January 2011 Newsletter

January 18, 2011


To the Saints of God through the love, mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit in you; may the Lord continue to bless you to be a blessing to others.

We praise our Lord Jesus who has blessed us in ways that only He can comprehend. First and foremost, He has blessed us with another granddaughter, Merritt Reese Jones. She was born on the 4th of January here in Sumter. Second, He has blessed us with you who are willing to pray for us and for the ministry that the Lord has given us. We are truly blessed to have such a support team.

We also give thanks for Abney having a safe journey to Australia to begin her journey with Youth With A Mission and the call that the Lord has on her life. Praise God, all the monies came in for her ticket to Australia and for the lecture phase of her school.

Tina and I head to Honduras on the 10th of February to lead the Happener’s Retreat for the Diocese of Honduras. We anticipate having 50 young adults at the Retreat. The focus of the Retreat is “Keeping Your Eyes on Jesus.” This is based on Hebrews 12.1-3. The Retreat will be from the 11th until the 13th. The Lord has provided us with some dear friends from Costa Rica to be our interpreters for the week end.

Then on the 14th, we will be meeting with the leaders of Aanglidesh, the social arm of the Diocese of Honduras, to consider getting a Solar System project for the Diocese of Honduras. This could be a source of income for the Diocese and also provide employment for several people. Please keep this project in your prayers. We head home on the 15th.

March is looking like a very interesting month for us. We have been asked to do a teaching on “Missions” at the Island Breeze-Sydney, YWAM base in Sydney, Australia and to be available to minister to the staff and students while we are there. Tina will leave in early March in order to be with and help Stacey when she has her baby. I’m sure all you mothers can appreciate Tina going early to help out. Joe will be in Honduras the first two weeks of March with the Church of the Transfiguration, Vail, CO as their chaplain in La Ceiba. They will be working with Emilia D’Cuire School for special needs children and with Holy Trinity Episcopal School. Then joining Howard Ball who will be presenting a program to the congregations in the Atlantida Deanery that he developed called “Reaching the World Through the Church” when he was with Campus Crusades for Christ. Joe will then join Tina in Australia when he returns from Honduras. While in Australia, we will go up to Ipswich (near Brisbane) to see Kerry & Daniel and the boys before coming home in April.

We’ll get back in the country mid April and then get ready for Holy Week and Easter. Joe helps out with worship services at St. Augustine’s near Wedgefield and Good Shepherd in Sumter when he is in the States. Then in May, Joe will be part of the Kairos Team going into Lee State Correctional Institute. Also in May, the Diocese of Honduras will be celebrating 150 years of Anglican/Episcopal presence at their Diocesan Convention. Bishop Allen would like for us to be part of the celebration, so we are praying that the Lord will provide the funds necessary for us to attend. Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare to celebrate the presence of the Church in Honduras for the past 150 years.

Over the past several years when we have done Retreats for the high school at St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Tegucigalpa, we have given bilingual Bibles to the seniors. There are 16 students that will be graduating this year. Since we will not be returning to Honduras in June, we would like to be able to take the Bibles down when we go next month since we will be in Tegucigalpa.

We do understand the financial difficulties that many of you are in. Our requests below are not intended to be a burden on you or to impose guilt; they are to inform you in order that you can go before the Lord with our request. Here is a summary of our present financial needs for the ministry:

$ 200.00 Bilingual Bibles for the seniors at St. Mary’s Episcopal School

$1,300.oo Travel and lodging to and from Happener’s Retreat

$2,000.00 For one ticket to Australia; one ticket is being paid by the YWAM school

$4,500.00 Abney’s outreach fees

Thank you for supporting this ministry that the Lord has asked us to be a part of with you and with Him, the King of King and Lord of Lords, our Lord Jesus the Christ.

Be Blessed to be a Blessing,

Fr. Joe & Tina