Trey, Corey and Grandpa Willie

It's pretty cool that a couple of high school aged young men want to do more to serve Jesus. Jackie and Donnie met Trey and Corey at Tall Timbers Camp earlier in June this year. They had come to camp with their youth group from Houma, LA. Jackie and Donnie had been asked to help Tall Timbers introduce the kids to missions doing the type of things they were used to doing on mission. They went to a certain area in Alexandria were mostly the elderly and disabled lived. They went door to door asking the homeowners if there was any work or chores that they do for them. Jackie and Donnie assisted with the carpenter and painting needs. It was exciting to see kids really wanting to do the work to help people in need. Some of the kids wanted to do more. Jackie and Donnie told them about our upcoming mission plans in OK. They wanted to go and began trying to talk mom and dad into letting them go. We sent Trey pictures of the work done on previous trips. It seems that God was calling them to help out. Mom and dad wouldn't let the boys drive all the way to OK by themselves so they talked Grandpa Willie(Corey's Gpa) into coming with them. I think he really enjoyed it as much if not more than they did. It was a good trip for him. They had difficulty getting in touch with us because we had already left home when they decided to go. But they got info from Tall Timbers and were able to get phone numbers and directions. I personally am glad they came and I heard Jackie say that the three were a tremendous help. They put up the window trim, batting and the soffit on the cornice. I even caught Gpa Willie with a shovel in his hands. It is kinda funny because he is a retired District Administrator for the Baton Rouge and New Orleans area. There are a few jokes about state workers leaning on a shovel. Well, anyway, he wasn't leaning on the shovel. He was putting dirt back around the foundation. "Just trying to be useful in downtime" was his comment. Many of the IAAM members of the team are retired from the Louisiana Dept of Transportation and Development. On this trip Jackie and Dwayne are both retired from LA Dotd. Lots to talk about on the breaks.



Wednesday night at church, the song leader did not come so the pastor asked for a volunteer to lead singing. Without hesitation Gpa Willie was ready to lead music. He said he had never done anything like that before but always wanted to. He did a great job for a first timer. Another interesting thing was that Corey and Trey requested and received their Choctaw names. Why didn't I think of that?

We couldn't have accomplished our goals if these three volunteers hadn't made the trip to be with us. I hope we see them again in this great work for the Lord. Thanks for your hard work and welcome to the team.

Cedar Baptist Church June 2009

Back Home from Red Oak, Oklahoma

We are home safe and sound. We had a good trip. No major illnesses or injuries. It was very hot as was at home also. The garden suffered a bit from the heat and lack of water but it is ready to harvest. I am having some trouble with my shoulder but it's getting better. I have a slide show ready that will tell the story. Enjoy and post a comment if you like.

Bout to hit the road..

We are doing the final things to get on the road today. I'll blog if I have wifi, but I doubt that I will. In any case I will blog when I get home. We are to be home June 25th or thereabout. Please keep us in your prayers. As with any mission endevour, we face the enemy.

The Garden is coming in!

God said not to worry about the garden, but the cucumbers are getting ready to pick. We had some yesterday and they are so good and sweet. I don't believe I've ever had any so good as these. The garden is so beautiful this year. Very green and growing well. The peas are putting on blooms now and the ocra is looking good. I will be able to restock my pantry and freezer this summer. I want to make some pickles this year as I am almost out.

Leaving the garden for others to care for is one of Jackie's worries that he has had to deal with. Going on a mission trip in the middle of the garden season is hard but we can do it. We will have to leave it up to family to help take care of it while we are gone. Hopefully they will do what needs to be done. We are going to take cucumbers with us on the trip and then when we get back, I'll start collecting for my pickles. How is your garden doing?

Getting Ready to go to OK

Jackie and I are doing what we can to get ready. Jackie is making good progress on getting the camper ready. I made a baking mix to take with us. I was going to make biscuits like my momma was doing but I had a better idea for the trip. My idea doesn't take up freezer room. Anyways, I am washing and trying to get stuff done around here. Trying to sew a few things up, too. Finished a blouse yesterday. Hope to be able to make a few other things.

Cedar Baptist Church

Building on the new sanctuary began late April and is currently underway. For some reason the slab wasn't poured until the Spring of this year. Jackie and Donnie and several other men went to a sawmill in Texas and cut the boards for the frame work from trees that someone donated. They then put them in a kil to dry. I might not be spelling that correctly. When they were dry enough, a guy (one of the Hunt boy's, I think) from Forest Hill took his 18-wheeler and time to deliver these precious gifts to OK to start the work on the sanctuary. Other materials have been donated as the work continues. At this point the roof is on as you will see in the slide show. These pictures are not mine but one of the team member's. They are very good and I think you will enjoy seeing such a great work in progress. Pictures are from April through May, 2009. See slide show.

Responding to the Call to Red Oak, OK

The Lord has been dealing with Jackie and me, to become more involved in mission work. We have been participating on a minimal level since 1998, making a trip at least once a year. I will list all the places we have been with the dates just for our record and may be of interest to others.

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico 1998
North Bend, Oregon 1999
Jackie had a heart attack and open heart surgery 2000
Filipe de Carrillo Puerto, Mexico 2001
Toledo, Oregon 2002
House of Prayer, Cuba, New Mexico 2003
Pine Hill Baptist Church, Cuba, New Mexico 2004, 2005, 2006
Panfork Camp, Texas 2007
Independence, MS 2008
Red Oak, OK 2008
These are trips that I went on. Some of these Jackie did not go on. He has gone many construction trips without me. (But that was before we had a camper-Ha) I did not keep a record of those trips. I'll see if he can remember them and add them to the list accordingly.

We first started working with Randy Carruth on a trip to Mexico. It was great. God is really using Randy in a great way. We had several people from our church go with us and I got to go with my mom and see her in action. It was Randy's 2cd mission trip. Randy is the director of I Am Able Ministries. Take a look at this website for more detailed information and pictures of work being done.

My mother has been a big influence in getting Jackie and I involved in this ministry. She has a burden for the children and teaches using Child Evangelism Fellowship methods and materials. I have received training from Ken and Lynn Bigalow and my mother through the years. Ken and Lynn were the state CEF directors for many years and held weekly training classes that I attended. The work in Mexico went well because we focused on the children and with them came the adults.

Yesterday, we were planning on going on vacation for our own pleasure until we got a call to go back to Oklahoma to help finish a new santuary for the Choctaw people, Cedar Baptist Church.That's where we want to go anyway. We had planned a trip in May, but Jackie was knocked off his feet with a heart arrythmia. He is up and going now and feels God calling him to work in OK. Our friend and mission's co-worker called and said hey, we are going to OK instead of AL. That's ok with us. So now we are getting ready for a trip to OK. We went last year and did several things. I will put up a slide show of that trip to give you an idea of what we are doing. This was our first trip the Red Oak, OK. The foundation for the slab was finished, VBS was successful, and also held a revival at night. Our church, Holloway had 9 people serve. There were teams from 3 other churches there. It was quiet a large group of folks. July 14-18 2008

Our camping volunteer missionary buddies are Donnie and Nancy Daniels. We are both taking our campers to the church site. Our last visit Jackie and I stayed at a camp with our team because there were so many of us but it was really hard on us to travel and work. The camp was about 30 miles from the church through hilly roads. Thank God for the camper that we can use this time around. Donnie and Nancy got to use their camper on this trip.
Jackie is working hard now to get the camper ready while I mess with the computer. He told me to do some of this and some of this is my idea. But things are popping. I got 2 job assignments today without much difficulty. One is to get some business cards for I Am Able and the other is to check out screen print tee-shirts. so I'm glad to be working again on some projects for I Am Able. I was the secretary for a while but I was too far from Randy to be able to help him do the everyday stuff. Evelyn Wells is now serving that role.