God Did It For Me! Part 3 (Spiritual Encouragement)

Another great blessing of having been in the States was the spiritual encouragement we received. Besides being able to be at the Beacon Hill Baptist Church, we were able to visit three other churches who have been a blessing to us over the years…the Petra Baptist Church, Pastor W.N. Bond, who was Dad’s pastor when he was only 19 years old, and attending medical school; the Family Baptist Church, Pastor Kelle Hein; and the Immanuel Baptist Church, Pastor Louis Horton. In 2000, I was blessed to have been a part of that church by working as a teacher in their Christian school. The people there feel like family to me, and it was such a blessing to me that Andrew and I were able to be there.

I don’t know if supporting churches in the States realize what it means to missionaries to be able to be able to visit their churches and receive encouragement. As a missionary, one often feels spent physically and emotionally, for the glory of God; and to be able to be in churches and sit and listen and to enjoy hearing the preaching is refreshing.

It means everything to a missionary to hear, “We are praying for you and your family every day.” One battles with everything from criticism and discrimination to literal demons from hell nearly every day, and to know that someone takes the time to pray specifically for me

means a lot.

One man told us: “I have your family picture in my Bible, and every time I read my Bible, I look at your picture and pray for you. And I read my Bible at least three times a day.” What encouragement and strength we have drawn from the fact that people are praying for us!

Don’t forget about your missionaries. Pray for them, and let them know that you are praying. When a missionary comes to your church, remember they have spiritual and emotional needs. God meets every need, and He supplies according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus; but He uses people to encourage, to uplift, to say, “Just keep on keeping on!"

Bro. and Mrs. John Manning...

"Thank you for ALL you did for us!!! We love you!"

Miss Laquita Brown and Mom

My Lovely Mother

Bro. Manning, Bro. Jim, and David

Andrew got to bring the message on Sunday night at Beacon Hill....

The Sloan Kids singing

David's family singing


The López Family singing


The Knabb famiy singing

The Lopez children singing

Our family with Bro. and Mrs. Bond...
What a blessing they are to us!

Bro. Manning telling about his golfing experience with Andrew...his first time to go golfing!

Thank you, Bro. Manning, for your tender heart toward the missionaries!

Andrew gave his testimony and I translated

Another Sloan children special
Bro. Louis Horton

Sloan children singing at Immanuel Baptist Church

The Hortons took us out to I H O P....
"Thank you for EVERYTHING!"

We were able to go visit Bro. and Mrs. Riley...

who have always been such a blessing to all of our family!
Tom's children sang for her...
...as did Andrew and I

We love you, Bro. and Mrs. Riley!

What a blessing to have been at the Family Baptist Church with the Waldrops and the Heins!

Thank you for all you did for us while we were there! We love you!

God Did It For Me...Part 2

F A M I L Y

F- Feeling right at home!
A- All about loving each other!
M- Making of Memories!
I- I am accepted!
L- Laughter
Y- Yesterday's sibbling...today's best friend!

By far, the best thing about our trip to the States was getting to be with family. There is nothing in this world like being with family. You can just let your hair down and act crazy, if you like, or sit in the corner and be quiet and watch everyone else act crazy (I'm usually in the OTHER group!!!) and you're still loved and accepted! We were able to be with Tom and Mona; and David and Jolene; and Sarah and Jason; and Mom...the most wonderful lady in all the world! It was great being around my nephews and nieces and being able to love on them. There is no way I could describe what fun it was being together....

Tommy and Mona have 5 children, ages fourteen to two; Jason and Sarah have 6 children, ages seven to eleven months; and David and Jolene have 3 children, ages eight to four. I love watching Tom and Mona with their children, and admiring the way theirs have grown into lovely young people. Every time I am with them, I try to learn all I can as I watch them...14 seems very far away from now, but I know before I know it, that my 7-year-old will be 14! (That's hard to imagine!) And when I am around Jason and Sarah, I can't help but ADMIRE how they handle their little ones, because they are all so little! It is a testimony to me to see how calmly and sweetly Sarah deals with her children...so close in age, many times all of them demanding her immediate attention at the same time...but she sweetly and tenderly cares for each need, as if there is only one child in the room! I want to be a mommy just like her! And David and Jolene are an example to me in the way they do things by routine...order and never chaos. How do they do it? They inspire me to want this in our home, too!

And among all this family fun, I got up each morning to the smell of coffee in the church kitchen, and to the sight of my mother reading her Bible. Everyone had to go through her bedroom to get to the washing machine or to the shower or to the nursery (Tom and Mona's bedroom!); but she stayed focused. What a blessing and testimony to me!

I was thinking just today: If you have nothing in the world besides family, you are BLESSED! What a blessing family is! To each of my sibblings...today my true friends who love me JUST as I am...I say: I love you; I cherish the relationship we have; and I am so thankful God put us in the same family!

(I apologize for the dates on some of the pictures...the camera somehow got that all messed up!)

Tom and Esther and Elisa

Brother-in-law fun!

Who does he belong to?

"This is my first candy ever, Aunt Anna!"

Cousin love....

Good ol' Gospel singin'! I love it!

The girls thought I needed a new hair style....

...like it?!

Belated birthday gifts for Little Andrew

Little Miss Esther Joy

Can we open the gifts now?

Helpful big sister...Gabriela and Elisa Faith

Singing Christmas carols...there is nothing like family harmony, is there?

"Look what I got!"

Mimi's gonna read us a story! Gather 'round!

The "grandchildren" book that Jolene had made for Mimi!

I love all the little heads gathered around Mimi's chair!

Figuring out the Construction Game

Andrew carving the turkey...yummy!

Christmas dinner

Childrens' Mad Santa

Brianna got balls....

...and Stewart got a bead necklace set!

Mama trying to win something good for her Little Esther

Adult Mad Santa

Remember: The biggest gifts aren't always the best!

O Holy Night...sung by the Sloan Ladies...

...and David and Mom playing a piano duet.

God Did It For Me!

Psalm 105:1,2..."O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon HIS name: make known HIS deeds among the people. Sing unto HIM, sing psalms unto HIM: talk ye of all HIS wondrous works."

Well, I’m a talker. I love to talk, and I have a tendency of making a short story long,

adding ALL of the details.

But I just have to tell you about what God did for us: He provided the way for our family to go to the States for Christmas!!!

Andrew had never been to the States. God gave him his visa in April, 2009. My children were babies the last time they went to the States (Little Andrew was 11 months old when we went up for Dad’s funeral; and Deborah was 6 months old when Mom and I went across the border for a couple of hours of shopping.) And it had been almost 3 years since I had been.

We rode a bus from our home town to Mexico City; then flew from Mexico City to Monterrey; then a friend of ours drove us up to Austin, where we met my oldest brother, Tom, and were with him and his family the rest of our time in the States.

Waiting for our plane to leave...airport in Mexico City

(A BIG thank-you to Tom and his wife Mona, and their 5 precious children, whom we consider to have been our “hosts” while in the U.S. We made unforgettable memories with them! They were such a blessing and encouragement to us!!!)

We got to go to Cabella's (a fishing and hunting store) near Austin!

I can’t even tell you how much fun it was watching Andrew experience his first time in the States! Everything is different in the States…the highways are wide and clean; and speed-bump free! The buildings are tall and outlined with lights that make them look so beautiful at night! Even pumping gas is self-service! Now THAT’S different for us! I think the thing that was MOST refreshing to me was the extreme friendliness that was shown to us in the stores. One is made to feel like a true guest of honor when you walk into the stores (be it a little 7-11 or a Khol’s!). Andrew was awe-stricken by the vast differences between the countries!

The beautiful courthouse in Decatur, Texas

Our first night in the States was spent at Mona’s mother’s house. It was very special to me to be able to spend some time with Mrs. Thompson.

Little Andrew’s 7th birthday was on Wednesday, the 22nd of December, the day after we arrived in the States. Since we were at Mrs. Thompson’s house, Little Andrew was able to play all day with his cousin, Hank and Hank’s cousin, Levi. Mrs. Thompson’s house sets on (I think Mona said) 3 acres of land. Little Andrew, Hank and Levi shot b-b guns all day, “hunting” birds. Little Andrew loved every minute of it! I didn’t have time to plan anything big, but Mrs. Thompson bought a cake for Little Andrew and we all bought gifts; that evening, he blew out his candles and opened his gifts. I was so impressed by Mrs. Thompson’s thoughtfulness. What a special, godly lady! She gave us royal treatment as guests in her home. THANK YOU, MRS. THOMPSON!

Hearing some good singing in Mrs. Thompson's livingroom
--Tom and Mona's children--

We attended the mid-week service at Tom and Mona’s home church…Andrew’s first church service in the States. He was amazed at the big church buildings in the States. Not only the one we attended, but all the enormous church buildings that line I-35…gorgeously elegant church buildings. He couldn’t believe how many churches there are in the States!

Pastor and Mrs. Doyle Thompson

We arrived at Forney, where we were to spend our remaining days in the States. Mom was there to greet us at the un-earthly hour of 2:00 a.m. Mom said, “I wouldn’t believe it if I wasn’t seeing it!” as she hugged her “favorite” (hee, hee!!!!...just kidding, sisters!!) son-in-law and welcomed him to the States!

The Beacon Hill Baptist Church in Forney really out-did themselves…first of all, by allowing us ALL to stay in their church building for our Christmas celebration. With 16 children and 9 adults, the church building was the perfect place to stay! When we walked in at 2:00 in the morning, we were all fully awake with a sudden burst of excited energy. As we walked through the auditorium to make our way back to the Sunday School room that was to be our bedroom, the most breath-taking sight met our eyes: A gorgeously decorated tree, all lit up, decorated by two men in the church. Over to the right were 16 stockings hung, one for each child. Under the tree and set INTO the tree were gifts for all the children. Several of the ladies had cooked and baked and brought special treats to the church…brownies, cookies, pies, and set out on the counter were loaves of pumpkin bread, wrapped in beautiful checked fabric, with each couple’s name on it. And next to it was a jar of a chocolate-mint drink powder, ready to mix with water.

I went to sleep that night with the feeling of just being loved. First of all by my Heavenly Father, for having allowed us to come all this way, and to have brought us to a church which has supported Ashcrafts and Sloans since 1960; and loved by my mother and brothers and sisters, who were EXCITED for Andrew…just as much as I was…to be able to experience this time in the States; and loved by people in a church, some who didn’t even know Andrew and me!
I WILL talk of ALL HIS WONDROUS WORKS! Precious are HIS thoughts toward each of us!

What has God done for YOU? Make known HIS deeds among the people!

(Part 2 of our trip and more pictures will be in my next post!)