This is a Very Sad Lonely Month

Hey all, I am glad to be getting back to you all, but this month has been a sad and lonely month but also a great month at the same time. Before I talk to you about the sad and lonely part, I am going to talk to you about some good things that has happened this month.

First, I led a Men's Retreat here on the island. It was a three day retreat that started on a Friday afternoon and went till Sunday early morning. This was my first time ever leading a Men's Retreat and it turned out better than I ever thought it would. I had another guy help me who took care of getting the food for all the meals. I worked on getting the speakers who would be sharing the Word with us all. We had a total of six sessions, one on Friday night, four on Saturday, and one on Sunday morning before church. I was able to order t-shirts for all the men to wear to church on Sunday morning after the morning session. I was a speaker for three of the sessions, our pastor had one session and another pastor from another church had two sessions. It was an amazing time and our key scripture was 1 Peter 2:9. Here are a few pictures from the Men's Retreat.

I have also been teaching at the Rehab Center on Thursday mornings. I feel so amazing when I go there and teach these guys and gals. We have worship for about 30 minutes and then I teach for about an hour and fifteen minutes and then we close it out with a fifteen minute worship session. I believe a lot of these guys are understanding what God is doing in their life. We just recently had a graduate who is going back to his home on another island and will be opening another rehab center there. He has a true calling to preach and teach, and man I tell you, when he gets going, he is on fire. The rehab is doing very well and we just recently had a Gala for them to raise money for the rehab to continue functioning for another year. We had a great turn out and I think they raised over $10,000. Please continue to pray for the rehab. The guys there need a lot of prayer to help break the chains of addictions in their lives.

The sad part of this month is that my wife needed to go to the states for surgery. This is very difficult for me because it is the longest time we have ever been apart from each other for over 16 years. This is something that had to happen, so I know that God will make it all work out according to His will and purpose. It is very hard to run a household and do all the ministry work and be a full time student without your significant other here with you to take on some of the responsibilities. But, I have made it a few weeks now and I know God is giving me the strength to get through it.

Another sad issue we had was a very close friend of ours here on the island got in a motorcycle accident here on the island and he did not make it. It was a tragedy for his family and especially his wife who now is moving back to the states to be with her family. They were here teaching kids computer coding to help them have an advantage when they get older to be able to make something of themselves. Now, that program is no longer working. It is very sad that we are losing our brother, but it was a great and marvelous day for him because he finally got to meet the one who died for him, Jesus.

There is a church here called West End Baptist Church, and I am friends with the pastor there and I have had the opportunity to preach there in the past. They are now opening up the church for a Sunday night service once a month, so I decided to go. Right at the end of the worship there was a man who came into the church that was high and hallucinating. He was afraid that all of the people in the church were going to hurt him. The pastor standing at the podium asked me to go to the back of the church and talk to this man. I went back there and sat down with him and he asked me, "Are you going to hurt me?" I just smiled at him and said, "No, I am not going to hurt you, I love you." We sat in the back of the church and talked for about 10 minutes and I told him to stay here and listen to the sermon and we will talk more after the service. Once the sermon was finished, the man came down for the altar call and accepted Jesus into his heart. I then spoke with him about going to the rehab that I am a teacher at and get help. He said he will go the next day. I have heard this a lot and so I was not expecting him to show up there, but I got a call the next day from the director of the rehab and he actually was there. Praise the Lord! So I ask that you pray for this man and that God will cleanse him from his addictions and that he will find healing in Jesus name.

I am so thankful for all of you who are so passionate about what we are doing here. You pray for us, you donate to us, and you love us through this entire journey that God has called us on. We are not here alone, we are here with all of you too. Again, thank you for all that you all are doing.