Greetings Saints,
Matt was moved to an intensive care step down unit this evening after an MRI which we are waiting for the results of.
He was resting when I left this evening. pain from injuries has set in but he is on meds and doing better, more aware of his surroundings and able to communicate better. They had a "sitter" with him 24/7 because of concussion to watch and make sure he doesn't leave us.
The paramedic who brought him in stopped by the ER today and shared that just after Matt was hit, an off duty paramedic was driving by stopped and found Matt lying in the grass, proceeded to make sure Matt's back and neck were protected, quite possible saved him from permanent injury. Love those Godincidences.
He had another catscan afternoon and there is a brain bleed but should heal itself. His neck is fractured but "the best kind of fracture" there is no paralysis and after 6 to 8 weeks in a neck brace that should be fine.
There is concern about a blood vessel that seems to be slightly damaged where the fracture is and that is why they did the MRI. The neurosurgeon does not anticipate having to do surgery there MRI was to verify problem and they are looking at meds to help with any problems there.
There will be surgery on his kneecap which was broken/crushed. Also there is a concern about infection there and he'll be getting a few weeks of antibiotics.
It appears he banged up his bad shoulder also, but more bumps and bruises than anything else there.
Back is stitched up and appears to be holding.
Legs and elbows pretty well wrapped and obviously he'll be there for a few days or so.
But we praise the Lord, Matt totaled a car with his body and at this point there is hope for eventual total recovery. Oh, and yes, paramedic shared that his bike was trashed as is his i phone.
Thank you for your prayers, E-mails visits and etc. this should have been much worse, but as you prayed God has worked mightily.
Keep shining for Jesus all. And please continue to pray for Matt. These next few days weeks are going to be challenging for him.
Pray also for opportunities to share the love of Jesus.
Until Every Child Knows,
Big Jim
Matt. 19:14
James 1:27
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Zambia cargo container needs
Cargo Container/ Zambia Village of Hope
* 4 wheeler diesel with small trailer (Trailer is huge blessing in
mud)*Maybe a Gator with a dump bed.*
Clothing (Good or like new condition)
* boots
* rain gear
* coveralls
* men's work shoes and sneakers
* ladies shoes and sneakers
*children’s shoes and sneakers
*children’s clothes
* winter coats scarves, hats and sweaters (adult and children)
* underwear , men, women’s and children’s (new)
*pants, shirts and skirts in good condition
School supplies
* quality books and teaching materials
*encyclopedias
*craft type items
*flannelgraphs
Bikes and bike supplies
* adult bikes*simple bikes are best. Not so many gears.
* pumps and needles*Tool kits for bikes would be huge, we need
* tons of tire patches. Chains and Chain repair pieces.
* bike tools
*Great idea. We are talking about starting a bike repair shop. So Tools would be great.
* extra peddles
Tools
*good paint brushes,
*sockets, wrenches, pliers
*axes and limb saws, heavy duty hoes
*,1,000 feet of garden hoses
*cement tools,
*Hand tools for everything,....
Meds
• sinus and cold medicines,
• Ibuprofen
• Naproxen Sodium (Aleve),
• ace wraps (new or used),
• Band-Aids, Dressings,
• Medium size gloves (sterile or non-sterile),
• Antifungal cream,
• Ear wax removal drops (like Debrox).
* children's quality vitamins
* Ziploc bags
* quality child's wheel chair for Matilda
Sports equipment
* volleyball nets and balls
* soccer balls
*basket balls and backboards
*jump ropes
Books
*Good quality Christian books (no feel good stuff please)
* Bibles, study bibles great help
*concordances
*commentaries
*Hymnals
*Used and new plastic shopping bags, need seversl thousand
* 4 wheeler diesel with small trailer (Trailer is huge blessing in
mud)*Maybe a Gator with a dump bed.*
Clothing (Good or like new condition)
* boots
* rain gear
* coveralls
* men's work shoes and sneakers
* ladies shoes and sneakers
*children’s shoes and sneakers
*children’s clothes
* winter coats scarves, hats and sweaters (adult and children)
* underwear , men, women’s and children’s (new)
*pants, shirts and skirts in good condition
School supplies
* quality books and teaching materials
*encyclopedias
*craft type items
*flannelgraphs
Bikes and bike supplies
* adult bikes*simple bikes are best. Not so many gears.
* pumps and needles*Tool kits for bikes would be huge, we need
* tons of tire patches. Chains and Chain repair pieces.
* bike tools
*Great idea. We are talking about starting a bike repair shop. So Tools would be great.
* extra peddles
Tools
*good paint brushes,
*sockets, wrenches, pliers
*axes and limb saws, heavy duty hoes
*,1,000 feet of garden hoses
*cement tools,
*Hand tools for everything,....
Meds
• sinus and cold medicines,
• Ibuprofen
• Naproxen Sodium (Aleve),
• ace wraps (new or used),
• Band-Aids, Dressings,
• Medium size gloves (sterile or non-sterile),
• Antifungal cream,
• Ear wax removal drops (like Debrox).
* children's quality vitamins
* Ziploc bags
* quality child's wheel chair for Matilda
Sports equipment
* volleyball nets and balls
* soccer balls
*basket balls and backboards
*jump ropes
Books
*Good quality Christian books (no feel good stuff please)
* Bibles, study bibles great help
*concordances
*commentaries
*Hymnals
*Used and new plastic shopping bags, need seversl thousand
Monday, November 2, 2009
PRAYER and PRAISE
1. Happy Birthday Amotowe Nov 2nd 6 yrs old
2. Special Bible Flashcard project Need 250 sets $40 each
3. GBBC staff house Need $45,000, God has provided $15,150 still need $29,850
4. Personal support Still need $600 a month
Find out more www.billandlorismith.com
God's incredible orchestration of all aspects of our lives has been the continual thought of my heart this weekend.
I am reminded of one of my favorite poems, though shared with you all before, it truly is worth a repeat.
So much in our lives of serving our Faithful God these past twenty plus years now has been an adventure of faith. We have followed a trail, yes even sometimes hacked out an untrodden path through thick dense bush of difficulty, that we never dreamed we would follow. Our well laid out idea of our lives really has not been the reality of God's path for us. But as we have trusted Him with our whole hearts and leaned not on what made sense to us, just as promised in Proverbs 3:5-6 ,HE has shown us HIS path and orchestrated a tapestry out of our lives that is grand beyond our ability to even imagine on our own.
Amidst the dark and sometimes dreary colors of life's trials, six years ago this Monday, God wove a bright gold stripe of shining thread into the tapestry of our lives.
We did not know on that date or that moment in time of the colorful shining arrival of our precious little Amotowe. Mommy was ironically busy delivering a little baby boy around that exact same time, but it was baby Terry John not our sweet own son. Though being needfully rejected at birth by his biological mom would seem a dark thread for him, that opened a long and arduous journey for him into a home where he has truly been loved and cherished. God's special plan made his little threat shine even brighter.
This past week, while he was busy working on computers at school, a friend of ours, a teacher at the school, just watched him for a while. She pondered as to where he would be right then if God had not put him in our family.
I often just stand similarly amazed at God's grace, as Amotowe's speech challenges and his very high energy level would make him very a very difficult "fit" for the village lifestyle and family situation to which he was born. They probably would not have accepted him, nor would they take the time to laboriously listen to him when his little stuttering tongue struggles to keep up with the active intelligent brain trying to be expressed. He would most likely be called "stupid" or "crazy" by the unsaved people in his home village. Even if they wanted to help him (by some stretch of the imagination) they really do not have many resources or agencies able to help such problems readily available in our home in PNG.
No, God had a plan ,from the beginning of time, to lovingly pick Amotowe out from the midst of his birth situation and place him into our family. We could never have imagined such a gift so amazing..but tomorrow we celebrate six years of his amazing life...our amazing gift of him from GOD. Amo is truly a love gift we will never be able to express our gratefulness with mere words. That is one expression the Holy Spirit alone can utter for us to God as there are no human words that special.
So many parts of our lives have been woven, both dark and bright, as God has been orchestrating the colorful tapestry of our lives. One thing we have learned for certain...there are no wasted steps as we follow the LORD. Each path, both easy and hard, have purpose in the overall journey.
We are so thankful for so many of you that have been a part of the weaving processes, especially when those dark colors of challenge and fear and difficulties were being added to the overall scene of our lives.
Would you please pray with us for these threads that we also ask God to add to our overall ministry picture?
*We are so excited to finally have available the full set of pictures that go along with the Chronological teachings we are translating now for our Pastors to use in their ministries in PNG. We have found how God has used multimedia with power point and visual "pictures" to truly enhance people and their understanding of the Bible as we teach and preach here in the USA. Well, in the village (and sometimes in the cities as well) power is not even an option, much less the machinery to accomplish a visual picture for folks to supplement what they are hearing.
That is the neat part about these pictures. They are laminated, colorful, large enough for a good sized group and useable not just for children and school aged classes, but would enhance adult classes and even Sunday messages. Our PNG people are culturally story tellers...that is how they have passed on information from generation to generation. What a WONDERFUL story of God and His Word we have to share. Pictures are like a thousand word story in and of themselves sometimes!
So how is that exciting for us here?? Glad you asked! You all could be a part of making that set of pictures a part of our churches in PNG. For just $40 you could provide the entire set from the Old Testament teaching starting at the Garden of Eden all the way to the New Jerusalem, the New Heaven and Earth from Revelation! Seeing may enhance the understanding of our dear folks in PNG so they understand fully salvation for the first time...and you can have a part in that blessing in this real way. What better Christmas present could you give???
If anyone wants to help us provide this gift to our churches in PNG...or if you just want to see or hear more about this project we are starting... there is even more information on our web site or you can just hit reply and ask for more details from this email as well.
website www.billandlorismith.com
Send a gift to ABWE- Mark it Story of Hope Flashcards
account Bill and Lori Smith 112863-002
We trust many will take advantage of this opportunity. We can bring as many packets of pictures as we can purchase in our container we plan to ship this Spring...so even the shipping will be covered....a truly shinning thread that we feel God may want to weave into the tapestry of many of our churches in PNG! The only question is will you be a part of this opportunity.
*What excitement it has been to watch the Master Weaver at work orchestrating our medical supplies we desire to bring back with us to PNG. Please keep praying for those needs. God is at work as we pray.
*We are praising the Lord for great opportunities to report back to our supporting churches. Please continue to pray for the $600/month support still needed before we will be released to return to the field. The challenge being to find time between visiting and reporting to our current churches and finding new churches that would be able or willing to support us as well....we need to have God either expand from within our current supporters or add days to the months so we can get to new churches as well. Either way, God is able! He can weave the shiny gold support threads amidst the dark threads of economic crisis in His own way and according to His own plan as we allow Him to work.
*We praise the Lord for His provisions thus far for our urgently needed staff housing for our Bible College in PNG. That first significant gift was just a really big and bright shinning threat to be sure...but because the project has taken so long to be fully funded and started, the original donor may actually reapply that gift to another project unless we can see the rest of that need met and the building begun. PLEASE pray with us. WE know God is able to provide all those needed finances..with or without that original $10,000, but we sure would love to keep it and get the rest needed so we can see actual construction begun soon. God has provided a gift of $5000 this week. So we now have $15,150 of the needed $45,000. Pray for the needed $30,000.
Pray with us for God to reveal HIS plan...knowing He is busy weaving what is right and best for our Bible College needs.
We know that "God's Work, done in God's way will never lack God's supply" (Hudson Taylor). "Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible" (CT Studd) so grab with us in prayer and wait for God to direct and supply!
Seeking the will of God, nothing more, nothing less...eager to watch our tapestry unfold knowing the Great Weaver His a magnificent picture to weave though our lives that He alone may be glorified.
Bill, Lori and the kids
1. Happy Birthday Amotowe Nov 2nd 6 yrs old
2. Special Bible Flashcard project Need 250 sets $40 each
3. GBBC staff house Need $45,000, God has provided $15,150 still need $29,850
4. Personal support Still need $600 a month
Find out more www.billandlorismith.com
God's incredible orchestration of all aspects of our lives has been the continual thought of my heart this weekend.
I am reminded of one of my favorite poems, though shared with you all before, it truly is worth a repeat.
THE WEAVER
My life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me.
I cannot choose the colors
HE worketh steadily
Oftimes HE weaveth sorrow
And I in foolish pride
Forget HE sees the upper
And I the under side.
Not 'til the look is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reasons why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weavers skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern HE has planned.
Grant Colfax Tullas
So much in our lives of serving our Faithful God these past twenty plus years now has been an adventure of faith. We have followed a trail, yes even sometimes hacked out an untrodden path through thick dense bush of difficulty, that we never dreamed we would follow. Our well laid out idea of our lives really has not been the reality of God's path for us. But as we have trusted Him with our whole hearts and leaned not on what made sense to us, just as promised in Proverbs 3:5-6 ,HE has shown us HIS path and orchestrated a tapestry out of our lives that is grand beyond our ability to even imagine on our own.
Amidst the dark and sometimes dreary colors of life's trials, six years ago this Monday, God wove a bright gold stripe of shining thread into the tapestry of our lives.
We did not know on that date or that moment in time of the colorful shining arrival of our precious little Amotowe. Mommy was ironically busy delivering a little baby boy around that exact same time, but it was baby Terry John not our sweet own son. Though being needfully rejected at birth by his biological mom would seem a dark thread for him, that opened a long and arduous journey for him into a home where he has truly been loved and cherished. God's special plan made his little threat shine even brighter.
This past week, while he was busy working on computers at school, a friend of ours, a teacher at the school, just watched him for a while. She pondered as to where he would be right then if God had not put him in our family.
I often just stand similarly amazed at God's grace, as Amotowe's speech challenges and his very high energy level would make him very a very difficult "fit" for the village lifestyle and family situation to which he was born. They probably would not have accepted him, nor would they take the time to laboriously listen to him when his little stuttering tongue struggles to keep up with the active intelligent brain trying to be expressed. He would most likely be called "stupid" or "crazy" by the unsaved people in his home village. Even if they wanted to help him (by some stretch of the imagination) they really do not have many resources or agencies able to help such problems readily available in our home in PNG.
No, God had a plan ,from the beginning of time, to lovingly pick Amotowe out from the midst of his birth situation and place him into our family. We could never have imagined such a gift so amazing..but tomorrow we celebrate six years of his amazing life...our amazing gift of him from GOD. Amo is truly a love gift we will never be able to express our gratefulness with mere words. That is one expression the Holy Spirit alone can utter for us to God as there are no human words that special.
So many parts of our lives have been woven, both dark and bright, as God has been orchestrating the colorful tapestry of our lives. One thing we have learned for certain...there are no wasted steps as we follow the LORD. Each path, both easy and hard, have purpose in the overall journey.
We are so thankful for so many of you that have been a part of the weaving processes, especially when those dark colors of challenge and fear and difficulties were being added to the overall scene of our lives.
Would you please pray with us for these threads that we also ask God to add to our overall ministry picture?
*We are so excited to finally have available the full set of pictures that go along with the Chronological teachings we are translating now for our Pastors to use in their ministries in PNG. We have found how God has used multimedia with power point and visual "pictures" to truly enhance people and their understanding of the Bible as we teach and preach here in the USA. Well, in the village (and sometimes in the cities as well) power is not even an option, much less the machinery to accomplish a visual picture for folks to supplement what they are hearing.
That is the neat part about these pictures. They are laminated, colorful, large enough for a good sized group and useable not just for children and school aged classes, but would enhance adult classes and even Sunday messages. Our PNG people are culturally story tellers...that is how they have passed on information from generation to generation. What a WONDERFUL story of God and His Word we have to share. Pictures are like a thousand word story in and of themselves sometimes!
So how is that exciting for us here?? Glad you asked! You all could be a part of making that set of pictures a part of our churches in PNG. For just $40 you could provide the entire set from the Old Testament teaching starting at the Garden of Eden all the way to the New Jerusalem, the New Heaven and Earth from Revelation! Seeing may enhance the understanding of our dear folks in PNG so they understand fully salvation for the first time...and you can have a part in that blessing in this real way. What better Christmas present could you give???
If anyone wants to help us provide this gift to our churches in PNG...or if you just want to see or hear more about this project we are starting... there is even more information on our web site or you can just hit reply and ask for more details from this email as well.
website www.billandlorismith.com
Send a gift to ABWE- Mark it Story of Hope Flashcards
account Bill and Lori Smith 112863-002
We trust many will take advantage of this opportunity. We can bring as many packets of pictures as we can purchase in our container we plan to ship this Spring...so even the shipping will be covered....a truly shinning thread that we feel God may want to weave into the tapestry of many of our churches in PNG! The only question is will you be a part of this opportunity.
*What excitement it has been to watch the Master Weaver at work orchestrating our medical supplies we desire to bring back with us to PNG. Please keep praying for those needs. God is at work as we pray.
*We are praising the Lord for great opportunities to report back to our supporting churches. Please continue to pray for the $600/month support still needed before we will be released to return to the field. The challenge being to find time between visiting and reporting to our current churches and finding new churches that would be able or willing to support us as well....we need to have God either expand from within our current supporters or add days to the months so we can get to new churches as well. Either way, God is able! He can weave the shiny gold support threads amidst the dark threads of economic crisis in His own way and according to His own plan as we allow Him to work.
*We praise the Lord for His provisions thus far for our urgently needed staff housing for our Bible College in PNG. That first significant gift was just a really big and bright shinning threat to be sure...but because the project has taken so long to be fully funded and started, the original donor may actually reapply that gift to another project unless we can see the rest of that need met and the building begun. PLEASE pray with us. WE know God is able to provide all those needed finances..with or without that original $10,000, but we sure would love to keep it and get the rest needed so we can see actual construction begun soon. God has provided a gift of $5000 this week. So we now have $15,150 of the needed $45,000. Pray for the needed $30,000.
Pray with us for God to reveal HIS plan...knowing He is busy weaving what is right and best for our Bible College needs.
We know that "God's Work, done in God's way will never lack God's supply" (Hudson Taylor). "Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible" (CT Studd) so grab with us in prayer and wait for God to direct and supply!
Seeking the will of God, nothing more, nothing less...eager to watch our tapestry unfold knowing the Great Weaver His a magnificent picture to weave though our lives that He alone may be glorified.
Bill, Lori and the kids
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