Praises and Prayer requests

"Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise"


We just got back from a wonderful family weekend at Victory Junction Camp and thought we would do a quick update before we finished our packing and put the computer away.

Praises:
-----As mentioned we were fortunate enough to be able to spend some time in NC and have a family weekend at VJGC. We were extremely blessed to have been paired with several wonderful people. Thank you Dee, Linda, Carl, Rackley, and Allyson for putting up with our family and making the weekend memorable. We love you all!
-----Our last newsletter mentioned that we were at 50%, thanks to God's provisions we are at 70% of our support with the pledges we know of and around 65% of our moving expenses. Thanks to all of our supporters. We are deeply touched and grateful each time we see your names either on commitment forms or on our monthly reports. To know that you think enough to support us monthly or with special gifts is indeed a unique blessing.
-----Alan's work has a contract w/Penske Truck Rental and they agreed to let us have a 26 foot truck (to move our stuff to TX) for $300... this is normally a $1,000 .
-----There is a house that we looked at in Honduras last October that is on the same property that 3 of the other missionary families from WGO live on (one other missionary family live there that is not from WGO)...this house had been vacant for 5 years (now going on 6). It is a very large house (perfect for a large family). The problem is that the owners wanted $1,200 for it (hence the reason it's been vacant for so long). They now have agreed to rent it to us for only $650...GOD IS GOOD!
-----Our pediatrician's office agreed to give our kids Hepatitis A shots at 1/2 the cost so we get to pay only $60 vs. $120.
-----Jordan's foot is healing well and she is now able to walk with her braces.
-----We have a special needs co-coordinator at our Peds office that arranges Dr. appointments and things for us. She volunteered to make all of Jordan's appointments for us and continue to co-ordinate her care at no charge.
-----This is a big one.... We went to the neurologist last week for a routine visit and they were looking at some test results from last year (that we never knew about) They told us that Jordan's shunt had been severed and no longer working (THIS WAS A YEAR AGO)... (for those who don't know, a her shunt is a tube that runs from her brain to her abdomen to drain cerebral spinal fluid... kids with spina bifida used to die or have severe brain damage w/out a shunt). The praise is that our God is the Great Physician and apparently Jordan has outgrown the need for it.
-----Special thanks to Angie and her family for taking time out of their weekend to help pack some of our items for shipping. Thanks, we love you.
-----We have been blessed by an outpouring of people giving us much need household goods that are either hard to find or expensive in Honduras. We continue to be humbled by your outpouring of love and support.

Prayer request:
-----That God raises up the rest of our support.
-----Alan and AJ will be leaving for Texas either late Tuesday or early Wednesday to take our stuff to Humble, Texas to be loaded in the container for Honduras. Then they will be flying back on Saturday. Please pray for traveling safety.
-----Our family travelling plans for May. We plan on leaving SC on May 1st and will be in NC for 2 or 3 weeks. Then we will go to California for a week and fly out of CA to Honduras tentatively around May 30th. Pray for travelling safety, no van problems and that God will raise any needed funding or lodging.
------Our health physically and spiritually during this last hectic month.
------That we only "wander" for a month and not 40 years. :-)

Love and Blessings,
The Sims Family

Stepping out of the boat

Its been awhile since our last post and seeing as we "advertised" this blog in our latest newsletter, thought it was a good time to post another entry.

The great theologians (lol) and Christian rock band Audio Adrenaline have a song called "Walk on Water" and one of the verses is that if we keep our eyes on Jesus we can walk on water. How true that is. When we focus on Jesus it is amazing what we can accomplish and God has a way of letting us "walk on water" even during the roughest of storms. During the last couple of months we have been going through some storms. Our support seemed to plateau for awhile, at least one of us have been sick every week with Reagan getting a nasty case of rotovirus for a week, the task of going through everything in preparation for the move is not a fun thing, and Jordan had foot surgery and is still in a cast. However even through those stormy times when I kept my eyes on Jesus, God had a way of calming the storm and giving me a great sense of peace. I have every confidence that God will provide our support and He will make all sufficiency even at the current levels. He is the great Physician and we will get through the sicknesses and He will completely and greatly heal Jordan's foot.

Of course to walk on water you have to be like Peter and actually get out of the boat. That first step is the scariest. That is also what we are doing now. I will be leaving my job on April 14th. No more "security" of a paycheck, ending our insurance that covered Jordan, giving our landlord notice of us leaving the end of this month and planning on being in Honduras around May 16th. As we take this step, we are asking that our prayer supporters take that step with us and lift us up so that we always keep our eyes on Jesus.

We are so grateful for the love, prayers and support that has been shown for our family, and it is because of that, that we boldly move to the edge of the boat and step onto the water, our eyes firmly focused on our Savior, Jesus Christ.

--Alan