Alone Again

Alas, Corey and I are alone once agian. It has been wonderful having Emily and Will here for the past 5-7 months and Merryn, and all the other people who have been down.

The last few weeks have been filled with Spiritness and an out pouring of God's love. It has been a wonderful past four weeks. Will, Emily, Corey and I just really started to spend time together in a spiritual way, as i was reminded, over my weekend retreat, the souls of the workers are far more important than the work of the workers. Corey and i deeply cherish are time together as i hope Will and Emily do.
Beleive it or not it is easy to love the people and love the work so much that you forget about yourselves and about the spiritual fuel you need to keep going. I'm talking about something more than Sunday morning church, and monday night young adult bible study, and even more than prep time for teens and childern's bible studies; i'm talking about a true gathering of the workers hearts and souls and spending time sharing and listening and praying together seeking out Christ will for our lives and work. Praise God for this time with the Lord.

In case you are curious over the past few weeks we have been able to minister to people in the community in a way we haven't before, using Christmas as the reason. We had the blessed chance to take cookies and oranges to the Chatom jail and were able to pray with all the inmates there. We also had a chance to take oranges and a christmas note to the teachers and staff out at the elementary school. And we were able to deliver homemade hot cocoa to all the folks that live around the circle here in the community. Corey and i were also able to send out christmas cards and photos to all the churches and folks that have been down since Corey and I have been here. I'm sure that there are other things that I have fogotten that we have done, like having christmas parties, baking endlessly, and still managing to deal with the day to day stuff, where God has awsomely and amazingly worked.

Although Corey and I will miss our wonderful families this Christmas we feel more than blessed to be here to share in the community Christmas festivities and to be doing the service of the Lord. We are going to be "out of the office" starting tomorrow through the 27th but are looking forward to the UNCG group coming down in January and hopefully Joe and Sean the week after Christmas.

So to everyone in North Carolina, and to those others spread around
have a very Merry Christmas from here in Sanktown.

That "G" Word

Saying goodbye insures the opportunity to say hello in the future.

Well, time has indeed flown by. Emily and I will be driving back up to NC this Friday, our internships complete. We'll both be coming back down with a college group for a week in January, but it still feels like we are saying goodbye for awhile. And I have always been bad with goodbyes.

I'm going to be honest with you, and for all of us here at the center, when I admit that we have been pretty slack as a group for a good amount of time. Not because we don't work hard (trust me, we can't avoid that here) and not because we don't care (also unavoidable for us), but we have really lost opportunities to have worship/devotion times with one another. We do have Bible study every week with the young adult group, Kid's Club, and Youth Group as well, but until the past few weeks, we hadn't really set aside the time to be together in the spirit of worship. It hurts me to type these words, but it is the truth. The wonderful thing is that it's never too late to do the right thing.

So, since Jennifer was convicted in this matter after her time at the Youth Workers conference, we have taken steps to rectify our mistakes. And I can't tell you how much I have cherished our private worship times together. It really made a big difference for me in our other weekly activities, and I think that we have learned a valuable lesson about priorities - one that I pray I will remember as I leave this place. I love my brother and sisters here at the center, I am in love with my God and Savior, and I feel like I'm having to say goodbye right here at the beginning!

But I have been reminded recently of the joy that I am afforded in all things, even the sad ones. It is sad to say goodbye, but it serves as proof to how much these people and this place means to me. As Jesus told his followers, you will be sad when I leave, but that sadness will be replaced with a joy that never ends when we meet again (see John 16:22). So it is with all followers of Christ. For us, saying goodbye insures the opportunity to say hello in the future. And I do enjoy saying hello.

Thank you all so much for being a part of our lives! I pray that God blesses and keeps you until we meet again.

Will <><

shopping day:)

Hi again...

So today happened to be errand day.
lovely.

We spend years in movie stop b/c i'm guessin were all movie fanatics.
but anyways we got the movie santa clause 3 for movie night tommorow with the community.


i'm siked, it looks good...
if you already saw it, its ok to say wow shes behind...
hahaha.

alright, sorry to be so short, it's dinner time.


yum yum:]

Well we love yall and things of that sort.
thanks for everything, yall are great.


<3>

Burrrr... It's Cold down here.

hey everyone!

wow, it's almost Christmas time again.

i cant believe i'm going home in a week.

honestly it's kinda sad for me.

but the Lord knows what he's doing.

So anyways..

It is extremly cold down here, or maybe i'm exagerating.

i neverr would have thought it cold be this chilly.

i cold see my breath today walking out of the jail.

Oh...:) to tell why we were at the jail...

We baked cookies and took oranges to the inmates for the holidays.

We also prayed with them as well, which i enjoyed.

I would love to go back soon.

but..

I hope everyone is doing amazing and thanks for all the support;)

Love ya,

Emily

Wonderful visitor

We were just blessed by a visit by Kevan, a member at Poplar Ridge.

Kevan had some vacation time to spare and decided to come down and

help us out. Kevan didn't work on any large projects, mostly tiny

everyday ones, but the difference that it has made in our daily lives

has been ginormous. He fixed heaters, showers, and doors, trimed limbs

and bushes, and played basketball with neighborhood kids. It was great

being able to share our thanksgiving with someone else, someone who

gave us a lot to be thankful about.

and Kevan, just in case you read this, thank you so very much for all you

did and for the wonderful heartfelt conversations and most of all for just

coming down and spending time with us.

In case we don't say it enough, Corey and I love our interns and all the many visitors that take time out of their lives to come down here to Sanktown and who manage to always spread the love of Christ Jesus through word and deed.

God Bless

<><