Mission Work

This month the Equip Students started working on their “gingerbread houses”. I am putting that into quotation marks because most were made of other cookie types and all were not houses. LOL The students were VERY creative and learned a lot of new skills.

We also helped load and unload trucks of donations for an outreach ministry in Reading, PA. We spent a day loading their big box truck full of toys and then unloading it at their church in Reading. These toys will be used for their BIG event of the year. They are renting a school and using these toys to draw families into the school to hear about Jesus and a salvation message. After worship and the message they hand out clothes, food, and these toys. Most of the families they see are migrants from Central America & Mexico. We get to be a part of the celebration that lives are crossing from death to life by these opportunities.

We have been asked by so many ministries to help. We physically cannot help them all, but we know a lot of people are looking for ways to serve outside their churches. (We LOVE service in and out of church, both are sooooo needed.) Because of this need our Missions Opportunities page has been born! This page connects people with our partner ministries that need help. We are putting up service opportunities for our ministry and others for people to sign up or get in contact with the ministry to help out. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few; we are trying to connect the workers with the harvesters. Hannah has been working on this page and getting it going.

The TLLM Dominican Republic Mission Trip

Devin and I (Joel’s) time in the Dominican was a time of spiritual growth and revival. The team of 25 really bonded and worked well together. Our prayer and sharing time each evening was full of revival, the release of past trauma, and a whole lot of emotions mixed in.

We spent the majority of our time working with the kids at the school. This is preschool-5th grade. We did crafts, worship time, played outside, and were able to have conversations with the students about their faith in God and their relationships with Jesus. I was able to share with 4 boys in 4th grade and was able to explain the Gospel to them and prayed with them to have a relationship with the Creator and that He loved them and wanted them to be His children.

We also visited a sugar cane village and did worship with them, shared a testimony and shared the gospel. We had prepared 100 food bags to hand out to the community there and had candy for the kids. Many of these people have never even seen Americans, what an amazing opportunity to share why we were there and to show them the love of Christ.

While we were there we helped to repair some electrical issues in the chapel, painting some of the exterior property walls, and helped to put new concrete down on the basketball court and playground. Due to Covid, no groups had been to the school in years and many of the facility areas were damaged. The playground was not usable due to a large tree falling on it and causing large crack and holes. Because of the donations that came in for this trip, TLLM was able to fund all these projects getting done. The revival of the school could be seen and felt. The founder of the school was smiling, the students were smiling and laughing, the paint was fresh again and the basketball court and playground were open again.

Each member of the team will never be the same and so many lives were impacted by our time there. Praise God for what He uses people for and how He knows who to send, and sending the means to make it happen.
Thank you for praying for us and supporting us so we can serve where God calls us to go.

Home Life

Peyton got a job for 2 weekends helping at the Christmas Tree Farm.

We did our annual Christmas Tree Hunt and got our perfect tree. Then we decorated the tree together as a family.

 

Homeschool Corner

We had our Thanksgiving Break this month from school! We got caught up on a few things we fell behind on and then enjoyed some time together.

Upcoming Mission Trips

Georgia, USA

December 10th-17th 2023. 18 of us are traveling to Glennville, GA. It is such a blessing to be able to travel and serve as a family. Both of us (Joel & Danielle) will be leading this team and 6 of our children are coming with. We will be serving another ministry by helping them complete a missions home. The ministry we are serving is called GA Missions Ministry. They have been around for 30 years and have been building this building for 7 years. We feel called to go and help get this done! Please pray for the team as we have a 12 hour drive down and back.

Monterrey, Mexico

April 2nd-April 10th. Around 10 of us (including the students, Danielle/Joel and Ace/Peyton) will be embarking on an adventure to Monterrey to spread the love of Jesus. This trip has been so impactful in the past, and we pray for God to move again on this trip. We have the opportunity to serve the community in the city through local churches street outreach, feeding programs, kids programs, Bible handouts, and more. Please pray for God to open the hearts of the people we meet, for boldness as we share and for the gift of language as they speak a different language than us.

How can I help?

Please pray for each team as we prepare now for each trip. Our family needs to raise additional funds to be able to pay our airline tickets and to cover other costs of the trip. Because of us taking 6 kids on one trip and 2 on another this raises our costs (of course). We need to raise $3000. We feel strongly that this is the best way for us to train them for a lifetime of serving Jesus and others. Praise God for for these opportunities!!

 

Prayer Requests

• Support: We are still not fully supported and are actively raising support.
• Homeschool: that is an ever going prayer
• Guidance, wisdom, and discernment as God leads us as we lead the ministry.
• We had some unexpected vehicle repair costs this past month, totaling $1200. This included both of our family vehicles. We are praying for the funds to help us pay for these repairs.

 

Family Needs

Support

We are currently at $1,750 monthly and where we need to be is $3,570. It has been by the grace and provision by God that we are making it. We could really use your help. Prayers and awareness of this need to others is much appreciated!

Here is further breakdown in each category:

Retirement: We are saving up to retire one day and being a good steward with our time in the future.

Misc.: Savings for emergencies and medical expenses like braces and casts. Education and field trips. Fun days with the kids as a family out, date nights with Joel & I (Danielle), and saving each month for vacations.

Transportation: gas, car insurance, maintenance, and repairs.

Living expenses: electricity, propane, internet, cell phones, clothing, food, and household items.

 

Would you like to join our team? We need your help to continue to accomplish God’s vision for us at the ministry. Would you join us as a monthly supporter so we can continue the work God has started? We want to take you along for the journey and we would be honored to be able to share the experience with you. You would become part of the team and we would share how God is working and the impact it is having on His Kingdom. Please pray and ask God if you should join us.