Most recent blogs are at the bottom of the page.
January 8, 2009
It's all about building stronger relationships. We have been in North and South Carolina for the last month, visiting our daughter, Tamara and her husband, Michael and their family. It has been nice to spend Christmas with The Fury Family. Our granddaughter, Amber is now 13 and she will be going on her third missions trip this summer to Equador with Teen Missions, Int'l. At her young age, she has already been to Australia and to South Africa and these experiences have changed her. She is now a "World Christian" and she sees God's heart for the nations! We couldn't be prouder of her. Our little grandson, Ethan is soon to be 3 in February, and he as well, is quite the traveler. He has already made 3 trips out to California to stay with us. They are both the joy of our lives! We now have our first supporting and sending church, Gospel Chapel in Carthage, North Carolina.
Pastor Jim Boyte is supportive of us, and he is creating a church newsletter, in which we will have a place to share our journey into missions. We also recently talked with the YWAM Chico Base Director, Dale Harrison and we are all looking forward to our joining their staff in June of this year! We will be visiting the base in February.
January 11, 2009
The flight from Baltimore, Maryland to San Diego, California was 5 1/2 hours long. Wow, we were tired! We are now here in San Diego, as we continue to raise support for our new missionary journey. It was a vey successful trip to North and South Carolina to raise support and visit family. I ( Don) feel that God is calling us to work with tribal people and AIDS, but Beverly is still praying about how she is feeling about my feelings. Would you join us in prayer that God shows us the way, because God has made us one in Him.
We need to help my mother-in-law because she is having more problems with her back. Also, we will visit my sister in San Jose, CA in a few weeks, because we have learned that she is very sick. Then we will need to spend a week at the base in Chico, California, so we can pray with the base leaders as to where God will be using us in the near future. Another ministry I believe God may be calling us to do is marriage seminars, to help couples stay committed. Many of you may know that we have been married for 42 years , but we had a very rocky start. Help us pray about this possible ministry.
February 2, 2009
We are excited to go to Chico, the week of February 16th! We will be meeting with the base leaders and praying about what our responsibilities will be at the base, as well as possibly see where we will be living. Please pray for a good week of meetings. Praise the Lord...our support continues to grow each day. On February 1st, another couple pledged some monthly support to us. God is in control of all the monies, and through you and others, He is giving us confirmation that we are to go and serve HIM!
During the time we go to Chico, we will also visit my sister, Yolanda, in San Jose. She has a terminal illness and she does not know the Lord. Please pray that she will be open to the Good News of Jesus Christ, while she still has the chance to make a decison.
March 3, 2009
Our last fundraising trip to Antioch, San Jose, Chico, and Sacramento went really well. We drove from San Diego to Antioch to stay and visit with Beverly's brother, Dave. We stayed with him four days. Dave's house was our base, so we could visit with others in the Bay Area from there.
On Saturday, we went to our former fellowship group (Shepherding) to re-visit with old friends and make new ones. Wow! It was great fun. Also, the Shepherding leaders gave us a few minutes to share about our ministry. On Sunday morning, we visted our former church, now called Venture Church. Again, it was great to make contact with folks we used to know in the 80's and 90's.
After Church, we visited with my family in San Jose. Please pray for my two brothers and one sister because they are all sick, all with illnesses that stem from poor lifestyle choices in their younger years. It's hard to believe that my mother, a sister, and another brother are already with the LORD.
From Antioch, we drove to the YWAM, Chico base to meet with base leadership, and have time to pray. We spent five days at the base meeting with different people, and going to early morning meetings.The meetings are really times where you worship Jesus Christ, and listen to a short message. We did have some time to look at available base housing, and think about which place we might like when we move there in June.
We left Chico on Friday, and drove to Diamond Springs, not far from Placerville, to visit with with some old friends. We spent the night with Mike and Janice, and played cards, sang some praise songs, talked, and had some good ole' laughs about the past. On Saturday, we drove back to San Diego, after a very full week! It's wonderful to take a trip like this to visit with friends and raise our support at the same time. In late March, we will be on the road again visiting North and South Carolina, and maybe Kentucky.
April 5, 2009
We are on the road again. We are so thankful to our daughter and her career as a flight attendant with Southwest Airlines. Parents can fly free, if there is space available! As I write this, we are in South Carolina visiting a church. We will be leaving here on April 7th, to prepare to do a major presentation to about 2,000 people in Carthage, North Carolina at the 'Spring Fling', an outdoor egg hunt and festival. This opportunity is being provided by our main supporting church, Gospel Chapel of Carthage. May I ask you to pray for us on Saturday, April 11th about 1:30 p.m.? Please pray that we would give a clear message about what we will be doing in missions, and also, share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Here is a wonderful praise report: In our March Newsletter, we asked if anyone could help us get a new laptop, and one of our main supporters (Ken Atha) felt that God had laid it on his heart to buy us a new Dell laptop! It will be shipped to us in ten days. Praise God! For those of you reading our on-going blog, I also want to announce that we had two more major financial commitments to us since our April newsletter! We believe that this now brings us up to 62% of what we need for ministry. With being more than half-way there, can you pray about helping us achieve our goal for the rest of the 38% ... an investment in God's work through us? Thank you in advance!
Blog: Don & Beverly
May 6, 2009
Oh, it's good to be back home again! But home for us might mean something different for us than for you. One missionary friend of ours once said, "Home is wherever you hung your hat last night!" That may be closer to what we mean. : - ) Our time in North and South Carolina went very well, as we got to share our upcoming ministry with others, as well as spend time with our daughter,Tami, son-in-law, Michael, granddaughter, Amber, and grandson, Ethan! We will be living 3,000 miles away from them, so these times are precious. We were also able to give an older desktop computer away to a deserving neighbor family, while in Carthage, NC. I am reminded of a worship song from not too long ago, "So blessed, I can't contain it, So much, I've gotta give it away!" It seems that just as we give something of a certain value away, the Lord always replaces it with something of greater value. A case in point....our brand new Dell laptop that our friend and supporter, Ken Atha just bought us! It is simply amazing, and it comes with all the bells and whistles! It was waiting for us in California, when we returned. God is SO good! There is NO WAY you can out-give Him. He says in the Bible to test Him in this. Malachi 3:10.
I am nursing a bad cold/cough since we've returned, but every day, I am getting better. We are living in our little apartment until May 31st, and then we will be at my mom's in Oceanside until we move up to Chico, the last of June. We have enjoyed attending The Rock Church in San Diego, while we've lived here. It is 15,000 strong and the worship is awesome, as well as the preaching. We love LARGE churches, and we look forward to where God will lead us to worship in Chico.
We are getting closer to our departure time to finally realize our dream of serving the Lord full-time in missions! There have been diversions and setbacks along the way, but we are steadfast in our resolve to "Go then and make disciples of all the nations..." Matthew 28:19
Blog by: Beverly Dennison
June 7, 2009
On May 31st, we finished cleaning our home in the Mission Beach area of San Diego, and moved to Beverly's mother's home in Oceanside, CA. We'll be here until we begin our Orientation with YWAM, Chico on June 29th. "Mom" is happy to have our company, and help her with a few of her computer problems, as well as be of some assistance around her home. I know she will miss us when we leave, but we will be able to fly down, should she have any health problems. She will be 89 years old next week!
Don has been spending some time working on our new website and getting affiliates to be a part of it. From now on, anyone can log onto our website, and purchase airline tickets, plan a cruise, buy cosmetics, or just about anything else...and we will get a small percentage of the sale. Therefore, any purchase from our website will benefit us and help to support us!
Beverly has been nursing both a sprained knee and a Swimmer's Ear problem! The ear is well now, and the knee is coming back, a little bit at a time. Sometimes, I forget that I am not a teenager anymore! At 62 now, I must remember to take things a little slower. Don and I try to walk every day, and eat right to keep our health. We are two of the millions of Americans who do not have any health insurance at the present time, so we are trusting God to keep us in His Good Stead! We are praying that we will soon be insured, as we wait for our Social Security and Medicare to start up in a few years.
May the Lord watch between we and thee, until we write again. He truly is in control!
All for Jesus,
Don & Beverly
July 19, 2009
As we said in our letter, it has been a rocky start for us. The work load has been very heavy. It has continued to be heavy into the second and now the third week. Please pray for us that we can hold up under the pressure. The summer months are the busiest months, because that is when the summer camps and conferences take place here. Tomorrow, there will be 450 hyper teenagers here for Radical Reality Camp! The camps runs from Monday through Friday. As fun and exciting as it will be, it will also be the busiest time for us as staff. All of the cabins will need to be cleaned afterwards, as well as running a very busy kitchen. Don will be in the Housekeeping Dept. this week, and Beverly will be in the Hospitality Dept. Beverly has now completed her Foundations Program and Don still has one more week to go, as he also had to work one week in the Maintenance Dept. Beverly will be the new Hospitality person for the base, beginning tomorrow, July 20th. This department suits her the best of all that she worked in. She will be making sure that staff anniversary and birthday cards go out (something she does anyway) and she'll make up snack baskets for our guests, as well as many other duties, yet to be discovered.
As many of you know, our primary purpose in coming here was to do Public Relations for the base and to be leaders in the Crossroads Discipleship Training Schools (CDTS). We are praying that will all come to pass, as we get more acclimated. There is no question that we are getting older, and it is more difficult to keep up with the young people, but we are determined to do our best. They are lots of fun to be around, and they do keep us young-thinking!
September 26, 2009
Since June, we have both been struggling with dental problems, and it has happened all at once! Beverly will have to have a root canal this month, but Don has had even more problems. In June, he had a cavity underneath a bridge of three teeth. The whole bridge was lost, as the tooth was extracted, and then the tooth next to it also was extracted, due to weakness and decay! He is having a hard time eating, because they were all four together on the lower right side of his mouth. As you may know, we do not have any medical or dental insurance, and must pay for the entire bill. However, God has blessed us by providing Dr. Rashpal Deol, D.D.S. in Chico, who is giving us a great discount. May we ask you to pray about helping us with our dental needs?
Don needs at least one implant, to help with chewing. The cost for one implant is $1,650.00. After that, he still will need another root canal on yet another tooth! When it rains, it pours!
