U.S.A News Jan. 15th thru Feb. 1st
How sweet it is to be a part of the work that God is doing in this community and to see what He is doing through other people for His glory, He has called many but few are chosen.
We have been out and preparing people for what gifts and call God has put on their life and it has been amazing. We did some street ministry on January 22nd and got a chance to encourage some of the people to be strong in Christ and not to doubt what his plan is.
On the 26th we meet with Martha Castillo our intercessory prayer leader. God has instilled gifts and a call on her life for prayer for all people and she is running full force to use this gift for Gods glory and people. We are so excited to see how God uses her to touch people’s lives. Please check out where you can submit a prayer request on our website under Intercessory Prayer. This gives Martha an opportunity to fulfill the gift God gave her and have other people she will involve with their gifts for prayer blanket every request. We also met with her about getting ready for the migrant camp out reaches and family apartment outreaches, if you would like to be a part of this work you are more than welcome and can contact any one of the Harvest team members.
Another gift and call that God has given to all of us is to be in constant worship with Him. On January 27th we had a Celebration with the family of Christ at Lyman Baptist Church. We all got to eat and fellowship together then moved into the music part of the celebration. We had about 9 different church families come together in worship and praise and 7 church families playing on stage. It was a powerful night with movie clips that moved the hearts of many, testimonies, and an insane alter call and short video of the people we see in the ministry.
We also said “see ya” to David grove on January 29th and sent him back to Africa, we will see him again in the spring. Wayne Watne led some guys down to Chehalis Valley on the 29th. They went to Set Free Ministries to fellowship with the men and they were blessed to bring a lot of clothes with them too. We have also been partnering with CEF in apt. outreaches for the children and would love your help if you are interested in doing games, puppets, food or just being there and helping show the love of Jesus to his little ones.
News January 1-15th
Hi there from snowy Sedro Woolley! Keeping you updated on January we had the second team come safely home from San Luis Mexico on the 2nd. They had and amazing time and everyone’s hearts were moved by the Holy Spirit. On the 5thour brother David went to his old home church called The Bridge to speak to them about what God is doing in his life and his heart for Africa. Then George, Dale and David took off for a little visit to our friends in Alert Bay. The trip was a success and the men had a great time, please check out the blog for this trip and see their hearts for this place. The 8thwe headed out to the Hamilton church to watch facing the Giants with Lee Johnson who is doing movie nights on Tuesday at 6pm, everyone is welcome!
The 12thwe went to Martha and Julio’s to talk with Martha about future apartment and migrant camps outreaches. After our meeting there we went to the CEF prayer meeting. Jim Hill spoke to us about the people his ministry reaches out to all over the world. He is working with people to set up safe houses in Canada for Jews who will be pushed out of their homes. Then we got to pray for all the requests that were presented there and encourage everyone.
The 14thwe had Mike and Vivian over to the harvest home for some fellowship and talk about their hearts for Africa. We also went out to John and Shawna’s home to talk about what God is putting on their hearts for Africa too. The 15thDavid went to preach at Lyman Baptist and George preached at Sedro Woolley Community Fellowship Church. Then we finished the day at Dales shop for a Mexico reunion with people from the two teams that went to Mexico in December and some others who have been there before. We are excited to see what God has in store for the teams that will be going to Mexico in this New Year!
U.S.A. News December 15-31
Happy new year! We give God the glory and honor as we anticipate what He has in store for His church for 2012. On December 16th Harvest Vision joined the Sedro Woolley community gospel sing, and enjoyed everything from hymns, to rock, to rap, using a wide variety of instruments ranging from an organ piano to a 5 gallon bucket stringed instrument. It was a joyous time of celebrating Jesus in new and creative songs. Then on December 18th Harvest attended the kickoff of Hamilton Community church movie night which will happen again January 8, 2012. When the first Mexico team returned to the states, they were back in time to enjoy company with family on Christmas with a burning on their hearts to point the holiday to Jesus as opposed to what it has become; the typical Christmas in America that is injected full of ideas of consumerism backed up by the ideals of materialism on top of many of it’s roots that actually come from paganism (i.e. the Christmas tree). That being said, Harvest Vision did join 2 different Spanish services before the close of the year: The first one was with ‘Manantiel de Agua Viva’ with Pastor Serrano, and the second was at the Prayer Vigil New Years service with ‘Ovejas de JesuCristo’ and Armando Perez.
Without a doubt our spirits are in anticipation of God moving in spectacular ways in this new year. The scriptures speak of, “all creation groaning in eager anticipation for the revealing of the sons of God.” Both male and female, we are the children of God, but until that moment, the twinkling of an eye, when Jesus will return, we won’t know our glory in its fullest measure, and that is what we long for. That is what we are all about; how can we attempt and show off God and the glory of His church, the bride that Jesus is coming back for.
U.S.A News December 1-15-2011
This year is almost coming to a close but we are never stopping because Jesus said the fields are ripe for the harvest and he also told us to be ready now. December 5thwe went to the Sedro Woolley Parade where our worship trailer was used for the judges to sit in while they chose the winners of things in the parade. That night we went to Lyman Baptist Church for a fundraiser for Joe Miller, it was a great success and awesome time of fellowship and breaking bread. The 7thwas our first night at the new house out on Pierce Ln. in Sedro we are still finishing the final touches on the old house to help get it sold and getting all the nick knacks in the right order here at the new house. We had a chance to have our first fashion show fundraiser for the ministry and invite people to join us in supporting the people God has put in our lives. We had a nice meal some African fashion and time for fellowship. The following day on the 11thwe had the grand opening of our harvest center on Minkler rd. where all the hand crafted art works are at. All of these events were so amazing and we would love for you to check them out in our blog on the website if you want more info on how any of them went. We have also started watching the fear of the Lord tapes and have been getting a great teaching from it we are so excited to share them with you. Tonight the 15ththe first team leaves to Mexico after the shop they will be coming home on the morning of the 24thbut before they go we are going to watch our friends Rob and Leanne get married!
The second team is leaving to Mexico on the 22ndand will be coming home on the 1stor 2nd. Then in January George, Dale and David Grove will be leaving to Alert Bay from the 6thto the 8th. We will also be saying see ya later to David on the 30thof January and tentatively be seeing him again in June.
News through December 1st
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.(Ephesians 2:10) God has prepared many things this past two weeks and we have many activities coming up to be excited about the Lord moving in! On November 15thwe welcomed home Linda from a 3 ½ week visit in Africa, she also brought a long time missed brother with her, David. David will be staying with us until the end of January; God has prepared many things for him to do while he is here. One thing he is going to do is present to different churches locally what it looks like to be in Africa for over a year, the needs, people, culture and what Jesus has done and is continuing to do through the workers he has prepared. He spoke already twice on the 27that CTK in Burlington, and is excited to spread the news of the people who can’t speak for themselves to the other parts of the body of Christ.
The 19ththe Lord sent Dina and Linda Gahan down toward Everett to put on a little soap stone party. They boxed up a lot of stuff and had the party at the house of Lisa, a close friend of Dina’s. The fellowship was good and they got to see the need and hearts we have for the people around the world that we try to support in Gods works. Dina’s mom has also been blessing the ministry by continuing to spread the news of the soap stone for sale and has been communicating the need for more soap stone and how much has been sold so far. The 21stwe attended a prayer vigil help by the Hispanic churches at CTK in mount Vernon. It was from 7pm- 2am and it was powerful. The dancing, singing, prayer and fellowship was bathed with the presence of Jesus and it was more refreshing that we could describe, we are so blessed and happy to be a part of what they are letting the Lord do through all of them. The 23rdwas amazing we had everyone over to the harvest house who is thinking about going to Mexico , the house was full and it was a blessing to see the hearts God has called to help serve, we went over some guidelines, things we want to do, and what the teams will look like. Please be praying that the Lords will be done in these people and that we would get out of the way and let the Spirit lead as he pleases.
On the 24thGeorge, Linda, Dina and Amber went to the new house to bless it. Before there was a crack house that was there and was burnt down and for the longest time no one would build there because they thought it wouldn’t be safe. We gave the property and the house to God and it belongs to him. We are so excited to see how Jesus’ love is spread throughout that area. Amber and Dina have also been learning to play the guitar from David Serrano the worship leader Manantial de Agua Viva, they have played at the shop and also been going to Gabe and Angie Fields house for their house church on Tuesday to play as well. The 30thwe went to Reverie BBQ to fellowship with the people there and break bread with a delicious meal, we thank all the people who come every month just to help and be with the people, it means more than we will probably ever see, until the Lord comes again to show us what he had prepared for us in advance!
Some things coming; We are preparing the worship trailer for the Christmas Parade in Sedro Woolley on the 3rdfor the judges to sit in, we are excited to bless the city with this and gladly let them use it. Stacy and Corbin LaCount are having a bake sale at Burlington Haggen’s on the 8thof December at 5pm to raise funds for the team going to Mexico in December please check it out or support if you can! Also we are having the fashion show fundraiser on the 10 of December at Clear Lake Covenant Church to support the teams going to Mexico in December, and the next day the 11thwill be our grand opening of the Harvest Center at 25709 Minkler rd. in Sedro Woolley!
News Through November 15th
Hey guys we want to catch you up on the latest! October flew by and so many people were touched by the Holy Spirit, we are so excited to see what God has in store for November. At the tail end of October we had a couple things happen that didn’t get into our October news. On the 24thwe sent Linda on her way to Africa to be with and encourage the women who are standing by their husbands that pour their lives out every day for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the 29thof October we had our second prayer vigil at Valley Baptist Church in Sedro Woolley from 7-1am. The prayer, music, teaching, and worship was so powerful that night, we were so excited to be there and see and feel the Holy Spirit moving through people like a calm and strong breeze. In the middle of the event we broke bread together and continued to fellowship, if you would like to read more about either of these events please see our blogs on the website.
November started off with small things but great love as we would like to say. On the 3rdwe and another generous heart had an opportunity to help a family of 6 stay in a motel for week because they had just lost their house and had nowhere else to go. That morning we got to be with Joe miller and his family as they are continuing to encourage him while he battles cancer. We also got to be with a friend of ours who is struggling financially and wasn’t able to get her laundry done, so we took on the opportunity to help her and her son get some clean clothes and some groceries and just spend some time with her and let them know we love them. Please keep all of these people and families in your prayers! On the 10thwe started off with a CEF meeting in Mount Vernon to pray for the children and the people involved with the children’s ministry, we also got to hear of a children’s ministry that is used over the phone please check out our blog for this day. Later we headed to the shop where we saw some new faces’, had some great fellowship and got to hand off some clothes from Hamilton Food Bank into the hands of Wayne Watne to Deliver to Set Free Ministries. We ended the night and started the next day at Troy and Riana’s home. They were married at midnight on 11/11/11 we are so excited!
George and Dale headed up to Alert Bay from the 11ththrough the 14thto be with the people up there that are continuing to be discouraged by the spirit of suicide. They visited with long time friends and got to fellowship with Beatrice. Wayne made it safe with the clothes from Hamilton Food Bank to Elma Washington where he dropped the clothes off at Set Free Ministries, please see the blog posted about this ministry it is amazing and they are in need of many things so check it out!
U.S News for October
The month of October flew by way to fast but it was amazing, the body of Christ started of the month at the schools in Skagit County praying for the students, teachers and staff. Harvest Vision was at Cascade Middle school. Then the 8th through the 16th a team was in Mexico helping encourage and recharge the batteries of the coordinators and people down there, a lot was accomplished and progress is continuing. The 14th through 17th another team went to Alert Bay including Adam and Elizabeth Waldron. Their hearts are for worship and the kids so they were happy to be there and try to spread the love of Christ to these lost and broken kids, there is a lot of work that needs to be done there and a weekend trip just isn’t long enough, we hope to have longer trips and maybe have a few people stay for an extended amount of time. On the 23rd we also sent Linda to Africa to be with and encourage the women who pouring out their lives day after day for the sake of the harvest. We had an amazing event on the 24th at Sedro Woolley Community Fellowship called rEVOLution. This event drew the youth and the young at heart; it was amazing to see the broken people shout to the Lord. Some pretty powerful testimonies were shared that night and the youth was prayed over as they walk into the battlefield day after day in a place they call “school”. On the website in our blog we go more in detail about the testimonies and the event its self so please check it out.
U.S news Sept 15-30
Hey everyone it’s time for an update! We have been abundantly blessed this beautiful fall season to be a part of a lot of activities. We went out to the #2 migrant camp on the 14th and fellowshipped with the remaining people living there to finish out the harvest season. We worshiped, listened to a word and played games with the children. To hear more about this amazing event, please see our blog on the website. We finished up our last garage sale at the Waldron’s house and it was a great time. Amber and Linda took a trip over to Spokane to see Amber’s brother in prison and Linda got to visit with her sister in the area. On September 23rd George, Dale, and Bill Boston took a trip over to Alert Bay Canada. During their time there they did a pancake breakfast for anyone who wanted to come, two prayer meetings, and a Sunday service at the Glad Tiding church building. They were the first services done at that building this year. We are preparing another team to go from October 14-17 to continue supporting fellowship at the Glad Tidings building. If you are interested in going to Alert Bay please call Linda at 360-421-8812. On the 28th we had an event called “Pray at the Pole”, we went to Cascade Middle School to pray over the school students, teachers and staff. Some of the students, and friends joined in on the prayer time praise God and some others stood along the side to listened and watched what was going on. On Tuesday September 27th, our friends Amber and Dina moved into the home of George and Linda Henson for a few weeks until the new Harvest Home on Pierce lane is ready for them all to move into. Harvest Vision is partnering with Sedro Woolley Community Fellowship in downtown to have a youth outreach on October 22nd. The gathering is targeting Christian students and their families to network them together. The event is the first of a “rEVOLution” that is being held in the community. We have an upcoming Mexico trip that leaves on Friday, October 7th and returns on Sunday October 16th and will be a great encouragement for our co-laborers south of the border. Linda will be leaving on October 23rd for Mexico and we have been ordering some of the items she will be taking: a projector and a new sound system for Burundi, a laptop for the ministry, replacement microphones and a keyboard for the Harvest Vision Kibuli fellowship in Kampala, Uganda.
August 5 - Sept 15
Harvest Vision Ministries and Child’s Evangelism Fellowship joined together to share booths at the Skagit County Fair in Mt. Vernon, WA in August. Thanks to the many local Christian brothers and sisters that came throughout each of the four days to fellowship and witness to the many people that attended the fair. Many children had their faces-painted and made bracelets while hearing the salvation message and many of them received the free gift of accepting Jesus in their hearts. At the same time, the CEF leaders were giving the parents information on the ministry and how they can participate through Good News clubs in the local schools and in their neighborhood. We also had many of the art works items on display and information on other ministry opportunities that are available and forth-coming in our community. We were thankful to have evangelist Shirley Weck participate and we witnessed a number of other people accept Jesus, including a 40 year old woman that accepted Jesus on the evening of the last day of the fair. As part of her prayer, she asked the Lord that her “and her girls would be in heaven.” About an hour later, she came through with her 17, 15, 13 and two younger daughters, and the older three all accepted Jesus. The answered prayers of a mother that had her priorities changed in a heartbeat! We were also blessed to have many friends from the Spanish-speaking community come to fellowship and witness.
Julio and Martha Castillo helped organize outreaches at Sakuma Bros and Erickson migrant camps. At both outreaches the children were shown the love of Jesus as people played games with them while the worship trailer was being set up. Musicians from local Spanish-speaking church families provided the worship and then a soul saving, life giving, life changing message was shared by Pastor Ivan Montenegro. At Sakuma Bros, twenty people came forward to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Twenty souls were snatched off the road to hell. Twenty lives have been made new by the power of the name of Jesus. Twenty hearts are forever changed, transformed. Twenty hearts are at peace with their God.
We enjoyed a powerful time of worship and praise on Friday August 19th at Roca Fuerte Church in Mount Vernon. Many thanks to the Roca Fuerte church family for partnering with us for this service. The worship team consisted of a combination of people from different churches, some Spanish speaking. We were blessed by all the children that attended the service, there seemed to be more children than adults. The evening began with some praise and worship, dancing, tambourines, and flags followed by a word given by George Henson. The night came to a close with a powerful alter call and some worship music. Many tears were flowing and hearts being touched by our precious Holy Spirit.
Lyman Baptist Church took on the responsibility of sponsoring “Praise in the Pasture” in August which included Christian musicians from the Skagit Valley and beyond. The diversity of music included gospel, contemporary, rock and rap with musicians from all age groups. George Henson and Norm Swihart shared messages of hope and encouragement during the day. Harvest Vision Ministries had a display showing some of the arts and crafts from Africa and provided information on the ministry activities locally, in Canada, Mexico and Central Africa. A prayer booth was provided for those that might need counsel and prayer and we were blessed when one of the men being ministered to accepted Jesus. One of the attendees was a beautician and did extensions for the women that wanted that little “extra” for their hairstyle. All the proceeds, along with all the money donated for the excellent Mexican food that was prepared by the members of Lyman Baptist Church, was given to support Harvest Vision Ministries. We were also blessed to have volunteers from Skagit Habitat for Humanity that shared about the work they are doing provide safe housing for so many in our community. One of the really fun events was the “dunk tank” which allowed everyone young and old to enjoy dunking a list of volunteers which included Jim Cook, Norm Swihart, Ryan Riley, George Henson and many other friends that braved the softball throwing crew. Volleyball entertained the more energetic bunch while the children were having fun with the bouncy house, balloons, face-painting, hot-wheels racing and bean bag toss. It was a beautiful and wonderful expression of the new wineskin that Jesus talked about as everyone exercised their individual gifts and no one person or gift was more honored than any other. “How pleasing it when brothers live together in unity.” Psalm 133:1
Over the last year, brothers and sisters from Harvest Vision Ministries in Sedro Woolley, Washington have gone to Alert Bay to fellowship and restore some of the relationships with the First Nations people that had been developed from years ago. A team of people went in March of this year and spent a day or two visiting with some of the people, and they stayed in the House of Prayer church building. During their time in Alert Bay they discovered that the Glad Tidings church wasn’t able to have their services during the winter because the furnace was broken. That has led to three more trips and the furnace is now working. Another team is visiting on Sept 23-25, to minister and encourage the fellowship as they await someone to be called to shepherd the Glad Tidings church family.
We have had some awesome “garage sale” ministry these last few weeks. Its says in John that if he were to write down all the amazing things Jesus did there would not be enough books in the world to fill. The Lord showed one time after another how much He truly loves His people. Many people came in and out and financially it was a successful fundraiser, but beyond the money aspect God was squeezing the juice from us to bring Him glory and to show the love He has for His people. George was able to pray with many people including a young boy of 11 years old who has never known Christ and was struggling with the pain of the lack of love in his family, and one who couldn’t find anything he wanted at the sale but he had heard how much God loved him and wanted to give what he could and all he had and that was 2 dollars praise God! We heard stories of broken families and lives and the willing hearts to serve even in the midst of their pain. We also saw many generous hearts that God had used to bless the ministry with, but over all we witnessed the movement of Christ in such a unique way and who would have thought it would have been at garage sale! It is awesome how God brings His people into others sphere of influence so that He may be glorified. As the weekend drew on we came to a realization that as people are giving us their old physical junk, God is also taking away their spiritual junk. It’s an awesome concept to know that we serve a God who is not scared of how old, new, wrong, broken, wobbly, cracked, or how stained our junk is, He is the mighty Creator and He can fix, mend, clean, re- make and breathe life into anything, we just have to give Him our junk and He will gladly take it.
July 10 – August 10, 2011 Dina in Africa
Dina safely returned from Africa on August 11th. She took a replacement set of sound equipment for Burundi as well as a bunch of medical supplies for the hospital in DRCongo including a centrifuge donated by Dr. Creelman. During her time there she visited Pastor Jonathan Lubega in the Mukono district of Kampala. She spent a few days with his family. He orphans over 30 children plus runs a school with only the support of God himself. You can read more about her visit with him here: http://www.harvestvisionministries.org/releases/release/7628437/23476.htm. She also joined a team of people on a mission to the mountains of Eastern Uganda in the village of Sironko. There was a four day mission preaching the gospel through the sound equipment brought from the U.S. During the day they had seminar time in the local harvest vision church plant (a tent on someone’s property) followed by lunch with a local family and door to door evangelical ministry. In the evenings the crusade began with some praise and then some preaching by different people on the team followed by the Jesus film. Dina left the team one day early with the Eastern Uganda coordinator Billy to spend time with his wife and family. To read more about her time in Eastern Uganda click on the following link: http://www.harvestvisionministries.org/releases/release/7628437/23543.htm. After returning from Eastern Uganda she spent a couple weeks in Kampala. She joined David, Jennifer, and some members of the local Harvest Vision Kibuli Fellowship church in door to door evangelism through the slums for a few days where some were born again and some believers were encouraged. She visited the Royal Hope Academy which is directed by Rebecca Sorenson, a missionary from the SE United States. During her time in Kampala she picked out beads to purchase and bring back for sale at the Harvest Center in Skagit Valley and visited the local Friday market to find more crafts and ideas for selling at the Center. She found a new kind of purse that seems easy to make. The house girl at Martin’s home in Kampala has been taking sewing lessons so when presented the purses she said she will most definitely be able to make them, so we will soon be selling these new handbags. For now we have brought four back to the U.S. for display. The house girl, Evelyn, had to suddenly rush to Kenya to visit her mother who was in the hospital with malaria so for a couple days Dina spent some time in the kitchen washing dishes, cooking on the charcoal stove, cleaning and taking care of the children while their mother was working and Martin was visiting the Congo, losing power almost every day. Toward the end of her trip she went to the Kitgum district of Northern Uganda with David and Nelson. They spent about 4 days there in a conference put on by pastor Matthew. David and Nelson preached in the conference while Dina was in charge of the children’s ministry during the conference. After returning to Kampala she spent her last 2 days spending time with family and doing some last minute computer work.
News through August 6th
Hey everyone these past couple weeks have been such a blessing to be a part of thank you to all who have willing hearts to serve in the Lords work! We have been able to make a new connection with Oasis Teen Shelter, on June 20thGeorge and Kylee went and met with the case manager Jessica Sandhu to hear and see her heart for the young girls in our community. This is a place for girls to go where they can feel safe and have a meal in their tummies, please see the blog we have for more information about the shelter.
We have been spreading the love of Jesus all around the community, at apartments and the latest at the migrant camps. On the 20thwe went to camp #2 and the 27thwe went to camps 1&3, each time we laugh and play games with the kids hear a word from who’s ever heart God is calling to share and then we finish with a snack and sometimes a raffle. Also we went to Logan Park apartments on the 3rdof August, the last couple out reaches that we have done we have had a special guest join us, his name is Ivan Montenegro and he is from Canada, please see the blogs for more information on how our visits went.
July 28thGeorge and Dale headed up to Alert Bay to spend time with some friends and to help fix the churches oil furnace they plan another trip in August if you would like to read more please see our blog!
Some of the boys headed up to Marblemount Community Church for the Men of the Mountain Rendevous. This is a time when men from different denominations and ages get together to break bread, worship, have a word and pray. Check out our blog to read more!
Some events coming up are; the 10thwe will be at the #2 Migrant camp again! The 10ththrough the 13this the Skagit County fair; we welcome Dina’s arrival from Africa on the 11th, and the 19thwe are having a family celebration at Roca Furete. All our events are on our calendar feel free to check out these events and more. God bless!
News from July 9th-20th
Blessed are we to come with praise reports of how great our God is to us! On July 9thwe were at the Lyman car show, we were invited to set our tent up next to the Lyman Baptist family church whom provided some yummy snow cones. There was tons of people who showed up to see all the awesome cars and we got to tell some of them about what the ministry and the people involved who sacrifice so much over in Africa and down in Mexico. We gave some attention to the kids with face painting, animal balloons and salvation bracelets.
On July 10thwe said ‘see ya later’ to Dina who will be in Africa until August 10th, please bathe her in prayer as she is away for a short while. July 13th we had our first Migrant camp outreach at the 1stand 3rdcamp site; it was outstanding to say the least! We got there just in time to set up and start which we learned very quickly that we want to be there early to set up and have plenty of time to play with the kids. None the less we played games painted faces and make fun balloons; we had worship and were lead by some crazy Jesus loving kids! They ranged from oldest 17 to youngest 10; they were fromManantial de Agua Viva Church, as well as Pastor Gregorio Serrano who spoke a word from Genesisabout hiding from the Lord.The Night ended with watermelon for all the kids including the families.
July 15thwe had the Sedro Woolley Community Fellowship Openingwhere we gave thanks toPastor Ryan and Elisabeth Riley, who will be pastoring in Sedro Woolley in a new Church out of The Fountain Church in Bellingham. The evening included great fellowship, a wonderful meal, heart-felt thanks from the leaders and the church family and concluded with a wonderful serenade by the Bellingham Blend, a group of 16 men that sing and harmonize together.
July 16thwe had a garage sale for Harvest Vision at Dale’s shop which was nice since it sprinkled throughout the day, we raised around 300 dollars. All the funds will support the ministry in spreading Jesus’ love in Skagit County, Canada, Mexico and Africa. Also on July 16thHarvest Vision had a bilingual family celebration at Crossroads Community Church in Burlington. We were blessed to have many come and worship the Lord, we had refreshments music and a word from Brother George.
July 20thwas our second Migrant Camp at the #2 site. We were better prepared this time with plenty of time and people to love on those kids, there are so many children praise God for allowing us to love on them. We were joined by a youth group from The Adventure Church in Duvall Washington, that group of young people had so much energy they fit right in with all the kids we had at our reach. We had activities such as; face painting, beading, balloons, games with prize winning and soccer. We got to dance around with them and worship the Lord and then hear the “Good News” from Martha Castillo, then we cut up some watermelon and feasted till satisfied. Thank you to everyone who puts their time, love and energy into our amazing Lords work he always fulfills his servants with enough grace to last a life time!
Some things coming up; on July 26ththrough the 28thsome of us will be going on a trip to Alert Bay. July 27thwe are having another outreach at Sakuma Brothers Migrant camp 1&3 at 6pm. August 10-13this the Skagit County Fair. If you would like to see more of the events we will be attending please take a look at our calendar on the website God bless!
News for Alex and Julie’s trip from June 26ththrough July 8th
Alex and Julie Larios and their boys came up with the June team from Mexico; they stayed with George and Linda at their home. They arrived on Sunday the 26th, Monday George and Alex had men’s group at Dales shop, the rest of the family stayed home for rest and catching up to getting ready for the days ahead. The 28thof June Tuesday, Adam and Elizabeth took the family to Deception Pass for some beach time and then later had dinner at their house.
On Wednesday the 29thGeorge and Alex attended the Hamilton men’s breakfast. That night we all went to Ovejas de Jesu Cristo, where Alex, Julie and their boys lead worship for the service. Alex also gave the word for everyone speaking into the places in our lives we find ourselves stuck. There was prayer time after the word and many people came forward to receive what God wanted to lay on their hearts.
Thursday on the 30ththe family spent the day with Chris, Heather Sanderson and their family. That night we went to Dales shop for some fellowship, food and music. Some of us shared testimonies and what God was putting on our hearts and we got to hear some of Alex’s testimony. It is amazing to see what the hand of God has done and is continuing to do in their family. Then on Friday the 1stof July Alex, Julie and the boys went to Lyman Baptist Church for worship practice to get ready for the service on Sunday.
Saturday the 2ndwe set up the vendor booth at the carnival with some of the beads and soap stone from Africa and some t-shirts that the girls made for the ministry. The boys went on the rides and then we went out to Lyman for a movie night.
Sunday the 3rdwas an event filled day. We started off the morning with church and Lyman where the family helped with worship, and then heard a word from Juanita who had a ministry in Taiwan that helps needy mothers out and goes to schools to talk about purity. We then headed out to Julio and Martha Castillo’s property where a lot of their family was camping for the weekend. The boys played soccer while some watched and others got to sit and fellowship by the fire. Later that night we all went to Garrick’s grandmother’s house in Big Lake to have some dinner and watch the fireworks.
On the fourth of July Harvest Vision Ministries had a chance to be in the Sedro Woolley parade we had the worship trailer towed behind Dale’s truck, while the Larios family and others worshiped inside the trailer. We had many of us walking along side the trailer handing out flyers. Then the Larios’ went with Adam and Elizabeth to Adams mother’s house for a BBQ. We ended the night with the firework show down at Riverside Park.
Wednesday evening, the 6th, we participated in an outreach with the trailer at Cascade West Apartments with Martha Castillo. There weren’t very many people who attended, but we all felt that the people were listening from their apartments. Some of the children joined us and 4 of them accepted the Lord.
News through June 15th
“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him.”(1 Timothy 1:12) Praise is to the Father whose love is so good that he showers us with the fruit of the spirit at the very moment that we need it! Its time for a recap of this amazing past few weeks! George, Linda, and Kylee were in Mexico and updated us on the 3rd letting us know that the kids room connected to the sewing ministry is coming along nicely with the help and labor of Leonard as well. All of them including Katie and all the little girls went to Goshen Ministries in Arizona on the 7th of June to Visit with Pastor Bigimba and the refugees there. It was Katie and Kylee’s first time there and they got to stay with Adiair, Imelda and their children from Burundi. Katie was able to bless them with singing a song with them in their Swahili language. The girls back in Washington were busy getting things ready for the next team to go down to Mexico in June. They had a benefit concert at Common Ground that was very successful on June 3rd. They had many artists come and support along with others that helped the ministry with their time and love. They also had a car wash on June 5th and garage sale on June 3rd&4th to help to raise funds for the Mexico team. Thank you to everyone who came to help and support it was greatly appreciated and was a true blessing. June 8th we were at Raspberry Ridge apartments for our second out reach to the community and it was a blast. Many kids and families gathered for games, music, a word, and then juice and ice cream. One sister was brought back to Christ from a convicted heart and was so filled with joy to be in the presence of the Lord again! June 10th George and Linda went to Farmington and Shiprock New Mexico to the Navajo Indian Reservation. God has brought laborers to work the fields there in the jails, in broken families, and in the personal lives of the lost people on the reservation. They always need more workers so please keep them in your prayers.
Some up coming events we are looking forward to are; June 17th the team leaves for Mexico, please pray against all attacks from the enemy, that walls would be broken and heart would be changed, also for safe travels. On June 24th there will be a prayer vigil at Roca Fuerte Church in Mount Vernon from 7pm-12am. On the 27th the team comes back from Mexico but they will be bringing some of our friends with them, Alex, Julie and the boys will be coming to spend some time with us and will be attending more up coming events with us! We look forward to seeing you all soon!
News through June 1st
"He died for everyone so that those who receive his newlife will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”(2 Corinthians 5:15) Here is what the family of Christ has been doing the past couple of weeks. On May 15thGeorge & Linda Henson, Dale Robertson, Linda Gahan, and Wayne Watne went to Alert Bay. They went to Beatrice’s home and then to the Glad Tidings Church building where Dale Robertson checked out the furnace, which has not been working for awhile. They visited with Pastor Medrick of House of Prayer, who has been having health issues. They fellowshipped with Pastors Dixon, Andrew, Larry Joseph and Jake at House of Prayer. George shared with them a word that the Lord had given him for them about a mountain, a tree and a river, and also about the tiger and the lion.
On May 18ththe Skagit Valley worship trailer gathered with friends at the Logan Park apartments on Sapp Road in Sedro Woolley for fun, games, music, hot dogs, and a message from God’s Word shared by Martha Castillo. The kids played with a racecar track and bean bag toss made and painted by Adam and Elisabeth Waldron. The music part of the event was lead by Juan Carlos and Marisio, who are also residents of the apartment complex. The idea for the event came from Martha Castillo, the manager of the apartments, who wants to share the love of Jesus with them. They will be starting a bible study/fellowship type of gathering in the apartment complex to help strengthen the existing believers as well as the new ones! May 20thwe worshiped at Roca Fuerte Church in Mount Vernon. Six people were reborn into Christ’s family! Praise God He did not come for the righteous but for the unrighteous! Brother George spoke to us about the man who had two sons. One of the boys left his father to spend his inheritance foolishly, but when he had spent it all and was left with nothing he went back to his father hoping to be at least a servant in his home. When the father saw his son coming home he ran past every bystander and kissed his son even before his son could say he was sorry. This is the love that God has for us, no matter what we have done and what we will do; our Father in heaven has already kissed us!
Dale Robertson brought the worship trailer to New Life at The Well church off Riverside Drive in Mt. Vernon on May 21st for their annual Spring Fling community outreach. Fresh Paint Ministries was there to help with games and puppets, while the church family cooked and served food, entertained the many children from the community with the games, gave out clothes to those in need and poured out the love of Jesus on everyone that attended. Songs of praise and worship were brought forth from the stage of the trailer by musicians from New Life and The Well church family. A great blessing for everyone was music provided by “Out of the Ashes”, a gifted group of musicians that are mentally challenged by a variety of disorders, including Down’s syndrome and autism, but are definitely not spiritually limited. The gathering also included many of our Latino friends from the neighborhood and other parts of the community. Activities were done such as face painting and animal balloons to show God’s love for everyone in Skagit Valley.
May 25thHarvest Vision joined with Child’s Evangelism Fellowship for another outreach at Logan Park Apartments in Sedro Woolley and 32 children braved the drizzling weather to come and enjoy fellowship and hear the gospel message being shared. Volunteers from different church families in the community joined with volunteers from the apartment complex to entertain the children with animal balloons. They enjoyed inter-active scripture reading and heard the story of a young boy that was convicted for stealing. Some of the children received Jesus as their Savior and the afternoon finished with ice cream cones.
The “Harvest Center” was opened up on May 26th. It will be used to exhibit arts and crafts from the different countries that our ministry is involved with and locally here in Skagit Valley. This includes handcrafted beadwork and soapstone carvings that come from Central Africa. We use this money to support their families and the ministries that God has called them to. At the current time we do not have regular hours that someone will be at the Center. But if you would like to come and visit us please contact: Linda Henson – 360-421-8812, or Linda Gahan – 360-661-5599. Our brother Quinn confessed his love for Jesus publicly on Thursday May 26, 2011 at Dale’s shop. We were able to hear and see his growth! We broke bread, had fellowship and heard several testimonies from different guests throughout the evening. We also said ‘see ya later’ to our friends George and Linda as they hit the road down to Mexico. Kylee Wilman, George and Linda’s granddaughter, also joined them on the trip! Martha Castillo, our new intercessory prayer leader, was with us at the shop. We discussed that our website now has an intercessory prayer button that leads you to a page where you can choose to look at the members of the prayer team. If you feel God is calling you to be a prayer worrier and would like to be on the team please contact Martha at 360-540-3901.
May 30th we went to Leader Lake with the family from Lyman Baptist Church and family from our other brothers and sisters. Jim and Terry Cook opened up their cabin to us. There were many activities done such as, kayaking, quad riding, hiking, fishing, rattle snake hunting and a lot more. We heard a message from Brother Jim about fellowship and how important it is to us as believers and with our Father in heaven. Getting to know God through worship, the Word and fellowship with him is amazing. When the word was over Derrick was baptized! He shared with us his powerful journey God has taken him on and the conviction in his heart to put down the things of his flesh and truly live for Christ! After church on Sunday some of the woman joined together and organized a survivor game for all of us to play. The whole weekend was truly blessed; we serve such an awesome God that is so worthy of all we have!
May 31stwe visited Reverie BBQ to break bread and have fellowship with the local people! We were able to make it part of the girls group that we do each Tuesday. We were excited to have Stacy, Hazel, Holli, Lisa, Alisha, Dina, and Amber with us and we got to meet some new girls too. Our sister Raina brought her friend Kailyn with her. Dina also introduced us to Macy a new friend God has put into her life; we went to support and encourage her at her band concert at Mount Vernon High School.
Some upcoming events we will be attending will be the benefit concert June 3rdat Common Ground in Burlington from 7-11pm. Also there will be a garage sale to raise funds for the team that will go to Mexico in June, starting at 9am that morning on June 3rdand 4th. The day of June 4thfrom 8-2 will be the Kulshan street fair in Mount Vernon. June 5thwe are having a car wash from 12-5pm in Sedro Woolley at the food pavilion also to raise funds for the June team. Then on the 8Thof June will be an apartment outreach at Raspberry Ridge in Burlington at 6pm. For more information on any of these events please visit our calendar by clicking the “calendar of events” button.
Through May 15th
“I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without doubt.” 1 Timothy 2:8. These past couple weeks have flown by but God is always teaching us to slow down and listen to him. We had a chance to listen to him at the Manatail de Agua Viva church in Burlington on April 30th. We worshiped and had fellowship there with our brothers and sisters, and opened our hearts to hear God. We also had a chance to be at Reverie BBQ in Mount Vernon on April 26thwhich happens the last five days of every month , we spent some time in fellowship and broke bread with the local people and with Kelsey, Dina, Lisa, Stacy, Hazel, Corbin, Calvin, Colby, Linda, and Amber. On May 1stwe had our Mexico reunion at the Lacounts house. We shared food and remembered the times we shared on our April trip. May 5thwas the national day of prayer; Amber had fellowship and prayer time with some of the college kids she knows for our nation and other events going on. The past couple weeks every thursday we have spent time in fellowship at Dales shop. Some of the things to look forward to these next coming weeks will be, The Alert Bay team leaving on the 13thand returning the 15th, also we will be dedicating Aurora Grace Palmer on May 17th. The 18thwe will be doing an outreach at Logan Park in Sedro Woolley, on the 20thof May we will be at the Roca Fuerte church. The Well Sring Fling in Mount Vernon will be on the 21 of May.
April 2011 US News
We were blessed to have many people attend the family worship with the Ovejas de Jesucristo church family in Mt. Vernon in February and Lyman Baptist in March. Both services brought people together from English and Spanish speaking church families and we are excited to be with the Manantial de Agua Viva (Fountain of Life) church family on April 30th in Burlington.
The worship trailer was used by Child’s Evangelism Fellowship at 4 different apartment complexes in Skagit Valley during the school springbreak in April. Although some of the days were rainy and one of the events was postponed, everyone was encouraged and a number of children accepted Jesus after hearing the gospel message. This outreach also opened the door for ministry at the all day garage sale street fair that takes place on June 4th with 6 different apartment complexes in Mt. Vernon. Also, the trailer will be used to support an outreach to the apartments that will be focused on families and with the vision of finding people in the complexes that will be available to host a weekly Bible study. Martha Castillo, Logan Park Apartments (Sedro Woolley) manager and a member of the Roca Fuerte (Strong Rock) church family will be coordinating this outreach.
The Harvest Vision Benefit Concert at the Common Ground in Burlington brought talented Christian musicians from Bellingham to Tacoma together to present testimonies and give God praise and glory. A second concert is scheduled for Friday, June 3rd, and will include The Unveiling, Holy Ghost Riders, Godside and others.
A trip is being planned to visit with our brothers and sisters from the First Nations tribes in Alert Bay, BC in the middle of May. We are hoping to plan a week of encouragement ministry later in the summer with a team from Skagit Valley.
Wayne Watne has recently visited our friends at the Set Free Ministries in Elma, WA and we are tentatively planning an outreach to travel from Skagit Valley in mid June to take some of the men that live at the Set Free discipleship house on a fishing trip. This would take advantage of the “free” fishing day made available to Washington residents during the summer.
Linda got the banner to display at the International Hand-crafted Art Works ministry shop that will tentatively being open soon. We have new soapstone items from Kenya and will be adding items from the First Nations, Navajo Reservation and Mexico soon. The ministry includes opening up homes to host “parties” that will provide the opportunity to minister to family and friends with the gospel, acquaint them with the ministry and get donations that will help support the ministry.
The team that traveled to Mexico in April is planning a reunion soon. Two of the team members were baptized during the week of ministry that took them from the neighborhood around the mission home into the federal prison, rehabs and cardboard city. Plans are underway for another trip the end of May to work on the children’s play room for the sewing ministry, a visit to Goshen Ministries in Tucson and the Navajo Indian Reservation. Katie and her daughter, that are helping take care of the mission home in Mexico, will be visiting in Washington in June and Pastor Alex & Julie Larios and their boys from San Luis will be visiting in July. Another mission team is being set up for mid June as soon as school is out.
We are excited with the reports of the outreaches to Africa and the work that is ongoing there and recently sent money to help finish and support 11 different projects including: the money to pay duty for new sound equipment from China; women to attend and support a conference in the DRCongo; restoration of a poultry project to support the pastor of the church in E. Uganda who recently lost her husband; the final payment for the weekly radio broadcast in E. Uganda; the completion of toilets for two schools, one in Kenya and the other in Uganda; the completion of a room for one of the pastor’s that cares for local orphans and seed money to start work on a home for one of our coordinators.
Feb. 9 – March 2011
Thursday nights at Dale’s shop is going very well. There is an average of 10-15 people who attend weekly. It’s always a time of good fellowship, food and the Word. Each week is a little different, however the Spirit leads.
George and Dina were in San Luis, MX for the week of Feb.18th-27th. They took sewing supplies and machines. He also purchased antibiotics to take to Africa. Katie Karpik has agreed to stay at the mission home during the week to do the day to day ministry there.
A team of three went to Alert Bay, BC, Canada to reestablish our contact with the First Nations. Another team will be going in May, and we are planning on taking the worship trailer there for a week of outreaches in different locations on Vancouver Island.
Harvest Vision will be joining with CEF for outreaches to different apartment complexes during the week of Spring-break, April 4th – 8th. Monday = Cascade West Apts. in Mt.Vernon, Tuesday = Raspberry Ridge Apts. in Burlington, Thursday = Logan Park in Sedro Woolley and Friday = LaPaloma Apts. In Mt.Vernon. The events will be from 1-3 pm. Anyone wanting to participate is more than welcome to join us.
George returns from a month long trip to Africa on the evening of the 7th and will be heading a team to San Luis, Mexico on April 8th – 17th. There is always a need for sewing supplies for the Reap What You Sew ministry there. Fabric, scissors, thread, needles, sewing machines, buttons, etc…Also we do handouts of small soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc… to the ladies at the Federal Prison, Rehab Centers and in Cardboard City.
Jan 19-Feb 8, 2011 USA News
Over 25 adults and youth helped to support the Child's Evangelism Fellowship outreach at the Logan Park Apartments on Sapp Road in Sedro Woolley on Wednesday afternoon using the Harvest Vision worship trailer. About 40 children heard the story of creation, led by Christie Wolff, Director of CEF and with the help of Sharon, the teacher of the CEF Good News Club at the local Evergreen Elementary School, Elisabeth Waldron, Harvest Vision Ministries Mexico coordinator, Martha Castillo, translator, Daniel Solano, guitarist and Cody Howell and friends with puppets. The afternoon was busy with games and activities and the team gave each of the children "salvation bracelets". The children that attend Evergreen Elementary were given parental permission slips that would be necessary if they wanted to participate in the weekly Good News Club at the school. We are excited that our helpers represented 9 different church families from the community and we are prayerfully expectant for those that made a decision for Jesus Christ, the families that were ministered to and the unity of fellowship that manifested itself through the families that lived in the apartments and shared their faith with the team and each other. We know the Church has a stronger presence in the families in the apartment complex and we give God the glory. Please keep the team lifted up as they prayerfully prepare for a similar outreach on Township Street in Sedro Woolley on Wednesday, Feb 23rd at 1pm. Please contact Dale if you are interested in getting involved.
Four of the men that fellowship at Dale’s shop, all from different church families, made a long cold trip to Kalispell, Mt to visit a local family that relocated a few months ago. Everyone was encouraged, even though the team arrived at 40 degree temperatures and pulled out for home at 9 degrees! It was a wonderful expression of the love that holds the Body of Christ together in unity. We are looking forward to a Harvest Vision worship service at Ovejas de Jesucristo (Sheep of Jesus Christ) in Mt. Vernon on Feb 12th and our first HV Benefit Concert on Friday, March 4th, at the Common Ground in Burlington. We are blessed that Godside, Holy Ghost Riders, The Unveiling and some other Christian music groups have agreed to participate and donate their talents and time and we are praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a financial blessing for the overall ministry. Please contact Dina for more information. Linda spent a week in Houston, Texas with family and was able to bring soapstone, necklaces and display material for our cousin that will be helping host parties for the Harvest Vision International Hand-crafted Art Works ministry. We will soon have the banner that will be used to identify our new shop location to have a “base” here in Skagit Valley for this ministry that will be expanded to not only have Africa art works, but also local, First Nations from BC, Navajo Indian and Mexico art.
After having re-established contact with our brothers and sisters in Alert Bay, BC earlier in the year, we have 2 different 3-day visits to travel north to deepen our relationships, join in ministry and plan a 7-10 day outreach the first part of June using the worship trailer. We will also be including First Nation recipes in our international recipe book and discussing how arts and crafts from their community can be included in the Art Works ministry. Please contact Wayne, if you are interested in getting involved.
A smaller group is leaving for Mexico on Feb 17th and will be taking sewing machines and sewing material to Mexico. During their stay, they will hopefully make progress on the start of the children’s room and playground that will be used by the sewing ministry. We will also be setting up a new bank account and purchasing anti-biotics for the Africa ministry.
Martin, our Africa director, has started his 10 day mission in China. He will be ministering in house churches and getting information on how we can obtain sound and video equipment to better support the outreaches in Africa. David is going on another mission to E. Uganda after having helped construct the new Royal Hope Academy school and is busy tracking sustainability projects and starting the new HV Africa website. Please keep the country of Uganda lifted up in prayer during the week of their upcoming elections that start on Feb 14th. We did not receive feedback from our coordinators in the DRCongo or Rwanda, but the outreaches in the other countries were used to help bring 2,923 new souls into the Kingdom and His Church.
Jan 5-18 USA News
It is always busy at the start of the year and we are thankful for Heather, Kylee and Keira that worked together on the finances for the annual report and to send out the end of the year giving statements. God bless you gals! Locally, we have had great fellowship at Dale’s shop on Thursday nights with people from different church families throughout the community and even had a movie night. It is great to hear about the many things that the body of Christ is actively doing in our community to show the love of Jesus to those in need. We recently finished sanding and prepping the 15 passenger red van and have it in Bellingham being painted. This will give us two vans for ministry here in the valley and for mission trips to Mexico and Alert Bay, BC.
We met with Child’s Evangelism Fellowship to plan apartment outreaches in the community and will have the first one on Wednesday, Jan. 26th at Logan Park Apts in Sedro Woolley. CEF has an after school Good News Club at the Evergreen Elementary school close to the apartments and we will have participation by friends from two of the church families that are close to the apartments as well. The program will consist of games, puppets, the gospel message through a Bible story, refreshments and invitations for the children to participate in the Good News Club and other older youth and families to participate in a local church family if they are not already a part of one. Outreaches are also planned Feb 23, April 4-8 (during springbreak) and May 25 in other parts of the Skagit Valley. Please contact us or CEF is you would like to participate or would like more information.
Over 50 people from 13 different church families joined together for potluck, praising God and hearing testimonies of God’s faithfulness at the Harvest Vision Celebration at Clear Lake Community Covenant Church on Saturday, Jan 15th. A video showing the various aspects of the ministry locally, in Mexico and Central Africa and we were blessed to have three members of the CEF board and staff attend to share more about their ministry and vision. We are tentatively planning another gathering in Mt. Vernon on Saturday, Feb 12th. We are also planning our first “benefit concert” on March 4th at the Common Ground in Burlington. We are hoping to have 8 different musical groups from Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish participate and to have flyers to announce the event available by Feb 1st. We are thankful in advance for the work going into this effort and everyone that is helping us support the varied ministries that we currently support.
Linda is in Houston, Texas to visit family and help set up Art works home parties using soapstone and necklaces from Africa to present our ministry to friends that may potentially support the ministry through prayer and giving. Dina recently completed a new video for the “International Hand-crafted Art Works Ministry and Linda revised the brochure and made a new poster board for the presentations. We are hoping in the near future to have a small shop that will be open in the weekday mornings for fellowship and to have the art works available to family and friends.
We thank all of you that are praying for the work in Mexico and Africa. The men’s breakfast group that meets each week in Lyman recently donated money to help pay for the solar panel that will be used at the hospital in the DRCongo and that is much appreciated. The “How to Help” page of the website has many of the projects, small and large, that we are being led to support and fund and we pray that you will take the opportunity to check out the variety of work that is listed. Last week, we sent money to purchase land for the home of our eastern Uganda coordinator, Pastor Billy, his wife, Teddy, and their new baby girl, Blessing. We are praying for the monies to build them a small home and start a poultry sustainability project that will generate funds to meet their family needs and help support the ministry in that area. Pastor Billy pastors the Harvest Vision church family in Kadama, over-sees the other Harvest Vision church families, coordinates outreaches in eastern Uganda and organizes and leads the pastors and teaching training seminars in the area. He is just one example of the trusted servants that God has called into our sphere of influence in Central Africa.
We are also preparing the team that will be going to Mexico on Feb 17th and that will hopefully begin or complete a new children’s playroom and playground adjacent to the sewing ministry room at the mission home. This will provide a safe environment for the children while their mothers are involved in the sewing ministry.
Dec 12, 2010 – Jan 4, 2011
The worship trailer was used for an evangelistic children’s outreach to the Cascade West apartments in Mt. Vernon with Child’s Evangelism Fellowship on Dec. 14th. Dina and Armando helped Dale set up the trailer and Christie presented the gospel message to many children and the adults in the parking lot. The worship trailer will be used by CEF to present the gospel message to different apartment complexes throughout the community this year. The cold weather presented many opportunities for church families and ministries to reach out to those less fortunate during the Christmas season and we were blessed to hear many testimonies of the love of Jesus being expressed to these people in His name. We are looking forward to hearing testimonies of the Lord’s faithfulness locally and also in Mexico and Africa at the Harvest Celebration at Clear Lake Community Covenant Church on Jan. 15th. We are currently revising the “bead and soapstone ministry” brochure as the International Hand-crafted Art Works Ministry…now that is a lot of words. We are presently making a video to show the soapstone and beads and how they are made in Africa and this will be available through the website and for those that are interested in hosting a gathering at their home. These items, along with others that will be added from the First Nations in BC, Navajo Indian Reservation, Mexico and locally, will be used to collect donations to support the over-all ministry and as a opportunity for people to open their homes to the ministry. Linda is prayerfully considering how we can set up a ministry “shop” to present the crafts and have a place for fellowship during the week.
The team that traveled to San Luis, Mexico over Christmas was able to bring soaps & lotions, toys, blankets, sewing machine & cloth, bible’s and other items to bless the people during their stay. The team visited the prison, rehabs, put basketball nets up at the park, played soccer and finished the outside walls and painted Brenda’s home, as well as other fellowship throughout the week. Please read the Mexico news for more information and visit the website to see photos. Prior to the team’s arrival, Victor, our Mexico Director and his wife, Elvira, had been led to step out of that leadership position to be available to other ministry in San Luis. Miguel Tapia, our prison and rehab coordinator, is now responsible for the over-all ministry and will be doing his carpentry business out of the garage and shop at the ministry complex. Our neighbor, Isaul, will be living at the mission home and his mother, Rosario, will head up the sewing ministry. Alex and Julie are preparing to submit plans for the construction of their home and feeding ministry and continue to have church fellowship in the neighborhood, even though they are living during the week in San Luis, Arizona. The February team from Washington will be building a children’s playroom and playground onto the sewing ministry room. We have also provided wood for the men in the prison to make picture frames which are sold and will provide money for tile for their church building, provided Bibles and have ordered drum heads and drum sticks for the worship in the prison. Alex and Julie have inventoried and cleaned up the worship trailer and some replacement equipment has been ordered to ensure the trailer is available for outreach when needed.
We were blessed to send money to Africa for different projects, as well as the support money for the coordinators of the outreaches in the five countries. 2,709 people received Jesus through the outreaches in December making the total 30,474 for the year. We pray continued protection over these new lambs and the church families that are discipling them. George will be leaving mid March to visit the Wambuti pygmy tribe in the DRCongo, review needed projects and bring back soapstone and necklaces. Pastor Martin is scheduled to be in China Jan 15-25 to minister in house churches and find out about sound equipment that might be available to support the ministry in Africa. Martin is tentatively scheduled to ministry in the United Kingdom in April and Korea in May.
Funded projects Still needed
UGANDA
UG David work visa UG Martin work visa
UG Bluetooth for Martin UG Car
UG 1st Quarter expenses UG HV Kibuli fellowship property
UG Nov/Dec 2010 (car repairs, tires, UPS, Abijah relocation) UG Ministry complex property/structure
UG Kibuli - Tororo pastor conference UG 7 acre Mukono project
UG Pr. Ambrose - MOF home construction, Entebbe UG Canaan Foundation 9 teacher’s salary
UG Bicycle for Pr. Billy UG Canaan Foundation triple beds
UG Banana/Coffee sustainability project UG 2 sets of sound equipment
UG Jonathan solar panel for school (sustainability)
UG Room for Jonathan Lubega’s home
UG Jonathan seeds and sprayer (sustainability)
UG Canaan Foundation school toilet
UG Solar panel for charging phones (Pr. Joel)
UG Pr. Michael Wotts shop rent (3 months) (sustainability)
UG Deborah Wotts sewing machine + cloth (sustainability)
BURUNDI BU Church structure
BU Evariste car service BU Laptop/printer
BU Evariste motorbike (sustainability) BU Property for farming project
KENYA
KY Abijah relocation to Kisumu (3 months rent) KY Register HVM Kenya
KY Abijah’s daughter’s school fees KY Car - import duty + registration
KY Abijah second motorbike (sustainability) KY Marketing project
KY Jamii ECD School Busia, pump toilet KY Jamii ECD School monthly rent
KY Jamii ECD School Busia, porridge corn for 3 months KY Jamii ECD School sustainability proj
KY Jamii ECD School Busia, 8 school desks
DRCongo
DRC Solar panel for clinic lights DRC Clinic property
DRC Augustine 2 sewing machines + cloth (sustainability)
November through December 12, 2010
Wednesday December 8thGeorge, Linda, and Bobby Kelley returned from their trip to Africa and Jesse Kelley returned from his trip to Mexico. Adam, Elisabeth, and Dina rode in the red van to pick up George and Linda and all of their luggage full of new soapstone and beaded necklaces from Africa, while Lisa and Mariah Kelley drove their vehicle to pick up Bobby and Jesse. After arriving home we began to unpack some of the beautiful soapstone and items they brought back from Africa.
Earlier in November Dina and Elisabeth visited a family in Mukilteo who was interested in going to Mexico over Christmas. After showing them some pictures and talking a little bit about what we will be doing down there they decided they would like to go to Mexico with us, Praise God!
We met with Childs Evangelism Fellowship about partnering with the Harvest Vision worship trailer to do outreaches in local apartment complexes. The first one is Tuesday, December 14that West Cascades apartments in Mount Vernon at 6:00 PM. Feel free to come check it out! We will start setting up around 5:00 PM. There will be games, music, and a fun story for children.
Reverie BBQ had a Christmas party on Sunday December 5th. They did a little children’s outreach with some cookie decorating and some games and coloring. Later they went caroling around the neighborhood and invited people to come visit their church.
If you check out the Bible Club on facebook you will find a great social network for people to share words, verses, testimonies, anything really. A young man that has only known our Lord and Savior for a couple of months created this network. The group of young people involved in Bible Club has now created a whole separate social network at www.bibleroundtable.webs.com. These kids are in high school. Praise God for the amazing work being done in the youth of today. Feel free to check out the website, join, chat, blog, etc.
We are collecting decks of cards for a new ministry. Check out the blog for the Deck of Cards Bible. We plan to make little bags with the deck of cards and the story that makes it a bible.
Join us this Thursday night (December 16th) at Dale’s shop for a celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ. There will be food, fellowship, singing, and loving. We will be sending a team off to Mexico on Friday, December 17ththrough the 26thso we would love to have the members of the team all come and meet each other. Everyone is welcome!
We are planning a team for Mexico in February. We will be building an addition to the sewing room so we need some strong men! But of course we love having women and children as well. Please let us know if you are interested and we would love to help you raise funds and plan the trip.
Through Nov 6, 2010
Bobby and Lisa Kelley and their family decorated their home to represent the different countries and aspects of the ministry in Central Africa on Saturday, October 30th. We are thankful for the many people that contributed baked items and other items that were donated to help support the Nov/Dec trip that will allow George, Linda and Bobby to visit and support the ministry in all five countries. The entire day was filled with fellowship and sharing the testimonies of the work being done and the vision for our future support for our co-laborers in the Africa harvest fields. David Grove has already been living in Africa for weeks, so it will be a joy to see how he is transitioning into his role as “servant of the servants” and liaison for those of us that pray and support the ministry from the USA. The new equipment in Rwanda should be being used to support outreaches in the near future and the number of people that were born again through the crusades through October brought the 2010 total to 26,190 which we humbly bring to you as a testimony to your prayers and support and the sacrificial giving of our native brothers and sisters in these countries.
People from seven different church families gathered together on Thursday, Nov 4th at Dale’s shop in Sedro Woolley, WA with Cal and Jackie Rice from Rice Bowl Ministries. Cal and Jackie have a converted mobile mini-bus that is moved from location to location to provide clothing and shoes and the love of Jesus to those that are homeless or in need in the community. Harvest Vision has a converted 32’ trailer that is used to support outreaches in the community with sound and video equipment, puppets and instruments. The sharing and prayers included the vision of two additional trailers that would provide a hot cup of soup and hot cup of coffee and a second trailer that would allow those in need to take showers. The people also shared their burden to have our Christian young people more involved in reaching their friends in more practical ways by making it possible for them to more easily have access to items that help provide for the basic needs of those that are in their sphere of influence that need, “the face that they can see and the hand they can touch.” It was an incredible time of God’s people showing their brokenness for those in need.
We appreciate Dale’s hospitality as he opened his shop for the Family Worship on Friday, Nov. 5th. After we worshiped with the breaking of bread (potluck), Armando Lopez had a team of musician’s from Everyone’s Church and Praise Chapel ready to help us join our voices in unison to praise God and give Him glory. Shawn, Dina and Gabe shared testimonies and the evening ended with individuals and small groups praying and sharing their faith with each other. We were blessed with the younger people that were showing their love for Jesus and their desire to be in His presence and to live a life that is pleasing to Him. And as usual, when the Holy Spirit is touching and anointing His children, nobody really wants to leave the fellowship and that is a fragrant aroma to our Father in heaven.
We are working to prepare a team to minister in Mexico over the Christmas season, Dec 17-26 and we encourage anyone interested to contact Kylee, Adam, Elisabeth, Gabe or Angie who are coordinating the ministry in Mexico. We are thankful that Jesse Kelly arrived safely in San Luis on Nov 6th and will be working with the ministry team in Mexico for the next month.
Although George and Linda will be in Africa until Dec 8th and out of contact by phone, they are available by email, harvestvision21@msn.com. Dina Wilkins, our over-all communications assistant, will be available and staying at the home and office in Sedro Woolley. Please contact her if you are in need of anything. She has visited Hamilton Food Bank, Reverie BBQ and Child’s Evangelism Fellowship to start becoming more familiar with the different church families and para-ministries that are reaching out into our community in Skagit Valley. Wayne Watne, our Chehalis Valley coordinator, has completed his relocation back to Skagit Valley, but is already planning an “encouragement” visit back to one of the ministries in Chehalis Valley in the near future. Please contact him if you would be interested in tagging along.
October 2010
Many gathered at one of David Grove’s friend’s home in Mt. Vernon on Oct 2nd for fellowship, testimonies and prayer to support him as he prepared to move to Africa to work in the ministry. David took off on October 3rd and is already busy supporting our co-laborers in that harvest field. Please check out “contact harvest” on the website for information on how you can correspond with him while he is there. Bobby and Lisa Kelley are hosting an Africa celebration at their home in Burlington to better involve friends and family in the ministry on Oct 30th. Bobby will be joining George and Linda for a visit to the different coordinators in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi and the DRC from Nov 7-Dec 8.
The last few weeks have included visits and sharing with different church families and ministries in Skagit Valley. We are still having men’s fellowship on Monday nights and family potluck/fellowship from 6pm every Thursday night in Dale’s shop on Minkler Rd. in Sedro Woolley. We have brothers and sisters gather to share testimonies about how God is working in their personal lives and through the different church families and ministries that they are involved with. The worship trailer that is used to support local outreach is also at the shop if you would like to come and visit. We recently made the Skagit Valley Worship Trailer brochure available in Spanish.
After much help from many different people, the white passenger van that we use for missions to Mexico was safely repaired and available for the team that traveled to Mexico from Oct 7-15. The team was involved in ministry at different church families, outreaches, men’s and women’s federal prison, rehabs and visiting and taking food to those in the city and outlying cardboard city. During the trip, the one young 18 year old girl that was unsaved accepted Jesus and prior to leaving Mexico, her and two of the other team members were baptized in a canal outside of the city. Please check out the Mexico news and photos on the website. Ironically, after the team returned safely to Washington, the water pump on the van failed. Thanks to Dale who helped make that repair and also helped make available a used 15 passenger van that we are restoring to help with future teams. Mexico coordinators and friends met on Oct 24th to review the ministry and begin to put a team together to visit during Christmas. This team will also be involved in building a children’s playroom and playground for our sisters that are involved in the sewing ministry at the mission home. The mission home has a become a safe refuge for teens from all over Mexico that are apprehended trying to cross the border illegally. The DIF government agency has asked Victor and Elvira to provide care for these young men while they make arrangements to reunite them with their families. Although, normally they send one teen at a time, there are now four at the home. Please pray for wisdom and protection and the freedom of the Holy Spirit. So far, every teen has accepted Jesus as their Savior and been given a Bible prior to being removed from the home. Jesse Kelley, from Burlington, will be in San Luis helping with the ministry from Nov 6 to Dec 8th.
September 2010
Many thanks to those that helped host the garage sale in Sedro Woolley. We raised almost $800 to support the ministry and all the remaining items were donated to the Hamilton Food Bank or the garage sale at North Cascades Christian Fellowship. We also appreciated the opportunity to loan the worship trailer to the Sedro Woolley museum to use during their annual Founder’s Day celebration and the community was very grateful. We were able to make a presentation on the ministry at the Women of Honor Conference held at the Rockport Christ the King and we also received donations of small soaps, lotion and shampoos from the Sedro Woolley Community Church that will be used to fill bags that will be handed out at the women’s federal prison, drug rehabs and in cardboard city during our missions to Mexico.
We appreciate the Community Church Clear Lake, who used their van, along with the HV van and the worship trailer to support an outreach to the homeless at the Living Water Fellowship in north Bellingham. Over 20 people from Skagit Valley representing 8 different church families went on Saturday with food and clothing that were added to the clothing, food and personal hygiene items that the Living Water church family donated and the vans were used to bring people from downtown Bellingham to the locations for fellowship, the sharing of God’s Word and prayer.
Harvest Vision coordinators and friends gathered together on Sunday afternoon, Sept 19th, at the Carriage Estates clubhouse for a potluck and a time of testimonies and fellowship. It was a wonderful and great time of refreshing and catching up after a busy and wonderful summer of changes in the personal lives of our ministry family and the ministry itself. The afternoon also provided the opportunity to anoint and pray for Dave Grove who is leaving to live in Africa on October 3rd. The following Friday, we had the privilege to gather for a family worship at Community Covenant Clear Lake. Friends gathered for a wonderful potluck before joining with the music team representing 5 different church families, watching a new ministry video and then being blessed by the ministry of Evangelist Marcelle Jones and Jason from Holy Ghost Riders, a Christian rap ministry out of Bellingham. They have been a blessing to us in Skagit Valley by participating in ministry at the Sedro Woolley July 4th parade, Rockport Praisefest and the Back to School Blessing in Mt. Vernon.
We are preparing for David’s departure to Africa and we are sending two portable sound systems, a projector, a stabilizer and a keyboard. One of the sound systems replaces one of the older and worn out systems in Burundi and the other, along with the projector and stabilizer will support a new coordinator doing outreaches in Rwanda. We still need the funding for the generator that will be included to make up the full system. The keyboard will be used at the Harvest Vision Kibuli Fellowship in Kampala. David will be living with our Director, Pastor Martin Ochieng, serving the ministry in various capacities and helping over-see the sustainability projects that have started or will begin as funds are available. These are essential in providing support for our coordinators and their families.
Brother Wayne Watne, our Chehalis Valley coordinator, is relocating to Skagit Valley in mid October to accept his old position at his work in LaConner. Wayne has worked hard to bring church families and para-ministries together in the Chehalis Valley community and we will continue to support the unity in that area and we are confident that many there will be afforded the opportunity to participate in the ministry in Mexico, Central Africa and Canada.
Aug 11-31, 2010
Alex & Julie Larios, from Mexico, joined with brothers and sisters from all over the community to participate in the Skagit County Fair, August 11-14. We were blessed to have fellowship with people from different church families throughout the Skagit Valley. Testimonies, puppets and music, including gospel, contemporary, blues, rock and rap, and having Alex, Julie and their boys to minister in Espanol. Thanks to everyone that helped with set up and tear down every day. After the second night at the fair, George drove Alex and the family back to San Luis, Mexico in a van that had been donated to support the ministry there.
We had the privilege to work with friends from upriver that planned the Praisefest in Rockport on Saturday, August 21st. Local pastors shared the Word of God and testimonies and different church families shared a variety of music, gospel, contemporary, rock and rap. Mike and Sonja did a wonderful job of trusting God and allowing the Holy Spirit to gather the workers. Bill Johns and his humor made everything enjoyable from the giving away of different raffle items to announcing the events and the vendors that came to provide food and refreshments to those that gathered throughout the day.
The worship trailer was also used at the Back to School Blessing hosted by the Christian Ministry Network at Mt. Baker Middle School in Mt. Vernon on Saturday, August 28th, Many different church families and ministries joined together as approximately 2,000 people gathered. 1,200 backpacks, hundreds of hotdogs, clothes and Spanish Bibles were given out, children played on the bouncy things, “Holy Ghost Riders” and “Green Fatigue” joined with Evangelist Christian Holst, from For His Glory Ministries to share in music and present the gospel and others received prayer and the love of Jesus in many personal and powerful ways. Awesome to see the Church in context of community.
We have completed repairs on the white van that was damaged during the return trip from one of our missions to Mexico and we thank the many businesses and people that have contributed. We are taking a mission team to San Luis, Mexico from October 8-17 and are also scheduling a team to San Luis, over the Christmas holidays, to accommodate those that are students or are limited by the pubic school schedule. We have a friend that is making cloth covers for paperback Bibles and cloth bags for meeting needs locally and in Mexico. We are in need of marbles, personal hygiene items (soap, toothbrushes & toothpaste, etc.) and sewing notions (thread, needles, etc.). If you are interested in helping make the bags or have items to donate, please contact us.
Thanks to those that helped with the outreach fund raiser at the Smokey Pt. Rest area. This not only provided an opportunity to provide weary travelers with a beverage and a snack, but also to share the gospel with them and be an encouragement to those that willingly identified themselves as believers. Thanks to everyone that donated cookies and came and enjoyed fellowship with each other over the shifts that covered the days that we were given. The monies are used to meet the various needs of the ministry, locally and in Mexico and Central Africa.
Alert Bay, BC report (Chris Sanderson)
There are times in our walk with the Lord when everything just “clicks”. Those times of anointing when there is no doubt, whatsoever, that we are dead in the center of not only His will but spot on with His timing. Wayne, Chris and Ezra enjoyed the blessing of this anointing during their four day trip to Alert Bay, British Colombia on August 20th. From the time we drove off the ferry, to the time we left, the Lord led us faithfully from place to place, person to person, often arriving at “just the right time” to offer prayer, encouragement and fellowship. This trip represented a return to this beautiful area of God’s creation after a five year absence. During our stay, we re-established relationship with many brothers and sisters from the First-Nations bands on the island. We also lent a hand getting the yard of one of the churches cleaned up. Wayne and Chris were also able to share and witness at the House of Prayer Church at their evening service. We are incredibly blessed to have fellowship with so many of the beautiful people who live in such an amazing part of our planet. We look forward to all that the Lord has in store for us in Alert Bay. In years past, we were blessed to have many opportunities to minister with them in Alert Bay and also to have them share with us in Skagit Valley.
US News August 10, 2010
The team returned safely from Mexico on August 1st and were privileged to bring Pastor Alex & Julie Larios and their 3 sons for their first trip to Washington. The trailer of ministry supplies was safely delivered and the team was able to minister to many different church families, the men’s and women’s federal prison, rehabs and in outreaches to the outskirts of the city. The team also provided beans and rice, bubbles for the children, worked in the sewing ministry and put a new roof on a young cripple woman’s home in the neighborhood. What a blessing it was for Victor, the Director of HVM in Mexico, to join with George in baptizing Dina, Troy, Destiny, Cody and Ira in one of the canals before leaving for Washington. The 115-120 degrees days were immersed in scripture and the moving of the Holy Spirit enabled the team to move in power and might throughout the week. Thanks to all the families that released these young people into the harvest fields of Mexico. Also, thanks to the Covenant Church of Clear Lake that allowed us to use their van for the trip. A note: we have finished the paperwork that will be submitted to Mexico for the final registry of our ministry!
Alex and Julie have been a blessing to many in the fellowship in Skagit Valley. They have hiked, stayed overnight with different friends, ministered at one of the Spanish speaking church families and led the worship and sharing at the outreach at Raspberry Ridge apartments in Burlington. Bobby Kelley and friends from Newsong and other church families participated in the Burlington outreach that gathered about 120 people together to share God’s love. They will also be joining with brothers and sisters from all over the community to participate in the Skagit County Fair, August 11-14. George will be taking Alex, Julie and the family back to Mexico on Thursday night. We have many different church families and para-ministries sharing from the worship trailer during the fair and we pray that everyone can find time to come and enjoy the fellowship.
We have also been blessed in making progress on repairing the white van that was damaged during the return trip from one of our missions to Mexico. This next trip to Mexico we will be taking a van that has been donated and will be used to support the ministry there. Many people gathered on Sunday, August 8th, for the wedding of Adam Waldron and Elisabeth Angell. Elisabeth lived for 18 months as a missionary in San Luis and Adam and Elisabeth will be working together to help coordinate the ministry to Mexico in the future. Many blessings to them. We have been working with friends from upriver that are planning the Praisefest in Rockport on Saturday, August 21st and also with those planning the Back to School Blessing in Mt. Vernon on Saturday, August 28th. Both of these events are a wonderful opportunity to see the Church in the context of community and we are happy to be a part of both these outreaches. We are tentatively planning an outreach to the Swinomish Reservation and would appreciate your prayers for this and other outreach opportunities. On August 20th, our Chehalis Valley coordinator, Wayne, will be joining with Chris and Ezra Sanderson, to renew our relationships with the First Nations brethren in Alert Bay, BC. In years past, we were blessed to have many opportunities to minister with them in Alert Bay and also to have them share with us in Skagit Valley and in San Luis, Mexico.
Please read the update of ministry in Africa where 1,112 came to salvation in June. Much is going on there and we are preparing to send some financial support to help two of our coordinators begin a sustainability project that will help them meet the needs of their families and also help with the funding for future ministry. David Grove is preparing to leave for Africa the first of October to help support the ministry team. Bobby Kelley will be making his first visit since becoming the coordinator for our ministry to Central Africa with George and Linda in mid November. God is moving mightily in Central Africa and we are preparing to register the ministry officially in Kenya soon. We are praying for more people to help support the ministry in prayer and in giving as we need to replace some of the sound and video equipment that we have been using to support missions for up to 5 years.
Wwe invite you to look at the new website format. Please give us any feedback that would help us be more effective in presenting the ministry. A “guestbook” has been added to allow you to speak into the ministry and we also have a “blog” that we are hoping to use as a more day to day journal for those of you that are interested in that format.
US News July, 2010
Great time of blessing for everyone in having Pastor Martin from Africa visit with us in Washington. Presentations were made at the Christ the King Church at the Grainery and at the Newsong Church in Mt. Vernon. A family worship was held on Friday, July 9th, at North Cascades Christian Center in Sedro Woolley, with a music team from different church families and great message on faith by Pastor Martin which encouraged everyone that attended. Much work was done on reviewing the needs to support the on-going ministry in Central Africa and we were blessed to be a part of the ordination of Bobby Kelley at Newsong on June 11th. Bobby & Lisa will be serving as coordinators for the ministry in and to Central Africa. We are currently working on a plan to send two young people to live and support that ministry in Africa, Dave Grove, who may be going in October and Dina Wilkins, who would be going after George, Linda, Bobby and possibly his wife, Lisa, visit in November and December.
Bobby Kelley and George visited Mexico for 4 days the middle of July. They visited with the Harvest Vision team and ministered in the neighborhood, the men’s federal prison, a local feeding ministry, an outreach in cardboard city, a local rehab and at two local church services. A team is currently planning to leave on July 23rd to spend a week doing ministry. The team is taking a trailer with baseball equipment, tools, sewing ministry supplies and other items for the ministry and during the week will be involved in ministry in the men and women federal prison, local rehabs, cardboard city and local church families. They will also supply rice and beans for families in cardboard city, start the baseball ministry and put a roof on a young crippled woman’s home in the neighborhood.
Local Christian church families and ministries are signing up to cover the times the worship trailer will be at the Skagit County Fair on August 11-14 from 10am-10pm.
US News June, 2010
Yes, George and Linda have a new great granddaughter, Hailey Rose, born June 30th at a whopping 4# 8oz. Baby and mother are doing fine. Thank you for your prayers.
We have been blessed to participate with church families and ministries that are praying and working together to plan community outreaches in Skagit Valley. Pastors have been meeting informally every month to fellowship and build stronger relationships. The Christian community is invited to participate in a worship service to kick-off the annual Highland Park Games in Mt. Vernon and plans are advancing for the Back to School Blessing events in Mt. Vernon and Concrete to present the gospel while helping meet needs for school supplies for families preparing for the start of school.
Thanks to everyone who helped with the Smokey Pt. Rest Area fundraiser. It was a joy to provide coffee and pastries and a word of encouragement to weary travelers, to build up relationship of those that helped and to make some money to help finance the ministry. We are also working to repair the 15 passenger van that was wrecked coming back from Mexico in April. Thanks to the Community Covenant Church in Clear Lake who are donating a newer 15 passenger van to provide transportation for future teams to Mexico and support local ministry, the van being repaired will be sent to support the ministry in Mexico.
The Skagit Valley worship trailer is ready to go. We now have flags, tambourines, Bibles and tracts, but are in need of a bass guitar. The trailer was used for local outreach in Clear Lake, at Praise Chapel in Mt. Vernon and for entry and local outreach during the July 4th parade in Sedro Woolley. The trailer will also be available for people to view at North Cascades Christian Fellowship in Sedro Woolley during the Harvest Vision Family Worship with Pastor Martin Ochieng, the Director of the ministry in Central Africa on July 9th.
George and Kamron traveled in Mexico to bring the trophies and sports equipment for the 8th annual tournament and crusade in the men’s federal prison. We purchased new drum heads and sticks for the church in the prison that is now doing 16 services a week (Praise God!). We are excited to report that the lawyer will be taking the application for ministry registration in Mexico to Mexico City in the next week. We also purchased medicine for Africa and returned with Elisabeth Angell, who is relocating to Washington after 18 months in Mexico. Elisabeth and Adam (worship leader for Lyman Baptist Church) will be married August 8th and will work as coordinators for the Mexico ministry. George and Bobby Kelley (Africa ministry coordinator) will be in Mexico July 16-19 and a summer team will be traveling to Mexico on July 23rd. We are still looking for donations of baseball mitts for that July 23rd team.
Pastor Martin arrived in Washington the end of June after visiting ministries in Tennessee and Florida. He has attended a Bible study group in Edmonds, local church fellowships and kayaked on Diablo Lake. Presentations are planned at some local church families and he will be sharing with the community at a special worship service planned on Friday, July 9th. We are gathering items needed in Africa, such as a copier and microphones, that are needed to support the ministry when he returns on July 12th. We are reviewing the immediate needs to sustain the growth of the ministry in Africa, such as sustainability projects for the coordinators and replacement equipment for the sound systems being used for weekly outreaches in Burundi and Uganda.
US News May, 2010
We have had many opportunities to minister at Life Care Center with different people convalescing.
A group of people continue to meet at Dale Robertson’s shop every Thursday for fellowship. Each week is different with one time showing a movie, the next wtime there may be someone who share a word from the Lord, the next maybe all worship music, etc… Denny Hanson donated a refrigerator for the fellowships.
A Family Worship was held on April 16th at Dale’s shop on Minkler Rd in Sedro Woolley. There were 60 people that attended from 10 different churches. Another Family Worship Service is planned at Dale’s shop for Friday, June 4th – Potluck at 6 pm and service at 7 pm.
We have continued to be in contact with the organizers of Upper Skagit Praisefest, which will be held on August 21st at Howard Miller Park in Rockport. Dale Robertson and Howard Phillips will be the representatives for Harvest Vision. The worship trailer will be used at this event.
Harvest Vision has made application for the Skagit County Fair to be held August 11 – 14th, and the worship trailer will be used at this event also.
Linda Henson and Dale Robertson attended the Back to School Blessing planning mtg. on Friday, May 23rd. Next mtg. is June 4th at 11 am at Common Ground in Burlington. Anyone is welcome to attend these mtgs. The event will be held Saturday, August 28th. The worship trailer will be used at this event.
While Elisabeth was here for the month of April, she was able to visit family members, make a presentation of Mexico at Newsong Church, attend a Harvest Vision mtg. at Gabe and Angie Field’s, attend the April Family Worship Service at Dale’s, she and the May team, on their way south, were able to go clam digging with Wayne Watne, to share at a church in McCleary, WA., and at Set Free Ministries on the way to Mexico. Elisabeth will be returning to WA in June, and getting married to Adam Waldron on August 7th.
The team’s arrival in San Luis, was met by a young man, Oscar, age 16, with the DIF program, and a young lady, Elizabeth and her two children, who have been living at the Mission home. The guys were able to attend the Men’s Federal Prison and the girls shared at a Women’s Rehab center. Leaving Gabe and Angie in San Luis, the team drove to Tucson and ministered with Goshen Ministries for the weekend. The team returned to WA, while George remained in Mexico to work on the AR and to import the Honda that was driven down and donated to Victor and Elvira by Gabe and Angie Fields. He returned to WA on May 25th.
Harvest Vision has registered with Washington State Patrol and all volunteer leaders will be required to have a background check. Also, George and Linda have been cleared for Skagit County Jail ministry
The Africa Coordinators will be meeting to go over and become familiar with all of the aspects of the ministry in Africa. Also to work on Pastor Martin’s schedule while he is here for the first two weeks of July. The Mexico Coordinators will be meeting to plan out trips to San Luis for the remainder of the year. The Worship Trailer Coordinators will be meeting to make sure there is everything for the easy use of the trailer, how to set-up and take down, to coordinate the requests and uses of the trailer.
April WA report 2010 (Elisabeth Angell)
The trip to Washington was a great trip. I got to spend lots of time with my family. I saw my Mom, Dad, Brothers, Uncle’s, Aunt and cousins. The 16th was the Harvest Vision Family Worship night at Dale Robertson’s shop. There were about 50 people there that night. We all enjoyed a potluck dinner and listened to great music led by Adam Waldron, Armando Lopez, Gabe Fields, Casey Boyd, Dina Wilkins and Vanessa Robertson. Dina sang a solo with her friend Dani who played the guitar while everybody watched a slide show of the photos of Dina’s trip to Africa. George got to speak and I shared my testimony of how God called me to Mexico and talked about giving up everything for Jesus. I also got to sing a song with Adam Waldron a song called “Beans and Rice and Jesus Christ”. That song Adam and I wrote when he was in Mexico. George, Linda and I got to visit LymanBaptistChurch. Gabe preached a great sermon. Robert LaCount and Wayne Watne shared testimonies and Adam and I sang “Beans and Rice” again. Linda, David, Dina and I visited NewSongChurch in Mt.Vernon and I shared some testimonies about the recent salvations in Mexico. I was able to meet Bobby and Lisa Kelley who will be the new Africa Coordinators. We were all blessed to have Wayne Watne from ChahalisValley come to spend the weekend with George and Linda. He made us a salmon dinner at the Harvest Worship night. Wayne, Adam and I went to the Tulip Festival and the street fair where we ended up meeting a family that is interested in missions in Mexico. Wayne went to Lyman Baptist church with us and afterward we had a Harvest Vision Meeting with George, Linda, Robert, Stacy, Gabe, Angie, Adam, Elisabeth, Wayne, David, Dale, Linda and Michael. We prayed together and ate lunch and
talked about the exciting things that God is doing with the ministry. On April 30th Adam Waldron, Gabe and Angie Fields, George and Linda Henson and Dina Wilkins and I drove to Wayne’s house in McCleary near Olympia. We had a great weekend of Fellowhship. We went clamming at the beach near OceanShores and we drove into the Mountains and looked at Elk and Deer. We had a campfire and ate hotdogs. When we got back to the house Wayne, Adam and I cooked up the clams and Wayne made a great dinner. George, Wayne, David, Adam and I got to visit a lady who is a missionary and needed some work done on her house. Wayne and David planned on going back down to her house to work on it. Sunday we all visited Wayne’s church Abundant life. We got to meet the Pastor and talk to him about missions and Adam got to talk to the worship leader about the music. After the service we went to Set Free Ministries. It is a rehab and shelter for men. They have church services and they are ministered to. David got to preach and Dina and Gabe shared some testimonies. I got to share some testimonies about Mexico and afterward all of us headed to Mexico except for Wayne and Adam. We drove down in 2 cars. Gabe and Angi donated their Honda for Victor and Elvira.
April 4, 2010 USA report
George returned on March 24th from a month in Uganda. Please look at the Africa news update for the activities going on over there. We are actively setting up sustainability projects that will support the coordinators and their families so they will not be a burden on their local church families and will not be solely relying on financial support from the USA to continue their work. We have now included schools and church families under the ministry in Uganda and are working to help coordinate evangelistic and teaching ministries from the USA with the pastors and leaders in Central Africa. The Director of Harvest Vision Ministries in Central Africa, Pastor Martin Ochieng, will make his first trip to the USA to visit with us July 1–11. You can find out more about him by checking out the Africa Leadership profiles on the website. We have also brought back hand-carved soapstone art that will be included with the hand-made beadwork to encourage our partners to have “Africa parties” hosted in their homes to build relationships, share the gospel, introduce them to the ministry and get donations to support the work locally, in Mexico and Central Africa.
Linda, Dave Grove and Corbin LaCount just returned from a week mission trip to San Luis, Mexico and we encourage you to see their journal and testimonies on the Mexico News. Elisabeth Angell, our liaison and missionary in San Luis, came back with the team and will be in Washington to visit family and minister during the month of April. Please contact us or check the schedule for her calendar. On their way to Washington on Easter Sunday, they wrecked the van, but all are ok. Kylee Wilman and her daughter, Madilyn, stayed in San Luis for an additional week and will return on April 12th . They have had the opportunity to help in San Luis with the aftermath of the 7.2 earthquake, which took place on Easter Sunday afternoon. Katie Karpik has been able to transfer needed supplies: non-perishable food items, basic toiletries (i.e. soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, feminine products), blankets, bottled water, and clothes, from Yuma, AZ to the refugees in San Luis. George will travel to Mexico on April 20th to begin the permitting process for building the Director a small home next to the mission home and will be joined with Linda and Elisabeth the first part of May. The team will be visiting the Goshen Africa ministry in Tucson, Arizona before returning May 12th. We are excited about the churches that are being strengthened, new church families being planted and the testimonies of many coming to salvation in the prison, rehabs, streets, cardboard city and in the outlying ejidos.
We have been blessed to witness 23 different church families come together with a heart to reach the lost in the community by joining together to host a larger evangelistic outreach with the CMN (Christian Ministry Network) and For His Glory Ministries. The church families and para-ministries will join together to support the annual Back To School Blessing that is held in Mt. Vernon immediately before school starts in the fall. This event involves providing much needed school supplies, fellowship and prayer for those that are preparing for their children entering school. Also, they will begin the prayer and planning for the outreach in the summer of next year. If you, your church family or any of the para-ministries in the community want to be involved, please attend a meeting at Faith Community Fellowship in Mt. Vernon at 7pm on April 26th.
The last of the work on the worship trailer that will be available for local outreach ministry is being finished. A fellowship every Thursday at Dale Robertson’s shop in Sedro Woolley at 6pm continues to bring new believers and members of different church families together. A Family Worship service was held on March 19th and we were blessed by those that came and played the music, shared testimonies and broke bread together. Dale Robertson is gathering a team to over-see the scheduling and use of the trailer in the future. Please contact us if you would like to help with the team, be included in outreaches to the community or your church family or para-ministry would like to schedule the trailer. We can help with people for music, children’s ministry or evangelism. The trailer is generator powered with sound and video equipment, instruments, lights and puppet stage.
We are blessed that the Lord is expanding the ministry, locally, in Mexico and in Central Africa. We are now hosting teams outside of Washington in Mexico; we are preparing to deepen our relationship and ministry with the First Nations tribe in Alert Bay, BC and the Navajo Indian Reservation in Four Corners; we are beginning ministry into western Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, providing covering for church fellowships and schools and preparing to register in Kenya. In order to be more effective and avoid confusion, we are blessed to have friends that are willing to take a more active role in the ministry. Dale Robertson, who lives in Sedro Woolley and attends Clear Lake Community Covenant Church, will serve as coordinator in Skagit County to help coordinate the use of the trailer and outreach and will work closely with Wayne Watne, who coordinates in Chehalis County. Gabe and Angie Fields, who live in Lyman and attend Lyman Baptist Church, will be helping coordinate work in San Luis, Mexico. We will also be looking for people that might be willing to support the work in San Luis by participating in short-term (1-2 month) missions. We are prayerfully preparing to send someone that will live and serve as liaison for the ministry in Central Africa and someone that will serve as coordinator to support the work and ministry as it expands. Please join us in prayer as God prepares the Church for His soon return.
March 19, 2010 US News
George left for Africa Feb.24th and will return on March 24th. His original itinerary was to return on the 22nd, but due to a walk out planned with British Airways on that day; he was rebooked for the 24th. There has been a lot of ministry coordinated, which you can read about on the Africa News page.
Usually Linda’s schedule is a little slower pace when he is away, but it doesn’t seem so this time. Harvest Vision has been involved with planning meetings for the Skagit Harvest Festival, planned for August 28th at Edgewater Park in Mount Vernon, coordinating efforts with “Christian Ministries Network” (CMN) and “For His Glory Ministries”. Prayerfully we are asking for 35 church families to be involved.
Work continues on the worship trailer to be used locally, and will be available to church groups, para- ministries, and others wishing to do outreach. We are still in need of instruments, keyboard, guitar and amp, bass and amp, drums, projector and puppets. There has already been a request for it in the Chehalis Valley in July. We continue to meet and have fellowship at Dale Robertson’s shop on Thursday evenings at 6 pm.
There was a team of 6 people who visited our coordinator for the Chehalis area a couple of times this past m couple of months. They fellowshipped with “Set Free Ministries”.
Ted and Jan Brockmann have borrowed the ministry van every Thursday to pick up children and transport them to a youth group at a local church. They started by going door to door in their neighborhood inviting them. Now there are more than 60 children that attend.
We will be hosting a Family Worship Service on Friday, March 19th at Dale Robertson’s shop. A chance for you to catch up on the ministry in Mexico, Africa and locally, and to fellowship with each other.
The Spring break team will be leaving for Mexico on the 26th. Elisabeth will be returning with them to spend the month of April in Washington, and will be available. Please contact us or check the schedule for her calendar
The Director of Harvest Vision Ministries in Central Africa, Pastor Martin Ochieng, will make his first trip to the USA to visit with us July 1 – 11. You can find out more about him by checking out the Africa Leadership profiles on the website.
February 15, 2010 US News
The first of the month George, Kylee and Madilyn spent a week in San Luis, Mexico. It was a great time of reunion with friends that Kylee has made over the last 9 years and also a great opportunity for 20 month-old Madilyn to be used as a source of joy and encouragement to our many friends in San Luis. Visits with neighbors, attending local churches and the prison happened when we weren’t in the mission home full of people eating and enjoying the cooking and baking of cakes and cookies or working in the sewing room. We are in need of an economical vehicle for Victor and Elvira, because the van they are using it wearing out. We are thankful a church family in Yuma has a vehicle maintenance ministry that is working on Elisabeth’s car and will be also helping keep the Honda in repair while Katie uses it and until they find a car to donate to her. We ask that everyone continue to pray for Elvira’s health as she is now seeking a second opinion that might better diagnose her health problem. We have also decided to build a small home for the Director next to the mission home. This will give Victor and Elvira some privacy as they support the hecticness of the day-to-day ministry and also provide a place of calm until Elvira’s health is restored. We also bought antibiotic medicines that George will be taking to Africa. After returning home to Washington, we sent drum sticks for the federal prison, games for the play station ministry in the mission home and a MP3 that Miguel will use in conjunction with the guitar amp for ministry in the local rehabs. We are also planning a team from Washington to travel to Mexico over springbreak and we ask that you prayerfully consider going or supporting this mission effort (March 26 – April 4).
During the trip to Mexico, George and Linda’s great grandson, Roman Gabriel was born in Skagit Valley and we are blessed to report that he and the family are all doing well. Linda continues to attend the women’s bible study hosted at Jim & Teri Cook’s home and the women and planning a retreat in May. It is exciting to witness the children’s ministry that Ted & Jan Brockmann are doing picking up children in their neighborhood and using the ministry van to help transport them to Citipoint Church in Mt. Vernon during the week. Praise God, each person and couple doing their part to build and strengthen the body of Christ. Some of the men that attended the Men at the Cross conference in Portland joined with other men at Dale’s shop in Sedro Woolley for worship on Feb. 12th. Thanks to Chris, Rick, Armando, Bruce and Gabe for providing the music and everyone for the testimonies that were shared. The work on the worship trailer is coming near completion and we are in need of about $1,000 for the guitar, bass, keyboard and drums to complete the trailer. Also, Dale is finishing up an inside toilet to support the fellowship every Thursday evening at 6pm. We are working with the body of Christ in Skagit Valley on two different evangelistic outreaches to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ during the summer. The Skagit Harvest Festival is tentatively scheduled for July 16-18 at Edgewater Park in Mt. Vernon and would involve all the church families and para-ministries in the Skagit County and part of Island County that want to participate. The Upper Skagit Praise Fest is scheduled August 21 at Howard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport, WA and will involve all the upper Skagit church families and other church families and para-ministries in the area that want to participate.
George is preparing to leave for Africa on February 24th and will be taking a sound system for ministry in Nairobi, Kenya and a keyboard for eastern Uganda. We are thankful that we will be doing some teaching ministry with the director of IRIS ministries from Sudan in Uganda and then will be traveling to join in some leadership training in their headquarters in southern Sudan during this trip. We are prayerfully considering expanding the ministry of Harvest Vision into this country. We are also planning to support a larger evangelistic outreach to the western Democratic Republic of the Congo with For His Glory Ministries in the fall with over 300 pastors participating and we would potentially establish a coordinator in this area to support smaller, on-going outreaches after the primary crusade in the fall is complete.
January, 29-30, 2010 Men at the Cross Conference
Twenty-two men representing five different local church families drove to Portland on Jan 29-30 to attend the Men at the Cross Conference with Joe White and hosted by the NW Regional Men’s Conference. Men from Grace Church in Mt. Vernon, Clear Lake Community Covenant Church, Bethel Assembly of God and Central United Methodist Church’s in Sedro Woolley and Lyman Baptist Church were together with 1,200 men for the kick-off service that witnessed 101 men make a first time decision for Jesus Christ and another 348 rededicate their lives to Jesus. The New Hope Community Church in Clackamas, OR hosted the event and the Damascus Community Church opened up their facility to provided our group sleeping accommodations. The conference theme was on the personal responsibility we have as men to intentionally disciple other men until they can begin to disciple others. One of our men made his first time commitment to Jesus and we have been provided resources and a renewed passion to walk closer to the Lord and commit ourselves to being discipled and to being disciplers. We are looking forward to the testimonies of these men as they share their experience at the upcoming Men’s Worship Service in Sedro Woolley, WA on February 12th.
January, 2010
We are excited about the way that this year has started and we thank each of you for your prayers and support. We held our annual Harvest Vision board meeting and we want to thank Ted Brockmann and Rick Walter who have served on the board the last few years but have felt that their time as a director has ended. Both Ted and Rick are still supportive of the ministry, but like all our friends, are deeply involved in many other aspects of Christian ministry. We also want to thank Heather, our treasurer, Martin in Africa, Victor in Mexico and Kylee who helped put everything together for the year end financial report and the sending out of the end of year giving statements. It is always a blessing to be involved with the testimonies of how the Lord is using our resources but it would mean nothing without the financial integrity that our trusted servants deliver day after day and month after month. Also, George and Linda are presently being cleared to minister in the Skagit County jail with other Christian pastors and leaders in our area.
We gave a presentation at the Sedro Woolley Community Church and were able to preach and share God’s Word there and at Lyman Baptist Church. These are just some of the church families that partner with us to reach Mexico and Africa with the gospel. We are also thankful for those that are helping us find a piano to be donated to Evergreen Manor in Concrete. During this last month, some of our Christian leaders in the community gathered to hear the report out of the 2009 Skagit County Low-Income Needs Assessment commissioned by the Skagit County Community Action Agency. The report provided information on the basic needs of those in our community and was followed by a meeting of the Christian Coalition at the Common Grounds in Burlington. Community Action presented some of the opportunities to help with housing, LOVE Inc presented opportunities to help meet many of the needs of those in our community and the Christian Ministry Network presented some of the services being provided, including the care for the homeless during severe cold weather. We are grateful to be a part of a Christian fellowship that is looking to share the love of Jesus for the harvest of souls that are in our own community. We are witnessing Christians come together in new church families and existing church families reaching out in many different ways and we have been privileged to provide Bibles and other outreach material to some of those that are reaching out. The Lord is adding to our number those that are being saved as many people are making decisions for Christ, being baptized and finding families to disciple and strengthen them in God’s Word.
Over twenty men will be driving to Portland on Jan 29-30 to attend the Men at the Cross Conference with Joe White and hosted by the NW Regional Men’s Conference. We expect that we will be joined by other men from different church families in the valley and we are praying that this will ignite some of the passion that was present when men were attending the Promise Keeper’s Conferences in the mid 90’s. We also acknowledge the monthly men’s fellowship at Men’s Fellowship Northwest on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at the Cook Rd. Grange out of Sedro Woolley. They have contributed greatly in providing an avenue for men from different church families to gather for worship, prayer, testimonies and the sharing of God’s Word. For information on MFNW, email Degrawsl@aol.com or call Scott Ramin at 360-770-3811.
Work continues on the conversion of the worship trailer at Dale Robertson’s shop on Minkler Rd. in Sedro Woolley, that will be used for local ministry. The wiring is almost complete, a divider curtain and puppet stage curtain are being made and the linoleum has been put on the floor. Work is being done to weather-proof the roof, finish the doors and put the metal stage in place. A projector has been purchased and we are still in need of a keyboard, guitar and bass and amps. Along with the day to day work being done, a potluck fellowship is held every Thursday at 6pm, with time after for testimonies and prayer. The shop now has a movie projector and screen and a cattle trough has been set up for baptisms and can also be moved to baptize during outreaches or if anyone is in need. We are starting to plan outreaches using the trailer. If you would like to help or have an outreach which the trailer could help with or would like to use the other ministry resources, please contact us or show up on Thursday evening.
Some of those that participated in the mission trip to Mexico during Christmas visited our Chehalis Valley coordinator and were able to fellowship with local people at Wayne’s home, attend a local church men’s breakfast and make a presentation and preach at the Set Free Mission in Elma. The team came back with many items donated for Mexico, including sewing machines and cloth and baseball equipment that was donated by the local Little League. The team gathered the following day in Sedro Woolley to share testimonies of their time in Mexico and the changes that have came into their lives since that trip. We also discussed the trip to Mexico in February that George and Kylee will be making to help with the setting up of the non-profit ministry in Mexico, the importing of the US vehicles that are being used for ministry, the plans for the spring-break team that will travel to Mexico in March and future ministry that we might be able to coordinate with For His Glory Ministries out of St. Louis, MO. Please contact us if you would like to participate in anyway.
The ministry team will be sharing with Goshen Ministries in Tucson, AZ in May. That ministry supports work in Burundi through a church fellowship that represents African refugees from 9 different countries that live in Tucson. Chris and Heather Sanderson are planning a mission trip to Alert Bay, BC to renew our relationships with our brothers and sisters from the First Nations tribe in that community. We have had the opportunity to minister with them in their community for a couple of years and were blessed to host a team to Mexico. We know that God has much more for all of us as He leads us back to this beautiful island.
We thank each of you that have donated money for the Africa necklaces that are made by the women of Mercy Ministries in Uganda. All of this money is used to support the work in Central Africa. If you would like to host a “Necklace Party” for your friends and family, please contact us. George will be leaving on Feb. 24th for a month in Uganda and Kenya. George will be taking a new projector, a keyboard that will be used with the equipment in E. Uganda, a portable sound system for a church family in Nairobi, Kenya, Jesus DVD’s in different African dialects, office equipment, medicine and other medical supplies. Please pray for the funding for the sustainability projects that we would like to start to help financially support those in ministry in the five countries where we have made equipment available to the different church families doing outreach and planting churches in the outlying areas. We will be replacing some of the equipment that is wearing out and would like to expand to the western Democratic Republic of the Congo toward the end of the year. Through your prayers and support, 27,952 souls came into the kingdom in 2009, existing churches were strengthened and new church families were started.
December 16-31, 2009
What a blessed time the Washington team to San Luis, Mexico had over Christmas. The team represented different churches are cities: Lynnwood, Everett, Lyman, McCleary & Sedro Woolley. They brought toys, Bibles, candy, sewing machines & notions and lotions and soaps for ministry in the federal prison, rehabs, local church families, cardboard city and the neighborhood. The team also purchased beans and rice to distribute to families in need and hosted a neighborhood fiesta on Christmas with 250 hotdogs. Please read the Mexico news for more information. The team will be having a reunion in Sedro Woolley on Jan. 10th. The ministry staff in Mexico is also helping coordinate a ministry outreach in May and June with For His Glory Ministries out of St. Louis, Missouri.
We were blessed to send the money needed to support the outreaches and ministry in Central Africa for the first quarter of 2010 as well as additional monies to repair the ministry vehicle and to start sustainability projects for the coordinators in Kenya (brick making project) and in Uganda (farming project). We are also in prayer for the funding to start a second project for Uganda and to replace and upsize the sound equipment in Uganda and western Kenya. We would ask that everyone join us in prayer and please consider financially supporting the ministry as we continue to witness thousands coming to salvation, existing church families strengthened and new church families started. We are in need of regular monthly contributors that can provide a base for the ministry. We were blessed to see over 25,000 people come to salvation in Africa this last year with a budget of less than $40,000. Please contact us if you would like a presentation or more information for your church family. George will be in Africa Feb 24 – March 22.
The work on the worship trailer is going steadily forward. The doors for the stage are being completed and the top of the trailer will be weather-proofed soon. We are in need of instruments, guitar/amp, bass/amp, keyboard and drums. We are also in need of puppets and a projector. The work is being done at Dale Robertson’s shop on Minkler Rd. in Sedro Woolley. Each Thursday evening, a potluck is held at 6pm. Afterwards, those attending have fellowship, share the Word and testimonies, watch movies and some even work on the trailer. George will be visiting Wayne Watne, the ministry coordinator in Chehalis Valley on Jan 8-9 to meet with members of different church families and para-ministries that are working together in that area. A team is also preparing to visit the First Nations tribes in Alert Bay, BC early next year.
A group of men will be attending the Men at the Cross event with Joe White presented by the NW Regional Men's Conference in Portland, OR at the New Hope Community Church on Jan 29-30. For information go to menatthecross.org and click NW conference.
December 1-15, 2009
Linda returned from Africa in November with many necklaces, bracelets and purses. We have them for distribution in Houston, TX, Mexico, Mukilteo, WA and locally in Skagit Valley. They were even displayed at the Bazaar Luncheon at Clear Lake Community Church. Thank you to the ladies that are helping with this endeavor. The monies for this jewelry goes to various ministries in Africa for an income for many.
There are many things happening in and around Skagit Valley. Weddings and funerals being performed, home church gatherings, fellowship and lunch dates. On Friday, December 11th, we had a Harvest Vision Celebration at Dale Robertson’s shop. It gave people a chance to see, in progress, the worship trailer that will be used for local outreach. There were about 30 people that attended and a wonderful time was had by all. There is still a lot of work to be done on the trailer before it can be used. Anyone who feels led to help work on, or will want to use it for outreach, can contact the office.
The Christmas Mission Team to San Luis will be departing on Friday, the 18th and returning on the 27th. Thank you to everyone who has contributed items for this trip. ( sewing notions, soaps and shampoos, toys for the children, etc…) Merry Christmas to you all.
Nov 15-30, 2009
Linda arrived safely from Africa and brought with her Swahili and Kirundi bibles that have been sent to Goshen Ministries in Tucson, Az. to be given to Africa refugees that have recently come to Christ but are unable to read English. She also brought handmade necklaces and purses that are available. Donations for these help support the ministry in Africa. We are currently working with our Director in Africa on an estimate to repair or replace some of the sound and video equipment that is being used to support outreaches in the various countries. We pray that each of you would consider supporting this financial need, which is above the cost of supporting the outreaches and the purchase of new sets to support ministry in new areas. We are also preparing a team to visit San Luis, Mexico over Christmas and we are seeking donations of sewing notions and small bottles of shampoos & lotions, bars of soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes to put in cloth bags that the sewing ministry in Mexico are making. These will be given out at the rehabs, prison, parks and in cardboard city over the Christmas season.
Much progress is being made on the worship trailer that is being converted to support local outreach ministry. We asking church families, para-ministries and Christians that have a call for outreach, whether at local parks, apartment complexes, sports fields, migrant camps and etc. to begin to pray how it might be used. We are still in need of the instruments, guitar & amp, bass & amp, keyboard, drums, projector and puppets. A worship celebration is being planned on Dec. 11th at the shop where the trailer is being worked on in Sedro Woolley. Information and the directions are available by going to the calendar for that day on the website.
October to Nov 15, 2009
We have made great progress on the worship trailer. The generator is purchased and the trailer has been modified for the generator compartment, the tip out has been removed and Howard is working on revising the wiring. Please come and join us for potluck and fellowship every Thursday evening at 6pm to witness and/or help the work the Lord is doing to provide encouragement for the body of Christ to be more visible and confident in sharing the gospel locally. We are blessed to witness many people making a choice to change their lives by accepting Jesus Christ and for many others to make choices that are pleasing to God. We have had many couples make a choice for marriage rather than to continue to “live together” and others have made decisions to make a public confession of their faith by getting baptized. We are tentatively scheduling a family worship the first part of December to share testimonies and give God praise for the work He is doing in our lives individually and in our different church families. For those that are interested, we have also purchased some new Christian movies, that along with a variety of Christian books, are available for loan from our home and office in Sedro Woolley.
On Oct. 23rd, I took Elisabeth’s car to San Luis, Mx and stayed until Nov. 10th. The first evening I joined Victor and the team as they set up the worship trailer for a crusade on an empty lot in cardboard city and then early the next morning, Elisabeth and I left at 3am to travel to the Goshen church family in Tucson, AZ. We were able to preach and share with refugees from 8 different Africa nations and during our fellowship afterward we were joined by Robert LaCount from Lyman, Wa that had been on a road trip with a friend. The three of us returned to Mexico that evening and were able to fellowship and minister with many before we drove Robert to San Diego to catch a plane for home. We were blessed to preach to the new church family that is meeting at Alex and Julie Lario's home on Sunday before leaving to pick up evangelists from Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO and Lake Stevens, WA in Yuma. We met with many different pastors and leaders during the last 3 days to discuss future evangelistic outreaches in San Luis and to other parts of Mexico. The group was also able to preach in local churches, a rehab, men's federal prison and an outreach with the worship trailer. After we took them to Yuma to travel to their respective homes, we were able to visit with Katie and her 5 month of daughter, Malaika, that just arrived in Yuma for a visit after over 2 years in Africa. We were able to share at some of the local churches and the prison, before Elisabeth drove me to Phoenix on November 10th to travel to Washington. After dropping me off Elisabeth continued to Tucson to fellowship with the Africa refugees in the Goshen church family for a couple of days before returning to Yuma and Mexico. We are working to schedule a team to Mexico over Christmas, so please contact us if you are interested.
Linda is in Africa and will be returning on Nov. 20th. She has visited many local church families and outreach ministries, as well as helped coordinate women’s conferences in both Uganda and Kenya. The wife of our Kenya coordinator, Deborah, who was also the pastor of the local Assembly of God Church, had planned with Linda this first women's conference in Siteko, Kenya but she fell sick with typhoid and malaria a few weeks ago and went to be with the Lord. Also, pray for the set of equipment that Linda took over that has now safely made it across the border into the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and is beginning to be used to support local outreaches in that area.
September 2009 US News
Adam and George returned from San Luis, Mexico the first part of the month after two weeks. They were able to do some maintenance and repair and join with the team in San Luis supporting local ministry in the prison, in local church families and in other parts of cardboard city. They joined Elisabeth on a trip to Tucson, Az to visit with Pastor Bigimba and the Goshen Church that provides fellowship for African refugees from nine different countries. We are praying that God will open the door so they might be a part of bringing the gospel and Christian encouragement to the Church in San Luis and other parts of Mexico. Please read the testimonies about the trip on the Mexico news page. We are blessed to have the travel trailer that is donated and will be converted to a worship trailer for use supporting Christian ministry in Skagit Valley. We will be having work parties on Thursdays at 6pm at Dale Robertson’s shop at 25709 Minkler Road east of Sedro Woolley. We can use everyone’s help in cleaning up, making revisions and providing the sound, video, instruments and puppets. Please contact Dale at 360-856-1982 or 360-333-0591. We are also preparing for a team that would travel to San Luis at the end of October to finish the tile on the Harvest Home and we are praying about the possibility of Gabby, that just returned from Africa, traveling with the team and staying for a short term mission trip to support the work in San Luis. We are also finishing the final “gathering” of equipment and needed ministry supplies that Linda will be taking to Central Africa when she visits in mid October. She will be involved in women’s conferences in Uganda and Kenya and also taking the 8th set of sound and video equipment that is designated for use in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. We are also asking for support in making the necklaces and bracelets that have been given to us by Mercy Ministries in Uganda available to people here in Skagit Valley. The monies donated goes to the pastor that supports this outreach to families in the slums of Kampala, the capital city. What a wonderful time of testimony at the Harvest Vision Celebration on Sept. 12th at the Clear Lake Community Covenant Church. We had a wonderful potluck with visitors from different church families in western Washington. God Side, a Christian rap group, and Adam, the worship leader from Lyman Baptist, blessed us with their music gifts and we enjoyed personal testimonies from different Christian brothers and sisters from our community that have listened to the Lord and obediently followed His voice. Whether it was the gentle whisper to pick up a hitchhiker, that later accepted Jesus while sitting in Armando’s car; participating in ministry at the Skagit Valley County jail; selling dirt bikes to purchase kayaks and using them to minister to family and friends; leaving the comforts of our home and sometimes family to obediently go to missions in Mexico or Central Africa or to join with brothers and sisters to establish a worship trailer that could be used in Mexico for the saving of many lives. Everyone was encouraged to listen for that still small whisper and seek the encouragement and counsel of other believers as we obey His leading and the direction He has established for our lives and for the preparation of the Church for His soon return.
August 2009 US News
What a blessing to have Dina and Gabby back in Washington from their travels in Africa. We are praying that each of you will have the opportunity to hear their testimony at the Harvest Vision Celebration at the Clear Lake Covenant Church in Skagit Valley on Sept 12th. We encourage you to see the testimonies under “Chehalis Valley Ministry” and we are praying that we will be able to have Wayne share about the work there at the Celebration. Praise God! A local couple has donated a 32’ travel trailer that we will be refurbished to be a self-contained worship trailer, with sound, video, instruments and puppets, to be used for outreach ministry here in Skagit Valley. Please contact us if you would like to help start that conversion. The work will be done at Dale’s shop on Minkler Road in Sedro Woolley. We are also blessed to have a projector that has been donated to go along with the speakers and amplifier that we had previously been donated to equip the trailer. George and Adam are leaving for Mexico on August 25th and will be staying there until September 8th. We are blessed to witness the Church reaching out through various church families, para-ministries and individuals during this last month: the Back to School Blessing events that are being sponsored in different locations, the outreach to the homeless, elderly and youth and the work to support missions in different parts of the world. We are also grateful to share the testimony that the money needed for the sound and video equipment for the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has been donated and we are purchasing the equipment that Linda will be taking to Central Africa with her in October. Dina and Gabby also returned from Africa with a beautiful assortment of hand-made necklaces, bracelets and earrings from Mercy Ministries in Kampala, Uganda. All the donations for these gifts are sent directly to the ministry in Kampala for caring of the widows and orphans supported through the ministry. Please contact us if you would like to donate or participate in this outreach.
July 2009 US News
We have finished compiling a photo collage of the worship trailer being used to support outreaches in Mexico. We will be making presentations to local trailer manufacturers to see if they would make a trailer shell that we could set up with sound, video, puppets and music instruments for ministry in the Skagit Valley.
We have also had the opportunity to share at the church family at Lyman Baptist, Country Meadows in Sedro Woolley and Men’s Fellowship Northwest at the Cook Road grange in Sedro Woolley. The month has been filled with visitation and fellowship:
Families and friends gathered for a day of fellowship at Hillcrest Park in Mt. Vernon for games, piñata and music;
Chris Sanderson and Vanessa Robertson joined George to visit our new Chehalis Valley coordinator, Wayne Watne in Lacy (Wayne’s profile is available on the website and we will be starting to have news from that area);
Awesome beautiful Sunday at the Clear Lake Community Covenant Church, followed immediately with a trip to the lake for the baptism of Vanessa and another member – then a quick ride to Grandy Lake to be with the church family from Lyman as 5 of them made their public confession of faith before being baptized;
Wonderful day of slip and slide with the kids and picnic at Ron Caldwell’s home in Cape Horn as friends gathered to fellowship with families in the community;
Blessed to be part of the gathering of the church at Dale Robertson’s shop in Sedro Woolley, Armando & Katrina Lopez’s home in Mt. Vernon and Harriet Stargel’s home at the trailer park along the Skagit River in Burlington;
To witness the Church coming together as the body of Jesus Christ to meet needs at the Hamilton Food Bank and Reverie BBQ;
Wonderful fellowship with the men that gather at the Lyman Restaurant every Wednesday morning and the men from Clear Lake Community Covenant Church that meet later that same morning at the Sedro Woolley Bakery;
Joining the church family from Bethel Assembly of God in Sedro Woolley and Lyman Baptist for worship and the fellowship following at their church family picnics;
Always a blessing to share and pray with local Christian leaders during the long, hot days of summer;
We have enjoyed the intimate, fellowship at the Sunday evening gathering at the coffee shop in Mt. Vernon hosted by Northern Peaks Christian Fellowship in Sedro Woolley;
A sweet time of worship at the Sedro Woolley Community Church with the worship team from the church family at Lyman Baptist sharing their gifts with another local church family;
We thank everyone that has volunteered their time at the Smokey Point Rest Area outreach. It is an opportunity to share the love of Jesus by offering a cup of coffee and some cookies and pastries to weary travelers. Thanks to those that were there and those that made cookies. Many thanks to our friends at Haggen’s and Safeway that helped with the refreshments. The donations are used to support the ministry – locally, in Mexico and in Central Africa.
We are anxiously awaiting the arrival on Wednesday night, August 5th, of Dina and Gabby after their 2 and 3 month stay in Central Africa. They will have many testimonies about their experiences and we are hoping that everyone gets the opportunity to meet them. We are scheduled for the first of a couple of carwash fundraisers specifically to purchase sound and video equipment for the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday, August 7th in Sedro Woolley. We are in need of $3,050 for the set for the Congo and if possible, we would like to purchase a second set for Kenya. Linda will be taking the set to Africa when she makes her trip in mid-October.
We encourage everyone to actively support the Back to School Blessings that are scheduled for Mt. Vernon at Bethany Covenant Church on August 22nd and for Concrete at the City Park on August 29th. This is the Christian community reaching out to families that are preparing for the start of school. Backpacks, school supplies, haircuts, fellowship, encouragement and prayer are all made available to those in need.
August 25th, George & Adam Waldron will be visiting San Luis, Mexico to support local ministry and also to bring Bibles from Central Africa to support ministry to Africa refugees in Tucson, Arizona. We are tentatively planning on having Pastor Celestine Bigimba, a Congolese refugee that is living and doing ministry in Tucson and in Burundi, Africa to visit Mexico and begin missions there. George and Adam will be returning to Washington on September 8th.
June 2009 US News
Thanks to each of you that have connected with us “George Henson” through Facebook and MySpace. Also, thanks to Kylee who is still helping to maintain the website. Since we launched the new website, we have had almost 10,000 visits.
The month started out with Robert LaCount and Adam Waldron bringing Elisabeth back from San Luis, Mexico to visit and minister after dropping off George and the worship trailer. It was a great time of fellowship during the week in San Luis. George spent the month in San Luis, finalizing the work on registering the ministry in Mexico, visiting different church families, helping Chindo and Rosario prepare to move into their new home and helping organize the first outreaches using the new worship trailer.
Elisabeth was able to spend her few weeks in Washington visiting family and sharing at Hamilton First Baptist Church, Concrete Community Bible Church, Northern Peaks Christian Fellowship and church families meeting at Dale Robertson’s and Armando Lopez’s. Harvest Vision also had a celebration at “The Well” in Mt. Vernon where Bruce Weicht joined with the musicians from Lyman Baptist church for praise and singing and Elisabeth shared her testimony and words of encouragement. A “Mexico” reunion was held when Wayne Watne came up to visit from Chehalis Valley. Wayne fixed a fish and seafood extravaganza for friends that gathered at the Henson’s home in Sedro Woolley.
We are excited that Wayne will be more actively coordinating ministry in the Chehalis Valley and we are revising the website to accommodate communication to the Chrisitan brothers and sisters that are in his sphere of influence. Please keep Wayne in prayer as he seeks to bring the body into stronger unity and increase the influence of the Chrisitan witness in that area.
We also want to thank Stacy LaCount who has made a presentation postcard to go with the necklaces from Uganda that we make available for donations to people in the area. All the money goes directly to the women and families of Mercy Ministry in Kampala, Uganda. We are also excited that the postcards are also available in Spanish to accompany the necklaces that our sisters in San Luis, Mexico are also using to help support the ministry in Africa. Stacy was also instrumental in helping organize a garage sale with the Lyman Baptist church family which raised money specifically to help purchase a set of sound and video equipment that will be used in the Congo in Central Africa.
On June 27th, Linda joined Chris & Heather Sanderson, their kids and Mike & Melissa Harter to take Elisabeth back to Mexico. The team also brought a trailer with ministry supplies donated by friends from Skagit and Chehalis Valley. Please read the report in the Mexico news section. The team returned on July 5th, leaving Elisabeth in Mexico and bringing George back to Washington.
Upcoming we welcome everyone to join with families at Hillcrest Park in Mt. Vernon on Saturday, July 18th from 2-6pm for fun and fellowship. A group is tentatively going down to visit Wayne in Chehalis Valley on Saturday, July 25th and and we also need cookie bakers and volunteers for the annual Smokey Pt. Rest Area fundraiser Aug 3-5. Tentatively, George will be returning to Mexico on August 24th and Linda will be bringing a team leaving on September 5th. Please contact us if you might be interested in joining the team.
Many of you are aware that we are praying to get two additional sets of sound and video equipment to Central Africa by the end of the year. This will provide nine sets of equipment that will be used by local native Christian leaders from different church families to organize crusades and outreaches into communities throughout Central Africa. We are praying for an increase in the harvest……even more than a double portion. Last year, through your prayers and support, the leading of the Holy Spirit and the local native leaders we witnessed 9,530 come to salvation, churches were strengthened and many new church families were started. In the first 6 months of this year, we have witnessed 10,642. This is the 4th year and we will begin the 5th year in Africa in November of this year.
“When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:23-25
May 2009 US News
Much exciting news as Dina has gotten more settled in Africa. Martin and her have helped host a leader’s training conference in Kampala, Uganda with over 100 pastor’s attending and are presently ministering in Siteko, Kenya. We are happy to announce that Gabby Bihary from Mukilteo will be joining Dina in Africa on June 15th and will be visiting Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi with our Africa coordinator, Martin. Dina has extended her time and will be leaving Africa on August 5th when Gabby returns to Washington. We have handmade necklaces from the women in the Mercy Ministies in Kampala, Uganda that are available to those that might be interested in donating to support these families. Please contact us if you are interested.
Also, thanks to Dina in Africa and Katrina Lopez from Mt. Vernon, you can now access information and communicate with us through Facebook and My Space by searching George Henson. We are praying that this will expand our relationships with our friends that enjoy these communication tools.
We have been encouraging the Christian brothers and sisters in our sphere of influence that haven’t really focused on bringing Christian fellowship into their families and homes to prayerfully consider helping to strengthen the Church in our community by beginning to invite others into their homes. We are blessed to have many local church families where we find good Christian teaching and fellowship that can be brought into our homes and strengthen our witness in our own neighborhoods. Please contact your local church family to see what opportunities might be available that would allow your home to be used for ministry in your neighborhood. If you need information on how your home can be used as part of the Church, please contact us. We also have Bibles and tracts that might be helpful in witnessing in your neighborhood, work or play.
We have been able to share at Lyman Baptist Church and the women’s group at Avon United Methodist and were blessed to have many of our friends come together at our Harvest Vision Fellowship at the Carriage Court Clubhouse in Sedro Woolley on Saturday, May 15th. Thanks to Ron Caldwell, who came and helped with the breakfast and everyone that came and shared throughout the day about the ministry that they are involved with locally. We were also able to share about the ministry in Mexico and Africa. It was special to be able to dedicate newly born Azariah Justice Lopez in the afternoon. The worship trailer that is being prepared to travel to Mexico the end of the month was available for everyone to see and enjoy. The worship trailer was also set up at the Clear Lake Community Covenant Church during their recent youth group’s fundraiser. The trailer is now complete – guitars, drums, keyboard, sound system, puppets, video projector and screen and all ready to be taken to support local outreaches on May 29th. Robert LaCount and Adam Waldron will be joining George to take the trailer to San Luis. After a week of ministry, they will return with Elisabeth Angell, who has been living and serving as our missionary liaison in Mexico since December of 2008. Elisabeth will be here until she joins a team traveling to San Luis on June 27th. George will remain in San Luis in June and Elisabeth will be in Skagit Valley visiting friends and ministering. Currently, she will be sharing at the Community Bible Church in Concrete in the morning service, June 14th and at Hamilton First Baptist in the evening service the same day. Her schedule will be available on the website.
Over 30 people from different local church families joined together to use the worship trailer for outreach at the Cascade West Apartments in Mt. Vernon on Sunday evening, May 17th. Many thanks to Bobby and Jonah who shared as “God’s Choice” doing Christian rap music. Everyone enjoyed playing with the children on the playground equipment and witnessing to the adults that came. The puppet stage allowed some of our younger children to use their gifts to share the love of Christ to those that came.
March 1-15, 2009 US News
The last few weeks have been filled with lot’s of visitation and fellowship with friends throughout the Skagit Valley. We have been blessed to join the National Day of Prayer planning meeting hosted by the Pray Skagit team as they are working with local churches to prepare for the National Day of Prayer celebration that will be held at local churches and include a day time gathering at the Skagit County Court House. Please contact Pray Skagit at skagitndp@comcast.net or Sharon at 360-428-7729 for more information. Also, the Skagit Interfaith Disaster Relief Organization (SIDRO) had an information meeting with FEMA and county agencies to discuss how the Christian community working together can help meet needs that may not be covered by other agencies for people in Skagit Valley that were impacted by the recent floodings and mudslides. If you, your church or ministry would like more information on how you can be involved you can contact Pastor Tom Ross at 360-303-7440 or tomross@compuserve.com.
We so much want to thank Pastor Steve Fish and the Northern Peaks Christian Fellowship that opened up their facility for our family worship on Friday, March 13th. Friends from over 15 different churches joined together to worship by singing praises, hearing the Word of God preached, praying and joining in fellowship. Dale brought the worship trailer and our friends with Rice Bowl Ministries brought their bus that is being used as a mobile ministry to provide food and clothing to needy people in the community. We are praying that the local Christian community will help provide the remaining equipment for the worship trailer that will be used to outreach through music, videos and puppets. If you would like to help or would like to use the trailer to support a local outreach, before it goes to Mexico the end of May, please contact Dale (360-333-0591) or Chris (360-421-8812).
We have been working to gather all the ministry supplies that George will be taking with him for the trip to Africa March 16 to April 26th. Projector parts, school supplies, medicine and medical supplies, Bibles and other items are joined with gifts and packages for Katie as her and her husband are expecting a child due the end of May. At the present time, the schedule will have Martin, the director of the ministry in Central Africa, and George visiting the coordinators and their families in all five countries during the trip. Also, we have been blessed with the funding for the 7th full set of sound and video equipment that will support ministry in Africa. Although, George was not able to purchase the equipment in time for his trip, God has provided another way to get the equipment to where it is needed. Dina Wilkins, a young 19 year old woman from the Edmonds area will be traveling to Africa on April 20th to work and serve for 3 months. She is scheduled to attend PLU in the fall quarter but felt called to travel and help with the ministry prior to starting school. Dina will be helping care for Martin’s family, supporting local ministry in Uganda, visiting churches and ministries and helping with administrative support in the office. Her trip will also provide the opportunity to bring the sound and video equipment and increase the support that is being given to local native missionaries as they reach out to evangelize and disciple new believers.
Linda is working to prepare a team from Washington that will travel to San Luis, Mexico from March 27th to April 5th. The team will be supporting the ministry work in Mexico, from the prison and rehabs, to local church families throughout the city, including the outskirts (cardboard city) and help toward finishing the building of the home for Chindo, Rosario and their five children that are helping support the local ministry. The team will also be taking sports equipment down to support the 7th annual sports tournament and crusade in the men’s federal prison. We are still seeking people that will pray for the team and possibly join the team on the trip. Also, we are still in need of softballs, bats and mitts. If you are interested, please contact Linda at harvestvision21@msn.com or 360-856-5378. We are also excited that a friend, Pastor John Dodd from Manhattan, Montana, that was involved with the establishing of the ministry in San Luis is escorting a team from his hometown area to Mexico the middle of March. John is working on a building project through another ministry but will be doing some outreach with the Harvest Vision ministry team in San Luis.
Greetings to each of you and your families, (from George March 1, 2009)
This is my last day in Mexico and I have been blessed and encouraged by the faithful Spirit-filled brethren in San Luis. We have made progress on the home that is being built for the family that will be helping Victor, Elvira and Elisabeth with the day to day ministry. The electrical is completed, although we don't have the ~$200 USD needed to have it hooked up. Chindo and his boys are working on putting stucco on the inside brick walls. When money is available, they will be starting to put the sheetrock on the interior walls and installing a door and the windows. The family is a blessing to the neighborhood and for the other ministry that supports local Christian church families and outreaches into the community. Victor continues to find opportunities to minister to local church leaders and families and support various local outreaches in the community. Miguel is discipling brothers and sisters from different church families into the ministry at the prison and to local alcohol and drug rehabs. The church in the men's federal prison and the administration are looking forward to the arrival of the sports equipment and trophies that will be used for the 7th annual sports tournament and crusade. We pray that you will look for those new or used softball mitts, balls and bats that the April springbreak team from Washington will be bringing down to support the prison outreach. Everyone is anxious for the arrival of the self-contained worship trailer that will be brought from Washington to San Luis in May to support evangelism from the local churches and the planting of new church families. Elisabeth is visiting local churches, working with the sewing ministry and beginning Bible studies with local women. Many opportunities are open for visiting teams from the US to use their gifts and talents to encourage and teach our friends here in San Luis and also be encouraged and blessed by our local brethren here as they use their gifts and talents to bless those that visit.
Greetings to each of you and your families, (from George March 1, 2009)
This is my last day in Mexico and I have been blessed and encouraged by the faithful Spirit-filled brethren in San Luis. We have made progress on the home that is being built for the family that will be helping Victor, Elvira and Elisabeth with the day to day ministry. The electrical is completed, although we don't have the ~$200 USD needed to have it hooked up. Chindo and his boys are working on putting stucco on the inside brick walls. When money is available, they will be starting to put the sheetrock on the interior walls and installing a door and the windows. The family is a blessing to the neighborhood and for the other ministry that supports local Christian church families and outreaches into the community. Victor continues to find opportunities to minister to local church leaders and families and support various local outreaches in the community. Miguel is discipling brothers and sisters from different church families into the ministry at the prison and to local alcohol and drug rehabs. The church in the men's federal prison and the administration are looking forward to the arrival of the sports equipment and trophies that will be used for the 7th annual sports tournament and crusade. We pray that you will look for those new or used softball mitts, balls and bats that the April springbreak team from Washington will be bringing down to support the prison outreach. Everyone is anxious for the arrival of the self-contained worship trailer that will be brought from Washington to San Luis in May to support evangelism from the local churches and the planting of new church families. Elisabeth is visiting local churches, working with the sewing ministry and beginning Bible studies with local women. Many opportunities are open for visiting teams from the US to use their gifts and talents to encourage and teach our friends here in San Luis and also be encouraged and blessed by our local brethren here as they use their gifts and talents to bless those that visit.Please also pray for the trip to Africa. I will be leaving on March 16th and will return on April 26th. I will be visiting our friends in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and the Dem. Rep. of the Congo. We are in prayer for Pastor Jonathan in Uganda who is needing $1,500 to pay for last years and this years teacher's salaries for a school of over 200 children, many orphans and HIV infected, that he has started. The teachers are Christian and have been working by faith that the Lord will provide. Unfortunately, most of the children that have any family aren't able to pay. Also, the car that Pastor Isaac in the DRC has been using is in need of repair. He only has $500 for the $1,000 repair bill. You can find out information about him on the website on the leadership team. He started the MIRENA prayer movement in eastern DRC in 2000 with over 500 pastors involved in intercessory prayer, oversees about 30 churches and 60 pastors that belong to the EGD church family that the Lord used him to begin and coordinates Harvest Vision Ministries for that area. We are blessed by the testimonies of hundreds coming to salvation through the outreaches in Central Africa and for the many small church families that are discipling these new believers. Please continue to pray for our friends in the harvest fields, locally in Skagit Valley, in Mexico and in Central Africa and all those throughout the world that are preparing the Church for His soon return.
US News February 2009
Work continues on finishing the worship trailer and we still need a guitar, bass, keyboard, projector and puppets. We also need softball mitts and sports equipment that the Spring break team will be taking down for the tournament in the prison the end of April. Remember that we will be having a Praise and Worship Service on, Friday, March, 13th at Northern Peaks Christian Fellowship, beginning at 7 pm. The worship trailer will be there that evening, and we are hoping that you can think of ways that it might be used to support local ministry before it goes to Mexico.
US News January 2009
Since returning from Mexico, we have been blessed to have fellowship with many of the brethren here in Skagit Valley. Services at local church families, salvations, Bible studies and baptisms, including one mid January at frozen over Clear Lake. Thank God for the fire of His Holy Spirit! The work on the worship trailer continues with the stage doors having been set and new linoleum set on the floor. We are still in need of bass and amp, guitar, keyboard, projector, screen and puppets. On Sunday, Feb. 8th, from 2:30-3:30pm we will have a dedication service for the trailer. When the trailer is finished, it will be used to support local ministry in Skagit Valley before leaving for Mexico in May. The dedication will be at 25709 Minkler Rd, east of Sedro Woolley.
A team is preparing to leave for San Luis, Mexico on February 13th, to help work on the home for Chindo and Rosario and their five children that will be helping Victor, Elvira and Elisabeth with the day to day ministry. Elisabeth is serving now as the liaison to Skagit Valley for the ministry in San Luis and can be reached at her cell phone 011-521-653-119-6841, at email harvestvisionmexico@msn.com or by mail at PO Box 10483, San Luis, AZ 85349. We are also still in need of sports equipment, especially softball mitts, for the 7th annual sports tournament and crusade at the men’s federal prison.
After George’s return from Mexico the first of March, we will be having a family worship at Northern Peaks Christian Fellowship, 118 N. Ball St., on Hwy 20 across from the Three Rivers Inn in Sedro Woolley, Wa. on Friday, March 13th. This will be a special time for us to worship through music, prayer, fellowship, testimonies and God‘s Word with brothers and sisters from different church families in Skagit Valley.
US News December 2008
Much of our focus for December was preparing for the team going to San Luis, Mexico over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays and for the sending of Elisabeth Angell to live and support the ministry in Mexico during this next year. The snow prevented the team from leaving as originally planned but after much prayer the team finally left on December 22nd and arrived in San Luis on Christmas Eve. Please look at the Mexico news page for the report on how God used the team in Mexico. George and Linda accompanied Elisabeth and the rest of the team that represented different church families in the Skagit Valley, as well as Wayne Watne, that recently moved from Mt. Vernon, where he attended the Mt. Vernon Church of the Nazarene to McLeary, WA. The team drove through snowy passes towing a trailer of gifts, food, blankets, sewing machines and supplies, Bibles and other ministry supplies. This also included money to purchase the material for the trusses for the home being built next to the mission home for Chindo and Rosario and their five children that will be helping with the ministry in San Luis. A double-portion blessing was received when the women from San Luis came to us with money they had made selling necklaces to support the women in Africa. By every standard, these women are themselves very poor, but felt called to suppor t their sisters in Uganda.
Prior to leaving for San Luis, friends gathered at Dale Robertson’s shop in Sedro Woolley, to paint the inside of the travel trailer that is being converted for use as a worship outreach trailer in Mexico. We know that God is going to use this equipment, like he has the other equipment in Mexico and Central Africa to win many souls into the kingdom. We just received a report from the coordinator of the ministry in Burundi who used the equipment for 2 weekend outreaches in December that brought 500 souls into the kingdom. We have also been blessed by a friend from Skagit County that is sponsoring Lillian a young teenager in Uganda to her first semester of school. She was cast out on to the streets of Kampala by her Muslim family because of her decision to follow Jesus Christ.
We will be sponsoring the 7th annual sports tournament and crusade in the men’s federal prison in San Luis, Mexico in April or May. We need sports equipment, especially softball mitts (enough for at least two teams). The tournament allows men from the prison to join teams that compete against each other in softball, basketball, soccer and volleyball and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies are awarded during a crusade that brings administration, family members and the prisoners together. The church inside the prison prepares to disciple new believers, works and helps set up the teams and leads the crusade. Please join us in prayer for this event that has touched so many lives in these last 7 years.
We appreciate the prayers that have been extended to George after his return to Washington. Many of you now that he went into the hospital on January 6th to remove a tumor from his prostrate. Thanks to your prayers and the gifted staff and doctors at Skagit Valley Hospital in Mt. Vernon, George drove himself home after spending only 30 hours in the hospital.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As many of you know, we have been earning much needed funding through the Albertsons Community Partners Program. We need your help to continue earning funds.
Even if you have linked your Preferred Savings Card to our organization in the past, you need to re-link your card number in order for us to continue earning funds. Link (or re-link) your Albertsons Preferred Savings card to our organization now at:
WWW.ALBERTSONSCP.COM
All you need is your Preferred Savings Card Number and our Organization ID. It will only take a minute and will help us greatly.
If you do not know your Preferred Savings Card Number, please call:
(877) 932-7948
Our Organization ID # is: 49000126545
You must re-link your card at the website above by February 28, 2009 in order to keep earning funds for our organization.
Please pass this notice around to your friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors so they can link their cards for us as well.
If you do not have a Preferred Savings card, you can get one at any Albertsons or online at Albertsons.com.
Every time you shop at Albertsons and scan your linked Preferred Savings Card, we will earn back up to 4% of your shopping dollars.
Thank you for your support.
Harvest Vision Ministries
Skagit Valley Update November, 2008
Linda arrived home the first part of the month with encouraging testimonies of the lives being touched in Central Africa through your prayers and thoughtful giving to the ministry. We have been blessed to have fellowship with Ron & Joyce Panzera of Rhema Ministries and other friends in ministry at their home in Anacortes since her return. Their work with babies in Kenya is one of the ministries that Linda visited during her trip. We have also been encouraged by the work that “Christian Connections” is doing to build an email database to share the testimonies, works and needs of the ministry that the Christian Community is doing in Skagit and Island county. For information, contact marylouchilds@comcast.net.
Locally, Linda is still gathering every Tuesday morning with a group of women at a home in Burlington for viewing the “Driven by Eternity” video series by John Bevere and men from different church families in the Valley gathered for a men’s worship at Community Covenant Church in Clear Lake on Nov. 7th . We appreciate the church family at Clear Lake that hosted and Pastor Bob Bennett for leading the worship team that came from different churches in the Valley. Likewise, we were delighted to gather with other Christians to drive to the top of Little Mountain in Mt. Vernon to “humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways” so that God would “hear our prayers, forgive our sins and heal our land.” We are witness to Christians throughout the Skagit Valley, the nation and the world crying out to God so that we might witness His Presence during these troubled times. We know that many of our friends spend time in personal prayer thoughout the week, but God is also blessed by the many prayer groups that are meeting as part of their church family, through one of the many para-ministries or as individuals are led to call gatherings for the purpose of “soaking” in the presence of the living God.
Along with this desire to draw into His presence and hear from Him more clearly, many new church families are being birthed in the community that provide opportunities for fellowship and the teaching of God’s Word. A renewed passion to outreach into the community is beginning: through Child’s Evangelism Fellowship, Pregnancy Choices, Friendship House, Love INC., Hamilton Food Bank, Reverie BBQ feeding ministry and other para-ministries. Church families are partnering with other church families and other ministries to meet the physical needs of our community by providing food, clothing and shelter to those less fortunate in our community. This extends even beyond our local community, as individuals and groups meet to pray and meet the needs in other parts of the state, nation and the world. During this month, we have had the opportunity to fellowship at these church families; Grace Church & Newsong (Mt. Vernon), Freedom Worship Center (Anacortes), Bethel Assembly of God (Sedro Woolley) and Community Bible Church (Concrete) and we have enjoyed fellowship at Men’s Fellowship Northwest, the women’s meeting, the men’s worship, on top of the mountain, in homes and on the streets. We have met and prayed with others at Pray Skagit and with pastors and leaders at Burlington Christ the King and met with others to pray and support each other in ministry in other areas and nations of the world, such as the “Heart to Hands Aids Awareness” ministry that Bethany Covenant Church and World Vision is bringing to our community, Mexico and in Central Africa. We are truly blessed in this time and in this nation in which we live to have such a diverse Christian family. Jesus said, “You will know they are My disciples by the way they love one another” and the Apostle Paul wrote, “If anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
We are happy to announce that much progress is being made on the ministry trailer that is being built for outreach in Mexico. The generator, sound system and drum set have been purchased or donated and the stage doors are being put together now. We are still in need of a guitar, bass, keyboard, projector and puppets.
We invite each of you to join us on Dec. 14th for a celebration of the ministry and to pray for the team that will be ministering in Mexico over Christmas. This will be a potluck fellowship at Community Covenant Church in Clear Lake at 2pm and will include the commissioning of Elisabeth Angell from Concrete as the liaison for the ministry in Mexico. She will be living in Mexico and coordinating between the Christian community in the US (primarily Skagit County) and Mexico (primarily San Luis).
Skagit Valley Update October, 2008
Linda arrived in Africa October 3rd and delivered the 6th set of sound and video equipment to support outreaches in northern Uganda. She have visited various church families and ministries in the Kampala area, the IDP camps in northern Uganda and participated in the annual 3-day women’s conference in mid October. Martin, the director of the ministry in Central Africa, and Linda are now traveling and visiting ministries in Kenya. We are blessed with the testimonies of hundreds of people coming to salvation, miracles of healing and deliverance and the planting of new churches through the outreaches that are supported with the equipment that the ministry provides to the local native missionaries in Central Africa. Also, during the middle of the month, George spent two weeks in San Luis, Mexico, primarily working toward the establishment of the ministry as a registered religious association in the country of Mexico. This was necessary to meet the legal requirements to expand the ministry into different parts of the country.
Locally, we are encouraged with the testimonies of many Christian brothers and sisters that are interceding in prayer on behalf of our community and reaching out to those less fortunate with acts of Christian love. We are looking forward to the next Men’s Worship that will be hosted at the Community Covenant Church in Clear Lake on Friday, November 7th and we are encouraged with the work that is being done on the “worship” trailer that is being built to support outreach ministries in Mexico. The “travel trailer” that was donated has been “gutted out” and the stage doors are being installed on the side of the trailer that was cut out. Once complete, the trailer will have stage doors that fold down and will be equipped with sound and video equipment, instruments and provision for puppet ministry – all self-contained and generator –powered for outreach in the city of San Luis and the smaller out-lying villages. Thanks to the many people that are sharing their talents and resources to make this possible.
Many thanks again to Kelly Farrar from the Grace Church that has been providing the support for our website. Kelly is helping Kylee to launch a new site for the ministry that we will be able to update from anywhere in the world. We appreciate Kelly’s sharing of his gifts to help us expand God’s Kingdom.
Skagit Valley Update September 27, 2008
We were blessed to join a group from the valley that drove to the top of Mt. Erie in Anacortes in western Skagit Valley to pray for our community. In these last few days, we have also had the privilege to be with Pray Skagit at their weekly prayer and attended the Pastor’s Prayer meeting at Faith Community Fellowship with pastors and leaders from throughout the county. The meeting included testimonies and teaching on prayer from keynote speaker, Dr. Al VanderGriend from Lynden, WA.
We are delighted to share the testimony of the work in south Mt. Vernon, as Reverie BBQ fed 281 people on their first night of their five night feeding ministry Sept. 26th. Their faithfulness to reach out to this part of the community is being confirmed, because along with the ministry of existing church families that are already positioned in the community, two new church families are starting services soon. The Well is starting services on Sunday morning, Sept. 28th, at 10am at Skagit Gardens and Northern Peaks – Mt. Vernon is starting services on Sunday evenings at 7 pm at the Skagit County Fair Grounds.
We are excited that we have recently received a donation to help start construction on the home for Chindo, Rosario and their family on the lot next to the shelter in San Luis, Mexico. The property will be signed over to them the first of the year and they will continue to be partners in our ministry outreach into the San Luis community. Linda will be leaving for Africa soon and will be taking with her all the equipment needed from the USA for another complete set of sound and video equipment for outreach. She will also have funds for the remaining equipment that needs to be purchased there, plus money for various ministries that we support. We will also be buying a sewing machine and paying for training for the two teenage girls that help with Martin’s family and the work at the home and office in Kampala. In the last newsletter, Pastor Martin shared about a young 18 year old former Muslim girl that was sent out of her family because of her acceptance of Jesus Christ. He was burdened because she is not able to complete her schooling. We would like to give praise that one of our friends in the Skagit Valley, contacted us after reading about “Lillian” and will be helping to meet that need. We give God the glory for the work of the Holy Spirit and each of you that respond in obedience to His Voice.
On a personal note, Linda, our family and I want to thank each of you for your prayers for our 12 year old grandson, Kamron, that was hit in the eye by a baseball two weeks ago. The eye pressured up and had to have fluid extracted to prevent damage. Unfortunately, even after almost two weeks of medication and care, the eye was still filled and Kamron was not able to see. Kamron was taken to Swedish Medical Center for surgery on Thursday evening, Sept. 25th, the followup the next morning showed the pressure down and his eyesight is almost completely restored. Please pray that his eye will be guarded for the next couple of weeks and the eye strengthens and is fully restored. Thank you.
To the men: It is with sadness that I have to notify you that Promise Keepers has cancelled the Conference scheduled for November 14-15, 2008 in Tacoma. I appreciate Pastor Bob Bennett who attended the Summit in Tacoma and notified me. I called the Promise Keepers office yesterday and the staff person verified that it is officially cancelled. The reason given was that too few men here in the Northwest were interested which made it logistically unfeasible. Logistically, that may be the conclusion when it comes to trying to justify an event in a venue like the Tacoma Dome and to justify the expense of Promise Keepers, but I assure you that God recognizes each of you. I thank you personally for each of you that have signed up or had planned to get tickets and attend. I thank you personally for each of you that have donated money that we have used to purchase tickets for guys that otherwise couldn't have attended. I thank you for the prayers that the "few" of you lift up each and every day for the men in your community and the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to Pastor Tyrone Garey from Praise Chapel and Pastor Pana from Hilltop Christian Center that agreed to open local churches to house the men that were planning on attending. I thank those men and women that support Promise Keepers in their effort to strengthen local church families by bringing men together in their communities, states and our nation so we can be the spiritual leaders Jesus has called us to be. I know this is more difficult for some than others - especially when Promise Keepers doesn't seem to "keep" their promises. For those that attended with us in Spokane and were told that we could expect a conference on the west side the next year, only to be disappointed. Then to have this conference be cancelled is another reason to be discouraged. But Promise Keepers is not an organization - it is a movement and it is a reflection of those that are being "moved". It is very convenient for us to blame our government, our denomination, our economy or whoever else is supposed to be taking care of our every need. But we know in our hearts that God has ultimately given us the responsibility for the leadership of His Church and we are sadly witnessing that we aren't where we should be. Let us continue in unity and fellowship to ask God to show us any area in which we are not honestly putting Him first, repent and be the men that He has called us to be. We are to be the representation of Christ in unity, not only in our church families where we have the opportunity to grow together spiritually, but also in the work place and other places in our communities. We need to seek and foster Christian brotherly relationships with men that we work and play together with, even though we may be called into different local church families.
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity." Psalm 133
If there is division amongst even our churches, it is the men that are responsible. Let us not put the burden or the blame on the "leadership", because that is our responsibility. Jesus is calling us to Him, just like He called men to serve David. There are many that thought it was over when Jesus and Lazarus and Jairus' daughter were dead - but not so. We were told that only a few hundred men signed up for Tacoma.
"David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him." 1 Samuel 22:1-2
It is not over - until the trumpet sounds!
Yes - the Christian community in the Northwest is not everything it should be - but because of each of you, it is not as bad as it used to be and it isn't yet the great community that it is going to be.
I love and respect each of you and the work that you are doing to build His Kingdom.
March 15-April 30, 2009
The March team to San Luis Mexico has returned. It was an eventful time for Corbin La Count and his grandmother, Diane Sipe, who were, along with Linda, the entire team. They took with them the sports equipment and trophies for the Annual Sports Tournaments in the Federal Prison in San Luis. While in San Luis, they visited many new friends of the ministry and helped in the “Reap What You Sew” ministry. Diane was able to accompany Elisabeth to minister at a couple of Rehab Centers, play a little guitar and even give Kiwi, Victor’s dog, a bath. Corbin was a big help in cooking and serving chicken at a fundraiser that Victor and Elvira had, rekindling friendships with Miguel Tapia’s children, kept Elisabeth’s garden watered and had fun playing with neighborhood friends he had made on his previous trip in December. Diane and Corbin both, were able to help serve food at the Saturday service at Comador El Jordon, before starting the journey back to Washington. Corbin’s family will be presenting a slide show of this and December 08 trip. Corbin wants to serve his church family at Lyman Baptist Church, an authentic Mexican meal. That will be Sunday, April 26th at 11 am at the Fire Hall in Lyman, WA.
Upon returning to Washington, Linda had a couple of weeks to prepare Dina Wilkins for her mission to Africa, where she will be for three months. Coordinating and trying to organize things, so it would go as smoothly as possible for Dina, on her venture was a lot of work. Making sure she had all the essentials for traveling and everything she would need for the equipment. Dina took with her, the 8th set of portable sound equipment, which will be used for outreaches in Uganda.
Here is the email received from George after Dina’s arrival in Africa :
We are blessed with all the wonderful things that God does to take care of us so the Gospel can be spread.
Take one minute and remember your first "mission" experience in another country......
Do you remember the start.......the middle......or the end?
Just asking the question...
Try starting the way our little 19 year old Dina has started hers.
Yep,,,you guessed it. She lost her passport and had to get a new one on Friday before she left, only after Linda faxed her a copy of the airline ticket so she could prove that she was flying to Africa on Monday. Then because she was not able to make it to Sedro Woolley so all the bags could be packed to ensure none were over the weight limit, Kylee and Dina met Linda at the McDonald’s parking lot on Linda’s way down to the airport and they repacked bags in the parking lot. Of course, when they arrived at the airport the sound system showed weighing more than the allowable 70# (2#’s over) and after a serious unsuccessful attempt to remove enough styrofoam to meet the limit….British Airways gave a special gift to the mission and let it come on board. Thank goodness, that all worked out and Linda called to say that Dina was on her way. Alone for the first time for a 3 month mission stay in Africa.
Well, we met Dina at the airport on Wednesday morning right on schedule. What an experience that woman can pack into just the flight to Africa – I somehow can only imagine what the next 3 months will be like. She breezed through security in Seattle and made it to London without a hitch, even though she had the small vial of pepper spray in her carry-on that was recommended that she have by her concerned friends. While on the flight to London and re-arranging her things she put the pepper spray into the clear plastic bag that held her other liquids. After departing her flight, she had to go through security again to meet her next flight to Africa and they saw the pepper spray in the bag and she was detained. The UK law has been changed and has pepper spray listed as a “weapon”, the same as a gun. She explained that she didn’t know it was illegal but they said they had no choice but to hold her and call the police. The police came and after she explained what happened, they tried to convince themselves that 1) she got on the plane with it in the USA and 2) she wasn’t aware 3) she didn’t try to hide it and 4) she had to catch a flight in 9 hours. After that, they decided their still was no option, so they arrested her and took her to the police station in London. She spent 2 hours in jail, after having being interviewed with tape recorder, photographed and finger-printed. She recognized they were trying to help her and befriended one of the police that is involved in an outreach that brings terminally ill youth once a year for a 10 day dream vacation at Disneyworld in Florida. In fact, she has his information to keep in contact with him and he wants her to share her Africa testimony with him through email. They made a special rush to get her back in time for her flight.
Our friend, Joyce, from Uganda Revenue Service met Dina when she arrived in Entebbe and helped get her visa and gather her baggage. Unfortunately, the keyboard missed the flight out of London and Dina had to fill out that paperwork. Fortunately, Joyce came outside and got me and let me come in while she was doing that paperwork. The keyboard will now arrive on Friday morning and they will deliver it to the home in Kampala. Joyce will make sure that it gets on its way and also ensure that we don’t have to pay duty on it, just like we didn’t have to pay duty even on the PA system. That saved us $500. Afterwards, we dropped Joyce off at her home in Entebbe because she stayed over off of graveyard shift to help Dina on her arrival.
The $1200 that was sent for the remainder of the equipment will buy the keyboard bag for transporting the new keyboard plus the remaining keyboard bag for the only keyboard we have without a case…and that leaves $35…the same amount that we lost when we had the problem with the wire transfer.
We have now arrived safely and Dina is taking a much needed rest.
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!”
How could I leave out any part of this wonderful report…..
George will be retuning back to the US from Africa on Monday, April 27th.
On Saturday, May 16th at the Carriage Estates clubhouse, we will be getting together at 8:30 am for breakfast, and will continue for the remainder of the day to fellowship with each other about all the areas of the ministry. For more information call the Harvest Vision Office.
We are again, this year joining with CMN ( Christian Ministry Network ), to help with the “Back To School Blessing” which will be held on August 22nd. They have asked us to coordinate a praying room. There will be monthly planning meetings till the event. Anyone interested in more information or in helping, can contact: Harvest Vision Ministries at 360-856-5378 or email, harvestvision21@msn.com
George left for Africa Feb.24th and will return on March 24th. His original itinerary was to return on the 22nd, but due to a walk out planned with British Airways on that day; he was rebooked for the 24th. There has been a lot of ministry coordinated, which you can read about on the Africa News page.
Usually Linda’s schedule is a little slower pace when he is away, but it doesn’t seem so this time. Harvest Vision has been involved with planning meetings for the Skagit Harvest Festival, planned for August 28th at Edgewater Park in Mount Vernon, coordinating efforts with “Christian Ministries Network” (CMN) and “For His Glory Ministries”. Prayerfully we are asking for 35 church families to be involved.
Work continues on the worship trailer to be used locally, and will be available to church groups, para- ministries, and others wishing to do outreach. We are still in need of instruments, keyboard, guitar and amp, bass and amp, drums, projector and puppets. There has already been a request for it in the Chehalis Valley in July. We continue to meet and have fellowship at Dale Robertson’s shop on Thursday evenings at 6 pm.
There was a team of 6 people who visited our coordinator for the Chehalis area a couple of times this past m couple of months. They fellowshipped with “Set Free Ministries”.
Ted and Jan Brockmann have borrowed the ministry van every Thursday to pick up children and transport them to a youth group at a local church. They started by going door to door in their neighborhood inviting them. Now there are more than 60 children that attend.
We will be hosting a Family Worship Service on Friday, March 19th at Dale Robertson’s shop. A chance for you to catch up on the ministry in Mexico, Africa and locally, and to fellowship with each other.
The Spring break team will be leaving for Mexico on the 26th. Elisabeth will be returning with them to spend the month of April in Washington, and will be available. Please contact us or check the schedule for her calendar.
