Malachi 4:6

Father's Day

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers..."

I love being a papa. One of the things that makes traveling so often to different churches bearable is having my two girls with me. Recently we arrived to a church early - and it was just so nice playing outside and enjoying the warm air with them.

My two girls are so special - they make me smile and melt without effort.

I know this is not good, but they pretty much have their way with me. For example the other day Natalia wanted to watch a cartoon and I told her "Natalia, maybe later." She proceeded to put both her hands on my cheeks, give me a kiss and said "I love you papa." We then watched the cartoon together.

Words can not express how thankful I am for my two girls. They are so precious to me. I love you Natalia and Ellia.

2 Peter 2:1

Although 98% of Italians are Roman Catholic - Islam is the fastest growing religion in Italy.

Want proof? A recent article entitled "Muhammad Takes Milan by Storm" listed the current most popular names given to infants born in Milan, the economic capital of Italy.

Here are the top three...

1. Mahmoud
2. Ahmad
3. Hamid.

Pray for Italy.

Romans 1:16

This past Sunday we were at the First Baptist Church of Belvidere, NJ. It was at this meeting God gave us an unexpected opportunity that we covet your prayers about!

In the evening service one of the families brought an Italian foreign-exchange student from Bologna. After presenting our ministry, we began a friendly conversation with Julia. She was excited to demonstrate her English skills as we talked for quite awhile.

Then the subject switched from talking about life to religion. Once we brought up the topic she expressed an interest in knowing the difference between Catholicism and Christianity.

We talked about salvation being a free gift of grace through faith.

She talked about how Martin Luther only left the Catholic church because he did not like the materialism.

We mentioned that he left because he read the book of Romans and realized that salvation was a free gift of grace through faith.

During this great in-depth conversation it seemed at times that Julia was very close to getting saved. Unfortunately at the end, Julia just was not ready to leave Catholicism.

Please take a moment to pray for Julia - that God would open her eyes to the gospel of grace and bring her to a place of repentance and faith in Christ.

Acts 17:16

A Catholic magazine did a survey asking Italian Catholics who do they pray to the most.

Pause for a moment...Who would you guess it is?

Jesus? - Yeah right.
Mary? - Long shot.

Believe it or not...neither were even close.

Actually the person prayed to the most by Italian Roman Catholics - Padre Pio

Have you ever heard of this guy?

Padre Pio's real name is Francesco Forgione. He died 40 years ago in 1968. Why do Italian Roman Catholics pray to him? Two reasons. First, he is credited with having performed more than one thousand miracles by the time of his death. Also, they believe he had a stigmata, which means he miraculously bore actual wounds of the crucified Christ on his hands, feet and side for at least 50 years. They say he lost of pint of blood a day from these wounds.

Recently, an Italian business magazine called Economy reported that Pio's shrine had become the second most popular destination for religious tourists behind only the Vatican in Rome. His shrine brings in 188 million a year in revenue from tickets, souvenirs, and offerings.



Acts 17:16 - Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

2 Kings 18:4

Today started off well. I made some phone calls to pastors and even booked a meeting. Good times. 

After that, the plan was to go out and run a few errands. When I got in my van I noticed that the glove compartment had been emptied on the floor and that the van was a disaster. I have two little girls, so my first impression was that Natalia had been playing in the car. 

Then I started to notice that things were missing. 

Our GPS. 

Both my eyeglasses and sunglasses. 

All the coins out of the change holder. 

A bunch of love-offering checks recently received. 

I am slow...but by then I figured out that someone had stolen the items out of my car during the night.  

It is just stuff...I remember Pastor Jay folk preaching a message on 2 Kings 18:4 and the word "Nehushtan." The people were worshipping and burning incense to a piece of brass. Hezekiah broke the brasen serpent and called it "Nehushtan" which literally means "a piece of brass."

Pastor Folk made the application - All stuff is just that...stuff. No sense worshipping it. Why would you worship a piece of brass?! That was the point of the message. 

I guess I can say..."Nehushtan." Praise the Lord, our family is unharmed - all we lost is stuff. 

Romans 5:3-4

I hear that traveling through Canada is the fastest way to and from Detroit. That is what I hear.

We were making great time the other day until we hit the Canadian border...then things slowed down “a bit”

We arrived at the border around 1:30 - making great time...


1:48: We had not really moved as you can see. I remembered that I am to have patience with joy.


1:56: Oh...progress!! But Erika is starting to get nauseated from being on the bridge.


2:05: I remembered that I am to let patience have her perfect work, that I may be perfect and entire wanting nothing.


2:23: At this point I am reminding myself that patience is part of the fruit of the Spirit.


2:40ish: I am aware that I need to work more on being filled with the Spirit.

Psalm 118:24

Another surprise! And a pleasant one at that! We just had a great meeting here at Calvary Baptist Church located in a suburb of Detroit, MI.


It is neat to see how God’s will unfolds in our lives each day. He brought us to this neat church where the Pastor and his wife are former seasoned missionaries to Costa Rica. Michael and I both agreed that we wish we had a week to sit and learn from these veteran missionaries.

Michael was fresh and exciting tonight as he preached. Actually, the Pastor regularly attends Sword of the Lord conferences and he told his church tonight that Michael preached one of the best soul-winning messages he had ever heard. Preach it, honey!

Just as an extra special treat, after church some sweet ladies from church made a quick trip to the store and brought back a few bags full of treats for the girls! We have just met some extremely thoughtful people!

One more blessing...when we got back to the hotel - we had an email from Calvary Baptist Church stating they were going to take us on for monthly support! What a great night!