Hello Everyone,

     This Friday night was just awesome.  Eric and Carrie McLeod volunteered their home for the task of preparing the food to take out Saturday morning.  We prepared breakfast burrito’s, using turkey meat that was provided by the Belks, via God. :o)  The preparation seemed to go so fast and we ended up sitting in the front room talking about Jesus.  The question of the night was are you living in Christ’s death or resurrection.  The discussion around this was awesome.  I wonder if this is what it will be like in our father’s house?  Everyone brings something to the table.  The Lord brings who he chooses, to do the tasks he has planned.  He is so amazing!  Something that really stands out for me personally are the McLeods children.  I am always greeted with a hug and always leave with a hug.  Their hugs are sincere and innocent.  How can I hug others like that?  Like Jesus’s hugs. :o)

     Friday nights usually are very rough in my house because of Steph’s treatment for her MS.  This Friday was the best Friday that she has had in I can’t remember when.  I know you have been praying for her along with me and I just wanted you to know that.  Please take a moment and praise our Lord for this answered prayer.

     Steph got up around 7am or so and put the burrito’s in the oven to give them time, before I left, to get nice and toasty.  Our apartment smelled awesome!  We loaded the burrito’s in a box and I headed out the door and down 152HWY to pick up Dan.  Dan and Harry were outside waiting for me.( Harry is Dan’s and Julie’s canine son, his personality will bring anyone joy.)  Dan put Harry in the house and off we went towards Rick’s house.  Rick, AKA Steve McQueen, had already loaded the van and was waiting our arrival.  As I was transferring the burrito’s from my car to Rick’s, I got a phone call.  It was Troy. He asked if he could go with us this morning and was on his way from St. Joe.  This was such a blessing.  Rick put the back seat back in his van because now we were going to have a quiver full of soldiers hitting the street this morning.   Rick, Dan and myself loaded up in Rick’s van and headed to the Claycomo plaza to wait for Troy.  Once Troy got there we headed towards Front street to pick Tammy up at Denny’s restaurant.   Tammy was just pulling in when we got there, she hopped in the van, we prayed, and headed down the street to do our Fathers will.

     Marvin, Paula and Speedy were walking back from QT.  As soon as we got out of the van and Speedy saw us, she started pulling Marvin down the street toward us. *laugh*  Rick had loaded a bag with dog food and treats, maybe she knew. :o)  We asked them if they would like some burritos, but they said they had already eaten breakfast and didn’t want any.  We did give them some candles and talked to them for awhile.  We headed down the street and handed a couple of burritos to a brother flying at the exit, he was just passing through.  We then saw a brother standing by the electric box and pulled over to him.  It was Chris, Cindy’s husband.  I didn’t recognize him, he had trimmed his beard.  He told us that Whiskey’s brother came and got him, to take him to do some work and would tell Whiskey that we missed him.  Across the street, Will was sitting on the curb, so Steve McQueen flipped the van over and we got out to hook Will up.  We have got to remember to bring cat food.  I always forget, and he always asks.  Also, underwear has become a needed item, I will have to figure out how we are going to do that since one size don’t fit all.  We back tracked from there, back towards Marvin and Paula’s place again because Tony and his dog were flying.  We got out and talked to him for awhile.  I almost didn’t recognize him, he had trimmed his beard too.

     Sitting here writing this, I can’t help but remember the look on Troy’s face as he encountered each person this day.  The joy and excitement that projected from his face was so bright.  He had been with us each morning in thought and prayer, but now God had given him the privilege to do this with us in the flesh.  Thank you Father!  Later that day he had called me and spoke truth to me about myself and the people I serve and serve with.  He said that because this was the first time he had met everyone, he had the opportunity to see everyone through fresh eyes.  Then he began to cry and told me how blessed I was to be surrounded by so many people that are in love with Jesus.   He reminded me that when your around it for a period of time, you might get numb to it and just wanted to tell me about all of the Jesus he saw in everyone he met this morning.  “Father, please let me see with fresh eyes in everything.”

     We headed down the road towards the casino and by the river and on to the bottoms.  Rick is going up and down streets as the Lord is leading him.  We see this brother lying on a utility box off to the side and so Rick follow this car ahead of us into this abandoned building gravel parking lot to go over and talk to this brother.  As we pull in behind this other vehicle, we notice they have a flat.  It’s an elderly couple headed towards the farmers market.  We helped this couple with changing their tire and shared Christ with them, they shared Christ back. AWESOME! We hooked the brother lying on the utility box up and down the road we go.  I get a phone call from David, a brother that lives at camp HOBO, he wanted to know if we were coming with food.  I told him that we would be there in a few minutes.  The relationship the Lord has offered between us and our brothers and sisters on the street is just a miracle in itself.  We made our way to 12^th street and there sit David waiting for us.  We told him that we were going to drive back to the camp to talk to the rest of the guys.  As we got down there, we were greeted by Cooper, JimBo, Dave and HOBO.  The camp looked great!  Dave has really made a difference in this community and has helped these brothers get their camp in an orderly state.  I took some pictures and will be sending some of those out.  We hung out with these brothers for a while, sat down around the camp fire and had a few laughs, prayed and had some serious conversations about life and love.  WOW!!  Thank you, Jesus!

     We left camp HOBO and drove back across the dirt and out from under the bridge to find Robert walking on the side of the road.  Robert is the brother I talked about last week that we got to pray over.  Robert is so in love with the Lord, but yet so in bondage to the bottle.  Please pray for him right now.  Watching Dan, Tammy, Rick and Troy minister and love on this brother was such a joy.  If I smiled any bigger I would have ripped my face.  The power of the Jesus was like a blanket over all of us with Robert.  With every tear that rolled down Roberts face, contained a chain link that has been holding this brother prisoner.  I believe that Robert is being set free and that Robert will be and is being used by our Father for his will. :o)

     We headed up the 12^th street bridge toward the downtown area.  Rick headed the van toward our Mexican brothers and on the way there was a brother flying, so I jumped out at the red light and ran over to hook him up with some food, I caught back up with the van a little ways down the road.  We stopped first by a bunch of brothers that take turns flying and that we have developed a relationship with.  They are always so friendly and grateful.  Then we jumped over a few blocks to where our Mexican brothers are.  Everyone was glad to see us and we learned how to say, “God bless you” in Spanish. “ Buenos de vendiga”  (I’m sure the spelling in wrong)  You know one thing I noticed/learned and was confirmed by Troy, was the importance of having Tammy with us.  The presence of a woman with us this day really made a difference with all these brothers and sisters.  The first thought is because of sexual attraction, but that is not what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about the gentleness and loving gift that God has given to woman.  Watching these men connect with Tammy was like the way a boy does with his mother.  I guess there is a balance in everything , and with Tammy with us this Saturday was the first time I noticed the importance of having this balance.  Men have to work so hard to love, but God made woman to love.  Thank you father for this gift you have given women.

     We drove over to Restart and didn’t see anyone, so Rick drove around back and still no one.  We haven’t seen Nicki in awhile, please lift her up in your prayers.  We made our way back to Front street to drop Tammy off at her car and began to head home.  On the corner of Front and 435 stood another Tammy.  Rick stopped right there and we hooked her up with some burritos and she started talking about the Lord.  She told us about how the Lord provides, we encouraged her along with everyone else we met today to keep telling people about Jesus.

     We are all stuck in the mud and are trying to figure a way out.  Some just stand in one spot watching others slosh by.  Some have figured out how to roll their foot to keep the suction from holding them down and they work their way towards the dry ground.  All in all, we are all in this mud together and we need to help each other get to the dry land.  We need to put our foolishness of division aside, whether a brother or sister is black, white, green or purple or if they are Muslim, Jew or whatever, we need to love each other the way Jesus loves us.  Let’s push on through this mud, and grab hold of others that struggle and let’s make our way to dry land.  Jesus does this for me everyday, he helps me through this mud I call my life.  He loves me, I am important to him; He loves you, and you are important to him!  Make others that important to.

     Thank you for your prayers and support that allows this outreach to do what it does.   You are important to me and I do pray for each and every one of you.  The HOPE Outreach is moving at such an incredible pace that I just ask that you would really pray for God to keep us humble and that we would look at everything we do from this day forward, with “Fresh Eyes.”  God bless you and your family.