The Christmas Tree Lot is just a few weeks away!

For the past four Christmas seasons, Jim and I have run the East Hill Christmas Tree Lot fund raiser. This year will make five years. The tree lot is the big fund raiser for missions at our church. In the past the money has gone to short term mission teams and last year it went to our long term missionaries. This year we are hoping to train someone to take our place so that the tree lot will continue in future years when we are in Mexico. We are also hoping to partner with My Father's House which is a local shelter for families. My Father's House has just opened their new facility which has been built entirely debt free. God has truly blessed them.

The past few years all of our Noble Firs have been generously donated by a local tree farmer who has agreed to generously donate trees again this year. We want to thank them so much for their giving hearts.

During the tree lot season, we also run the Trees of Joy program as part of the tree lot. In this program, people can donate $20.00 for a tree that will go to a family in need. In this season and in the economic times we live in, this will be a great blessings this year to many.

If you live in the Portland area and would like to support the tree lot and East Hill Missions, we encourage you to stop by beginning Friday, November 28 through Saturday, December 20 and pick out a tree. We are open 9 AM to 9 PM daily. Our trees start at $20.00 and go up depending on size and type of tree. The tree lot is totally run by volunteers and all proceed go to the missions department for global and local outreach.

May God bless you all as we enter into the holiday season and the celebration of the birth of our precious Lord and Savior.

Divine Appointment?

Jim and I were able to go out on a date tonight. We went to see Fireproof, a new movie out in theaters by the producers of Facing the Giants. It was a very good movie and definitely shares the gospel in it. One gentleman sitting next to us wasn't too thrilled with that, but at least he has heard the message.

After the movie, we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. While we waited, a gentleman named Rich, started a conversation with us. He was here in Oregon on business along with many colleagues from Hawaii. We somehow got on the subject of our move to Mexico next year and our work with the youth home. We were able to share how the youth home provides for the kids but unlike the government orphanages, this one share the hope of Jesus. He wanted to know more and asked if we would be seeking support when we go. We told him yes and we were able to give him a business card with our information on it and also with the web address for the ministry. He said he looked forward to looking it up and checking it out. Where will this lead from here? We don't know, but we do know that God can use encounters like these to help support the ministry there. All we are called to do is share what God is doing and to share out testimony and He will take it from there.

It's Official

On Tuesday we found out that we are now officially approved to be sent out by our church. As soon as they have an account for us, we can officially start fundraising. This has been something we have needed to start but could not until we had the formal approval. Once we have information about our account we will be sending out support letters. Please pray that God would supply the funds we need to raise.

Car Wash Fundraiser

Our Esperanza Viva short term mission team had our car wash today to raise funds for our mission trip. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shining and the cold water from the hoses actually felt wonderful. For those that don't live in the northwest, sun shining is a combination of words that has not been used much since last summer. We had such a great time and our team washed 60 cars in five hours. By the time 2:00 rolled around, we were all exhausted.

Jonathan and Erin each had a friend with them. The kids were awesome helpers. I don't think we could have done it without them. I made sure to put sun screen on the kids, or so I thought until the end of the day. I put sun screen on everyone but Jonathan. He is quite burned on his face and neck tonight. I felt so bad. Other than that, it was a very successful day.