Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Breaking the Silence

Well, I took a hiatus from posting on my blog for a while. In the post below this, I put some videos showing what I've been doing. I've been very busy, but here's a quick rundown of what I've been doing and where I've been:

August: 2008 Black Hills Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD
I went with the seminary to South Dakota to minister and share the Gospel with bikers from around the world. We had an incredible time and saw lives changed for eternity.

September/October: Hurricane Ike Disaster Relief in Southeast Texas
When Hurricane Ike hit shore in late September, the storm surge flooded large parts of Southeast Texas, where I was raised. My parents had 6 feet of water in their house and lost pretty much everything they had. Additionally, my dad's church had 3 feet of water inside, forcing them to have church services in the parking lot.

I have organized and led several teams down to help with the disaster relief. We helped tear out walls and flooring in houses and treated them for mold. We will be sending more teams in the future to help with the rebuilding process as well.

October/November: Trip to Hanoi, Vietnam
I went with my church to Vietnam to provide humanitarian aid and complete service projects in the region. When we got there, it began raining heavily and didn't stop until we left 10 days later. The massive rains caused the worst flooding in nearly 30 years in Hanoi, claiming the lives of at least 89 people. This threw our original plans into a tailspin and kept us from completing many projects, so we regrouped and were able to complete service projects at a couple of orphanages in the area, helping them clean up in the aftermath. We saw a someone become a new family member and will hopefully see another one soon. As one guy says, "The Kingdom of God runs on the rails of relationships."

Family Update
Everyone is doing well. Will is 4 1/2 and Blake is 2 1/2. Will is going to pre-school two days a week and continues to amaze us with how quick he learns things. Blake is talking up a storm and is proving to have a much different temperament than his brother. He is generally a jovial kid, but we've seen our share of terrible two meltdowns. Mostly, he loves to laugh and is very athletic. Amy has been taking classes for early childhood education in the church at seminary and is enjoying it. We're planning on going to Florida to see my grandmother for Thanksgiving and then trying to lay low for a while after all the travel these past couple of months.

If you want to see some of what I do at work, visit www.swbts.edu/campusnews.

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