Sorry National League Fans!

This blog might be very boring to some of you but this is yet another side of both Preston and I.
We love baseball! Preston follows baseball all year long. He follows all teams but he is a Cardinals fan. Preston keeps me informed on one team....my team.... The Boston Red Socks!
If you follow baseball at all you will know that the Red Socks won the World Series last night in a four game sweep! I am yes celebrating but I will have to admit I was a tiny bit bummed. Here is the story...
Preston and I don't own cable and there were no games of the playoffs or the world series playing on our 4 local stations. Normally when we want to watch the games we head to either Outback or Chili's and we eat dinner watching the game. There are a few negatives to doing this...
1. You are taking up a table and the waiter can't get another customer.
2. You are sitting in a booth or hard chair for a couple of hours.
3. You are not wearing your comfortable clothes.
4. You look a little silly yelling at the screen in a public restaurant....especially in Mexico, where you are the only people in the whole restaurant watching the game!!
5. It cost around $30 to eat at these places
6. You can't order popcorn!
So we checked and you can order the post season games on the internet and watch them from your computer for a small fee of $10. Well this is obviously cheaper than 1 meal out to eat and you can stay and watch in the comforts of your home. So we bought the package and set up shop in front of the computer every game. Well to my joy but at the same time bummer the World Series only went 4 games this year. Last night I began to cheer for the Rockies just so we could watch more games. But I had to celebrate my team taking the victory another year!!!

Here is a picture of me so happy after the Socks won! You will notice we even moved the living room furniture into the office!!
Here is our computer set up watching the game.
Now for the boring part of those of you who aren't baseball fans......
My Favorites/Opinions

Courtney's MVP: Josh Beckett

Josh is an outstanding pitcher. He has just what it takes to be a cool, calm and successful pitcher. He pitched the first game and did an outstanding job. He just has a way to remain calm under pressure and he seems to have control of every pitch. Plus I think he seems like such a nice man. He seems like a gentleman and he is my favorite and my MVP choice.

My Favorite Rookie and close tie for MVP: Jacoby Ellsbury
This rookie did a fantastic job. He was playing to earn a spot on the starting line up and he did. Every time we needed him, he was there. I was totally impressed by his hard work and determination. Plus he never acted proud or like a show off. He just seems like he plays the game with heart and he has me sold!

My Favorite Closing Pitcher: Jonathan Papelbon
This guy is a hoot. I love to watch him play and I love his personality. He is so fun loving and such a goofy guy but when it comes time for him to close the game....he is our man. He steps up there and fires the balls in. He is so fun to watch both: on the field playing or doing his river dances celebrating after the game.

And last, My Favorite Character: Manny Ramirez
This guy is a card. I love to watch him because he is so stinking funny! The only word to explain him is A Card. I especially loved watching him try to take off his helmet each time he was running the bases. He is fun to watch and is always a good laugh not to mention a great baseball player.

But overall we had fun watching the World Series and I am still proud to be a Red Socks fan. I think they all played great games and they played together as a team should. Not one person ran the show, it was a team effort.
Well if you have made it to the end of all that I am so proud of you...you truly do love and support me!! Go Red Socks!!

Update

Follow up with hotels
We had asked you to please be praying for us as we begin follow-up work with the hotel managers. We have had dinners with two of the managers and things have went really well. Both of these managers are going to be great contacts for us in the future. We have contacted the other 3 managers but we are waiting on them to choose a day and time. Right now they are entering into the heavy tourism season so finding a time to meet is hard right now. But we have continued the relationships with them.
Reunion
Tomorrow we will begin passing out information about the Reunion/BBQ this upcoming Saturday. Keep praying for the Lord's will. Each hotel we have talked to is willing to pass on the info to their employees so pray the people will come.

Women's Night
Last night was the women's scrap booking night. Siliva invited many of her friends who are not a part of the church as well as I did. One friend of Siliva's did come and she said she might come to church. Also another praise. One of the hotel managers who we had dinner with came last night and brought her daughter!! There were 8 ladies in total. Only 2 were from the church!!

Well I just wanted to give this quick update for those of you checking the blog anxiously to find out what is going on. After the reunion on Saturday I will send out an email with all the specifics!
We love you all!

Correction

Sorry for the confusion in the last email I sent out. If you are praying for the up coming cookout/reunion it is going to be Saturday November 3rd!! Not the 2nd. Sorry about that!
Again thank you for your prayers for this event. We have already talked to one hotel about it and he told us to get him the information and he would pass it on to his employees. We will keep praying for this day and praying for the Lord's will.
Thanks again!

If you are not receiving our prayer request emails and would like to please email me at courtneygoings@gmail.com

The beauty of serving the Lord

We wanted to let you guys know we had a cool thing happen Sunday at church.

In September I (Courtney) had a women's scrap booking night. We had told the women of the church here to invite their friends. Well they did. One member Brigida invited one of her friends that she had only met weeks before. While she was here for the women's night Brigida began to tell her about the church and she invited her to come. I was able to spend lots of time talking to this woman as well. Her name is Nelli.
That was over a month ago and I never heard anything from Nelli. Well guess who showed up to church over a month later? Nelli. She seemed very excited to learn from God's word. We will continue to pray for her to come and for her to surrender her life to the Lord.
This is just proof and also an encouragement that it does take time and you never know who or when the people are going to come....it might even be months later! The Lord is so ever faithful and we pray you will rejoice with us and begin to pray for Nelli.

Other things....

• Please pray for us as we have begun follow up work from the tourism conferences. We are first taking each manager of the hotels out to eat.
• Pray for wisdom as we try to plan an reunion event for all the employees who went through the tourism conferences.
  
• Pray for me as I plan another women's night. Pray for the women to again bring their lost friends. This will be October 27.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! We love you all.

The ants go marching

The other day we were talking on the phone to Preston's brother Jason and his wife Stephanie when all of the sudden Preston completely leaves the conversation and goes on a complete tangent. He started talking about the ants outside and how they were carrying a dead cockroach. Jason and Stephanie are my witnesses that Preston went on and on for about 5 minutes talking about these ants.

So after we got off the phone I went to look at these ants and lo and behold it was amazing!!! The pictures will explain the amazement of several ants working together! Maybe this was one of the reasons it was written in Proverbs 6:6-8

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Now these ants were not carrying the cockroach across the ground but up a wall!!!
I wonder if they were singing a chant to keep them all moving at the same time. In my mind they were screaming....HEEV....HO....HEEV....HO. I watched them and they made it up the entire wall and into a crack where they will be able to feed their whole clan!
Just another aspect of God's amazing creation.
PS. I like having ants around who want to eat cockroaches!!!

October Trip/ Conferences

We just had a group here from Second. We were putting on tourism conferences for some hotels here in PV. This group was made up of 4 wonderful people and very hard workers. We not only worked hard but we also had a good time together. The team: Nancy, Preston, Me, Connie, Brad and Brenda.
Here is us enjoying a good old Mariachi band at Pi Pi's




Brenda and Connie








Now for the conferences. Brad and Preston did a great job leading the conferences! Nancy, Brenda and Connie worked the registration table so we could give each person a certificate at the end of the conference. Here is Nancy displaying a certificate.
Also we all took the opportunity to serve the workers with water, coffee and homemade cookies which we baked every night!!! Here is a picture of Connie serving some cookies. I really believe the workers were blessed to be served by us and I think they were able to see Christ's love through such a simple act.
The people loved Brad and Preston. At this hotel every person wanted their picture with them and their certificates. It was great to see how well Brad and Preston worked together. They were really able to feed off each other and made each conference fun and lively.
This was a conference we did and we had no AC!!! Needless to say, I had to make a cold water run before we all passed out!!
This was at a smaller hotel. The people here were so gracious and excited we were there. At the end they wanted a group picture and then they invited us to come and have breakfast with them on Friday before the group left. This was a very special group.
This was our last day. This was at a larger hotel. This was the morning session.
Here are the ladies working the registration table again....trying to figure out the Mexican names!!
I guess everyone liked the first session because this was the same hotel and the same room but with lots more people! I guess everyone went and told their friends!!
We were so crowded in the second session that we had to pull the registration table out of the room and people had filled the room standing in the back! Praise the Lord...what a great problem to have.
We want to personally thank each of you for your prayers for this past week. The Lord was definitely faithful to hear and answer our prayers.

• The Lord gave us 9 conferences with around 439 people!! Praise the Lord!
• The Lord gave each member of the team the stamina to give 100% at each conference
• The Lord was evident in guiding Brad as he lead
• The Second members definitely displayed Christ's love in serving the people
• The Lord answered our prayers about translating....Preston was perfect for the job and the Lord definitely guided his mind the entire time!

It was so neat to see the Lord at work this week and to see how the Lord answered each of our prayer requests. Please rejoice with us and begin praying for the people we came in contact with. Each person received a church flier and we pray the Holy Spirit will begin working in them and bring them to a point where they come searching!
We love you all!!!


Thank you Brad, Brenda, Connie and Nancy. We had a blast with each one of you!!

Celebrating Preston's Birthday!!

We were able to have a wonderful birthday celebration with the team and also with Erika and her sister Yuri.

Cards from home!
Card from Angela
Card from his mom
Card from Tammi and Gary
Card from my Dad
Card from the team!
Card from my mom
Cheddars!!! From Ed and Nancy
Card from Betsy...also many snacks from home!!

Preston was blessed with sweets for his birthday! First he had a birthday cake Sunday and then he had a pecan pie and a flan on his birthday!
































This is Preston taking the first bite of his flan!
Here was the end result....he was a little messier than I was!
A few gifts from home! I think he looks like a little kid here!
He got some new running shorts, a movie, a book and some tools.
Preston wants to thank everyone for making his birthday so wonderful. It was fun celebrating with the group from church and it was nice to have all the thoughts and cards from home!
We love you all.

The Birthday of the Love of my Life and more!

Way back in time two people near and dear to my heart were born!!!
First......
Preston

Preston, you are an amazing man. I am always encouraged for your shear love and enthusiasm for life! You love where the Lord leads you no matter where you are. You are able to look past the surface and see God's heart in the situation. You are definitely a man after God's own heart. I am so thankful I am married to a man whose passion for the lost will guide our family. I trust you and I will follow you wherever because I know you follow the Lord and His heart.

You are the best husband, encourager, and friend. Thank you for loving me above yourself.
I hope you have a wonderful birthday and a great year!!


Also on the same day one of my best friends was born!! Betsy!!

Betsy you know I love you and I cherish your friendship. We have been through so much and I praise the Lord he brought us together to walk through the good and bad together. You are such a faithful and loving friend to me. I love our past, our present and I look forward to our future!!!
I hope you have a wonderful day and I am sorry we can't party together this year. You mean the world to me. I love you!!!

The world would be a lonely place without October 2,1982!!! I love you both!!

Happy Birthday Denise!!

Well just to let everyone know. The team arrived safely and we have hit the ground running. Please pray for us to have endurance and for the Lord to do Big things!!

Also....I love you Denise and I hope you have a wonderful birthday. I am so glad I met you and I thank you for all your support and love. Thank you for your friendship. You know it means the world to me!!! Have a great day!!