Dear Friends:
"...but joy comes in the morning!"  This has been our experience over the past couple weeks.  Im not sure if you saw the boxing fight between Ricky Hatton and the Phillipino Paquino (sp?)?  I saw the highlights on the news...which is pretty much all there were as the fight lwas over almost as soon as it began.  But as I was watching Ricky lying, out cold on the mat I thought "That is how I feel right now!"  

We have had a lot happen over the past month.  I won't get into details, but it involves the heartaches of being disappointed by people in the ministry, theft from the ministry, theft from us, personal struggles with our builder, the struggles we have been going through getting our container through customs, all hitting at once and piling on top of each other.  As I watched Ricky Hatton fall, I said "Lord, if something else happens, that is what is going to happen to me!"

But how the Lord encouraged us last week with a visiting team.  Pst. Don McClure had visited in April and he was kind of paving the way for a visit from Mike Rozell and Potters Field Ministry.  Many of you have seen Mike and Pam's pottery ministry, and their visual use of making a pot to illustrate our relationship to our Father, as we are clay in the Potter's hands.

We had to find a potters wheel...which was no easy task.  After much searching, we found one.  It was the rear axle of a car fixed positioned upwards to a steel table.  A clutch plate was the actual potters wheel and this was welded to the differential U-joint.  Turning a handle on the axle's wheel turned the potters wheel!  Quite ingenious.  Anyway, I cranked and Pst. Mike made pots in front of many audiences, from children to youth to adults, and what a joy it was to see their expressions go from interest, to understanding the Bible truth of what God is doing to each of us!

But God had even bigger intentions for their visit.  Potters Field has recently started a program for children in El Salvadore called 'Potters Field Kids' (PFK) helping hundreds (maybe thousands) of kids in schools, after school programs and an orphan ministry.   God has put it on their heart to start a similar program for children here in Africa, and God brought them to us!  What an incredible answer to prayer!  We do a lot of work with children which takes a lot of financial resources and God has always met the need.  Now with this partnership with PFK, we have help.  We can tap into their administrative expertise in doing this kind of ministry and they also serve as a voice before another audiance and a channel through which resources can be directed.  

We Praise God for His obvious love for the people of Africa, and for the encouragement He sends when we need it most!  Encouragement to get up, back up off the mat, and persevere in His fight...the "good fight"!

Thank you all so much for your love and prayers.

Craig, Loren and the Family