A MARVELOUS SUNDAY

Sunday, March 11, 2012

NO ONE IS PERFECT
My day has been some day. This morning I woke up at 5:00 as I had gone to bed earlier than usual and was leaving the house at 8:00 for my Sunday School class. One thing I forgot to tell is I had no hot water this morning either and finally went to the box and found out that the water heater had been closed off. So no big expense Praise the Lord.
Well, no one came to Sunday School. I was not very happy so decided to not stay for the service but to go home.
Seeing the pastor's helper in the foyer I told him I was leaving and he asked why. I told him and he said do you want to talk to pastor. I said No.
He said you need to talk to the pastor come on so he led me down the hall to "the principals Office" Unlocked the door and ushered me down another hall. When he came to the pastor's door he told him I wanted to talk to him.
So I did and told him several other things he should know. I told him I had spoken to my Sunday School class about how we needed revival (and not just our church but the whole Church of God). He spoke of some of his frustrations also and I told him when I was young I couldn't do enough for God. I wanted to be busy right away. He said I am going to use that in my sermon. I said you go right ahead.
We prayed then he ushered me into the auditorium as I sit right behind him beside the pastor's helper and his family.
HEAVEN BROKE LOSE. He preached like he hadn't preached in a long time. We had fewer people as I guess some were sleeping in and others were out of town because of spring break but that did not hinder the spirit of the Lord. In our church we have the gifts of the spirit in operation as we find in the New Testament church but not as much. This morning the Spirit began to speak to His people and the gifts began to flow. Many times they leave it up to one man and me but today I didn't feel like doing it. I was praying God would use new people. Then they started, A man then a woman with powerful messages from God to His church. Then the pastor prophesied and later collapsed in the altar. Men of the church gathered around him and prayed for him then people started coming to the altar. I was planted. I did not want to leave although it was late. Lunch could wait.
A lady came to me and said would you pray for a woman who is in the altar so I went to pray for her. When I finished I found others waiting for me and I prayed for them. Oh the beauty of the First Love when we first accepted our Lord.
Going back to my seat I was afraid to leave before the pastor dismissed us.
When I got to the parking lot I found a lady who comes to my Sunday school class who has let her family take over her life and she is the mother and grandmother to them. She had called saying she could not come to Sunday school and was crying and I prayed for her on the phone. When I saw her she thanked me for praying and said she had gone to the altar to repent for putting her family before God.
THEN ANOTHER BLESSING My girl friend had called saying she was going to a certain place to eat where they have lots of fruit and fresh veggies on the salad bar and then hot food as well. So I tried to call her back but didn't get her but went on toward the destination.
Almost there. She calls and says she is through eating and I said I am almost there. She said there are 1,000 kids here. I don't know what is going on.
Well, I got there and saw a huge line of young people. What is going on? Taking my seat the general managers wife offered to serve me but I said I would just order from the menu.
The line of young people just kept coming and coming. We found out they were here on spring break but not to go to the island. Instead they were here to build houses or whatever for poor people. There were 600 of them and they were to stay all week. They were from 3 colleges in Waco, Texas. So that also made my day.
So my day had its ups and down.
UP; I got up at 5:00 fully rested.
DOWN; No one in my Sunday school class.
UP; Prayer with the pastor and stayed for the most marvelous service I have been in in a very long time.
UP: The lady from my Sunday School class had repented (and I gave her some clothes I had brought her that I could no longer wear)
UP: Seeing 600 college students helping the poor instead of going to the Island to get drunk.
So It was a wonderful day with a healthy meal both for the spiritual and the physical body.
Irene

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FRUSTRATED

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Many people have reported the same problem I have. I never did have this problem before.
Maybe someone is trying to tell me something
Maybe I spend too much time on SPARK
This is my problem and I guess all know by now as I have posted it everywhere but seems no one can help me.
I have not been receiving emails from SPARK. I have to go to the teams and find them and I can't do that more than once a day.
I thought it had fixed itself as I got a couple of things but they were things that had been posted to my page.
Nothing else.
So maybe I am supposed to do my income tax and some other things.
What did others do who had this problem
Did it just go away, like bye bye
So that is my sad story for tonight.
Last night I had another sad story but we won't go into that.
Irene. to all

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WHAT I AM DOING TO REDUCE STRESS

Sunday, February 12, 2012

I decided about two weeks ago enough is enough.

I would come home. Throw my mail on the table where maybe two or three days of accumulated junk mail already was piling up. I did have sense enough to put my keys in the pocket of my purse so I wouldn't lock myself out of the house.

Then off to the bedroom where I took most of my clothes off and put on a patio dress leaving my clothes on the bed knowing full well I would have to hang them up before bedtime when I was sleepy.

Sometimes my dirty clothes were in the floor along with towels. Now I pick them up when I have them all accumulated. After all I would have to pick them up sooner or later anyway.

I would fix my small supper and leave my dishes in water in my sink.

Any junk mail I read went on the floor beside my chair and instead of picking it up right away I left it there.

Can you imagine how stressful that can be and stress is not good for us at all.

So I decided I would go through my mail when I brought it in. Some went to the trash, some to the office, some catalogs I kept as I might find something to order as that is the way I shop anymore.

I would go to my bedroom, take off my clothes and hang them up or put them in the hamper.

After supper I would wash my dishes

And in the morning upon rising I wouldn't just throw the bedspread up but would make the bed.

Now my house looked nice and I felt so good and stress free.

When I went through the junk mail in the evening, I still put it on the floor but picked it up when I got out of my chair and put it in the trash.

I knew all of these things had to be done and it was better to do it sooner than later.

That was good as the people who invited me to lunch today and came over afterwards found a tidy house.

It makes me feel good.

I have to run now as I am drinking tea then have to go and wash my supper dishes.

P.S. I got my dishes done. Now my house looks neat for tomorrow.

Irene

Good night all. Sleep tight.

Irene

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TAKEN FROM CHARISMA MAGAZINE ON THE VIOLENCE IN MEXICO

Friday, February 03, 2012

MORE ON MEXICO

I lived in Monterrey for years. I am also proud of my pastors who are moving forward. I supply funds but they are doing a terrific job of reaching the people.

"Violence has escalated in Mexico, forcing many missionaries to rethink their deployment. John Herrin served with The Mission Society in Monterrey until recently. "When we first moved to Monterrey over three years ago, it was one of the safest cities in Latin America, not just Mexico," he explains. "And in a very brief time, the city just changed ... There's a sense of tension in the air, a sense of fear in the city."

Herrin says the increased violence forced them to make some decisions about staying in Mexico: (TAKE SPECIAL NOTE OF THIS) "When driver's training began to include how to respond to a shoot out and how to drop to the floor-board of the car, we realized we weren't sure our kids should be involved in this." This stark reality helped them make their decision to leave Monterrey.

Many American missionaries are leaving Mexico, Herrin says, and the church has experienced a great deal of uncertainty. He explains, "A lot of funding began to drop off, and the church began saying, 'What are we going to do?' Then, the violence began to hit, again the church said, 'What are we going to do?'"

Herrin says the Holy Spirit is empowering people. "The church there is stepping up. They are developing their own plan," he says. "They're going out, and they're reaching out. And they're doing things that they haven't done before because they haven't had to."

Herrin says there may be the silver lining in all of this: "We're now [being reminded] that God is doing it. It's not me doing it. It's not those missionaries over there. This really is the continuation of God's church."

Herrin says he still goes back to Monterrey once a month for ministry. "The easy thing [to do] is to give up and walk away," he says. "The thing that God calls us to is to be faithful. If God calls us to it, we need to be about it, and God will be with us. He'll carry us through it and over it."

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NEWS LETTER ABOUT MEXICO

Thursday, February 02, 2012

2 Texas missionaries found slain in north Mexico

Description: Image removed by sender.By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and KATHERINE CORCORAN | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago



MEXICO CITY (AP) — A missionary couple from Texas were slain in their home outside the violence-plagued northern industrial city of Monterrey, the U.S. Embassy and their family said Wednesday

The embassy identified the couple as John and Wanda Casias.

Valerie Alirez, the eldest child of John Casias, told The Associated Press from her home in Greeley, Colorado, that one of her brothers found her father and stepmother Tuesday dead in their home in Santiago, Nuevo Leon.

The family was originally from Amarillo, Texas, but relatives said John and Wanda Casias moved to Mexico in the late 1970s or early 1980s and made it their home.

John Casias was a Baptist preacher and the couple ran the First Fundamentalist Independent Baptist Church in Santiago, Alirez said.

Her brother, Shawn Casias, who lives in Monterrey, said he went to his parents' home around 4 p.m. Tuesday to pick up a trailer. After he had hooked up the trailer outside he went into the home to say goodbye. He said he found Wanda Casias lying on the floor with an electrical cord around her neck and a gash from a blunt object on her head.

Missing from the house were a couple of computers, a plasma television and a safe that had been chiseled out of the wall.

The couple's Chevrolet Suburban was also missing, and Casias said he initially thought his father had been kidnapped.

But about four or five hours later, he said, a forensic investigator informed him that his father's body had been found in a storage room of a small building on the property. His father also had an electrical cord around his neck.

Fighting between the Zetas and Gulf drug cartels has inflicted a surge of violence and other crimes on Monterrey and the surrounding area since 2010. In poorer suburbs, entire blocks have been held up by gunmen and young people snatched off the streets.

Casias said a sister-in-law in Dallas had spoken to their mother around 11 a.m. Tuesday and everything was fine. So he believes there was about a five-hour window when the killings could have occurred before he showed up.

He said the killers did not take everything they could have, leaving two of the three TV sets. He said perhaps they were warned that he was coming, because anyone watching the winding road approaching the home could have alerted them.

"They're scum. They're not sophisticated," he said.

Speaking from his parents' home, Casias said the house was burglarized two years ago when the couple were on one of their periodic visits to the United States to talk at churches about their work in Mexico.

"We're convinced that it's somebody he knew," Casias said of the killers. He said authorities had some leads based on people seen around the home.

John Casias was 76. He had recently priced a knee replacement because he couldn't walk more than 100 yards (100 meters) without having to sit down, Shawn Casias said. Wanda Casias was 67.

Casias said his parents held services and prayer meetings at a church about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from their home.

The couple maintained a website, www.casias.org, with details of their lives and their missionary work

"The only hope for the Mexican people today is Jesus in them, the HOPE of glory," they wrote in one dispatch from last summer. "I confess that it's getting easier to witness to the wealthy, at least they are listening. The wealthy are fleeing to Canada and the USA for protection. The only problem is that when they return to re-new their visas the cartel is waiting, and either kill them of (sic) kidnap them for thousands of dollars, in some cases millions. The cartel has NO mercy or value for life. They are ruthless murderers!"

It was the second slaying involving American missionaries in a year in the Mexican region bordering Texas.

In January 2011, a Texas couple who had been doing missionary work in Mexico for three decades were attacked at an illegal roadblock in one of the country's most violent areas.

Nancy Davis, 59, was fatally shot in the head while her husband, Sam, sped away from suspected drug cartel gunmen who may have wanted to steal their pickup truck, authorities said.

The Davises were driving along the two-lane road that connects the city of San Fernando with the border city of Reynosa in the state of Tamaulipas, which borders Nuevo Leon.

___

Associated Press writer Katherine Corcoran reported this story in Mexico City and Christopher Sherman reported from McAllen, Texas.

Mexico needs for

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