites.

Meet Corley the Cow

give to us by Brian and Leah!

This is DOMO

thanks Aaron and Christina

There will be more Pictures hopefully soon. Keep an eye on our Blog, we plan to put out a blog as soon as we have the baby. Hope you enjoyed these pics.

29 Weeks!

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Wells it is that time again, now I know that when some of you see this picture you will think that I created this belly in photoshop but I promise its Gabe. Sarah is at 29 weeks means that if all goes well we have somewhere around 11 weeks. Its coming so fast. So enough from me here it is the belly that everyone wants to see and touch.

Please leave a comment to let Sarah know that you love her. And for all of you t-shirt people that deadline is quickly approaching so let get them ordered.

T-Shirt!!!

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Family,

A few weeks ago I posted a blog about the Pray for Africa T-Shirt that we are selling. $15.00 for one T-Shirt and $28.00 for Two. The Closing deadline will be 11/23/2008. Sorry for everyone that has been waiting, but you are getting close to receiving your shirts. Thanks for your patience. If you still would like to purchase a T-shirt their is still time but please mail checks quickly so the we can order all the shirts by 11/23/2008.

Remember make Check Payable to: Sarah Summey

Mail To:

3604 B Tanaka Trail

Chattanooga Tn 37404

Pray For Africa T-Shirt

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It is finally here. The Pray for Africa T-shirt. Sarah and I are selling this T-shirt to help fund our ministry. So it's a must have.

We are trying to Pre-Sell as many as possible. So I know what you are thinking, 1. What does it look like and 2. How much. Well scroll down and see the T, and the cost is $15.00. Oooh's and Ahhhh's are happening all around the world right now, a great T for the very low price of $15.00. And even better if you buy 2 we will let you have them for $28.00. Ok so enough selling time to produce here it is.

Ok so here it is, a beautiful thing. If you would lie to pre-order one, do it now.

Make Checks payable to:
Sarah Summey
3604 B Tanaka Trail

Chattanooga Tn 37404

Don't foget to designate Qty and Size. S, M, L, XL

Confessions Of Faith (Part 2)

Fri, 3 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Ever feel like there is no end in sight? Like the seemingly bad things will never stop? Sarah and I are riding in that at this very moment. Today has been the culmination of a month of things that have been thrown at us. Some of you right now are asking what does this have to do with faith. Well thats why I am bringing it up. I want to share our story with you in hopes that it will help increase your faith.

Lets go back about three months to our time in the DR. We said lord we have faith that you will provide because we know that you have called us to do this. So we left for San Juan with no where near the amount of money that we needed to pay for the trip. So as most of you know there were multiple updates along the way about our finances for that trip, and we were still raising money to pay that trip off after we returned home. We had quit our jobs before we headed to the DR so after returning home we were left with no income. Fortunately we were able to receive unemployment, but of course it was not enough to live on. But trying to put all our trust in the lord we just kept on trying to raise the financial support that we needed to go to South Africa.

We found out before leaving that Sarah is pregnant, but because of that we were stuck with a deadline. Her doctor told us that it would not be good for her to travel after Mid-October. So we praying and believing that the lord would provide were left with a travel timeline.

So at this point we are 84% away from having the monthly support that we need and are having to stay in America for at least another year. We are both dealing with the ups and downs of that whole situation.

Along with that God opened the door at premier lighting, and I am back working. I am very thankful for the job, but its just not enough to cover what we need. With Sarah not working because of her pregnancy we are just shy of what we need to cover our bills.

So last Friday I went to print off our account history, and our account was overdrawn. So Sarah spent all week trying to figure our why the account has overdrawn, and discovered a few things that were missed while we were in the DR. Foreign ATM fees and things like that. So after it is all said and done with overdraft fees we are about $550.00 overdrawn. The bad thing is that all but $70.00 of it are in overdraft fees. So after Sarahs baby checkup today we went to the bank to talk to them and see if there is anything that we can do, and just to shorten it down they cannot do anything. They cannot wave the fees because they waived a fee once before, and they will not just put the account on hold so that we can try to get the money to pay them. In a nutshell they told us that it has to be paid off in 60 days or they will close our account and turn it over to collections.

So where does faith fit in all of this mess we call life? Its all about faith! The American Heritage Dictionary defines faith, a Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. God is teaching us about our faith through all of these situations, and the while he is asking the question, Do you have the faith (trust in me) to allow me to guide you through these situations. You know Jesus talks about this kind of faith In Matthew 17:20

Because you have so little faith.

I tell you the truth,

if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,

you can say this to the mountain,

Move from here to there and it will move.

Nothing will be impossible for you

I think that this scripture could possibly be read this way; since you have so little faith, I tell you, if you will trust and believe in me then nothing will be impossible for you. I believe that Christ is begging us to put all our stock in him and allow him to be the ruler of our hearts, and if we do then nothing is impossible for us as believers. This is right where Sarah and I are.

Lord our stock is in you, and you alone.

And lord even though we feel like all of this is impossible,

We know that you are in control, from the life of our son Gabriel,

to the date that you have laid out for us to leave for SA.

We believe that you are in control of our financial situation as well.

Lord nothing is impossible for you so make your provision known.

Please be in prayer for us, as we have faith in the lord, and trust that he is good and that he is in control. If you have any questions please email me at shawnsummey@adventures.org

Confessions of Faith! (Part 1)

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I was sitting with my friend Caleb the other day at a local coffee shop, listening to all of his stories from his missionary travels. God began to ask this big question in my spirit, "Shawn," he said "do you have the Faith to be missionary?" I answered this question like any other "good missionary "that I know would. "Of course Lord" I mean I'm here support raising and trusting you to provide the finances for us to head to the field. Our hearts desire is to be there and have this baby in SA. We have trusted your provision this far of course I have the faith. Even as I sit and write these words I see my own arrogance. My shame is overwhelming.

I relate to the life of peter in a lot of ways, but the way that is most clear at this moment that I am quick to answer a deep question and not look inwardly first. Jesus asks peter, "do you love me?" A simple question that Peter answers yes. Jesus says "then feed my sheep." And Jesus ask him two more times, using different words for love, and each time Peter answered yes not really knowing what he was saying. I find that I do this a lot in my life. God will ask me a question and I will respond with a quick answer out of my arrogance and pride.

So in my attempt to look inwardly over the next few days we will explore faith and what it means to live a radical life for Jesus.

Whats up now?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So people keep getting asked, "so what's next?" At this point we are a little in the air. Our fundraising is going real slow at this point. At this point we are around $600.00 a month which is about 16.5% of what we need. We trust that God can provide a miracle and bring in the finances for us to leave in October.

So you know where we are financially, but currently we are still living in our apartment, and trusting God to provide our needs. Of course He has come through in abundance. We will be traveling to Gainesville for training camp on the 8 and will be there for a week. Then we will be coming back to Chattanooga to continue our fundraising quest. At this junction if our funds do not come in we will be staying in Chattanooga for one more year, partly because of the baby and partly funds. We are still praying through what exactly God wants us to do if we stay.

So Sarah is currently in her 17th week of the pregnancy. As you can see a small belly is starting to show. At our last doctors appoint me he was very happy with her weight. She has reached the weight she was at before we went to the DR. The doctor says that everything is ok. They tested the baby for birth defects, and praise the Lord everything was negative. Our next doctor's appointment is on September the 5^th, and the doctor says that we will find out the sex of the baby. We do not have a preference on the sex of the baby, we have settled on names for both just in case. So pray that Baby Summey cooperates so that we can see the sex.

So to sum everything up for you:

Pray for finances because we still do not know what God has planned as far as us leaving in October.
Pray for new supporters.
Pray for Sarah and the Baby.
Pray that the Baby cooperates with the doctor.

I do want to let everyone know that we are very thankful for your support, and prayers. We would also love to know where all of you are. Please email prayer request to us and if your real brave post them here as a comment on our blog, for the entire community of Summey supporters to pray for too. We love you all and are very thankful to have you as a critical part of our ministry.

Lord, I pray for our support family. And bring them before your throne of grace.

I pray lord that you would continue to teach them through your word.

Open their eyes to see you, and open their ears to hear you.

Lord, open their minds and hearts to experience all that you have prepared for them.

Father, I pray that you would meet every individual need, and give all the desires, that line up with you will.

Lord we declare that you are good, and that you are for us not against us.

Lord, we commit every thing that we say and do to your glory.

In Christ Name

Amen!

After Arroyo Cano & Donkey Park!

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Well after our fiasco in Arroyo Cano we returned to the city pretty discouraged and very tired. We spent nine nights in hotel El Libano. The first two days back in the city we spent in a time of debrief. We allowed the girls to rest and had a time of teaching on spiritual warfare and a time to encourage one another. We also had some American pizza, if you can call it that.

So after our two days of debrief and teaching we were back into ministry. One day while doing an ATL (Ask the Lord), we went on a prayer walk and discovered a city park with a really nice fenced play ground called Donkey Park. The locals said that it was named that because they used to ride their donkey's there. The Lord truly blessed us at the park.

On average we would have about 50 or 60 kids. On the last day of our VBS there we had about 75 kids and put of those kids about 20 of them made the decision to receive the Jesus into their heart.

We moved back to the AIM house, it was just a few days later that we headed back to the river for our final debrief. I have included some of those pictures in the slideshow above. Our trip was an amazing trip and Sarah and I have truly learned a lot. Please continue to pray for Pastor Manuel, and Pastor Gregorio. Please remember to pray for the Shaul family and their future endeavors in the DR, and pray for Kristen as she in going back to school to get her nursing degree.

We were able to return our group of girls home the same way that we received them; at least it would appear that way. They may have looked the same on the outside to the untrained eye, but Sarah and I were given a rare glimpse to see God to work in their life, and how he changed them from the inside out. My prayer going into the trip was that they would return home a different person, and I pray that he has followed through on that prayer. I can promise that he has in our lives.

Arroyo Cano

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

After have a long week of ministry, and debrief in San Juan out team boarded a flat bed truck for a long ride to a city in the mountains called Arroyo Cano. The truck arrived on Sunday afternoon, so with 14 people's luggage and a ten day supply of food, and seventeen people we were off. On the way Pastor Gregorio saw some of his congregation that needed a ride so of course we picked them up. All six of them and their keyboard, radio, and snake! So let me just give you a rundown here we have 23 people, 10 day supply of food, all of our luggage, my guitar, a keyboard, and a snake.

About half way to Arroyo Cano we began to hear thunder and see lightning in the distance, so the pastor stopped to see if we wanted to stop. So we all decided that the rain can't be that bad so we would rather be a little wet and try to keep our luggage dry. We truly thought at the time that we were making a great decision, but what we didn't know was that this was the biggest storm since we had been in the country, and that there would not be anywhere else to stop for shelter. The rain began falling, and it grew harder and harder. The rain was so hard that by the time we reached the church everything was soaked.

Pastor Gregorio shows us to the compassion center that is adjacent to the church where we will be staying for eight of our twelve days in the mountains. As we are getting settled we begin to hear the sound of boys knocking on the door, and opening the louvered windows. So the translators, Pastor Gregorio, and I went outside to talk to them, all total there were about 25 boys ranging in age from 15 to 10 possible a little younger. So we told them that they girls just needed their privacy and that we would see them at church that night. After we talked to them they only got worse. They began climbing on the roof and peeling back the tin roof to look in on the girls while they were changing. This went on for about four hours. Needless to say our girls felt pretty violated and were very upset. There are no amount of words that can truly express the tone that this set for this leg of our trip.

So that night we headed to church, we did a dryme called it's my life, which talks about how we hold onto our life and not allow Jesus to come in. Pastor Gregorio asked me to deliver the message for the night so in about ten minutes I prepared to share a message about god love and how He desires to come into our life and live in our heart. The translator and I were able to present a very graphic picture of the gospel. The only bad part about the church service is that a group of men cam to sit behind our girls and were making passes at them and hissing at them which is a common way that men in the DR treat the women especially an American woman. At the end of the service I offered a chance for the congregation to accept Christ into their hearts and about 20 people responded to make that decision.

After the service the men and the young boys that were making all the ruckus were just hanging around. Pastor Gregorio came and told me that we need to take the group for a walk to see the country side. At the time I thought he was crazy, a walk in the "country" basically means a walk in the dark! In the mountain villages there are no street lamps like in San Juan. We believe that he took us on the walk to protect us. He used the opportunity the have an elder of the church run off all the boys and men so that we could have a peaceful nights sleep. One small detail that I need to interject is that during all of the happenings to this point Sarah has been very sick, and she was not able to be with the group, and just to top off our night when we finally returned to the compassion center we walking in with our head lamps to see giant flying cockroaches everywhere.

The following morning, we started inviting people to our VBS after about an hour of inviting we ended up with over 150 kids. As we began to do our VBS Presentation men began to collect around our girls. As we were hanging out one of the men tried to grad one of our girls butt. After our VBS we decided to debrief our time, and realized that it would be best for our team if we went back to San Juan. A lot of prayer and careful consideration went into the decision to leave. We called Miguel and asked him to send someone to come and bring us back to San Juan. After Miguel spent some time trying to figure out logistics, he called back to let me know that we were gonna have to spend the next nine night in a hotel because that was not anywhere else for us to stay.

The Lord truly taught us a lot about trusting him. Our girls were very reserved about leaving because they were worried about having an opportunity to minister to the women of the town, but also they were very upset about the situation there. We know that we made the correct decision about leaving, and you will see how God confirmed that through the rest of our ministry time in San Juan.

Dominican Republic Trip #2

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Along side the days of VBS at the AIM house in the first week, we also traveled to a location about 30mins from the city called Mogallone. Mogallone is a small farming community that is absolutely beautiful. The time that we spent there was amazing. We did three days of VBS and had our first encounter with Door-to-Door ministry. There were 10 people saved from our visitations there, and about 30 from the VBS. The Lord truly fell on this community. Pray for Pastor Manuel and his sons as they continue to bring the love of Christ to this community. I am going to close this blog with a few ministry pictures. I pray that they inspire and encourage you to pray for the people of the DR.

Also on this trip we spent a day at the river for a break we call Mid Trip Debrief. It a always good to have a break after you have spent a week in training a couple of days traveling and a week in ministry. The river where we spent the day was about 45mins from San Juan, and about 25 or 30mins from Arroyo Cano where we had a very interesting experience that you will hear more about in the next update. For now enjoy the pictures of Beautiful Mogallone and the river.

Ministry in San Juan De La Maguana

Thu, 7 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The time that we spent in the DR was pretty much awesome. We had a rare privilege to disciple the same group of children for more than a week. Because of returning from the Mountain Village, Arroyo Cano, we were able to return to our street and teach the kids how to walk in a relationship with Christ.

We originally planned to teach tree days of VBS on that street.

Day 1 God loves us so He Made us

Day 2 God Loves so he has a plan for our lives

Day 3 God loves so He Died for us

We taught these three days at every location that we went to, but here we taught three more days.

Day 4 God loves so so we must obey Him

Day 5 God Loves so we don't need to fear

Day 6 End of Trip Party

We also played a lot with these same kids in our "off time" our girls we really great about giving up their free time to spend it with the children. The love to play baseball and Batillia which is similar to baseball but much harder, and they love to jump rope.

Hopefully the video gives you a good idea of what our days looked like.

Grace & Peace

Shawn

Arkansas, USA

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So I know that a lot of you are wondering, "Where are Shawn and Sarah?" because that is usually going through my mind when my friends leave the country. Well currently we are in Heber Springs Arkansas, where Sara's family lives. We are here for what we are calling a Fundraising Palooza. We are doing worship and Presenting our ministry to all of our local friends, and asking them to join us in our ministry as we try to leave for Africa in september.

Probably you would like to know about sarah and the Baby too. Well we had a doctors appointment last friday when we got back to chattanooga, and she was 11 weeks pregnant, and the baby and her are doing fine. Our due date is Feb 5.

As for the DR our trip ended well. Overall I feel that our team ended the trip strong, finishing the last night of ministry with 20 children making a public confession of faith in Jesus. we did have a long day of travel with lots of delays, and a long time in airports, but overall everyone got home safe and with all their luggage. There will be more to follow on the DR as we still need to give you details abtou the trip.

As for now please pray for tonight, that things go well and that God brings new supporters to our ministry family. Pray specifically taht god will burden peoples hearts for our ministry and sharing the Gospel. Pray for Sarah and the baby, for continued health, and rest for Sarah. And Pray for Safety as we travel back to Chattanooga next week. Oh yeah Please pray for our friend Cory Jacobs, he is leading another team in the DR this week, and is having to be away from his wife for 10 days.

Last Days

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hey All,

So I am feeling a lot better, I believe that Sarah and I had Food poisioning (im sure thats not how you spell it but I dont have spell check here). Sarah is getting better too but a lot slower than I did. Anyway we finished up our last two days of ministry but haveing 50 more people come to Christ. It was truly awesome.

Pray for us over the next two days.

Our plane leaves the DR on Sunday at 8:30 so we must leave San Juan 8 hours before.

Sso pleae pray for safe travel, and that our planes would be on time.

Quick Update!

Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So Things are going well here in the DR. We saw 14 more saved on sunday, so thats a total of over 80. Man thats awesome. We are finishing our last VBS tomorrow so pray that more come to know him.

Sarah has been doing well really nothing has changed, but today neither of us have bene feeling very well so please pray for our health.

We cant wait to see you all,

Shawn