Almost to the end

We are so sorry we have not updated this week. It has been so busy and there just has not been time.
The week has been great the students have been attentive and have asked very good questions each day. Yesterday, Wed., we met with several students for personal ministry and also met with one of the staff couples in the evening. We have been quite impressed with the base here.  They truly are making disciples who are not afraid to go anywhere the Lord sends them.

Tomorrow is our last day of teaching and then we will leave for Dothan Alabama to show Hanna all the places where Jen grew up.  We will drive through Graceville Florida where PW went to bible school, then to Dothan and then to Cuthbert Georgia where we  pastored our first  church.  That should be fun for her to see all these places.  Our vacation will officially start on Saturday.  We will try to blog our journey and hopefully I will be posting pictures tomorrow or Sat.  Sherry's computer is dying so we have to figure out how to get the pictures from PW's onto the blog.

Blessings to all of you. Please continue to pray for us and for our moms who are at home.

Much Love,
PW and Sherry

Day 1

Monday was our first class. The students are young and full of passion for serving God. YWAM is known for equipping young people for ministry to the nations.  Our observation is that there are not many idle moments. From the time the students get up until they go to bed they are purposefully preparing their hearts and minds.  The day starts with student led worship (which is powerful) at 8:30. Classes start at 9:15.  At this time there are 2 schools taking place.  A School of Frontier Mission, where the students are preparing to go and live in 10/40 window nations and the School of Evangelism, where the students are preparing to become full time staff at this base.  We are teaching at the SOE.  The students are wonderful.  PW has been teaching on Biblical counseling because these students will be working with young people themselves as they lead groups on foreign and domestic outreaches in the future.  After classes they have work assignments and then do outreaches in the area. These students are teaching English to Burmese people who have settled in Jacksonville.  They also do beach ministry during the week. 
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The base is in a motel that is a few hundred feet from the beach.  The location is excellent and in a true harvest field. They rent out several rooms to people who are not believers and the students witness to them not only through servant evangelism, but verbal witness and by the way they live their lives.
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Hanna is taking the class and seems to be enjoying herself.  Of course beach time in the afternoons is a must. Yesterday we went to the beach to see the effects of Beyrl.  The beach was a mess and the waves were huge.  There were even a few surfers out in the water.  The wind was very strong because the storm system has not moved totally out of the area but the sun was out. 
Please pray for us as we connect with the students. We have a few appts. set up for this afternoon and tomorrow. 
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The plan is to post some pictures tomorrow if we can figure out how to download them onto Sherrys PC from PW's phone.
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Much love,
PW, Sherry and Hanna

We have arrived in Jacksonville

We are here just in time for the tropical storm which is sitting off the coast.  9 years ago Sherry was down in Florida helping Waynes mom pack up her house when a hurricane hit. Now here she is again waiting out another one.  Oh well, it will be an exciting memory for Hanna.
We took 3 days to drive down so we did not have to rush. It was a good time of being together and getting ready for our week of ministry. Please keep us in prayer this week. Even though there are only 5 students, they are important to God and are here to prepare themselves for ministry.  Most of them are in their early 20's so it should be a fun week. 
We will update every chance we get. God bless you all.
With much love,
PW, Sherry and Hanna

On the road again

We are scheduled to leave again this Friday for a weeks ministry in Jacksonville Florida at the YWAM base there.  The Castro's, missionaries from our church, are directing the school of ministry there and invited us to come teach their team.  Our topic will be Biblical Counseling which will prove very valuable training for those who will be on staff and working with others. We will also be ministering one on one to a few married couples and other staff members.
Wayne's mom has not been feeling too well so please pray for her and Sherry's mom as they stay at home.  It would be wonderful if they had an uneventful few weeks. 
CCF is being left in the good hands of Pastor Bill and Edie. 
Please pray for Richard and Sue, members of our congregation who are fighting the cancer battle. Richard has been sick since January. We hate to leave them at this time so prayer is so appreciated.
We will try to post daily if possible, not sure what our Internet access will be at the base. 
Thank you so much for all of your prayer coverage. It makes a huge difference to know our backs and the church are being covered. 
Much love,
PW and Sherry

Fresh Starts: Necessary Doors

Fresh Starts: Necessary Doors: Recently, my husband and I encountered a tough situation that hurt our hearts and confused our minds.  In the midst of questioning why we ...

Fresh Starts: A Matter of Honor

Fresh Starts: A Matter of Honor: Children’s children   are   the crown of old men, a nd the glory of children   is   their father.  Proverbs 17:6 My husband and I are...

Finally some pictures - still need help but at least you can see.



Daniel and Damaris Pedrazza - Missionaries from Argentina
Director of the School



 

Our Class

Our translator Lenna



Outside of School





Living Room in our Apt.



Wayne and Sherry in front of Latvian Resturaunt in Riga

Mauro Martinez - Dean of School and Missionary from Argentina



Students playing ball during break





Lovely Cabin set in woods





Stork in next watching over babies





Wayne and Eugene
our other translator and student from last year





Student skit on Eskimos



Our class praying over us on last day.. What a precious gift to us.

View from our hotel room

River across from hotel

Another view of the River

There is no place like home

We arrived safely home in Cleveland around 4:30 and were met at the airport by our daughter and her wonderful husband. Then we arrived at our home and were met by our moms and 5 grandkids.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh home. 

We had wonderful seats all day and the flights were easy.  It was also nice getting home so early.
We will try to post our pictures by Monday.  Maybe one of techy church family can help us.

Off to bed so we can get up for Church in the morning. Thanks to all of you have fasted and prayed for us this past week.  It made a huge difference. 

With Love,
PW and Sherry

Traveling by Plane is like being in the Army

Most of you have heard the old saying from the Army....hurry up and wait? It seems that is exactly what the airlines today have taken as their motto. We rushed to the airport at 4:30 a.m. this morning, yes you read that right, and then found out our tickets were put into standby because we had free reward tickets, then we had to rush to the gate because our flight was to leave at 6:20. Got to the gate after having to unpack half of PW's carry on (15 min process) at security, to finally get a real seat, but then the attendant said the flight was delayed due to technical difficulties. It is now 8 a.m. and we are still WAITING. Ah the joys of traveling. It is a good thing we truly do believe that the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord. Hopefully by the time most of you read this, we will be happily flying over the ocean on our way home. Please pray for us to have safe travel.


Blessings and Much Love
PW and Sherry

Day 5

Today was the highlight of the week of ministry.  We only 4 sessions total today but it was enough.  Many of the students wanted to meet with us one on one and talk about their particular sin issues which was a blessing because it showed they had been dealt with by the Holy 'Spirit as we taught.  Several came up and said they had been talking last night and that all of them were so appreciative for the practical teachings that they could put in to practice immediately.  During chapel today we gave our testimony which opened up the flood gates and tore down walls so that they were willing to talk. PTL for His goodness.

We received an email from our friend Rannie in the Philippines and he said he and his church have been praying for the students in Ogre and us this week.  Then he said something so special....he said " your victory is our victory".  Thank you so much Rannie for standing with us.  God is so good and your prayers have been answered.

After school Marou drove us to Riga to spend the night at a hotel near the airport so we could get a few extra hours sleep.  We are satisfied with the weeks ministry and are ready to come home to our station on the wall and also to reunite with our family.  Please do pray for exit row seats for us tomorrow.

Much Love,
PW and Sherry

Day 4

Today was another lovely day in Latvia. The sun is shining the birds are singing and the air is warm.   Outside the classroom window is a huge storks nest with babies inside. Yesterday we actually got to watch the mother standing in the nest taking care for baby. We had never seen the storks so this was a treat. I took some pictures but until I can figure out how to put them on the blog you will have to wait.  I think that blogger made some changes and I have yet to figure them out.

Class was great.  The students are very interactive and attentive. It has been a huge blessing to impart to them the things the Lord has entrusted us with.  We met with several students today to discuss things they are dealing with and others came up and told us how much the class was helping them.

Tonight, we had a worship night with them and then Sherry shared a word on a Devoted life calling them to sell out to God.  Almost all the students came up for prayer at the end and committed to give God their whole life.  We were humbled to say the least. 

It has been a long day today and we are tired. We just finished packing so we can check out tomorrow.  When school is finished we will go to Riga and stay near the airport so we can get a good nights rest before we leave at 6:30 a.m. on Sat. 

Day 3

Today was such a good day overall.  The weather was gorgeous again with lots of sunshine most of the day. 

We were amazed as we watched the Lord deal with the hearts of the students today. Not only did several ask for counseling time, but as PW taught on idols of the heart many came up after and told him how God had exposed the idols and they were repenting. We also asked them to write down on a piece of paper a sin issue they could not get victory over and told them that we would teach on how to change and overcome tomorrow. We were so blessed by the honesty and transparency that they showed as they all wrote down a sin as we had asked.  No names of course.  Tomorrow night we will have a special service where we will ask them to totally surrender to God and then we will pray over each one of them.  We so appreciate all your prayers for us and can feel Gods anointing as we minister.

After class our new friend Maruo took us to Riga to the bank and to dinner at a huge Latvian buffet.  It was so much fun and Sherry got to eat her traditional blinchkie with jam.  Yummmmmmmmmmmmm.  A perfect ending to the day.

We have 2 more days of ministry left and look forward to seeing what the Father is going to do.

Still cannot figure out the pictures, but promise they will be posted as soon as we do figure it out.

Love you all,
PW and Sherry

Happy Birthday, Sherry!

This is Jen, Wayne and Sherry's daughter, hacking in to say...

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

No pictures

Ok something on our computer changed in Picasa, and we cannot figure out how to post pictures since ther is no longer a blog button on our picasa page.  I am so sorry.  As soon as we figure it out we will have wonderful pictures from Latvia for you to view. Meanwhile we will just report daily.  Only 3 days of teaching left and then home. Time is flying. Not sure if we like these shorter trips, just about the time jet lag ends, it is time to go home and fight jet lag all over again. 
Blessings,
PW and Sherry

Day 2

The weather started off with rain and gloom and by 11 it was sunny and around 60.  They are all thrilled since the prediction was bad weather all week. 
Wow what a great day we had with the students. We started teaching at 9 and taught until 5. We are tired to say the least.  PW taught 5 sessions and Sherry 2. The students are amazing. Not only are they taking notes like crazy, but they ask very thoughtful questions that show they really want to learn.  We ended the day with a role play of two friends meeting to discuss a problem.  We showed them how to gather information in a casual way and give godly biblical counsel the friend. They loved it and we laughed alot. During the breaks they took turns coming to us and asking questions about the struggles they have and wanted to know what to do biblically.

These young people have chosen to take a year of their life and prepare themselves in spiritual things before they go off to university.  Please pray for them to take the things they have learned all year and apply to their lives so they can serve the Lord effectively and not be deceived by the things the world offers. 

We are spending the evening resting since we were up before 7 to prepare.  I think tonight we will be in bed early for sure.  We will try to post pictures in the morning so you will have something to look at when you wake up.

Thanks for all the prayer and support. You are wonderful and such a blessing to us both.

We love you
Pw and Sherry

Day 1

Today started late for us. We did not have to be at the school until 11:30 so we had a nice relaxing morning. We were very excited to meet the students and we were not disappointed. 28 young people from the ages of 19-22 and one 60 yr old man. They were wonderful. They asked really good questions seemed to be engaged as PW taught and many came up to us and spoke to us in English....yeah . It is always easier to relate to them when they can talk to us without a translator. We are looking forward to this week.

It was nice to renew our acquaintance with Danny and Damaris who are the leaders of the school. They are from Argentina and have lived in Latvia for 20 yrs. They love the people here and it shows every time you talk to them. We went to dinner with them after classes and had a nice time of fellowship.

Tomorrow is an early day and we will be teaching from 9-4. I will try to take pictures and post them by tomorrow night. I keep forgetting to take my camera out.

Thanks to Pastor Bill who preached a terrific message Sunday to our CCF family. We so appreciate him and the gift God has placed in him.

PW's health has been good thankfully. Keep praying.

We love you,
PW and Sherry

Fresh Starts: A Broken Heart

Our daughter who is an excellent writer posted this on her fresh starts blog. We thought it well worth posting also.  The message is a much needed word in the body of Christ today.  We begin teaching today and would appreciate your prayer coverage.  Love, PW and Sherry

Fresh Starts: A Broken Heart: I have tried to come up with a witty beginning to this devotional and it’s just not happening.  There is no way to dress it up; it must be...

Safely Landed

We have arrived safely in Latvia and have had a good nights sleep. Our plane ride was good. We were able to get excellent seats with leg room on each of our 4 flights and our luggage arrived with us. Those of you who have followed our earlier trips understand why that is such an event. :>)) Pw did not have any problem with his back or his hernia PTL..

Mauro Martinez pick us up from the airport. He is a young man from Argentina who serves as a missionary at the Bible School where we will be teaching. A precious young man who is 10 yrs old in the Lord and has a real grasp of the importance of obeying our Savior. We look forward to getting to know him better this week.

He drove us by the school on our way to the hotel. There are two buildings which they use. It is not as primitive as we were expecting. Mauro described it as in the middle of nowhere. Actually it is not, but he is from Buenos Aires and lived in the city of 4 million which explained why he thought it was in the middle of nowhere.

On a funny note, can you imagine being in Latvia and speaking Spanish and then having to learn English so you can communicate with folks whose primary language is Russian but who sometimes speak English as a second language? All the while learning to speak Russian. Well this young man is doing just that. Pray for him to grasp the language quickly so he can be even more effective while living in Latvia.

Our hotel is lovely. Actually we are in an apartment which is surrounded by huge windows so it is very bright in our room. We have a kitchen, full bath, living room and a separate bedroom with a king size bed. We were surprised when we walked into the room. We will try to post pictures later once they get downloaded.

We will rest one more day then start teaching on Monday. Ephesians 6:19 says: and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Thank you for praying for us, we realize we need that support in order to do the work God has called us to do.

Blessings to all of you as you worship the Lord tomorrow.
With love,
PW and Sherry