2000 trees planted

Last weekend Cory and I got together and planted a few thousand trees. At first we were putting them in plastic bags (to transplant later) but that was taking far too long. So we just made a garden and threw all the seeds in it and buried them. In about 4-6 weeks when they come out of the ground we can put them in bags.

The plan is the following

- 2000 mahogany
- 2000 spanish cedar
- 500 teak
- 500 maligna

We are just about finished buying 10 acres of land. I found out yesterday the guy we are buying off also moonlights as a logger so I booked him to log it with me in a couple weeks. That will be fun!

So what is the point? Well if we plant trees now then when we retire we can sell them for about $2000 each. I'll let you do the math but if it works out it should really be a great way to free us up for ministry.

God of Second Chances

I am preaching in chapel tomorrow. I have been
working on this sermon entitled "The God of Second
Chances." I want to start off with New Years and ask
what is there Christian about it? Then I want to ask
the same about Christmas which was originally a pagan
holiday. And then the cross of Easter which was an
instrument of torture.

The key is conversion. God is the one who loves to
convert things.

He took an old rugged cross that was used for torture
and used it as the symbol of love.

He took the pagan ritual of the darkest day of the year
and turned into the festival of the coming of light.

And He took the New Year and gave us all a fresh
start.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come" - 2 Cor 5:17

For me, when I was younger I used to have a temper.
Last Christmas my dad asked, "When did you finally
settle down so that I no longer had to sit on you?"

A young gangster named Nicki Cruz stood face to
face with a preacher of the gospel but then God
changed him and turned him into a preacher of the
gospel.

And then I want to turn to the students and ask,
"And what about you?" What are you now?
What do you want God to change you into?

After letting them think on that I am hoping I can
have them turn to their friends beside them and
share what they really want God to change in them
and then have them pray in circles.

It is a good question though, "If God really is the
God of second chances, what do I want a second
chance in?"

Home Safe

After three days of travel we are home safe. Thanks for all your
prayers today went much better. We made it through customs
okay and had to pay some money in duty but they were quite
understanding that most of it was donations to the school.

Also we got a ride from some people from Blue Creek which
we were very thankful for since they had to wait for us b/c
our bus was full and we had to take a later one.

We went and saw Noelle and Rebekah. The are both in a
sling but one has the right arm and the other the left so I
guess they can work together. I saw the x-rays, Rebekah
has 7 screws in her arm cause the bone was broken right
through. Boy does it look weird.

Cory will be helping Noelle this week with her class. Oh ya, and
Rodney (from Blue Creek) will be taking over Cory's class for the
rest of the semester.

So tomorrow I start teaching again. I am looking forward to it.
Hoping and praying that things will go smoother with the classroom
management.

Thanks for being on our team!

Please pray for us as we travel

Cory and I are enroute back to Belize. We made it through to Mexico
today and are staying the night. So far it has been really tough. In
Seattle they found out the person in Cancun took all my tickets away
and I had to put up money to buy a ticket till they research to find
the ones the guy took. Good news though I found the guy who did it in
Cancun and he remembers he did it wrong.

Also in Cancun we had a terrible time getting through customs as we
have lots of old computer parts and they were afraid we were going to
sell it. Finally they let us through at no cost but it was scary for
a bit with looking at over 200 in tax

Pray for our border crossing in Belize tomorrow which likely will have
similiar problems. And safety.

God's peace be with you

Chris