Another Days Journey

"We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you; for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." - 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5

We've done it! Glory be to God, our first trial is completed and succesfull! We came out here to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to rebuild some houses that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina and to participate in the church community at Ebeneezer Missionary Baptist Church which was located in the heart of the neighborhoods in which we were working.

What some thought was impossible or crazy turned out to be a success because of the guidence and protection of God. Tonight in church I was allowed to give a little talk about faith and good works. I spoke about how God tells us to do things, and no matter how impossible they may seem; we must do them. It is when faithfull people attempt to do the impossible which God commanded them, great things are accomplished.

We give much thanks to Ray and Annie for allowing us to spend 4 months in their home. Our time here was well spent. We were able to finish Mary's house and she has completely moved in. Tomorrow we are having a bbq at her house before we leave town. We also worked on 6 other houses which we completed. These tasks included constructing new ceilings (3 1/2 houses recieved new ceiling joists and sheetrock.), we installed flooring in 3 houses, we did plumbing in two houses, and we did general finish work (painting, baseboards, caulking, crown-molding) in all the houses that we worked.

With our success here we are now able to take our reaffirmed faith with us to the next project we attempt, knowing that when we stay firm in the Lord he makes all things possible. We will truly miss our new family in Christ. Ray and Annie seem like parents to us and all the members at Ebeneezer are our brothers and sisters.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Virginia and my Aunt Theresa will be picking us up and bringing us to her house. From there we will spend a week in West Virginia at Nazareth Farm (http://www.nazarethfarm.org/) where we hope to fit in well and establish our new project. From there we head to Nebraska for my friend Seans wedding and in July we will be in Michigan with Jess' family.

If all goes well we will be doing some traveling/vacationing and then start work again in September.

We constantly pray for all of you (friends and family) and ask you all to pray for our travels and for the people whose lives we were able to be a part of for these last 4 months. All I have to say is that God is great and our mission is a success!

"I made it through another days journey, God kept me here."

(one of the many great songs at Ebeneezer)

Peace and Love,

Jordan and Jess