This is a picture of the first day at vbs. The Beach Flats, a place where low income Hispanics live, is a place we felt God said we are to reach out to. We are having a great time and they are loving it. God is helping us to show them God's love. We are excited to be working with Faith Community to make this happen. They are a new church and it is great to work together with other believers in Christ. The theme for this week is why we are here. The meaning of life. My mom, Sandy is here this week and it is fun to have her here helping us out. I had one of the kids ask me if we will be having this next week they don't want it to stop. Pray that the ones who have come to Christ and those who prayed for forgiveness will keep going and this will be a change for the rest of their lives.We want to thank all those who gave money for the prizes and material needed to make this a fun event for the kids.

Wow! Time flies when your serving God. The Bible says it is like a flower that sprouts up and then fades, like a vapor. It will be five years ago, next month, when my Uncle Larry went to be with the Lord. It will be two years since Ruthie went to Glory and told Jesus we needed some help down here at Elm St. It has been a little difficult as I have been working at the house, on the deck and also at Larry's place. I have been focused on the mission only for over a year so it's taking a little change to do both. God continues to work on people's lives one at a time. We are doing a vbs for the Beach Flat kids. (These are the Hispanic kids that most seems to overlook in Santa Cruz) God has supplied the people (my mom is one of them) and two churches have supplied money to help. Praise God for all that He does and will be doing. I have been praying for those who started towards God and have fallen away or are struggling. It has been a hard time praying, which is okay, as we live by faith, not feelings. Cory showed up on Wednesday night telling that I helped him (God using me) to get through the drugs. He has a job and is praying and reading his Bible. Hallelujah God rocks!!!!! When you wonder what is going on in people's lives just give it to God and continue on, He will complete the work.

Hello everyone and God's mercy and grace be upon you. I want to praise God because He deserves it and all thanks to Him for His loving kindness. Things have been moving at God's speed. When He says slow down and listen that is what we do. Sometimes we have to go around a service of 90 people searching out those whose heart has been softened by the word. Time is short and the harvest is great so everything you do needs to be to the glory of God. I have been doing some construction work to rebuild my body after losing about every bit of muscle. I was down to 159 pounds after normally I maintain around 200. God has everything planned out for our lives if we will stop and listen. To many times we wait for an answer and when one doesn't come instantly we do what comes naturally, which gets us into trouble. Pray for Andreas who is going through a hard time in his life. Pray for Larry who the doctors said almost died the other night. He told me he is ready to meet God. Pray for Paul, Tiff's grandfather who has been through surgeries and doesn't know Jesus. I haven't been on the Internet very much so this is why the blogs have slowed down. Thank you Lord for taking care of all our needs. Ben