SOUTH AFRICA

Twenty volunteers traveled with Mantle Ministries to South Africa to work with Key of Hope.  We took 50 children to camp from squatter villages.  The purpose was to deepen their relationship with Jesus, devotions, fun activities and crafts, games, birthday party, nighttime ministry, worshiping for hours around a campfire, times for loving and encouraging one on one, knowing they are loved and have a purpose for their lives. 

Pastor Dan recently sent us an email and stated:

"We continue to see lasting changes in the kids who went to camp.  What a difference it has made in them, and consequently in our ability to mentor and disciple them.  For many of them, it seem like we hit the fast forward button on the discipleship process, and jumped forward a year in one week. God is amazing.  Thank you so much for obedience and for the sacrifices made for these kids."

They were encouraged to be brave 

and take some challenges.

The morning devotions were precious and times where they shared their lives with us.

Coming back from the challenge courses in the woods.

The team members connected and loved these kids all week long.  It was special for all.

True Champions

The princess party.  A child of the King is truly a princess. A precious moment when the girls shared what was in their hearts.

What is camp without puppets.  The kids laughed with great joy each night 

when the puppets appeared.

The greatest part of this trip was the one on one we had with so many of the kids.  Here is Pastor Bob encouraging one of the boys that did not come to camp but came to Sat. Kidz Club.

We returned to Durbin and our team ministered at  the Saturday Kidz Club, thus getting a chance to meet the other hundreds of kids this ministry works with weekly.

We are already preparing for next years trip.  God is so amazing.  Many of our team members where challenged in their personal life and still processing all that the Lord did on this trip.  Thank you Lord Jesus for this wonderful opportunity.

Meet Eliana Grace

Two days after returning from our trip to Romania, our blessed little Eliana Grace was born to our youngest daughter and her husband,  Lance and Jeni Cupp.  

She was born on August 17th at 4:05am.  Weighing in at 8 pounds, 7 ounces, with a height of 20 inches, she came into the world just perfect as can be.

 We never cease to be amazed at the perfect work of our Lord in His creation.  

She is our 9th grandchild and the Lord has once again enlarged our hearts.

Welcome to the family precious Eliana. 

 Isa. 40:11 "He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom,and will gently lead those that have their young.

SUMMER MISSIONS - 2012

Where have the Carlson's been this summer. 

 In June we took a team of 15 to impoverished country of Haiti.  One team member said "I thought we were going to visit the poor, I had no idea the whole country was poor. 

 Below  is pictured one of the altar calls in one of four churches we ministered at this summer.  The forth church in Mirebalis had never had a VBS before.  The excitement and welcome was overwhelming.  The kids chased the bus right out of the village.  We promised to return.

We did some home visits.  This is our team praying for an old sick woman who was so grateful we came and personally visited her. 

Some of the wonderful times of fellowship with the youth in travel to our next destination. 

Our mission house was connected to an orphanage.  Many of the team members spent as much time as they could loving on these children.

 Ministering the VBS was so rewarding. The team of youth and youth workers poured their hearts into the lives of these children.

The Pastor loved our message of the two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world.

 IN JULY, we did two weeks of Champions for Life Kids' Camp.  It was our 10th anniversary since the inception of this camp.  We saw God minister to the hearts of these abused children once again.  Thank you Lord for the faithfulness to the orphans and the poor, as you have promised.

 In just a few hours we will be leaving for Romania.  We will be there for 12 days.  We have been asked to bring a VBS program for two locations this year.  We are so excited to once again work with these passionate young adults wanting to get the next generation knowing, loving and serving God.  Terry will also minister at the Sunday services and at a camp out with the men.  Pat will be attending a ladies fellowship to encourage the women of the church.  And of course there will be many times of one on one with their leadership.

Please keep us in your prayers.  It has been a very busy summer.  Sometimes we are only home for two weeks to unpack, do laundry, catch up on church responsibilities, visit our 8 grandchildren (soon to be 9) and then off to the mission field once again.

INDIA / IRELAND

Today's devotional in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers is as follows:

"Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering?

“If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all” (Philippians 2:17).

Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ‘Well done.’ ”

It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased …” (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that? Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket—to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted—not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity."

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE......

Tomorrow morning we leave for India.  It will take us three days to actually get there and we can hardly wait.  The anticipation of reuniting with our precious friends, Pastor Mathews Cherian and Grace, our Indian family in the Lord is extra precious.  This man of God has stayed in our home, encouraged us, prayed for our family and just been a spiritual papa to us.  To go and serve his ministry is such an extreme blessing to us.  

  

After concluding our ministry in India, we are immediately flying to Ireland.   We will be working with Pastor James and Rachel, our dear friends and family in the Lord.

Probably the most difficult thing we had to do in preparing for this trip was packing for two diverse cultures and climates.  Compare the two pictures, the first is India (dry, hot, and dessert like) and the second is Ireland (cold, wet, green and mostly raining).  You can get a small idea of this challenge.  

We are leaving tomorrow, Feb. 6th and will be gone for 3 weeks.  We earnestly covet your prayers. Thank you.

AFRICA, Sierra Leone

AH! Africa. We were invited by Rev. Sidiki and Fatmata Kamara, (pictured above), of GEM ministries to Sierra Leone, Africa, to minister at their week long conference during the day and Crusade in the evenings. They planted and oversee 24 churches. The other ministers scheduled to preach with us had their flights cancelled, so we found our preaching schedule doubled. God is so faithful a midst these circumstances. Below is Pat preaching at the daily conference.

Every evening Terry would preach at the crusade. They spoke English, but the accent was so diverse that he had an interpreter.

On Sunday, while Terry ministered at one church, Pat was sent to two different churches. Pat's first church was a new plant in a very poor neighborhood. Below is Pat's path to that church.

Below is the new church plant building, where they had one bongo drum, singers and paper bags for the offering but this group sang from their heart and danced before the Lord so passionately it brought a cloud of dust in the air.

As we visited many other churches, the children were running to us in the villages so excited yelling "opoto" which means "white man." Something they don't often see.
A school that has been established at one of the churches. These children are studying for their exams coming up.
The children running to us as we visited the villages.
Below are pictures of the neighborhood that surrounds the church where we stayed. We loved that the church was right in the middle of this neighborhood and a great witness to the community.

Here is Pat sporting an African outfit that one of the pastor's wife helped her pick out.

Another awesome opportunity was that the church had their bible students living right in the church. When we weren't preparing for our next service, they would request times of fellowship with us. It was so enriching for all of us.

Thirty years ago God planted a dream in our hearts of going to Africa. We had no idea at the time that Sierra Leone would be the first country we would visit. It was a joy to work with GEM ministries and we left with our hearts full of the love of Africa.