Evangelism Explosion 4/26/06

Good morning everyone!

Last night was our second to last night of visits - this coming Tuesday night will be the last that we will go out with the trainees to share; the following Tuesday night will be the banquet which concludes the semester.


As Dot notes, Ken, Jared and I went to an apartment complex in Pearl and found a lady named Debbie after talking with a guy named Mike who leads a "house church". We sort of tag teamed the presentation - Jared did most of the work and did a great job; Ken picked up with the clarification after she indicated that she would like to receive Christ; then he handed the ball off to me and I ran with it (to use a football analogy) in praying for Debbie and then with her in the Sinner's Prayer. Then, I handed it back to Jared to pray again and he gave it back to Ken to finish up.

By my count, we now have 86 professions of faith for this semester. I won't put it past God to, if He wills it, allow us to see 100 professions of faith this semester - we need just 14 next week and we all know that nothing is impossible for God.


In Him,

Peggy


Dear EE Friends,


Tonight the Gospel was presented 16 times and there were TWELVE professions of faith!!


All of these people who accepted Christ tonight were met completely under God's guidance.
The religious questionnaire was used, and the people were complete strangers to us and our church. They were Divine appointments indeed.


Ken Blackstock, Jared Yates, and Peggy Alford met Debbie as they went door to door. She is about 49 years old and was lost until she openend her heart tonight.


Ladd Bratcher, Hank Holman and Linda Clark met a Portuguese couple in their early thirties, Marcel and Samira, as they took the religious questionnaire and went door to door. This couple prayed to receive Christ, and they are potential church members for us.


William Pierce, Diann Zachery and Vic Holsapple visited with a man and his four daughters, ages 9,13, and 20. They are from Magee, MS, and were in the lobby of our Baptist Hospital. They each answered the diagnostic question " Do you know for certain, that if you died tonight that you would go to heaven" by saying "yes", but did not know why God would/should let them into heaven. After hearing the Gospel presentation they understood clearly what Jesus had done for them on the cross.. and why their faith alone, in Christ alone, would mean that they could enter heaven sin-free. What a gift our Lord offers us!


Then Terri Wissel, Chris Miller, and Jamie Butler led five people at the Methodist Rehab Center. Three were from Jackson and two from Rolling Fork.


Tonight God's Word was left in many places, and He promises that His Word never returns void.
"So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accopmlish that which I purpose. Isaiah 55:11 (NRSV)


The Gospel was shared 16 times tonight and five other people received assurance of their
Salvation.

We have only one more week for the teams to go out visiting this semester. Then there is our final banquet because the training will be completed for this semester. We will all be equipped now to share the Good News where ever we might be in our everyday way of life.


It is our prayer that God will put people right in our faces that want or need to hear His Word.... We are ready and eager!!


"Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life...Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20 (MSG)


Thank you for being faithful prayer warriors for us.


In His Love,
Dot

I'm Baaaack........

It's been a while since I last posted an entry...I've been busy and away from the computer. I have a new photo of Sukiey to share with you. Yep - that's my girl!! She really is a very sweet and loving cat.

Last night Sukiey had a hairball. I heard her and knew immediately what it was since it was the second time this had happened. So - I got up and went to the refrigerator to put in to operation Chris' home remedy that she had taught me. I got Sukiey and greased her front legs down real good with butter and tried to feed her some butter as well, but she didn't care for that idea much.

Later on I got up for another reason and discovered she had brought up the hairball, so I had to clean that up. Yuck!!! But, Sukiey's not any trouble. At least I don't think she is. I love my cat!

She has taken to wanting to attack my hair. It's only been in the past few days that this has happened. It's likely because I changed shampoos - I wanted to try a type of Garnier Fructis that I had seen advertised. Apparently it's attractive to Sukiey.

Sukiey has also gotten new food and water bowls. They were a gift from a friend - that's all I'll say about that. She likes them too - and they work better for me as well. Plus, I'm in the process of changing her from Chef's Blend to Purina One - which she seems to like better. And, I'm trying to wean her off canned food or down to as low an amount as possible each day.

Well - this is it for now...

Announcing...

The engagement of two of my good friends from First Baptist Church - Jackson, Mississippi....

David Townsend and Debbie Wall

Congratulations!! May you be very happy together for many, many, many years to come!!

Both are Ole Miss graduates. Debbie is from Oxford and David is from Pontotoc.

Evangelism Explosion for 4/11/06

Good morning friends/family!

It was yet another wonderful night - with great weather for traveling around the area to go "fishing". As Dot noted, the teams were "scrambled" - that is, the trainees were reassigned to a different trainer that they hadn't worked with before in an attempt to let them see how different trainers handle the various situations that come up, etc.

I was teamed with Donny Lowery and Bob Mabry. Since I've been used mainly as a "floater" this semester, I've gone out with both guys at least once already. Before we left, Donny told me to look at the cards. I told him that the last time I did that, I got a feeling about one of them, the team leader and I nearly got into an argument due to the driving distance, but he finally agreed to make the visit and we wound up leading a young child to Christ that nightl. I picked 2 cards that I kind of had feelings - not super strong like before - about and we were off. Before leaving the church, I prayed for our visits - the people, us, the other teams.

One of the visits was with a man in Brandon - Donny lives in Brandon, but he and Bob were unable to locate the address on one of our maps. So, Bob called the phone number and reached someone - but not the person we were looking for. Looking back, God obviously closed that door! Instead, we set out to try to find Gloria - who lives sort of in Jackson's "inner city" - and had some difficulty finding her, but eventually we were successful.

Once at Gloria's house, I was positioned in front and knocked on the door. She responded with something like "who is it?" and I identified all 3 of us and made sure to tell her that we were from First Baptist Church - Jackson. She opened the door to us and we stood out on the stpes for a couple of minutes talking, then she invited us inside. After we were seated, Donny started with the Gospel presentation and asked her the 2 diagnostic questions - to which she responded with "works" type answers.

Donny plunged ahead and did a fabulous, nearly flawless presentation of the Gospel. Bob and I were sitting back watching the interaction between Donny and Gloria and I know I was praying for both of them. Well - Donny reached the point in the presentation about commitment and he asked Gloria if she would like to accept this free gift of eternal life and claim Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Gloria said yes, so he clarified what that meant; she still said yes when he asked again, giving her "an out" as it were.

About that time, I stepped up to the plate and kind of barged in. The time of commitment is my favorite part of the presentation - when asked, I tell team leaders that if they'll get us to the time of commitment, I'll take it from there. Several times this semester, it has worked out that way too. Well - I asked Donny if he would like for me to lead and he gave it to me to run with. I prayed first for Gloria, then again, with her following me, in a "sinner's prayer", and then I gave it back to Donny to pray for her that she would be strong in her new found faith. We talked with her a while longer and I got some information from her - I wrote it in the notebook I carry with me on EE visits. Before leaving, we prayed with Gloria one more time - as we did, she broke down in tears of joy over the decision she had made as a result of our visit.

When we were in Donny's truck on the way back to church - we only had time for this one visit - we were talking about how it went. I apologized to Donny for barging in on the time of commitment and he said he didn't have a problem with that at all. Bob hadn't said much through the entire visit; he claimed that he was admiring Donny's skillful presentation - I was too for that matter - and I told Bob that at the last, I was trying to draw him into the conversation by asking him questions about Stan and his preaching style and programs for kids.

Some special prayer notes on Gloria:

Her mother, Helen, is coming out of a nursing home on Thursday to live with her.
On Saturday they will be moving to a new residence - she gave us the new address, her phone number will stay the same.
She asked us to pray for her children and grandchildren, some of whom are living with her
Her brother, Sylvester.

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for our teams. The semester is coming to a close in about 4 weeks. We have 3 more nights of visits and then the final night will be our end of semester "graduation" and banquet.

In Him,

Peggy Alford

Here's Dot's part...

Subject: EE Report: Heaven is rejoicing!!

My Dear EE Friends,

Tonight was fabulous!

Tuesday nights have long been my favorite night of the week because we can so easily see God at work, and we are allowed to be part of it. How great it is, that He commands us to be His witnesses and then turns right around and blesses us tremendously! There is an indescribable joy in sharing the Gospel and seeing someone come to accept Him as Lord and Savior.

Just for tonight, the trainees were assigned to a different trainer for a little variety in looking for lost people. We each have a favorite "fishing spots", and it was fun mixing the teams up a bit.

Heaven rejoiced with us tonight in seeing EIGHT people make professions of faith and thus experience their spiritual birth.

Ronnie Falvey and Bob Waller visited with a mother and her four children ages 8-13. The dad was not home. The man and his wife were former members of our church sometime ago. Ronnie shared the Gospel with the children and they all prayed to receive Christ!!! They live in Pearl, and they indicated that they might very likely come to our church this coming Sunday and walk the aisle. What a memorable Easter this will be for that family!

Eric James, Hank Holman and Linda Deddens made contact with a lady who signed up at our church booth at the state fair last fall. She was 30 years old and lost. After hearing the Gospel presentation she prayed to receive Christ. She has a 9 year old son and she too is a potential church member. She says her son needs Sunday School, AWANA, and would enjoy Upward basketball too.

Ken Blackstock, Mary Burkett, and Rick Olson also made a visit with a lady in her 30's who had registered at our state fair booth last fall. Latasha also prayed to receive Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Bob Mabry, Donny Lowery, and Peggy Alford visited with Gloria, a 44 yr. old lady who uses our CLC. After hearing them share the Gospel, she accepted Christ as her Savior and Lord.
She is interested in the single adult ministry of our church.

My team for tonight was Chris and Karen Ball. We knocked on apartment doors. The first door opened to us and was a lady named Heidi, about 60 years old, of German decent. She attends Pinelake, but did not have a much understanding of the tremendous price Christ paid for us on the cross. Karen shared the Gospel so beautifully and gently with her and then Heidi prayed for Jesus to come into her heart.

We then knocked on a second door which also opened to us. Chris shared this time with a 35 year old man named Casey, and Casey received assurance of his salvation. Chris too did a great job with the presentation.

All in all, we had the eight spiritual births, and nine others who received assurance of their salvation. It was our joy tonight to help those nine better understand what Easter is all about. So, there are 17 people who are very happy tonight that they opened their doors to our EE teams and then opened their hearts to Jesus.

Several of the other teams made great visits of encouragement in and around the hospitals... sharing the love of Jesus with families and praying with them. The people were so thankful for the visits. Many of them had no one with them from a church. Having received a touch from our Lord, they had smiles on their faces as our teams left them.

I hope these emails can somehow convey to you the blessings we receive from our faithfulness to share His Message. His Word is so very important...

Jesus declared
" I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless his is born again." John 3:3

May God bless you too for being our faithful prayer support.

Love,
Dot

Sukiey's Antics....

This morning when I got finished in the shower and was coming out, as I opened the curtain, there was Sukiey sitting on top of my clothes which were laying on the toilet seat lid. I had to make her get down so I could get to them and get dressed! The cat, though, is no trouble.

On the way to lunch...and then afterwards,,,,

As we were walking past the Capitol to and from the luncheon, we passed a rally being held on the steps of the Capitol. I’m sure you’ve heard all about the immigration reform rallies that are being held all over the country. Well – Jackson is not being left out. That’s what was going on at the Capitol and news crews from channels 3, 12 and 16 were there to cover it. It seemed that people kept arriving and the crowd kept growing. I think there were some there who were counter-protesting, too.

When I got back from lunch, one of the things I did was to log on The Animal Rescue Site and I wound up placing an order for a lanyard and a teddy bear. They were having a special – shipping is 1¢ for today only for all U.S. orders. I wasn’t sure about that – but sure enough on the invoice and the confirmation I received via e-mail, they showed $2.95 for shipping and then a credit for $2.94 – so indeed, I was only charged 1¢ for the shipping. Hmm…I’ll be looking forward to receiving the lanyard and the bear. There were a few other items I would’ve liked to have purchased, but… The e-mail indicated that my order provides 28 bowls of food for animals in sanctuaries and shelters. And speaking of, when I checked out at Pet Smart on Friday, I was given the option to donate $1.00 to animal charities and I did. I’m just passionate about animals and being kind and loving to them.

Over the Weekend...

Thursday I left out of here at 12:00 p.m. and went home. I went upstairs and changed to a pair of jeans and then laid down on the couch and Sukiey got up there with me. We took a nap, then later Chris called me to say she was coming up with another cage. I grabbed Sukiey, but couldn’t hold onto her and she took off to her “hidey-hole” and so Chris had to come on in and get her because I couldn’t. We got her in the carry cage and went on downstairs. Of course she squalled while in the elevator since she doesn’t like the movement they make. Once we were out of there, though, she was fine.

Jean’s sister, Becky, had decided she would go with us – so we loaded up Chris’ car – put Sukiey’s cage on the back seat and Becky sat back there with her. We headed over to the Vet’s office – and had a short wait for Dr. Boyd. Sukiey was called for while I was dealing with the front office ladies – and so Chris took her to the exam room. When I got done, I joined Chris in there. Dr. Boyd announced to me that Sukiey had gained a pound – which was good because it meant she was eating good. As for Sukiey’s hair loss, she said it could be a number of things and told us what some options would be. We decided to hold off for now and see how she does in 3 weeks when she goes back for her next feline HIV booster. She got the shot and then when Chris opened the door of the cage, Sukiey just sat there and Chris had to “encourage” her to get her to go back in the cage.

I had written the Vet’s office a check for $87.00 – which included a single dose of Revolution – the flea and heartworm medication, plus the cost of the feline HIV shot she was getting and a balance due from the previous visit that we didn’t pay. That clears the ledger on Sukiey for now.

We left and headed over to the post office, where I put the package with my friend Carol’s letter and some stuff in the mail to her, and also purchased a book of stamps. Then, we went back to Sterling Towers and took Sukiey up to my apartment. She ran out of the cage when we opened it after going inside. She headed straight for one of her “hidey-hole” spots. Chris took the cage back down to her apartment and dropped it off; then she, Becky and I headed out again. This time, we were en route to Pet Smart.

At Pet Smart I got a pail of Tidy Cat litter – 27 pounds – and noticed that with my Pet Perks card it was on sale for $8.49 and I had a $2.00 off coupon, so it would be $6.49 plus tax. Chris also had a $2.00 off coupon and so she got a pail as well. Becky was purchasing cat food for her cat, Midnight. When we got up to the register to check out, they went to one register and I went to another. Well, Chris realized that they gave us the $2.00 off for the coupon, but not the Pet Perks price. The clerk said the litter wasn’t on sale and we told him it was – that there was a sale tag on the shelf. One of the managers went back to check and found the sale tag we were talking about; when he returned he had it with him. He said he would honor the sale price – and he refunded $2.14 to each of us – because the sale tag was still up on the shelf when it should’ve been taken down. Later we decided someone on his crew probably got chewed out because that tag hadn’t been removed.

We returned to Sterling Towers and unloaded the car. We got buggy to put everything in – Chris dropped off her cat litter pail down- stairs – then we went up and dropped Becky’s stuff in her apartment and then went on up to mine and dropped my stuff off. Chris went back down and returned the buggy and took her pail of litter to her place. Later, Chris and I met back up and headed out to the Kroger in Brandon – we met Ronnie and Beverly there – and went shopping. Ronnie is big into coupon shopping. At the end of the trip, I had purchased almost $40.00 worth of groceries yet paid less than $20.00 for them. I saved 53% on the bill. J J

Then, we stopped at Krystal on the way back and got something for dinner. At Sterling, we unloaded our purchases and headed on to our apartments. I put my stuff away and got ready and went to bed. Sukiey has found a spot in the bed that she claims as her own. She gets on a pillow that’s above my head – because I don’t sleep all the way at the top next to the headboard. She likes that spot and I let her have it.

Friday I slept in and later on got a call from Chris. She was taking her car to be serviced – the oil needed to be changed – and to be checked out since it was making a noise we weren’t sure about. She said she would call me later after she knew what was going on. I went down and did laundry and then hung out with Sukiey for a while. Chris called later in the day and was back. They had found that the timing belt was about to come off – so they had changed it – and also changed the oil. We went out – to CVS to get those pre- scriptions that I had ordered refills of. Then we went to Pet Smart again and got a copy of Pit Road Pets – a photo book of the NASCAR stars and their pets, a bag of Purina ONE and a couple of other things – a jug of Friskies Chef’s Blend for one thing.

We were under a severe weather watch – but the severe part never materialized as far as I know. We did get the rain, though. And – it cooled us down as well, because Saturday morning it was down around 57 degrees when Chris and I left to go meet Ronnie for our newspaper gig. We did 3 routes each – as Ronnie picked up some extra work for us and it was around 3:30-4:00 p.m. when we finished – actually I finished at least an hour and a half ahead of Chris.

When we left there, we stopped at Krystal and I got a cross between lunch and dinner – as I was hungry. Then we went on to Sterling and I went up to my apartment and laid down for a little while with Sukiey to rest. Chris had to almost turn right around and head out again – she had about an hour before going back out to her Church group meeting.

Well – I overslept Sunday morning – I’m going to have to fix my alarm clock so that I don’t keep doing that. So – I missed Church again. Oops! Sukiey and I got on the couch and fell back asleep. Later in the day I watched the NASCAR race and strangely enough, I can’t remember who won. L L I watched some of the Sunday Night Baseball game on ESPN before going to bed. I did accomplish something Sunday – I did some cleaning of my desk and threw out a lot of trash – about ¾ of a garbage bag full. I’m not done with cleaning the desk though – I just got tired from working on it and had to quit. I’ll continue with it at a later time.

I also got my deadbolt issue corrected – it appears. Chris told me to spray some cooking oil on the key and then try inserting it in the lock and to go in and out with it in order to lubricate the tumbler inside. I did – and it worked. I tried it several times and it was working. I had been having trouble getting the key to go in the lock. Now it slides right on in. So – this morning I locked the deadbolt when I left for work. She came up and checked out my sink and disposal – and the water is draining much better now, but she says I need to have Jean to send Hewlit up to work on it. I may request that later this week.

I got to bed around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night and woke up a couple of times. Sukiey was in her favorite spot. One of the times was around 4:00 a.m. I woke up with a coughing spasm and Sukiey didn’t appreciate that, so she got up and went and got on the couch. I was disturbing her beauty sleep! J J I got up and got a drink of water to ease the coughing issue.

Oh yeah – I did finish reading Paul and the next book I plan to start is The Journey How to Live By Faith In An Uncertain World by Billy Graham. I have the book with me today if I get time to do any reading. Right now things are quiet – but they could break loose at any time…

Also – in the mail over the long weekend was the purple paw pin that I ordered from The Animal Rescue Site. I have it on – clamped to my polo shirt collar – this morning. I think it’s pretty cool myself…

I talked with Chris for a few minutes this morning…she said she has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon – cardiology I think – and that she’s going to stop and get some canned cat food while she’s out because that’s the only way she can keep Precious – a problem child cat – in her apartment instead of rambling off somewhere. I have plenty of canned food for Sukiey – so I suppose that I won’t be buying anymore for a couple of weeks.

Oh – while we were at Pet Smart on Thursday, I decided to purchase a tee shirt. The proceeds were going to Pet Smart Charities. The tee shirt was $10.00 and there was no sales tax. I haven’t worn it yet, though, because I didn’t want to get it dirty doing newspaper stuff and I didn’t go with Chris Saturday evening to the “Fun Night” at her Church. I was just too tired.

Tiger Tour 2006

Y'all know I'm a "rabid" LSU Tiger Fan...well get this....

Bayou Bengals of Mississippi TAF Chapter

Hilton Jackson
1001 E County Line Rd
Jackson, MS 39211

June 12, 2006

• Featuring Coach Les Miles, Athletic Director Skip Bertman, LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe, TAF CEO General Ron Richard, LSU Alumni Association CEO Dr. Charlie Roberts, LSU Foundation CEO General Bill Bowdon
• 6:00 p.m. Doors Open
• 7:00 p.m. Event Begins
• Dinner Served
• Silent Auction Items provided by TAF
• LSU Merchandise on sale from the LSU Alumni Association
• LSU Highlight Videos

I've ordered 2 tickets for my friend Chris and myself and I'm eagerly anticipating the date...

Family Photos

The photo of Ray & Kay was taken at Ruby Tuesday's in Jackson on 3/24/06. The photo of me with Ray & Kay was taken in front of Sterling Towers in Jackson on 3/24/06.

Ray and Kay are the son and daughter of the late Curtis Ray Joiner, Sr. and the late Hilda Kohler Joiner. Their father and my late father were brothers. They stopped in Jackson en route to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to begin taking care of some final details of their mother's estate.

Photos of Chris & Me with Romeo on a road trip

Chris and I took a road trip on I-20 on 3/26/06 and drove over to Vicksburg, then on across the river into Louisiana and we stopped at the Tourism Center. Chris took Romeo for a walk and we each visited inside the Center. We took pictures with this sign while there.

New Photo...Sukiey

I finally got her to cooperate a little and let me take a few pitures of her.

Evangelism Explosion - 3/28 and 4/4/06 and some notes

Good morning friends and family....

I'm sorry I haven't passed on the EE Reports for the past two weeks before now. My life has been like a whirlwind of late. Here's why....

I moved back to working shift on Monday, March 14, 2006. Currently I'm working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday. That means that I have Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.

The first Thursday I was off, my friend Chris and I took Sukiey (my newly adopted cat) to the Vet for a check up and her shots. Dr. Boyd checked her over thoroughly and ran the feline HIV test on her - it came back negative, so she gave her the feline HIV vaccine in addition to the other annual shots that were due. Friday, Chris and I ran some errands - to Target and PetSmart and a couple of other places.

Saturday Chris and I worked our "newspaper job" - working at The Clarion-Ledger's distribution facility out in the airport metroplex. That entails for us to insert the comics section and advertisements into the preprinted sections of the newspaper - usually the real estate and Southern Style - and then someone comes behind us later on and adds the rest of the Sunday newspaper and bags them for the delivery carriers to pick up in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

After getting done there, we go somewhere to eat and then run any other shopping errands we might have before coming home. By that time, we're both pretty well worn out. However, we paid a visit to the Wal*Mart in Madison and did some shopping to check it out.

The second Thursday I was off - I went home and just "chilled out" with Sukiey and didn't do much.

Friday - 3/24 - my cousins Ray and Kay stopped in Jackon and we had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. Chris and I had a couple of errands to run afterwards.

Saturday was the newspaper job - it usually requires 6 or more hours of the day and we try to get started early - like around 7-7:30 a.m. if possible.

Sunday - well I was kind of lethargic and woke up later than I had planned; it was a beautiful day, so Chris and I decided to take a Sunday drive and we took her puppy, Romeo, with us. We rode over to Vicksburg and then on across the river on I-20 and stopped at the Louisiana Tourism Center in Mound. We took pictures crossing the river both ways and also at the Tourism Center with the big Louisiana sign. I got shots of Chris with Romeo and she got shots of me with Romeo. He was on his leash, of course.

On our way back, we detoured at Bolton and went to check out and get pictures of a horse farm we had seen from the Interstate. We were followed by the police - because of Chris' conspicous looking car - but they didn't stop or question us. Then, coming back into Jackson, we encountered police and emergency vehicles working an accident on I-20. There was a flipped 18 wheeler off of the side of the Interstate into a patch of trees.

This Thursday afternoon I spent at my friend Etta's house. We worked on the charitable organization's books on her computer and finally figured out what was wrong with her printer - it entailed a trip to Office Depot for print cartridges.

Friday Chris and I made a major shopping trip to the Wal*Mart in Pearl and when we got back to Sterling Towers, we were barely able to unload the car before Jean, the manager, was wanting us to go to Dr. Majure's office and get flea treatment for her sister's cat, Midnight. I put the perishable and frozen stuff away and came back down to ride with Chris over there and back.

Saturday - again we worked the newspaper job and I finished well ahead of Chris, so I went up to Krystal and got lunch for us. When I got back, she was still working at her runs; she stopped and ate, then I left out and went to Wal*Mart to get some things I had forgotten. By the time I got back, she was ready to go and she insisted that I was driving because of how tired she was.

When we got back to Jackson, I drove on to CVS Pharmacy to pick up a couple of prescriptions and Chris came in and got batteries she needed, then she drove home.

I was exhausted and the time change didn't help me any. I overslept Sunday and missed Church again - once I finally woke up and got myself together, I went down and did several loads of laundry that had backed up.

Yesterday afternoon. it was quiet, not much going on around here and I was reading a book and about to go to sleep, so around 2:30 p.m., I asked and was granted permission to leave. I went home, got ready and climbed into bed. Sukiey joined me. We both fell asleep - I woke up about 4:30 p.m. and got changed into jeans and my Atlanta Braves tee shirt and put on my tennis shoes.

Then, I got the stuff I needed and went down stairs and over to meet Michele - who dropped off at Church for EE.

Here are the EE reports for 3/28 and 4/4/06 from Dot:

Dear Friends,

Evangelism Explosion is reaching such an exciting time in the semester!

The trainees have just about mastered the required memory work and are taking a very active part now in the presentation of the Gospel. Each week from now on, it will become more and more natural for them. They are certainly getting caught up in the joy of it all. As Bob Waller said to me tonight, " I just LOVE to go fishing!"....and I agree with him 100%.

Tonight we had 12 professions of faith...

Bob Waller, Chris Ball and Karen Ball led a young mother of three to Jesus tonight.
Vic Holsapple and Guy Reedy led a 50 yr old Catholic man to Jesus.
My team (Jan Boteler and Don Goss) led a 29 yr old, single, Catholic guy to Jesus.
Terri Wissel and Rick Olson, and Jamie Butler led a family of 9 in the UMC waiting room to Jesus!

The other teams had some very important appointments tonight as well. The Gospel was shared many times, and many people were drawn closer to our Lord. Those visits are so very important too because often it takes several spiritual conversations with someone before they are ready to pray to receive Christ. Each link in the chain of events leading to a profession of faith is very important.

We are so proud of our trainees. They are so faithful to study and do their homework and are doing very well ! God has blessed us this semester, and we are so very thankful.

Ronnie Falvey and Vic Holsapple are wonderful leaders for Evangelism Explosion. They love this ministry and their enthusiasm is contagious!

Thanks for being faithful prayer partners for us. Prayer gets for EE what only God can do.

" God blesses those who obey him: happy the man who puts his trust in the Lord."
Prov. 16:20
With His love,
Dot

Dear EE friends,

Hurray for daylight savings time! It certainly makes looking for addresses easier!

There were five professions of faith tonight and five other people needed assurance of their salvation. The Gospel was shared many times tonight in the Jackson area.

Bill Boteler, Terri Wissel and Kendra Sue Robinson led 20 year old Kim to the Lord tonight. Kim works for the MS State Hospital. She is a potential church member for us.

Bob Turner, Barbara Westerfield, and Peggy Alford led Brian and Elisa to the Lord. They are about 30 yrs old and also are potential church members for us.

Richard Corkern, Betty Hindman and Christopher Alexander led Lolita to the Lord. Lolita lost everything in NO during Katrina . She is 63 years old.... also a potential member.

Linda Clark, Hank Holman, and Ladd Bratcher led Bob to the Lord. Bob lives in the Belhaven area, and might possibly be interested our church too.

These teams will be busy next week following up on these new believers. Hopefully we can bring them into our fellowship at First Baptist, and they can be discipled further.

It is so exciting to watch the trainees gain confidence in witnessing as they carry the major portion of the Gospel presentation now.

The homemade loaves of sourdough bread, baked in our church kitchen, are such a hit with the people we visit. I trust the ladies in the church kitchen are experiencing a blessing for doing this for the Lord through EE.On the top of each loaf, we attach a message and a scripture that reads:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. " John 6: 47-48

Have a wonderful week! Thanks you for your faithful prayers.

Love,
Dot


My comments:

On 3/28 I went with Richard and Betty and we went to a trailer park next to Patrick Farms Golf Club. We did questionnaires and found that they were already Christians and perhaps just needed reassurrance of their salvation. Richard misplaced his portfolio and realized it after we left the park; we returned and I spotted where it was left, so he jumped out and went and retrieved it.

On 4/4 I went with Bob and Barbara. Originally Ronnie had me teamed with Vic and Guy, but at the last minute (literally - we were going to the car) changed his mind and put me with Bob and Barbara. Before leaving the Church, we called a guy named David, whom they had led to Jesus the week before about stopping by for follow-up. He was receptive and wanted us to call him back around 8:30 p.m. to see if he would be back home as he had to go out somewhere. We opted to go in the Belhaven area and knock on doors.

The second door we knocked on opened to us. There we met Brian and Elisa. We learned they were a married couple - Brian is from the Canton area while Elisa is from New Orleans - the lower 9th Ward near the Industrial Canal. She and I connected due to the fact that we're both "Louisiana girls". We quickly established the fact that Elisa was already a Christian - of the Pentecostal background - and that Brian had a Methodist type background, but didn't seem to have ever accepted Christ. So, we focused on Brian.

Bob, Barbara and I tag-teamed the presentation and at the end of it, when we asked if Brian would like to receive the gift of eternal life, Bob made sure that he clarified beyond a shadow of a doubt what this involved and then asked Brian again. Again he said yes. So, Bob handed things off to me to lead the time of commitment and have him to follow me in praying the Sinner's Prayer. Then we asked the diagnostic questions again and this time Brian scored an A+ - he knew the right answer to why he should be allowed into Heaven.

Before leaving, we formed a circle and joined hands and prayed together - Elisa reported that her sister Corrina (sp?) has anxiety attack issues. We pray for her and ask that you will too.

Also - please pray for Debbie - she's Ronnie Falvey's ministry assistant. One of her best and very close friends, Marilyn, passed away earlier this week and Debbie has gone to Texas to attend the funeral. EE depends on Debbie a lot so we want to take care of her during this time in the best way we know how - through prayer.

Thanks and In His Service...

One of my passions...

One of my passions is animals! I'm very much an animal lover and friend. This is borne out by my decision to adopt Sukiey (my cat) even though I have a waterbed.

I'd like to share with you one of my favorite websites...

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

If you'll go there regularly and click on the button to fund food for animals, I'll appreciate it and so will Sukiey and the animals in this charitable program. It doesn't cost you anything to go there and click - sponsors take care of that.

Please check it out today! An animal will thank you!

First Weekend in April...

Good afternoon! It’s about 4:40 p.m. and that’s after setting the clock ahead an hour over the weekend. I sure didn’t like that idea – losing an hour of sleep. L L My body clock will eventually catch up, though.

Okay, here goes my attempt to recap the 3 ½ day weekend I had…

Bob showed up at 11:55 a.m. on Thursday and so I was able to leave just after 12:00 p.m. – after doing “turnover” with him. I went home and changed clothes and laid down for a little while on the couch – with Sukiey up there with me. We slept for about an hour or a little more. Then, I got up and got ready – and went down to the lobby to wait on Etta Mae. She was a little after 2:30 p.m. arriving to pick me up.

We went back to her house after a stop at Taco Bell to fetch something to eat. Once there, we ate and then got to work. We did the data entry and then went to try to print the receipts – but the printer still would only print the color parts. That’s when it hit me – the problem with the printer was that the black cartridge was empty! I opened the “hood” on the printer and pulled the black cartridge out and shook it and didn’t hear anything, then I checked the color cartridge and I heard liquid in it. So – I told Etta Mae that I believed that was the problem. We grabbed the 2 black cartridges she had – the one I had taken out and another empty – and took off to Office Depot. There she bought another black and another color (so she would have a spare color) cartridge and we turned in the empties for recycling and got $3 off the price of one of the cartridges and a free ream of paper for the other.

When we got back to her house after the trip to Office Depot, I installed the black cartridge and pulled what we had been trying to print back up on the screen and tried again. This time we were successful in getting it to print like it should. I was like I couldn’t believe I was so dumb! By that I meant that it didn’t occur to me to check the status of the black cartridge before. L L Oh well – it happens to the best of us. L J

It was around 7:30 p.m. when Etta Mae dropped me off at Sterling Towers. I went up and hung out with Sukiey and I did try to read a little of Paul and then went on to bed. I slept in Friday, since I knew Chris wouldn’t be ready to go to Wal*Mart before at least 11:30 a.m. and then was kind of leisure-like when I did get up. I got a bath, dressed and was ready so that when she called and said she was ready to go, I would be able to go on down and meet her.

It was around 11:30 a.m. when Chris called and said she was ready to go to Wal*Mart, so I went on down and met her and we were off. I had brought 2 rolls of film with me to drop in at the photo lab. When we got to the store, that was the first place we went – we made a bee-line to the lab and dropped the rolls in. Then we started rambling through the store and I got things that were on my list (plus some things that weren’t) and then we stopped back in at the lab after it had been about an hour and picked up the finished prints. I checked them out and paid for them. We resumed shopping and finally finished up a little later and I got checked out.

We loaded the car up and headed to Sterling Towers and when we got there, I went and got a buggy, while Jean came out and asked Chris to go to Dr. Majure’s and get Becky’s cat some Frontline. We unloaded my stuff and I went up and dropped it off, putting the perishable and frozen stuff away, but leaving everything else. Then, I went back down and returned the buggy and rode with Chris to the Vet’s office to get the stuff. She got Revolution instead of Frontline.

We returned from the Vet’s office and Chris dropped the stuff and her change in Jean’s office – she had left to go run an errand. I went on up to my apartment and unloaded the remaining bags and put the purchases away. I spent the remainder of the day with Sukiey. And – I tried to read some of Paul.

Saturday morning Chris called and woke me up to get ready and go do the newspapers. We got out there around 7:15 a.m. – earlier than usual – because Ronnie and Beverly had to make a trip to Vicksburg. We worked at the runs and finally they left around 11:15 a.m. to go home and clean up and change, then head off to Vicksburg. Chris and I stayed and worked – I finished up way ahead of her. So, she sent me down to Krystal to pick up lunch – when I got back with it, she stopped and ate, then went back to work, while I took off again – this time to the Wal*Mart a couple of blocks down the road.

When I got there, I found an Atlanta Braves jersey that I liked and put it in the buggy, along with some new underwear – my original reason for going. Then I went back to the Photo Lab. They were kind of crowded. I had one of my CDs with me and I used the Kodak machine to make some reprints of some of the pictures so I could share them. I got copies of the shots of Chris with Romeo on our trip last Sunday, a shot of me with Romeo on that same trip, a shot of Sukiey, shots of Kay and Ray, plus a shot of me with them,. I ended up with a total of 18 reprints and I paid for them before leaving the Lab area. I went on to shop for a few things I had forgotten – including Easter cards – some of the reprints are coming to you in one of them.

After I was done, I went back to check on Chris and she had finished up finally – a few minutes before – and she insisted that I drive. Her feet were bothering her; she took her shoes and socks off in the car. We headed off and made it back to Hinds County (where Jackson is) and to CVS. I went in and picked up my prescriptions and a couple of other things. Chris came in while I was in there – she needed batteries. She got them and we took off for home – she drove this time.

We got back to Sterling and I unloaded my bags out of the car and went on upstairs. I found Sukiey on the couch when I went in. She has gotten to where she likes to do that. I put everything up – the Braves shirt was still on the hanger, so I just hung it up. I opened the packs of underwear and got them out and put them in the laundry basket after taking the tags off and did the same to the bras I bought. I had a pile of clothes in the basket by that time.

I was tired out Saturday evening, but after relaxing for a little while, Chris and I went down to Taco Bell. We got our orders “to go” and after eating, Chris came up to check on Harold’s cats – Patti and Kelly – and she came by to see me. We decided to move Sukiey’s litterbox – after she showed me how Harold has his. We moved it to a closet next to my bathroom – put the towel down on the floor of the closet and then put the litterbox in there. We had cleaned the litterbox before moving it. Once Chris left, I went and got Sukiey and showed her where her litterbox had been relocated to.

Sukiey had made a mess with the litter – so Chris went down and got the community broom and dustpan and came back up and we cleaned up the spilled litter from the original location. We also set up the portable vacuum cleaner to charge for future use – the directions said to let it charge for 24 hours before use.

I finally went to bed Saturday night – after changing the clocks that needed to be done manually – and Sukiey got in bed with me. During the early morning hours I heard a noise and I wasn’t sure where it was coming from – so I sat up to try to figure that out and about that time I saw Sukiey coming out of the closet. Then I realized that she had been in the litterbox and that’s where the noise came from. J J

Sunday morning I woke up and was lethargic – for lack of a better description. I shut the alarm off and went back to bed. I fell back asleep and woke up around 8:30 a.m. Well – too late to go to Church. L L I called Chris to tell her. I finally got up and went to have breakfast and then take a bath. Once I was done with that, I headed downstairs with the laundry basket and supplies and I took Paul with me to read while waiting. One of the young couples who live at Sterling was in there doing a pile of wash as well. I don’t know their names, but he’s real friendly while his wife isn’t – oh, she’s not rude, but she just isn’t as outgoing as he is. They finished up with the dryers about the time my laundry was done washing, so it was a case of “timing”. Once I got the dryers going, I went in the lobby and sat down to read Paul and made a little progress with it. I finally got everything done and returned up to my apartment and put it all away.

Then, I laid down on the couch and Sukiey got up there with me. We both took a nap and later on I called Chris – she had already gone to her “cell” meeting, but called me when she came back. I was on other calls a couple of times, but we finally connected. I told her that I wanted to go get Sukiey a regular food bowl for her canned food – but Chris said she had a bowl for Sukiey and she would bring it up as she was about to come up and check on Harold’s cats. She brought it to me and I put some canned food in it for Sukiey. Chris was able to get to see and pet Sukiey – as she was lying on my bed.

Chris and I did some further cleaning and rearranging and made a little more room for Sukiey and me to maneuver around where her feeding area is. I like it better and so does she. Hopefully sometime soon we’re going to do some more cleaning and I can toss out some stuff I no longer need and make more room. Right now it’s quite cramped.

By the way, Chris accused me of “pampering” Sukiey. The reason: I set up a night light near where her feeding area is so that the cat can see to eat when it’s dark. J J She said that cats have very good vision and Sukiey really doesn’t need the light to see by. I’ve left the night light set up, though. That’s in case I get up during the night and want to go in the kitchen as well as for Sukiey. What do you think? Am I going overboard here?!

I watched the NASCAR race from Martinsville, Virginia and was pleased that Tony Stewart won – although I was rooting for Bobby Labonte. Bobby and teammate/car owner Kyle Petty were both knocked out of the race – Bobby’s transmission broke and Kyle was having gear problems. Hopefully they’ll have better fortunes at the next race.