Widow House completed, almost!

This past week I employed four Mozambicans to complete Caterina's House. I would love to have used more visitors but we only had one (and Mark you ROCK!). We agreed on a pirice to do the whole house (which means walls and Roof and not the mud that goes on the walls) and it came out to $16 per person for four days work. Which is a very good wage here in Pemba. Just think about it, you could move to Pemba and have a house built for $64, plus materials which is about the same.

My first crew was interesting. 30 Minutes after we started one guy disappeared, then two others wanted his pay, and then they said we only agreed on a price for the walls and not the roof. So we talked back and forth for about an hour. Every time they took a break they wanted more money. So after an hour I told them they were finished because they didn't want to work. Then the main culpret said he wanted to work, but I had made my decision. So I paid them a good days wage and sent them on their way.
I hired the three guys standing watching us the whole time and they jumped right in. The best part is when I was walking back to the base I saw the one guy who was complaning the most and he wanted to give me his business card (not really) but he did say that if I had any other jobs he would work for me. I had to laugh, and then laugh again when he showed up the last day and wanted to work. I could see he realized the power of staying with the job, he looked a bit depressed when I paid our wokers and he knew he could have been paid also.

So here is the almost finished house and the mud should be put on this week. Caternia is very blessed and you can see, the smile is proof. Help the orphans and the widows! It has been a ride getting this house finished and a huge learning curve for me but the reward is worth every frustrating drop of sweat.

Of course there are many widows and many who need repairs or a whole new house. So we pray, "who is next Lord?"

Heath

Widows house, Ashers house

This is the old house of a widow, looking in from the outside. We are currently rebuilding her a new one. The roof was covered in ants, bugs, scorpions, centipedes and other strange creatures. We pulled her old one down and we are starting from the ground up.

This picture is Ashers new room. We find him sneaking into it and sitting there smiling. I guess its almost time to really think about getting an AC unit.

Blessings
Heath

House from the air

Here is a picture of the base we live on (Center 2) from the air. Our house in the bottom left corner of the base. IT is hard to see what is our base, so let me hlep. You see the main dirt road that comes into picture from middle left? Then you will see two trucks parked on the left side of the picture, our house is directly below those trucks. WE back up to trees and bushes before there is al ittle dirt road into a village.

I am sure I confused you all but this is the idea.

Bless

Well, I have stumbled upon a deal of a life time, Chickens. Yes, I went in on a plan with a friend and purchased 30 chicks. They only cost me $1 a piece, but since I have never purchased poultry before I could have been ripped off. There is a man from Zimbabwa who is hatching chicks and creating feed, for local farmers and educating them on how to raise healthy chickens. It is a great program and a easy way to bring the Gospel, which he does.

So now we could have 25 healthy eggs a day or at least half. The kids have really gotten behind the idea and are taking up the slack. So I built a coop and we are ready to scramble.

I have begun to get my feet wet in the Kingdom here. I walked to a widows house last week to see where she lives so we could build her a new house, the only problem is that I was lost the whole time. So today I am going to take someone with me who may know where she lives, then we will start tomorrow on the house. We have about 15 visitors who will get their experience of a lifetime.

Well, my friend just walked in to go to her house so I will get back to you on it.

Bless to you all.


Heath

"Steak . . . it's for the baby!"

Well, I am realizing each new day why no one Skypes us, it is because you are all on bed when we are on the internet. For example, I am sitting here on a beautiful sunny day around lunch time typing away on our blog and you are all on bed snoring. I am ok with this but I guess I will need to find a better time to check emails.
We are adjusting better each new day and now it feels as if we (or I should speak for myself), have been here for months. I love it and the odd things of living in Africa are becoming normal. The simple fact that it is cooling off is wonderful.
Emie went to the 5 STAR resort last night with some of the women to celebrate a birthday. She come home and shared with me that she had steak, and tried to justify it by saying it was for the baby!

Speaking of Baby! The test was positive and we are having number four. Hallelujah!!! She is due in November and feels healthy.
I guess we are going to try and have her (we think the baby is a girl) here in Mozambique. More details come as they come.

Bless all of you and thanks for the prayers.

The picture is Heath putting chicken wire over the mesquito net to add extra security. The skin diesase is just sweat pouring over his head and not leprosy. The tomato red on his back is from the great sun burn he recieved from the big ball of fire located out in space.


Blessings
Heath

Here are a few pictures of schooling for Abiel and Judah with Asher running around in his crazy 2 year-old-I own the world-diaper displaying-superhero. He is becoming quit the little personality.
Abiel and Judah are doing great at school and love it, except for Judah when he decided he doesn't want go to school today, he must have gotten that from his mom (you will have to ask Emie how she managed to skip over 80% of her Senior year of HS and still was top honors).

The second foto is of the guys putting in our pathway to the back faucet and the fort we are constructing in our back yard.

More pictures to come. Bless you all

Day 12 Only Surviving. . . Not yet thriving!! (well, maybe heath is!)

Honesty is the best policy . . . almost always. So, here is an honest attempt to update after 12 days of our new life in Africa.

HEATH
Heath is amazing as he has been in every new place we’ve moved. He has painted, fixed 2 leaking toilets, cleaned out a shower drain filled with rocks and sand, netted our whole living room, kitchen, dining room so bees and snakes can’t get in, hung our mosquito nets, moved furniture, driven in town on the wrong side of the car and road already, test drove a 4 runner for sale, been to a staff meeting, made it walking to the other base with our computer to email without getting hijacked, taken the kids swimming several times, is in the process of hanging chicken wire over the netting so banditos can’t get in our house easily, played a couple card games with me, played aggravation several times with the kids and boys from the other base, listened to me cry and freak out a few times, and has even managed to watch a couple Band Of Brothers DVD’s and read the entire Beyond the Band of Brothers book plus read the Word, lead our family, pray for our kids and keep us all stable! Today he and the kids drew up plans for a play structure in our back yard with a cement pad for our dog to be! Then he talked to the right people and already has the wood for it! He and the guy who has worked on our yard made plans about how to landscape it better today. And now he recruited the kids to help him pull weeds and move rocks around to clean our yard up. I’m telling you, he is ON TOP OF IT ALL! And all of that in 102 degree weather the past 3 days!
Is he made for missions or what! The Lord has spoken really clearly to Heath since we have been here. One evening, the Lord told him to read Isaiah 35 and a couple days later to read Hebrews 12:12. We believe this is our purpose for being here. At this point it is difficult knowing our purpose in theory and not yet in practice. That will just take time.
Heb. 12:12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.
So Heath is amazing and everyone is in shock about his “go get um” attitude about everything so far! Keep praying for him. There are other things he is wrestling with about us being here that he is praying for peace about. Plus he is feeling a lot of pressure about us getting a vehicle. Living on base 1 and having our work and internet be on base 2 (a mile walk) plus anything we need in town is about 7-10 minute drive away, it is very apparent we will need a vehicle soon. Bumming rides is difficult around here. Please pray that we will be able to find and afford a reliable truck here soon.

ABIEL
After the initial grieving, she is doing great. She has adapted far quicker than the rest of us! We started school this week and she jumped right back in and doing awesome. Nights are the most difficult for her as that is when she misses her friends the most. We’re trying to parent attitudes with her. Please pray for wisdom in that!

JUDAH
He got sick last Thursday night with a very high fever and stomachache. He was sick for 4 days and then felt better on Monday. But then again last night, he had a very high fever and head and stomach ache again. His attitude is still really good considering it is super hot and he has had such a high fever. We are still in shock with how well he is doing with this adjustment.
We brought school stuff for Judah to start kindergarten and he LOVES it! We are taking it slow and doing what his attention span can handle this week, but every morning he wakes up asking when we will start school.
The other day, he was watching an army of ants carry a dead bee out of our house (I do have some house help!). There were so many ants and he said, “Maybe they’re having a prayer meeting!” He has brought us much-needed comic relief in the stress of the hot days.
He loves climbing the bars on our windows to get as close as possible to the lizards that he is desperately trying to catch! Speaking of lizards, I was picking stuff off the floor and carried around what I thought was a rolled up piece of duct tape for quite awhile while I continued cleaning. Then I walked out into the light and realized I was holding the tail of a lizard!! YUCK!

ASHER
Again, I can say, he is the one having the most difficult adjustment. He finally got over the bug phobia, PRAISE THE LORD! And he stopped sweating so bad his hair was drenched on about day 5. And then he got sick on Friday evening. He has had diarrhea, fever, deep cough, runny nose, and rash ever since. We had our first trip to the clinic in Pemba on Monday afternoon but the doctor said it was “just a viral infection.” The clinic by the way is very clean and nice, relatively inexpensive and open 24/7. Yesterday he seemed to be doing better, but then it hit hard again last night. I have not had a full night sleep since I’ve been here. Between jet lag for the first 5 nights with the kids up from 12:00 AM to 4:00 AM and then the sickness starting the next day, it has been crazy.

ME
I know my faith is in testing time right now. I have had practice, evidence of why I can trust the Lord in all situations, seen his power and beheld his glory. Now I’m in the test. I haven’t been able to feel or hear the Lord since we left the States. I KNOW what’s true of our calling, I KNOW we are supposed to be here, and I KNOW what’s true of my God. But right now, it’s all faith.
I knew that sickness was part of the deal of the adventure to Africa. And I’m not scared of my children being sick or even of dying. But it is just exhausting. I need a new perspective and more of the Holy Spirit or else I’m going to crack! The exhaustion affects my attitude and my perspective immensely. Not to mention we’re just trying to figure out how to live in such intense heat.
Yesterday, the Lord reminded me of the verses in James about perseverance. James 1:2-4 Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.

My endurance has plenty of opportunity to grow here, between the sickness, heat, and work of keeping sand out of our beds, floor, hair, cleaning water off bathroom floors because of leaky toilets, and trying to be loving mom and wife I feel like the whole day is persevering! I want to cry or sleep most of the time. I think I’m discovering that my role here will primarily be being a mom, to my kids and to the many kids that walk over from base 2 to visit us! On Tuesday last week, we were discovered. On Wednesday we were mobbed, and on Thursday I was overwhelmed. I’m just not sure what it looks like to parent 12 children plus my biological children all at the same time. Please pray for wisdom and patience through this process. We also need a lot of wisdom on what boundaries look like with the orphans. I hate even thinking in those terms but I cannot survive at this point any other way. Because of previously established deep relationship with some of these children, there is high expectation of who I will be to them and what I “owe” them. It’s a touchy balance.

I did give in and get a helper for laundry already. I only had to do it once to know it was going to kill me to try and do all our laundry on top of everything else! It will cost us about $8.00 a week. I’ll sacrifice some chocolate if I need to!! ☺

OTHER INFORMATION
We are finding that living here is not as cheap as we expected. Because it is trying to become a tourist town and because so many foreigners come through here for Iris Ministries, the prices for any “normal” food and eating out are very comparable to the States!
I have been making lunch for the whole family and dinner for the kids while Heath and I eat rice and whatever the base is serving after the kids are in bed.
When Heath makes the shopping run to town, he comes back with all sorts of goodies! So we have not been neglecting our category of sweets!

We received our bag yesterday, PRAISE THE LORD. It had a few things that were missed; Monopoly, two nets for bugs and other little odds and ends.

The intense heat is only supposed to last for another month. Then we’ll hit the intensity of our “job description” as there will be 50-80 visitors a week until September that we are “taking care of.” Please pray that we will learn the logistics quickly this month so no one gets left at the airport or stranded in their bunkroom for two weeks with nothing exciting to do in Africa! I’m feeling a bit discouraged about the practicality of my ability to really be involved in the hospitality ministry on base 2 while living on base 1 and mothering 3 children. Please pray that I will have peace in the way our role ends up playing out.

LIVING IN 3 CULTURES
I’m sad to not be able to email anyone personally yet. I really miss my dear and deep friendships. There are 3 cultures we will basically be trying to live in. The culture of the missionaries. The culture of Iris. And the culture of Pemba. All three are very distinct, though I think the hope is that they merge. We have already been told the most difficult part will be getting along with fellow missionaries! Statistically, we know that is truth. Please pray for us as we discern and live in but not of the world. We long to live from heaven’s perspective about everything. Idealistic? Sure, but I think it’s Jesus’ ideal!

So, please pray. I will try not to make the next update so long.

We love you all so very much. Blessings on your mission field. (And please enjoy your washer and dryer, dishwasher, and temperature regulators for us!!)

Emie for the Lockes

Africa 101

We are here and find it a bit hot. Enought about that, we love it and are adjusting well considering all the details that have gone into moving a fmaily of 5 around the world. All but one of our 17 bags made it and we saw many airports, Nairobi having the most hospitible people.

Judah is a different kid, I believe he as found his nitch. Asher is
sick and Abiel is finally saying that maybe she will really love it
here.

We have spent a lot of time painting and bug proofing our house. It is
a wonderful house and a huge yard.

The need for a truck is getting more obivous, The main reason being
that the high speed internet is a mile away on the other base and we
will never be able to go anywhere with out taking 20 kids with us, if we walk. Of
course this is all comfort things but the Lord keeps telling me he is
going to give me a truck.

Emie has given into the idea of getting a dog. The one main reason is
for snakes and the other is for security. We can get one from South
Africa. So this little dog lover is more and more excited.

Here is some things that Emie wrote up in an email the other day. Once we get in the mode of coming to the office we will be more consistent in emails.

COMMUNICATION:
We found out that for wireless internet, we need to go to base 2, which will be more difficult for me (emie). So that means, until we get an external connector for our mac laptop to handle dial up (in about a week), our email will be sporadic.
We do have a cell phone and a number but I forgot it at our house! Next email.

TRAVELING:
God's grace was surely on us and we felt all your prayers.

SLEEPING:
Last night was the first night the kids actually slept since we left home. The other two nights they were up from 12:30 AM to 4;00AM! Pray for rest for us in the adjustment.

HEAT
It is almost unbearably hot right now. Poor Asher is sweating the worst!! He drips with sweat and his hair is like he just got out of the tub all day long! But they seem to be doing well with the heat rashes, bug bites galore, and new living conditions.

JUDAH
I am shocked to say that Judah is amazing! Thank you to all who are praying specifically for him. He is adjusting better than all the kids and loving it here!! I think he was made for missions and to think, he would have been the reason I would've not come to the mission field! What a lesson.

ABIEL
She is grieving but today has been the first fun day for her. I can see it will just take a bit of time for her to let go of our wonderful life with the Truax's to embrace life here.

ASHER
Within the last week, Asher has become deathly afraid of bugs and we just moved to BUG HEAVEN! Before we left the states, he got bit by an ant and now every bug, big or small is a major threat to him! Please pray that he is delivered of this fear entirely. Sounds funny but I'm very serious. He wants to be held constantly because there are bugs in and out of the house, everywhere!

HEATH
Doing great. In just do it mode and he painted our kitchen brick red (just like our kitchen in Aurora)! He is patching up the many holes that bugs, snakes, frogs, and cockroaches are entering our home through! Praise God for Heath!

ME
Tired but feel like I'm home already. I can't even begin to express how wild it feels to move halfway around the world and feel like I am home. I guess it really is the reality that when your home is in God, you are at home everywhere. Pray for my patience with Asher's bug issue!

Our HOME
We love it and it feels like ours. We are making it quite cozy if you can do so with brick, tin roof, and bars and chicken wire over the windows!

Disneyland

Our surprise trip to Disneyland for the kids was wonderful. Though Emie and I are not into hallow fun we enjoyed it none the less. It was truly a gift from God to our kids and we as their parents loved watching them be kids. Emie and I cried as we discussed the idea of taking the kids to Disneyland. We rejoiced as parents when we can give our kids a gift of appreciation and thankfulness for their giving up for the kingdom.

The kids loved hanging out with grandma and Danny (Heath's mom and her husband). The day was long but the kids wanted to get every bit of Disneyland that they could.

OUr time in Cali was wonderful and Kim and her daughter Sarah were a blessing to the hightest degree. We were spoiled for the week and felt like we were on top of the world. Thanks

As Emie says "when God is our home then any place we sleep consistently feels like home.

Heath

Where is Mozambique? And where is Pemba?

We hope this gives you a better idea of where in Africa and where in Moz we will be. Pemba is located in the northern region of Moz. on the coast, yea for the beach!

Many have wondered and asked if we are heading to Africa because things here are hard. The answer is, NO! We often wonder why the Lord is having us move there now because things are going so well here. We have seen many people delivered, healed and beginning to walk out the reality of their freedom. These last few months have filled us with awe. We have witnessed many recognize the call of God on their life and begin to move out in obedience. In all honesty we are a bit disappointed that we have to leave right now because so many wonderful and crazy things are happening. But this is how the Lord often works.
So, why are we going? One reason is because we KNOW that the Lord is telling us to, so the first is out of obedience. We are very excited about Africa and can't wait to see what aspects of the Kingdom we will experience once we arrive in Pemba. Another reason is that the Lord is raising others up into their gifts and roles right there in the Portland area. We don't to be a bottle neck for them but rather walk away when things are at there height for all to see that it's not our "ministry" but the Spirit releasing His Bride into the fullness of Christ. The last main reason is that we believe the Lord has given us another son that we need to go bring into our family, Adelino. So Lord willing the next time you see us we will have Adelino with us.
I hope this gives some insight into the "why's" of our life and leaves little room for gossip about the "because".

A side note, the Lord has blessed our family with a Laptop (a MAC, which happens to be the best) so now we can Skype you all. Which I am reminded when the Lord asked me to give the other MAC laptop he gave, me away. He told me, “If I can give you one I can give you two!” Thanks to both individuals who have blessed us with Laptops, it has not been forgotten by the great bookkeeper of Heaven!

We are going to get the best house that Iris has to offer. It will be two bedrooms, two baths, large living room with a large kitchen and dining room. It has a fenced in yard (great for kids and a dog, but don’t tell Emie about the dog) and a gazebo. I understand it use to be the Bakers old house.

Not only these two things but also the Lord is pouring out his blessings in every other area of our life. We have been given language programs for learning Portuguese, Home school supplies, iPOD and travel speakers, luggage, and clothes. Besides these and other things I can’t remember off the top of my head, we have the possibility of connecting with a current missionary in another part of Mozambique who is returning to the States and will need to get rid of his 4x4 vehicle (A Toyota Land Cruiser I believe, for those men who are dying to know what type of 4X4 it is). We are overwhelmed in how the Lord is faithfully putting everything in order.

More to come as more comes or not if He comes!
Blessings
Heath

Loving an Orphan into Sonship

Have you ever loved an orphan? I bet you have. They're all over. They sit next to you in church, work in the cubicle next to you, maybe even sleep next to you in bed or worse yet, look back at you in the mirror. It is incredibly challenging to love an orphan. Nothing you do is ever good enough. You can pour in, pour in, pour in, pour in and then one wrong move or one trigger from the past and you're back to square one with a pointing finger in your face yelling, "You don't love me!" It is a never ending game of "prove that you love me. . . . . and do it on my terms."
I had five boys I loved on. Luis was one of the tougher kids. His walls were high and the rules of his "prove that you love me" game were steep. Frequently I broke the rules and had his accusing finger in my face telling me all the reasons I loved everyone but him. It was deeply spiritual. If you've ever heard these words and experienced this accusation, you know it is spiritual. It cuts deep even when you know the truth and what is motivating the lies. It is a battle to stand against the condemnation. Most days I could smile at him, wrestle him into a hug and say something like, "You know that's not true. But you choose to believe what you want."
One morning, I was really tired, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I needed to bandage Adelino's toe that was infected. But that was no small task because whenever I pulled out the first aid kit, 20 little (and big) boys came running with wounds ranging from small scrapes to gaping sores and intense infections. Most the time, there was at least one wound bad enough to turn my stomach. Luis had multiple wounds on his legs and arms that weren't healing. Sometimes I'd put bandaids on and sometimes I didn't have enough bandaids for all his sores. This particular morning, as I applied bandaids to boy number 3, Luis stood behind him pointing his finger at me, loudly and boldly declaring how much I didn't love him. That day, I couldn't fight the spirit of condemnation. The tears began to trickle down my nose and drip off my chin. Luis quickly backed off and the whole chattering group of boys became silent. I immediately thought, "I need to get it together." But I felt the Holy Spirit say, "Go with it."
Soon the trickle was a waterfall as I continued to apply bandaids through my sobs. None of them knew what to do. Eventually some of them asked, "Mama Emie, what's wrong?" By this time, I was no longer crying because I was feeling sad that Luis wouldn't believe that I loved him, though that's what triggered my tears. As I continued crying, God began speaking to me about His children. "I have poured out and poured out and poured out on my children. I have given them everything, even my only Son and my very Spirit to live in them and they still believe they are unloved and alone. One thing triggers their past and the pointing finger and accusations of abandonment come at Me. What else can I do to prove my love?" Now I was sobbing for the Body of Christ. Now I was longing for my brothers and sisters all over the world to really believe that we are not orphans anymore! What if we believed we were forgiven? What if we really believed that the same power that rose Jesus from the dead is alive within us? What if we really believed that the purest, most overwhelming love in the universe is poured out upon us and revealed through Jesus Christ? What if we believed we were a dearly beloved child of the LIVING GOD?!!! Just imagine how our world would be changed or how we would change the world. (Eph. 1 and 3, Rom. 8, etc.)
Then the Holy Spirit took over as I began, through tears, to ask the boys questions. "How many people can Jesus love?" "Everyone," they answered. "How many of you can Mama Emie love? Just one?" "All of us," some of them answered. Then the Holy Spirit continued talking through me about how we have to choose to believe that Jesus loves us no matter what happens to us. I told them that Jesus will continue to pour out his love in different ways upon them, but what else should he really have to do to prove his love? Then I walked them through all the ways I had tried to prove my love to them over the 6 weeks I had been there. I asked, "What else can I do to help you believe that I love you? I don't know what else to do." Looking into their eyes, I said, "I love you. I love you all."
With that, I left the tension unresolved and walked away. I wanted them to wrestle. I wanted them to feel the need to respond. I went to my house and began to journal. About 10 minutes later, I heard little voices out my window saying, "Mama Emie. Can you pllleeeeaaase come out here? Mama Emie?" I went out and there were 10 or so of them. "We're sorry Mama Emie. We love you. Can we please have some water?"
I rarely heard the words please and sorry from their lips the whole time I was in Africa. But that day, it was like music as I knew the Spirit was working in those boys. Luis was there, leading them. For the rest of my time in Pemba, he only accused me of not loving him two other times and Jesus gave me more personal ways of communicating my love to him. One of the times, he caught himself and apologized. The other time, he softened a few hours later and everything was good again.
I don't know how long it will take Adelino and Luis to be loved from an orphan spirit to sonship. When will the switch flip and they don't question my love anymore? What will it take? Taking them out to dinner 10, 15, 20 times? Buying them clothes and shoes? Two hundred hugs? Just time? I don't think so. I think it will take a lot of prayer, tangible love poured out and a lot of coaching them to hold on to the love poured out BY FAITH even when they don't feel it. And if they never believe . . . what then? Do I give up and quit pouring out on them? Ahhh, I don't think so. I'll keep loving. I'll keep praying, I'll keep coaching them to live by faith when their whole life feels contrary to the truth. I'll keep loving. And I know I'll cry. I know I'll cry a lot. But this is a small part of sharing in the sufferings of Jesus as my heart breaks for these children. His heart is breaking for you.

Romans 8:12-17
So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
So you should not be like cowering fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family - calling him, "Abba, dear Abba." For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we will share his treasures - for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Romans 8:31-39
What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? NO! He's the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? NO, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep." No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS REVEALED IN CHRIST JESUS our Lord.

Ephesians 1: 3
How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

So, today have the power to grab on to how long and wide and high and deep the love of God is for you. Embrace His amazing love by faith and live as a CHILD OF GOD not an empty, longing orphan. And if you are in the struggle of loving an orphan, don't give up. Keep pouring out tangible love, keep praying for the orphan spirit to be cast out and the Spirit of adoption to be embraced, and if you need to cry . . . . maybe you should just go with it! The Holy Spirit knows what he's doing!

I love you all, dear friends.
Emie

SNOW, we love it and it will be a long time before we play in it again

Homeless Feast Update

"Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay." 1 Peter 4:9

"The kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned . . . I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them. . ." Isaiah 58:6-7

There is power in living out the mandates of Christ. We never have to wonder if Jesus blesses things he has already commanded us to do, we are always in a win-win situation.

New Years Day was an unbelievable display of the glory, love and life of Jesus pouring through the unified Body of Christ! There are not words to adequately describe the scene. There is something incredibly powerful about welcoming people into your home, especially poor wanderers. Maybe it's powerful because it's the kind of fasting God is asking of us. There were deep spiritual connections made with the people as we clothed them with new outfits and gave over our possessions. Maybe it was supernatural because the concept was born and thrives in the heart of God. It was miraculous to see the abundance of food and to have dozens of plates leftover for our new friends to pass out to their friends on the streets afterward. Freely we receive, freely we MUST give!

Twenty-seven homeless men and women, thirty one people sacrificing their comfort, time, and resources to love the "unlovely." Seventy-five plus people (when we added all the little kids running around) in about 2200 sq feet of home. And the Glory and Peace of God reigned down on the little plot of land in Canby, OR. Toward the end of the party, after showers, new clothes, hair cuts, full stomachs and good fellowship, someone made the comment that it was difficult to determine who was homeless and who was "serving." No one left unmoved by the Spirit of God and His love poured out.

Here are some personal testimonies of those who were impacted.

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**"Wow" is definitely how I feel after today. I must be honest, I had my hesitations about all of it. The Lord truly had a hilarious time proving my stupid little worries wrong. HA! I am humbled beyond words and changed forever. I believe that was actually the first time I had ever had a conversation with a homeless person, let alone 27 of them!
The most touching moment I had (although, I had many of them) was Frank's face when he sat down and started talking to Amy and I. He was overwhelmed by it all and just started crying. He was eating potato chips and coffee, trying very hard not to show emotions and then he said, "I don't know why I'm so emotional, is the Holy Spirit emotional?" YES!!! "Jesus loves you!" said Amy. I was speechless.

**They all have been running through my head all evening and names have actually stuck with me. I truly hope to see them all again.

**I know that yesterday was totally as much for me as for the people that came. His abundance is beyond what we could ever imagine and I know He longs to pour out through His people if we are only willing.

**I loved every minute of it, and had to drag my kids away
when the time came to leave! I wanted to stay and had a hard time leaving.

**So one of my favorite moments of yesterday was when I walked around the corner and saw Hannah (a girl about 10-12 years old) sitting at a table with one of our guests. She was talking and laughing with him - genuinely engaging him in conversation - she was not self conscious or uncomfortable. He was asking her questions and she was asking him questions. It was clear that they were definitely enjoying themselves . . . Oh Jesus, please let me become like a child . . .

**One man on the drive back to the streets said in very broken English, "My favorite part was watching one of the men playing and wrestling with the children. It reminded of my childhood in Mexico when my cousins and I would play and wrestle and family was everything, that made my day!"

**On returning to their home (the street), the life, hope and joy that poured out of our new friends was astonishing. Immediately they began sharing stories with their friends of how they had just had a party and introduced the drivers as their new family! They boasted of how awesome their time was fellowshipping, watching football and kickin' back. They were talking about how it wasn't even "preachy," they just felt loved. All of them asked if we would come visit them again and invited us to their "home."

**One of the men on the way back to the street said, "This is the best New Year's Day I've EVER had." And his buddy sitting next to him said, "Forget New Year's Day! This is the best DAY I've ever had!"

**A few families donated brand new backpacks. One of the women who bought some knew they were to buy one pink one. As Tammy interacted with Donna, she was able to offer her the pink backpack and Donna exclaimed with joy and delight, "It's EVEN PINK!"

**One friend knew he was supposed to bring a really nice watch he owned to give away. At one point in the day as he passed out clothes, the Lord led him to ask a man if he had a watch. The homeless man said, "Well, sort of" as he showed Nate the smashed face of his "gold" watch. It was so smashed, you couldn't even tell the time. Nate was able to give him a new watch with great joy and thankfulness!
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We didn't have to preach with words. Our lives were the living, tangible evidence to Frank, Monica, Buzz, Sean, Michael, Laurel, Abdur, Poncho, Jose, Linda, Lawrence, Roy, William, Jared and the rest, that Jesus loves them! Did we pray for people? Yep, when they were asking for pray, as they wept and repented on the floor! Did we tell them of Jesus love? Yes, when the wide open door in conversation led us and it would have been awkward NOT to share of Jesus’ love! Did everyone repent? Did everyone pray? Did everyone hear the words "Jesus loves you?" No, but every person in that house "experienced the love of God though it's so great we'll never fully understand it (Eph 3:19 NLT)." God's favor and Presence was leading the whole day. We didn’t need to preach to them they came begging us to share about freedom in Christ. We just had a party. That's it. Food, football, chess, conversations, laughing, weeping, showers, clothes, backpacks, coats, new friends, and JESUS were elements of this incredible New Year's Day!

I am thankful for organizations that are daily ministering and providing for the poor and homeless. I am grateful for the institutional churches that are making headway for the Kingdom of God in the places of poverty and hopelessness. But Jesus did not give the mandate to love the poor, invite poor wanderers into homes, and clothe the naked to organizations and institutions. He gave those mandates to the BODY. That's you and me. The church, in God's mind, is not institutional or religious. In Scripture, the "Church" is simply the Body/Bride of Christ. If we belong to Jesus we are his Body. It is our calling, every one of us, to love the poor, invite strangers into our homes, feed the hungry and clothe the naked. That is the Kingdom of God. Our hope is that the New Year's Day party gives you a vision of personal movement toward the poor and homeless and needy rather than waiting for institutional movement. Don't think of starting with 27. Just look for the one.

We pray that this is year the Kingdom of God comes on earth as it is in heaven in greater ways than ever before THROUGH ALL OF US, HIS BODY! Be blessed and encouraged. God is moving and he's inviting us to come along! It's the most thrilling, stretching, life-threatening ride we will ever take! The only part of us that will regret the ride is the part that loves the world more than Jesus. And that's the part we all want to get rid of, right? Let's hold our breath and jump on! It's a NEW YEAR!

There are so many more stories from that short day on January 1st, ones we will never know about and ones we will never forget.


Inspiring books on the homeless and poor:
The Bible
Under the Overpass
Turnings. by Guy Chevreau
Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. by Sider
--
All for the glory of Jesus,

http://isaiah555.blogspot.com/

Feasting with the Homeless on New Years Day

Luke 14:12-14
"WHEN you put on a luncheon or a dinner don't invite your friends,
brothers, relatives and rich neighbors. For they will repay you by
inviting you back. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame,
and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the godly, God will reward
you for inviting those who could not repay you."

The vision of New Year's Day:

We have a twofold vision for the day.
1. To love the homeless. We want to bring them in. Give them
showers (logistically we can either have people take them to their
homes for showers first or to designated shower houses before we bring
them to the house to eat). To let them hang out, watch football, have
a feast to eat, give them some gifts, and give them a reprieve from
the harsh reality of the streets. It's a bit brutal to think of
taking them back to the streets to sleep, but it helped me when Heath
said it's kind of like taking the front line soldiers off the
frontline for an afternoon before they have to go back out. Just
because their life is hard doesn't mean they don't want or appreciate
a break now and then. We would like to pick them up around 10:30 or
11:00 and take them home around 4:30 or 5:00. That is subject to
change but that's what we're thinking.
2. The second vision for the day is to give people an opportunity to
start the New Year with a different perspective; having the poor and
broken be a very near reality rather than a distant knowledge. We want
to experience Jesus among these people. We want to give a relatively
comfortable environment to walk over the bridge to their side. We
want to give the opportunity to come face to face with questions the
Lord is making us ask of our own life: Who is Jesus for me? Who IS
Jesus for the poor? Do I have Jesus or religion? What happens when
the package answers don't touch these precious people's needs? What
happens if we don't use our resources for poor and the orphan? It just
may send our year in a totally different direction.
It's ok to be uncomfortable and have a bit of fear, just push past
it and sit and listen. We will all be amazed once we are sitting next
to someone and realize they are just people and this is easier than we
thought. They will love sharing with someone who is willing to
listen, and they may tell you a really good whopper. Nonetheless, you
will have crossed the bridge.

We're back in Beavercreek

Hey Everyone!
I thought about telling you all that I'm finally home but that's not entirely true. I'm certainly and happily back in Beavercreek, Oregon, but I've learned to a much greater degree that my "home" is in Christ. Therefore it doesn't matter where I'm physically at on the earth! It is an incredible feeling to be "at home" anywhere in the world!
I WANT to spend some time with my unbelievable, wonderful, amazing, handsome husband so this is going to be a short note to thank you all for praying for Abiel and I the last two months. Our travel home was very peaceful but very long. Aside from getting on the wrong plane out of Mozambique and almost heading to Tanzania instead of Kenya, we had no hitches or problems. (Long story but we "just happened" to overhear that we were on the wrong flight when an attendant told another lady that she was on the wrong flight!! So we deplaned and waited another 30 minutes for our plane!! Thank you Jesus!)
I have many stories to share and many lessons to relay but that is all for another day. My body is adjusting to freezing temperatures as we have come from such humidity that we could be dripping sweat off our faces when we were sitting still!!!
Please pray for our family's health. I have been fighting sinus congestion/infection for weeks and Heath seems to be coming down with something similar. Please pray that the Lord will strengthen our bodies and prepare us for the next adventure which we will soon be sharing with you all.

Blessings from the ENTIRE LOCKE FAMILY UNDER ONE ROOF!