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January - Prayer Letter

Luke 3:10-11
10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

The love we saw in the donations and the volunteering for the shoebox program this year was simply amazing. With 1400 boxes and 1/2 a truckload of supplies our truck departed for Kentucky. My dad, Terry James, was at the wheel when a deer tried to stop the load, 20 miles from the destination of Buckhorn, KY. The result was amazing! NO ONE was hurt. The truck however, not so good. As he swerved to miss the deer the rear of the truck struck a low hanging tree. We have been obtaining estimates and are praying for the provisions to get it fixed before another trip comes up. HOWEVER, the trip was an amazing success. Continue down for the, “Rest of the story”.

The devil will always try to stop anything the Lord’s people will do. I’m sure it was a major disappointment to him to see that the load was delivered on time. I’m sure it was more of a disappointment to know that families were drawn to attend the church Christmas play, in Buckhorn,  and received the gospel of Jesus Christ, through the distribution of these little boxes. This ministry all began with a terrible flood to which we responded with shipments of supplies and hands to help. (God using something for good that was meant for bad!)

This was only half of the mission. We still had 1000 boxes to take to Florida. With a damaged truck it wasn’t going to be possible to deliver with our truck. BUT GOD!! He provided a truck and trailer and a team of drivers to get it done. THEN we had a youth group of teenagers come out on a Friday night to transfer the load. What a week! BUT IT GETS BETTER!
The boxes made it to Port Charlotte, Florida where the truck was met with another team of volunteers. It wasn’t long until the messages started coming through of witnesses going out, people being invited to church and souls being saved! What a blessing! We just want to say thank you to all those who were involved in the program this year. We hope you will consider getting involved in this sweet time next Christmas as well. In 3 years we have grown it from 200 boxes in the Bahamas to 500 in Louisiana to 1400. Next year I believe we can achieve 5000 boxes. These aren’t just cardboard boxes with trinkets and toys. They’re a way for us to say, “We haven’t forgotten you” and “Jesus loves you” to those who we served earlier in the year during a disaster. A way to get gospel tracts and books of John and Romans into homes that may not normally allow us that privilege. Finally, it’s also a way for the local church to make a witness and bless the community, building the local church.
We praise the Lord for the donation that allowed us to get the single engine back up and flying! The airplane has made trips to Ohio and multiple trips to the Bahamas in 22′. Now the twin is back in inspection for the year. We are more than halfway complete and have found and fixed a couple issues. We are looking forward to having this plane back up as well to be able to fulfill our ministry obligations in the Bahamas as well as the other trips we are praying to make this summer that we’ll mention in a minute.
What a great Christmas we had! Our family was so blessed celebrating the birthdays of Jesus, Chloey and Addyson! We got to spend time with the grandtwins and were able to just relax as a family. We also had a party for our board and were blessed to have them want to spend their time with us for a time of fellowship and fun.
Finally, we are praying for God to allow us to do a major event this year in the July timeframe. I’ve been praying for this since last year but it has been a desire since I took the position of Director of Air Hope. We have been preaching and evangelizing all through the Bahamas, sporadically, for almost 4 years now. Now I want to put some structure to this and do a string of outdoor tent preaching events and VBS’ from Jamaica, through the Bahamas and out to the West Indies to Dominica. These events will require us to fly our airplane and take a team and supplies with us. We have a budget of $34,000.00 for these events and the costs associated with them in 23′. PRAYERS work! Please be in prayer for this AND be proactive as well. If you can give, GIVE! If you can’t then just pray and believe!
Praises:
Parts received for the Cessna
Souls saved in Florida
Safety in the truck accident
Truck and drivers donated to complete the trip  

Requests:
Volunteers needed for bookkeeping and other clerical positions
Provisions for inspections
Donations for the Caribbean Gospel Tour
Donations for the truck repairs