God and His perfect timing was so evident this week! We PRAISE YOU LORD!


Prayer and Praise!

The Wilmington Shelter

Missionaries were so blessed to minister again at the Wilmington Street Shelter on Christmas Eve. The message to the homeless men was so much more than just the birth of Jesus. It was about how the entire Old Testament prepared the way for His divine coming and how solid is the evidence of Christ’s love for us all.

Missionaries walked among the lambs, offering cheerful conversation and prayer. Many of the more than 100 there received communion and more than a dozen came to the front of the Christmas tree, knelt and received prayer for their continued walk with the Lord! Praise God!

There were more than enough boxes of toiletries, gloves, scarves and hats for each lamb to have one. We are thanking every individual who donated items or their time to bring the love of Jesus there!

Cary and Apex

• Missionaries brought food to the Brown Bag ministry Saturday from an area Food Lion and then pick up the Brown Bags lunches. A missionary from Western Wake Crisis Center was there wanting to know of neighborhoods to take food on the weekends. His sister in Christ knows of many so the decision is tough. He was also looking for other volunteers. They prayed. When the missionaries were delivering prayer, brown bag lunches, and words of encouragement, a woman in a car told her friend that she wished she could give food away to others in the name of Jesus. She was told of the morning prayer, the need, and given the missionary’s phone number. She called yesterday wanting to donate her time for the Lord at least twice a month. WE THANK YOU JESUS for hearing our cries and answering them from the least likely places!!!
• Several weeks ago during the brown bag delivery a lamb family’s bread winner was arrested and deported. The woman of the home has been gone ever since. With God’s perfect timing she and her three young children arrived at there home while missionaries were delivering the bagged lunches. They came home to a trailer without water, heat or groceries. Family members wired her money to turn on the water and heat; missionaries were able to give her a couple of bags of groceries, as well as the bagged lunches.
• Wednesday when missionaries were picking up food at an area Food Lion, She happened to be there. She was able to tell the missionary her testimony of how the Lord has provided for her during all this time. She was grateful to receive more groceries for her family. A mission asked neighbors to check on her. The neighbor jumped in her car to lent a hand of assistance. What a community this neighborhood has become!
• This same woman who ran to assist her neighbor is meeting with missionaries this weekend to discuss being the “lighthouse” in the neighborhood! Thank You Jesus for YOUR EVER BRIGHT LIGHT in the darkness!
• Also on Wednesday the sheriff was driving through. The missionary waved, the lambs asked why I would wave. She told her that there wasn’t anything to fear, because she believed in Jesus and His mighty protection. The lamb is pondering this idea.
• An area youth group held a “Sock-Hop” during Christmas break. The youths were to donate a pair of socks as an entrance donation. They collected over 250 pairs of socks. Some have been given to those at the showers in Garner, others at Moore Square. Praise God for the hearts of the children!
  Wow - our "Sock Hop" was more successful that I had anticipated. We collected 258 pairs of socks from the 14-18 years old youth from our area congregations. JD
• A Cary missionary received a letter from a former Cary lamb. He is attending a Bible study, has joined a discipleship group, reading his Bible, and attending Chapel. He would like letters of encouragement. He attended an area Apex church for over a year prior to being incarcerated. His address is
  Jason Johnson#0595883
  Greene Correctional Institution
  PO Box 39
  Maury, NC 28554
• A missionary from the Backyard Bible Club has collected clothes and toys to be given away this weekend at the Apex mission. Thank You Jesus for the beautiful weather forecast for Saturday!
• The Lord is moving in the lamb’s heart with the now normal PAP. She is taking t he first ten days of January for a Daniel Fast. She felt the Lord asking her to change her ways. She wants to continue with the Christian Women’s Book Club, as well as a mentoring group. Please keep her in your prayers as she continues her steps in faith! Thank You Jesus!
• The Lord is also answering prayers for the lamb whose apartment burned down. He still has a job and has found a place to stay. PRAISE GOD! Members of his support circle have donated groceries, helped purchase gas to get to work and purchased Christmas gifts for his daughter. THANK YOU JESUS!
• A White Flag shelter is being offered at Hope Community again this winter. Thank You Jesus! If anyone would like to volunteer at the shelter or supply meals please contact Stephanie Narron at 274-8120. They need two men to spend the night each night the temperature dips to 32 or below.
• A lamb’s mother was told she had one year to live. She is the caretaker of the couples’ children. Please pray the Lord blesses them with their children during this time period so the children don’t become part of the system. Pray for intervention.
• Shirley’s ministry is a non-profit for the animals in the woods. She is in need of financial contributions as well as pet food.
  Shirley Companion Ministry, PO Box 1468, Fuquay, NC 27526, 210-3096
• Please keep in prayer all the Apex and Cary missions. If you feel called to serve the socially and economically challenged in the Cary/Apex are please contact Cindy at cboyce@nc.rr.com .
  
  Garner
  
• A missionary went with the lamb to UNC for his appointment this week. The doctors are amazed. The lamb’s lung cancer is aggressive, but has only metastasized to neighboring tissue, lymph node and pleural lining, and only where the tumor touches. Because the doctors are so amazed they are ordering another PET scan. If these results also show that it is only in one area, then he begins weekly chemotherapy. After 5 weeks of chemotherapy he will begin a daily treatment of radiation for 7 weeks. He will need assistance with transportation to Chapel Hill. If the Lord is touching your heart to serve in this way, please contact Cindy Boyce at cboyce@nc.rr.com.
• Several lambs remembered a missionary on his birthday, even though it is New Year’s Eve and they would have other things to do! Some gave him presents and others called from as far away as Florida.
• A Hispanic lamb was transferred to a FL prison. Pray for the Lord’s provision after he is released. His address is
  Jaime Hernandez Sanchez
  Manatee County Jail
  Palmetto, FL 34221
  His public defender is Peter Coen. If any one wants to write to him on Jaime’s behalf, the address is
  Public Defender Office
  Attn. Peter Coen
  Case # 1994CF2938 920
  Manatee Ave W
  Bardenton, FL 34205
• Please pray that lambs’ hearts are opened to seeing God’s hand in everything and feeling the love of Jesus poured into each one. Pray they know they are adopted children of Christ.
  

Missionary Testimony
Never having been to Moore Square one does not really know what to expect, but that truly goes for any ministry. Until you jump in and get your feet, wet one cannot know. One this particular occasion I was to meet up with a woman named Barbara. Talking to her on the phone, I assumed her a small but commanding figure, but I had no idea what she looked like or where in Moore Square she might be. Following a Google map, I arrived on the side by City Market to see a hundred or more people gathered around a large pickup truck and I figured this must be the place. I walked over to the people at the pickup asking for Barbara, and a woman crying stated that she was Barbara. I identified myself, stated that I was there to help. She through her tears thanked me and told me that she had to leave as the person that was to carve the turkeys had had a heart attack and the ambulance was taking them to the hospital. As I looked around, I saw people going through boxes and boxes of clothing that they had just unloaded and other carrying off turkeys. As I backed up my truck and opened the tailgate nearly everyone standing close enclosed the truck (a bit over whelming I must say). The cases of gifts were gone in moments, but people keep asking me for large plastic bags as I had truly missed the Christmas gift that they had really wanted. When they realized that the truck was now empty the crowd dispersed, and I was left sitting on the tailgate wondering at what had just happened and what was I to do next. The missionary was gone, the food was gone, and the gifts were gone. So I walked around the grounds for a bit picking up trash just to sift through the events in my mind as all of this had occurred in twenty minutes. I saw nothing else going on (though to be honest my eyesight is poor at best) so I left. Later I contacted my missionary friend to find out how the person who went to the hospital was only to find out that the Barbara that I meet was not the Barbara that I was to meet at all and no one knows who went to the hospital or who even the Barbara I meet was. My missionary friend assures me that GOD had me exactly were I was need, though I felt as if I had let the Barbara down that I was to meet. Nevertheless, after praying I knew that my missionary friend was correct GOD makes no mistakes!

Your brother always,
BY

Now read how the Lord provided assistance for the other Barbara:
We went to Moore Square and helped served Christmas with that woman and there were over 150 (I think that's how many plates she counted) people that showed up to eat. When I arrived with Derek and the girls, the woman told me that she was waiting for a family of four to help her serve. I told her that I guess that must be us! We did not tell anyone we were going and no other family ever showed up, so God definitely placed us there for a reason. We were able to talk to many of the men and women after the meal and spent a lot of time just talking and hanging around the park with them. It was truly a blessing to be there. PB

God’s Provision – Donations of Time & Finances
· Thank the Lord for the showers each week from the Garner Methodist church Thank You Jesus for serving hearts! Thank You Lord for the laundramat that continues to hold the homeless laundry account.
· Thank you Jesus for all the food donated by area Food Lion stores, Macedonia Baptist church, the Apex Stake, individuals, the Dorcus shop of Cary, and Catering-by-Design! Thank you Lord for all the donations of clothing, storage places (Hope Chapel), towels and sweat clothes from the Dorcas shop, and sheets, jackets, & toiletries items from individuals, and toiletries donated this week.
· We thank you, Jesus, for those who have donated time showing the love of Jesus through relationships and support circles, especially as new ones are developing across Cary and Apex. Praise God!


Community Awareness – Meetings and missions

The first ten days of the years, missionaries spend in prayer and fasting. Prayer meetings will be held at Alice and Roger McGee’s home. Contact the McGee’s as for the times, 772-7050.


Words of Encouragement
Christ blesses us with faith, a faith that allows us to hope in the Resurrection. While living this hope we struggle to live as He did, bringing the world closer to His vision of the Kingdom.I pray daily for the work you do, in thanksgiving for the love you shared with Chris, and that others will be touched by the heart of Christ through you.Blessings,MBJ