Carolyn's Latest Newsletter

January 30, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Several years ago we began praying, “Lord, we don’t want to do this ministry just because we can. We want to depend on and trust in You. We need Your miraculous power and presence to fulfill Your plan for Your honor and Your glory.” Not knowing what that looked like we just continued on. Thinking we had seen it all, the poorest of the poor, the most needy, the least of these, suddenly we were led deeper into the trash heap. We found those truly thrown away like none we had seen before. Echoing inside us we heard, “This is what you asked Me for!” We humbled ourselves and asked our Father to forgive us of our egotistical pride thinking we had seen and knew it all. For this Christmas project we were in need of His abundant grace. We could quote statistics of how many people attended, how many homes built, how many gifts given, how many received Jesus, how many were seen in the clinic, how many heads of hair cut, etc. All of that is for a pat on our the back. Let us tell about one life He touched deeply and in doing so He touched ours as well.

Maura is a beautiful, delicate widow in her 50’s. Pointing to her head she admits she has good days and bad days. Maura is schizophrenic. One earring dangled from her ear and she sported two different shoes. She was at the mercy of those around her for food. We found Maura living alone in a decaying mess. Her house was literally knee deep in trash. It had only two walls standing and a roof caving in over her head. As her hovel was dismantled a cat jumped out of a hole in her dilapidated mattress. The remains of a dog’s skeleton were found under her bed. Eventually we had a bulldozer push her house over a cliff. It was too dangerous to enter. The team assigned to Maura came to make a difference. They embraced her with the love of the Lord. Jesus did what only He can do! Last week we visited Maura. The one earring still dangled from her ear. She had a pair of safety glasses fashionably positioned on top of her head and her shoes matched. She knew us by name and invited us to have a cup of coffee in her new home. A pot of flowers adorned the front porch and laundry was on the line blowing in the breeze. Maura was carrying her small New Testament and was pointing up to the sky to glorify the Lord. Only He could change Maura’s life. She was a nobody and He made her somebody! Maura is a miracle!!

The Message, 2 Corinthians 1: 12-14 says, “Now that the worst is over, we are pleased we can report that we’ve come out of this with conscience and faith intact, and can for the world; and even more importantly, face you with our head held high. But it wasn’t by any fancy footwork on our part. It was God who kept us focused on Him, uncompromised. Don’t try to read between the lines or hidden messages in this letter. We’re writing plain, unembellished truth, hoping that now you will see the whole picture as well as you’ve seen some of the details. We want you to be as proud of us as we are of you when we stand together before our Master Jesus!” It’s none of our doing but all of His!

We love you,

Roland & Carolyn

NOTE: If you would like to receive our newsletter by email instead of postal mail please forward us a note by email. If you need giving envelopes notify us. To see Maura go to: http://www.me.com/gallery/#100401/DSC00331