Here's a few more pictures of Bogota', Columbia and the outskirts of the city. Navigating in foreign countries is quite different than here and can be quite a bit of fun. When looking at the overview of Bogota' and seeing the vast amount of houses and people, I can only think of what Jesus did when he looked at all of the lost people without a shepherd..... he was moved with compassion!

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" (Jim Elliot, Missionary Martyr in the 1950's)

Pastor Carlos Eisenhart and Philip and the instillation of the Christian Nation Church manual in Columbia. Two pastors were licensed or ordained on that day as well.

Pastor Pablo Pilmore as he preaches at a house church in Bogota.

Pastor Marcos Becker as he teaches at the Institute in Bogota.

Daryl Hausman as he preaches at a church in Paraiso.

Thank you Philip for doing such a wonderful job at interpreting. God was definitely helping you! Philip interpreted for all 12 messages / teaching lessons as well as interpreting Spanish to English for our benefit.

Some plant and some water but God gives the increase! (Apostle Paul) Amen and Amen

This is what a person looks like before drinking Columbian Coffee!

Yes, I actually drank some coffee!

After some Columbian Coffee!

Enjoying part of God's wonderful Creation!

This is just outside of Bogota and is very beautiful! When we arrived, the fog / clouds were so thick we could not see the falls or the other side of the gorge. God gave us a special treat and moved the clouds away so we could enjoy His creation.

I tried to be safe and stay a good distance from the drop off, about 3 or 4 feet!

These bugs sure do have a lot of nutrition in them.

This is my nephew whose a typical little child. Put it in your mouth and see how it tastes!

It's a toy bug that was given to his older brother!

Thank the Lord for traveling mercies as we went to Bogota, Columbia, South America.

Here's a picture of my traveling companions! What a motley looking crew. :)

Pictured here is Pastor Marcos, Pastor Carlos, & Pastor Pablo as they were known in Columbia. Since my name didn't translate into Spanish, Pastor Jimmy had a real difficult time in saying it. It was quite humorous to hear him try to pronounce it.

We want to thank you for your prayers already! The team has arrived safely and God has been working mightily already! God has been moving on hearts and His presence has been so evident in each and every service. We give God all of the praise for all that has been accomplished thus far. Souls have been saved and there have been seekers of heart holiness. Thank you so much for your prayers thus far!

We do covet your continual prayers through the next 2 days of ministry here. Much is planned but we must have God's divine help! There are hungry hearts and much wisdom is needed but most of all, the power of God is needed. Would you help us pray that God's kingdom would be advanced through Salvation and Heart Holiness and that God would continue to raise up leaders who are filled with the Spirit.

Spring is here! Well, let's say we hope it's here, real soon!

I've been way too busy lately, thus the reason for no updates. I would like to bring an urgent need to you and ask if you could pray for the upcoming Missions Trip that Daryl will be going on (March of 09). He will be traveling with several of the men from Church to visit the Dickinson family in Columbia, South America. All of the men will be speaking at the very first, Lord willing with many more to come, Christian Nation Church Congress. The men will be preaching and teaching as well as the Ordination of some Columbian pastors under the Christian Nation Church.

Please pray that the financial needs will be met, physical protection, traveling mercies, but more importantly that God would move mightily bringing lost souls to the kingdom and that the believers will go on to Heart Holiness.

Happy 40th Birthday!
How blessed I am to have such a wonderful husband! God is so good! No, this isn't MY blog, but I wanted to take this opportunity to THANK JESUS for my wonderful husband that he gave me over 18 years ago...!
Sweets, I love you so much and thank the Lord everyday for bringing us together. You are a wonderful provider and my BEST FRIEND! Thanks for loving me as Christ loves the church. Thanks for our beautiful family and for loving each of them. Thanks for your spiritual leadership in our home. You have put Christ 1st in your life and that brings the greatest sense of security in my life! I know that you have never made a move outside of God's will! I LOVE being your helpmeet for life! GOD IS GOOD! I feel spoiled by Jesus and you are one of those special gifts from Heaven in my life! I LOVE YOU, LAURA!!!

Sometimes when I am studying for a class I'm taking, I put earplugs in my ears to "deaden" the noise of our wonderful children. For our daughters Home Maintenance Class, she is required to watch several Home Maintenance videos that I have. For some reason, the VHS player was not working, so our 2 youngest began to pray that Jesus would help the video player to work. After several prayers went up, they tested the player again. Their hearts were saddened as the Video wouldn't work again. Bryan quickly replied, "AHHHH (big sigh), I guess Jesus has his earplugs in." Our eldest daughter, quickly turned away so that Bryan wouldn't see the smile on her face.

Aren't you glad that Jesus doesn't put earplugs in. He does teach us how to pray and He never gets tired of hearing us pray. Praise God!

Beauty in the midst of the storm!

We had what some would call a snow storm, approx. 5 inches of snow, then 1/4"- 1/2" of ice, then 4 or 5 more inches. Haven't heard the official results!

If you look closely enough, during some of life's greatest storms, there will be beauty. Sometimes that beauty only comes when the storms of life rage. It's then that you find the presence of God so close and real and beauty that you can never see when things are calm and serene.

Teachable Moments!

In a class I'm taking one of the points for teachers was to not get so engrossed in having to strictly adhere to your syllabus / schedule / time restraints where you miss those "teachable moments" that come along. Many times we have tons of other things we need to do, but seize the moment when it presents itself. It may not present itself again!!!

Well, this is our bobsled run or luge run if you know anything about that. We had snow, then ice then snow at our house and it made our street one great sled run. As you can see, the tire tracks are solid ice. The work in the house and all of the studies had to take a backseat for a while. So with a lookout down at the bottom of the run, we took some time and had some fun. I wish I had the time to do that, some would say, well.... I couldn't afford to miss the opportunity. We find the time to do what is important to us.

So many Christian workers, intent on doing something for God, forget that His main work is to make something of them.
Jim Elliot

Boys are found everywhere - on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to.

Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them.

A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.

By Alan Beck

My wife wanted me to thank her dear family and husband for a couple different Christmas gifts.

About 6 years ago, before we went to the Mission field, her sister and my wifes dear, wonderful husband got her this Christmas gift. The silverware, came from Daryl's parents and are beautiful. Laura was unable to use the china because God had called us to the Mission Field. This was the first year we could use it because it was in storage all of this time.

Thanks to the gift givers and gift storers'! Both are equally important when you don't have a home of your own.

God is so good to give us so many little treats as we walk with Him! God is good, all the time!

We were privileged to have our 3 Pastors and their families over for a meal this last week. Anytime you get 3 Pastors of this Quality together, it's sure to be a good time! They were real troopers with us crazy Missionary commoners and endured the unfinished "Haus". (the pink walls in the background are the latest up to date trends in interior decorating :) )

We are extremely blessed to sit under the leadership of this Ministry Team. The Music not only Ministers to needs but focuses us on true worship. The Messages that God's servants bring are what we truly need and relevant for today.

Thank you to The Eisenharts, Pilmores, and Ryans for your Ministry! We love and appreciate you all!

Here's the kiddos!

Well, for those who were worried that we actually got ripped off by only getting 25% of the tree, here's "the rest of the story".

Sometimes I have a little twisted humor and my family wanted me to actually let everyone know that we actually had a complete tree.

The tree and lights were a gift from my mother when she downsized. Thanks Mom!

We would like to take this time to say "S nova Godum ee S Razdisfoam" to all of our dear Russian friends! (to all Russians, please forgive the spelling, I only did that so we crazy Americans can try to pronounce the words correctly)

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to our dear Russian friends! Russians celebrate Christmas on Jan 7th, following the Russian Orthodox Church's leadership in it's celebration. As many of you know, we here in the West have followed the Catholic celebration on Dec. 25th, thus the difference.

Since going to Russia, we've decided to leave our decorations up until after Jan. 7th, to honor our dear friends in Russia! You are often in our thoughts! May God bless you and keep you!

May the baby who was born in a lowly manger, be Lord of our lives! He came to this earth to die for our sins. All we have to do is repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour!

Our dry sink! Yes, this is how it's being done in our house! Fetch water from the basement and then fill the container to wash the dishes. Life truly is exciting!

We found this Christmas tree at a Thrift Store, marked 75% off! I wonder why it was so cheap! This truly is a Charlie Brown Christmas!

Seriously, I remember so well at how God provided both in Russia and Romania just simple things like a Christmas tree. Sure they were about 4 1/2 foot tall trees but it was such a blessing to see how God provided for our kids hearts. Sure some of these things are cultural things, but it sure is nice to be able to brag on Jesus and how He came through again. God and His people are the greatest, I have no stones to throw!

Thanks again for all of your prayers! God is good, all of the time!

We enjoyed a very nice Thanksgiving with friends!

May God bless each and every one of you!

My sister was recently on a business trip to IN, so we were honored to get to see her, as well as my Uncle and Aunt. We had a wonderful time at a nearby restaurant. My aunt is the one taking the picture, so she wasn't quite quick enough to push the button and run and sit down at the same time.

A young pilgrim girl and the uninvited field mouse. There just had to be a field mouse at the first Thanksgiving!

BTW: If you'd like to be reminded of a list of things I'm thankful for, just for a start, go back to November of 2007 and check out my blog posts and you'll get an idea.

We are blessed more than we deserve!

Thanksgiving Home School Party!

Here's our home schoolers from our church! They recently had a wonderful Thanksgiving get together!

God performed a miracle for one of the boys. He had major back surgery 6 days before the party and it didn't look like he would be able to come. Our great God intervened and the young lad was able to enjoy the time amidst the pain and weariness!

We have a lot to be Thankful for, just go ahead and start listing all of the blessings!

Another one of God's blessings! Our girls are blessed to have a wonderful teacher by the name of Martha Miller. Natasha had the privilege to perform in a special piano concert just recently and everyone did a fine job. Thank you Mrs. Miller for the wonderful job you do! May God bless you as you labor for Him!

Here you go Moma! This picture is just for you!

My Mother-in-law wanted us to put a picture up of the Living Room Curtain that they helped get up. So here it is!

So now we are "camping out" in our new home. There is still lots of work that needs to be done but God is helping us. We just try to keep the finished project in mind.

Thanks Bro. Eisenhart for reminding us that God does this type of work on us. He sees the finished project in us and takes a broken, cracked, and messed up life and makes it something beautiful.

We had grilled chicken for dinner today. I cooked it on the "George Foreman" grill that was given to us. Since we don't have a stove operating yet and any tables we have are filled, I cooked it while sitting on the floor. Don't you just love life.

Trust me, I'm not discouraged or asking for sympathy! Life truly is exciting and we are move blessed than we ever deserve. Don't forget, "there is hope for the future, because God's already there."

We would appreciate your continued prayers the physical needs and the leadership of God. As if working full-time and remodeling a house wasn't enough, I decided to enroll in a class at a University. God has helped in the class and I'm very thankful but we need God's divine leadership in this particular area as far as the future goes.

On a Sunday afternoon, while we were still "camping out" at our place of lodging it got very windy. The air was warm and getting pretty bad windy. I hadn't heard that they were calling for 30 MPH winds, but this reminded me of Hurricane time in FL. The air was very warm and getting worse all the time. I knew the winds had to be pretty strong. My guess was 50-60! Later I found out that the wind gusts were up to 86 MPH. Not quite like FL but bad enough. Large trees were falling on the camp ground we were staying at and lots of power was gone. Well, come to find out, a tree also fell on our house and caused some damage.

I'm reminded of a gospel song that has meant a lot to me over the last couple of years! "God sees the storm from the other side. He knows the lessons learned and just beyond the clouds He sees clear skies." He speaks peace to the raging storm, when peace could not be found. He already sees the rainbow, when we see only clouds." (sung by the Collingsworths)

Well, in August we moved out of the house we were renting, but only for a couple weeks because God had opened up a real cheap house for us to buy. it needed and still needs lots of work but it was cheap! I'm all for that! Well, as you know, a couple of weeks turned into months because of bank issues, etc. etc. etc. Financially, it seemed a whole lot wiser use of God's money to put it into a house than someone else's pocket. In fact, the money used for a couple years of rent, could buy this whole house! Praise the Lord!

Just a side note: This "housing crisis" was not something that came out of nowhere. The severity of it could have been avoided! It's a man-made problem! Trust me, I've been out there looking at houses, talking with Realtors, bankers, etc. Greed and covetousness played a large part!

Like I said, "it needs lots of work, but it's got potential." That's the only kind of house we can afford, "one that has potential." Even our kids know that word now because we've used it so much!

Here's the kitchen cabinets after they were removed!

While on part 1 of our "camping" trip, we got some the best sweet corn! Everyone got involved by either shucking, par-boiling, or cutting and freezing it.

Just think, the poor young man who left his fathers home, lived it up for a while ate the corn husks that the pigs left behind. His money was gone, his friends were gone, and all he had was his smelly grunting "friends".

However, whenever we come to the end of ourselves, if we'll confess our need of a Saviour and repent of our sins, God will always "welcome us back", just like the Prodigal Sons' father did.

We've had a lot of things happen over the last 4 months or so but to update you, basically we've been camping out. We are so thankful for all of our friends who have been so gracious to allow us to store things, give us shelter, food, and be of such a help to us. God's family is truly the best!

We've also had a historic election just recently with much animosity on both sides! After getting up early on Election Day, voting and heading to work, God flooded my heart with such peace and it came with the song, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name." From that time on, God has reminded me what our job is. Our job is to share Christs' love to the world, not stick our heads in the sand! Scripture says, "...the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." That means we are to be on the offensive for the Kingdom of God, not the DEFENSIVE. Wake up church, and that means you too Daryl! It's our job to love, witness, share Christ, get out of our cozy homes and get into the worlds' world.

These are exciting times and at the times of crisis in our world, it's in those times that Christ shines brightest.

Are you trusting in our political system or in Jesus Christ?

Happy Birthday!

Yes we are still alive and kicking! I'll update a few things later but for now we congratulate our daughter on her 13th Birthday! We enjoyed celebrating it at some friends house!

Happy 101st Birthday to Grandma Bryan! Ruth Bryan turned 101 today, went to church with us, was her spry old self at dinner and even blew out all of her candles on her cake! After blowing out the candles one replied that "she was a professional." She's had lots of practice!

We are blessed and honored to have a dear saint who is a prayer warrior and very generous giver to Missions.

Just think of all that has happened in our world, the inventions, the technology, the people who've come and gone, since 1907 when she was born. Are we a better nation now than we were back then? Are we more Godly or more wicked? Can it still be said today that, "America is great because it is good?" Are we more hooked on being "Great" than being "good"?

I couldn't resist this picture because the shirt is cute. Picture taken at a recent Church dinner!

Happy 18th Anniversary, Laura! Your are the greatest and I am so happy God brought us together. Laura and I enjoyed a wonderful Anniversary weekend at Serenity Log Cabins. www.serenitylogcabins.com It was absolutely WONDERFUL!!!!!!! Just what we needed! If you want time away with just your wife, snuggled back in some peaceful woods, then this is the place. We enjoyed seeing the beautiful butterflies, hearing and seeing the birds, saw one doe about 30 yards from the cabin, and the beautiful cabin itself.

The cabins are owned by some friends of ours, Dave and Regina Eckert, who attend the Christian Nation Church and they have done an excellent job. You won't be disappointed! We want to especially thank Jackie Foley who gave us this special gift for Laura and I to relax and get away. Thanks Jackie, it was worth every dollar you spent and we came away not only just having a relaxing time, but more refreshed and rejuvenated.

Please visit their web sight for more information!

The Cabin was decorated so nicely with red rose petals on the bed and a special "welcome tray". The theme of this cabin was Bears!

Someone please let us out! These 4 prisoners seem way too happy to be in jail!

What are these two sisters up to? I don't know but I'm scared to ask! We've been enjoying the Dickinsons as they've been staying with us. It's fun to hang around with other "strange missionaries" just like us.


Happy Birthday Laura! You're the greatest!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY LAURA

Happy Mothers Day to Laura! She's a wonderful woman, great wife, cook, homemaker, mother and friend. I'm glad God has allowed her to be my wife. I'm truly blessed. If you want to know what a Proverbs 31 woman is, then just get to know my wife. We've joked about the part about "buying and selling" property, which isn't Laura's strength, but if you apply all of that to one who is frugal, makes good financial decisions, etc. then she passes the test. God has blessed our family with a Great Woman! Happy Mothers Day, Laura.

Mothers Day has come again, same as any other
And yet on this special day, we must thank our mother
Thank her for the work she's done, even when her praise is none
Thank her for her love and care, for it is only fair

She works all day and night
She works with all her might
To make sure her "cubs" are fed
And then tucked into bed.

Thank you for the work you do,
Mommy, I love you.

NMH

What are we doing having a child old enough to go to VIP Day? I don't know but I don't like the fact that our kids are growing up way too fast.

Natasha expressed interest in going to VIP day at GBS&C. So, since we don't live too far and have no idea how God will lead us in the future, we decided to jump at the chance, even though she has plenty of time before heading off to College.

She's expressed interest in Music, Missions, and does a good job in teaching as well so I'm not sure just how God is going to lead her but I'm thankful for her openness to God's will! She said she really had a good time and I enjoyed taking her.

It's been a busy week, but a good one! We spent some time at the Inter-Church Holiness Convention. The kids had a great time and we did as well. Wonderful preaching and singing and God's presence was there! It's nice to get to see some friends and fellowship but the most important thing is that God comes and draws us closer to Him.

Happy Birthday Natasha!


We celebrated at Skyline Chili with Philip, Heather and family and then later enjoyed eating the birthday cake. What a joy it is to have Natasha as part of our family. Happy Birthday our dear Natasha!

Two peas in a pod! The cousins are loving the time they've had to spend together!

Welcome Home!!!! Philip, Heather, and family arrived home from Columbia, South America and we thank God for the safety.

It's good to see you all again and we are enjoying the time together.


There's nothing like coming back "home" after a couple of years in another country. However, you come with mixed emotions because you love the people you just left and love the people you are going to see. You also realize that, in once sense, your "home country" is not like it was when you left. God enlarges our coasts and home really ain't home. Confused yet! One man has said it something like this. A Missionary is most comfortable in an airport, for he is always going to see someone he loves.