January 2008 Newsletter
January 13, 2008 – 9:39 pmDear Family and Friends,
Hello to you all and we pray that this letter finds you all blessed and that the start of 2008 has brought you to new places in Christ Jesus. The last few months have been a life changing experience for our family. Our time in Belize confirmed the call of God on our lives to go there and minister to the people. We are so incredibly excited to permanently move down there and start our ministry.
We found a local church that our ministry will be a part of. The pastor is a Mayan Indian and is a precious man of God. We were amazed at how fast our relationship grew with him and his family. We are looking forward to the future with him and the church.
After searching the whole area of Punta Gorda and not finding a rental house. We began to pray and ask God what to do. Were we missing His timing? Were we not supposed to move there? The Lord began to show us His plan. The doors started opening and we started to see that renting was not what He wanted. The need for an orphanage is greater then we thought. God started showing us that we needed to establish our ministry and get things started. We were able to find 25 acres on the exact road that we felt the Lord told us to be on three years ago.
We will be leaving for Belize on the 23rd of January. We will make the seven day drive through the states and then Mexico. Then we will have 10 hours to travel through Belize to get to Punta Gorda. We should arrive in PG around Feb. 4th. We found some temporary housing behind the church that we will be attending. This housing will stretch our team, it is very primitive. Our family will be living in a 10 x 20 bungalow. There are holes in the walls and the best security I will have away from the spiders and scorpions is my mosquito net over my bed! So needless to say we will start building on our property as soon as we can. We will start with a missions lodge to house us and the three additional families that have joined our ministry.
God has been so good to us and we are continuing to see miracle after miracle. While in Belize we met with the government and found out that we have one chance to get all of our stuff in tax free. The only items that we will have to pay taxes on are the medical items that were donated, the bus and the van. This is a miracle because originally we were going to have to pay 34% of the value on every item that we brought in. Just yesterday we were given a new 2004 mini van. This was so amazing; we were planning on taking our old van that had 100,000 miles. Even things we dare not dream the Lord still blesses us with!
So here is where we are. Our financial goal to move down there including all travel expenses, shipping a 40’ container, paying taxes on the medical items, purchasing the property, making minimal improvements to our temporary housing and the starting of construction is $75,000. We have $30,000 of that goal. For our monthly support we still need about $1,000 per month. If you would like to partner with us financially you can give in several ways. You can send a check to Laugh Out Loud @ 501 WCR 48, Berthoud, CO 80513. You can go online to our website www.lolministry.com and give through Pay Pal using your checking account or a credit card. If you attend Resurrection Fellowship you can give in the offering and put our name on the envelope. If you would like to give monthly and don’t want the hassle of trying to remember you can set up monthly payments through Pay Pal or through your bank.
You can also help us get the rest of our items on our list (these items would need to be given by Jan. 19th, so we can get them on the container)
These items can be new or gently used
- Rolling pin (2) - Gas oven
- Biscuit cutter - Sheets (twin, full and queen)
- Shop Vac -Towels
- Dish rags -Water Cooler (5 gallons or more)
- Generator -Toaster (4 slices or more)
- Blender -Coffee Pot
Above anything else we thank you for being a part of our lives. We pray one day we can see you in Belize. If you would like to come down to help us with construction, we welcome you with open arms. We pray that we can have our housing up by the end of August. If you would like to come on a mission trip with family or friends we would be more then happy to set that up for you.
Be blessed and know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you for loving us and believing in us. We will keep you updated as much as we can from Belize.
In Him,
Jervis, Melissa, Shandice, Jermicah and Analiya