Michael and Golden Blogspot

A Family For God (by Calvary Chapel Magazine)

2011-03-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

Michael and I have really enjoyed reading Calvary Chapel Magazine over the years. Needless to say we were so honored when they asked if they could do an article on our family.

If your church doesn't receive Calvary Magazine you can get an individual subscription from their website. http://www.calvarymagazine.org

To read the article click, on the picture, then hold down "ctrl" and press the "+" button to make it large enough to read.

South Africa Conference 2010

2010-11-17T09:36:00.001-08:00

It was a privilege for Michael and I to lead worship at the Calvary Chapel Pastors/Missions Conference in Capetown, South Africa. My Dad (he's the one playing bass in the above picture) and Mom accompanied us on the trip along with our precious 3-year-old son Jayden.

It was a God thing how this trip came about. Michael woke up the other morning and told me about a dream he'd had. In the dream he'd had some different ministry choices and he asked me, "What do you think we should do?"

In his dream I said, "I think we should go to South Africa!"

"What!" he said? "South Africa!?" Then he woke up.

After he told me the dream we laughed and he went to the computer to check messages and there before him was a message from a pastor friend and his wife from Capetown, South Africa asking if we'd consider coming to lead worship for their pastor/leadership conference. We were blown away how the Lord gave Michael the dream to prepare us and confirm to us that we should go.
There were pastors and missionaries from all over South Africa. It was such a blessing as we all praised the name of Jesus together adults and children alike.

Here's my mom talking with one of the South African pastors. We all enjoyed the diversity of the people and conversations we had as we fellowship with one another.

Our little Jayden also enjoyed all his new little South African friends as he was a part of the children's ministry there.

We also enjoyed leading worship at Calvary Chapel Capetown on both the Sundays we were there.

Our flight home was quite eventful. During the trip Jayden and Michael caught a stomach virus. Jayden was not feeling well when we got on the 15 hour flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta. The captain tried to talk us out of taking the flight. In the middle of the flight, the head stewardess told us that if Jayden was sick when we got the U.S. she would have to report him to customs. Well, while the stewardess was telling us all this, my Mom was dealing with the stomach virus 5 rows over but she had to keep a low profile so she wouldn't be seen sick and get reported to customs herself. We were able to give Jayden some medication that made him feel better. In the end we all put on our best faces as we deplaned and went through U.S. customs.

Click here to see all the fun pictures we posted from this trip.

Here's fun video of my dad, Evan, and Calvary missionary in England, Rob Dingman, having a good 'ol fashion blues jam as members of Calvary Chapel Johannesburg and Calvary Chapel Capetown look on.

Europe and Beyond

2010-09-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

The "Beyond" part of the title stands for South Africa. Michael, Jayden (our 3-year-old) and my (Golden's) parents will be going to South Africa from October 8-18. We will be leading worship at the Missions/Pastors Conference in Capetown. We're really looking forward to this trip. For more on this trip and how it happened that we're going, which is a really interesting and fun God story, please go to this link. www.togetherministries.com/missionltrs/southafrica.html

Here we are (Michael, Golden and our daughter, Avalon) leading worship at Creation Fest in England for the children's ministry. Avalon lead all the hand motions while Mommy and Daddy did most of the singing. During the week long event we saw about 200 kids a day come through the children's ministry tent. It was awesome to have the opportunity to share Christ and hang out with all of them. There were 9 kids who made decisions for Christ which is really exciting because Europe is a hard place to reach.

We just had to do this; get our picture on Abbey Road. There's this street cam above us that broadcasts to the internet. So I called my Dad in MO at 4am his time and woke him up so he could log into abbeyroad.com and watch the 3 of us do all our antics back and forth across Abbey Road. I was inspired so I rewrote the lyrics to the Beatles "Here Comes the Sun" to "Here Comes the SON."

Chorus:

Here comes the SON, doo doo doo doo

Here comes the SON, and I say, "Be Ready"

Verse 1:

Little children, in the twinkling of an eye He's coming

Little children, on a white horse Jesus will return (chorus)

Verse 2:

Little children, let's see those smiles on your faces

Little children, He's the reason we are singing here (chorus)

Verse 3:

Little children, can you see the moving of God's Spirit

Little children, the Word of God has made it clear (chorus)

Bridge:

Son, God's Son, Here he comes (4x)

Next, we headed off to the Calvary Chapel Castle in Milstat, Austria for the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference.

Here's a picture looking out the window of the main conference room. The scenery in Austria is breathtaking.

Our primary function at the Missions Conference was to serve the people attending. I worked full time in the children's ministry 0-3 year olds.

Michael worked with the grounds crew but often got pulled in to help with the children's minsitry.

Avalon attended the conference with the other children. She's made friends from all over the world. What an awesome opportunity for her.

What really made this trip special was that we got to serve with our little girl. We're hoping to be able to serve with our whole family with next year.

Please keep us in prayer and may God richly bless you like only He can do!

In His Grip,

Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

England, Austria, Here We Come!

2010-08-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Well, our daughter, Avalon, and Michael and I leave on August 4th at 4:30p for England for Creation Fest and then onto Austria for the Calvary Chapel Mission's Conference. Please keep us in prayer as we will be teaming up with the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa's children's ministry. We invite you to hook up with us on FaceBook if you haven't already. We will be posting pictures from our mission trip as we go. www.facebook.com/michaelandgolden .

The following are pictures from our family ministry adventures this last month.

Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa's 4th of July Celebration.

The Preciado Family shares at the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa's 4th of July Celebration.

Michael and Golden and kids sharing on a Sunday night at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.

At the last minute we got asked to fill in at Family Camp at the Twin Peaks Conference Center. What a total blessing for us! We had never been to family camp before.

Here we are teaching the campers the "Old Testament Books of the Bible" song.

Golden leads worship during the Baptism in Twin Peaks at Family Camp.

Our children, Avalon, Micah and Zachary, asked us if they could be baptized. Here's our little Avalon with Pastor John Chubik and Pastor Eric Tribble.

Michael, Golden, Avalon and Granpa Evan lead worship at Calvary Chapel Irvine.

Michael and band lead worship at a military installation.

Michael reading morning devotions with our 4 beautiful children.

Golden, Pastor Chuck and Kay at their Birthday Celebration!

Please keep us in your prayers. May God richly bless you like only He can do!

In His Grip,

Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

2010-07-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to announce the release of our family CD project called,"The Family Room." This is a project we recorded with our children, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden. Here, take a listen!

If you can't be there you can still join us online as we will be streaming from the event on the TOGETHER MINISTRIES internet channel. Here's the link.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/together-ministries

We will be giving away our new CD at CCCM Independence Day event. If God leads you to make a donation all those proceeds will go towards our mission trip in England and Austria this summer.

WOULD YOU LIKE A CD EVEN THOUGH YOU MIGHT NOT BE THERETOMORROW? Send us an email with your mailing address indicating that you would like one and we will send you one. We are hoping this CD will help raise the rest of the amount needed for our mission trip this summer. If youwould like to make a donation you you can donate online or send a check in the mail made payable to Together Ministries.

26100 Newport Rd. A12, #401
Menifee, CA 92584

As always your donations are tax deductible.

Here's a fun video of our family leading worship at Calvary Chapel Orange.

Please continue to keep us in prayer as our family ministers together. Write after the Independence Day event, it's off to Twin Peaks where we will be leading worshipfor the Calvary Costa Mesa Family Camp.

May God richly bless you!

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

The Family Room

2010-04-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

This is the name of our new family CD project. The CD includes a bunch of popular praise songs and a few original tunes. The CD is in post production right now. Here's a fun video of the of our recording sessions at Heritage Hill Productions in Aulville, MO (which is really Granpa Evan and Grandma Sherry's ranch). The song in the video is one we recorded and will be on the CD.

Preciado Family singing at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa on Easter evening.

Golden leading worship at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa's Women's Retreat.

Don't forget to subscribe to the SCRIPTURE MEMORY MUSIC BOX podcast. Find it on iTunes. Let the treasures of the Bible sink into your heart and mind as you memorize scripture set to music. Find out more about this podcast on http://www.togetherministries.com/ .

Right now we have posted a fun blues song to help you memorize the Old Testament Books of the Bible. Coming soon we'll be posting an unforgetable flower child kinda song to memorize the New Testament Books of the Bible. After that we'll be posting Psalm 23 word for word from the New King James.

May God richly bless you like only He can do!

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

The Preciado Family Band Debut

2010-02-10T16:26:00.001-08:00

Click on this link to see our first full performance together as a family (Avalon, 9-years-old, Michael and Zachary 8-years-old, Daddy Michael and Mamma Golden). http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4586952

We played at Calvary Chapel Anaheim Christian School Assembly during their missions' emphasis week. We got to sing and share about our mission experiences around the world.

Thanks to technology we were able to stream this live to the internet from our iPhone. In fact, we are sending live streams for most of our worship and performance times. If you are on Face Book, we let you know when those times are coming so you can click in and join us live. Here is the link to the Together Ministries Channel. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/together-ministries

If you would like to find us on FaceBook our screen name is "MichaelandGolden Preciado" or you can follow this link. http://www.facebook.com/michaelandgolden

Mexico Mission-Sonrisa Orphanage

Here Michael and I and the kids are leading some Spanish worship before the Bible Study.

Michael comforts this boy who just got hurt during play time.

Here's our little Avalon playing with a bunch of the orphan girls.

Bill Evans from Calvary Chapel Irvine leads the kids in a Bible Study.

Michael plays ball with this little orphan boy.

Music Lessons By Donation

We've started teaching music lessons on a donation basis. This has been a blessing because it's opened the doors for adults and kids to have music lessons who couldn't otherwise afford them. We enjoy passing along to others what we have learned.

Coming Up-The Preciado Family CD Project

In the last week of March our family is heading off to Missouri where my Dad's recording studio is and we will record our first family CD. We're calling it "The Family Room." It will include popular praise and worship and songs that we have written. Please keep us in prayer as we take on this adventure.

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

Reflecting on 2009

2009-12-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

I'm sure like most of you we find ourselves saying, "Where did the time go this year? It seems like we just recently returned from our stint in Honduras but it's already been 6 months. As we approach 2010 we like to reflect on what the Lord did and what He might want to do in this new year.

Our family was still in Honduras at this time last year. God did some amazing things while we were there during the year. Golden and I feel that the greatest work God wanted to accomplish was in our own hearts. It was a time of stretching, challenges of a different culture, trials and missing home. But it was also a time of bonding with our family, laughter, trusting God and reaching out to others in Jesus' name.

When we returned in June, it hit home with us that everywhere is a mission field. It could be across the ocean or across the street. People need the Lord! Our passion has remained the same to encourage the saints and challenge unbelievers to trust in Christ.

One thing we also realized is that our family is always our first ministry. We really missed homeschooling our children during the time away in Honduras. We started homeschooling the kids again in September of this year. A good amount of our day is focused on schooling Avalon, Micah and Zachary and chasing our curious 2-year-old Jayden around the house. Sometimes it's very, very tiring but we want to invest as much time as possible with them during these precious years.

In October we were invited to lead worship at a pastors' conference in Cape Town, South Africa. What a blessing that was! We were touched by the stories of what God is doing in the hearts of the people there. We really sensed a true love and unity of the saints in that country. We made some new friends there and we would love to return again.

In addition to our mission trips, we also continue to minister in worship at different local churches in our area. Between raising 4 children, homeschooling and ministering together in the worship ministry, the days are pretty crazy, but we feel truly blessed.

There are always unknowns that come with a new year, but one thing we can know for sure is that God loves us and He is in control. We look forward to how He may lead and guide our family and ministry in 2010.

Thankyou so much for all your continual love, prayers and support!

Many Blessings...Michael & Golden & Family

Images From The South African Missions/Pastors Conference

2009-10-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

I could wax eloquent in writing about everything that happened at the Calvary Chapel South African Pastors and Missions Conference, but I believe pictures will tell a better story.

We opened up each session with prayer.

We lead worship in preparation for the teaching of the Word.

Michael engaging in fellowship. Much of our ministry takes place around the dinner table where we can encourage and pray for people.

"Your the defender of the weak, You comfort those in need, You lift us up on wings like eagles."

The missionaries and pastors brought their families.

Morning devotions is the best way to start the day.

Golden leads worship during one of the women's Bible Studies.

Our Lord God desires our worship no matter what your age.

The children at the conference had their own Bible Studies and times of fellowship together.

Here's the team that came from the U.S. to teach and be a part of the conference. From left to right: Pastor Bill Stonebraker, Calvary Chapel Honolulu, HI, Worship Leaders, Michael and Golden, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, CA, Pastor Rich Chaffin, Calvary Chapel Laguna Creek, CA, Pastor Jim Gallagher, Calvary Chapel Vero Beach, FL, Lisa MacMillian, Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and not in the picture, Mike Harris, Calvary Chapel Beachside, Huntington Beach, CA.

This gal taught us some worship songs in a few of the native African languages.

Yes, those are penguins you see. The continent just south of us in Antarctica.

The scenery in South Africa is breathtaking.

Lunch!

These baboons run wild all over the cape. They look cute in this picture but according to the locals they're a real nuisance.

Activity on the Capetown waterfront.

We had our picture taken from Tabletop Mountain overlooking Capetown.

Michael and Pastor Phil Pechonis from Calvary Chapel Woolacombe,UK. He heads up Creation Fest in the UK. He invited us to play there next year.

Since I was missing my own kids, I loved on everyone elses.

On The Horizon

2009-09-24T12:17:00.001-07:00

We have some new members in our music minsitry. Avalon, Micah and Zachary sing with every once in a while. In these pictures we're singing at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. That's my Dad playing bass on the right.

We've started homeschooling on September 1st. Everday I sit down to teach, I am grateful for the opportunity to teach my kids.

We enjoyed leading worship for Calvary Costa Mesa's Married Couples retreat. It was a blessing to connect with long time friends and make new ones. It took place at the Calvary Conference Center in Twin Peaks which is where Michael and I met eachother and fell in love while we were attending Calvary Chapel Bible College.

We feel strongly that God would have us to continue together in the worship minsitry. We were challenged at the retreat to stay the course that God has set before us. We were challenged to continue studying the Bible together and praying together.

We've been married almost 15 years now and have a stronger marriage than when we started, not because of anything we have done in and of ourselves, but because we have made a commitment daily to come before the Lord together and ask Him to make us more like Himself and to strengthen our marriage like only He can do. We, like all couples, have our squabbles and disagreements, but we are both humbled again when we come before our Holy God. Doing this daily makes it so we keep short accounts with eachother. There is nothing like surrender to God to knit a marriage together.

We will be going to South Africa to lead worship at a Calvary Chapel missions and pastors conference in Capetown October 12-17. Please be praying that God will do a mighty work there through us.

Like all overseas mission trips we are responsible for our own expenses. We would be honored and blessed if you might consider donating a one-time gift for our trip. http://www.togetherministries.com/inside/sponsorship.htm

If you would like to stay in touch with us on a daily basis please join on FaceBook. We would love to stay in touch with you. http://www.facebook.com/michaelandgolden

May God richly bless you like only He can do!

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

Saying Good Bye

2009-07-18T14:50:00.001-07:00

Well school at Lago Yajoa Bilingual School in Honduras has finished for the year. Saying good bye to all our precious students was one of the hardest things we have ever done. We didn't realize how attached we had become to them.

One of the last projects we all did together was our school science fair. Here's a video of what we did in the second grade. We made musical instruments out of all disposible materials.

Before saying good bye, Michael had an opportunity to challenge his students to start a relationship with God. All year he taught Bible to the 1st through the 4th grade. Every one of his students indicated that they wanted to know Christ personally. Then pastors Chris Rivera and Loc Scott from Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca came in and taught the students the importance of nurturing their relationships with Christ. It was so cool to see God work in their little lives.

We returned to the United States just before all the politcal unrest started in Honduras. God spared our family from having to go through that.

So, what are we doing now? We are continuing on with our music ministry just as we had before we went to Honduras, but now with a few additions. Our children are starting to join us on stage on certain occasions. It's such a blessing to see all our offspring (well almost all, Jayden is only 2 so he's still watching and learning) following in Mommy and Daddy's footsteps.

We've been blessed to be staying at my Grandmother's house in Orange County, CA since we've returned. We also feel blessed to be back at our home church, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, our old stomping ground. These are pictures of our family singing together there.

Being on the mission field in a 3rd world country has really strengthened our relationship with God and drawn our family close together.

We like most everyone else in the U.S. have been affected by our failing economy. One of the most important things that God has shown us is that he will NEVER leave us or forsake us. God didn't promise us a strong economy and the American Dream. He promised he would never leave us or forsake us. He also said that we would go through trials and tribulation.

But the Bible tells us in James chapter 1

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

We will be continuing to share the love of Christ through outreaches, worship ministry and Bible teaching. Our experience in Honduras has broadened our vision for ministry and we are excited to implement what we've learned into our music ministry.

As we continue our music ministry, we would be grateful for your continual prayer and partnership in our ministry. We will continue to keep you posted through our website/blogs. The Lord is definitely doing a work all over the world in these last days and we count it a privilege to serve Him wherever he opens the door.

For more information on how you can partner with us in ministry through sponsorship please visit http://togetherministries.com/inside/sponsorship.htm

May God richly bless you as we serve Him together!

Michael & Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

Frogs

2009-06-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

Here's our family singing at the Día de la Familia (Day of the Family) holiday at the school.

We had a 7.1 earthquake here in Honduras. By California standards this wasn't a big one, but here in Honduras nothing is built to withstand earthquakes. As you can see the damage was quite extensive. The Ministry of Education cancelled school in Honduras for 2 days.

My brother, Donathan, brought a mission team to Honduras. This team was unique in that it was comprised of parents and children. These kids from Calvary Chapel Vero Beach had a wonderful repore with the Honduran kids.

Here's Daddy Michael hanging out with Jayden during school.

Kids from Lago Yojoa school do their craft at the brother's VBS.

Lago Yojoa kids show off their puppets during the VBS time. They studied Noah's Ark.

Calvary Chapel Vero Beach kids lead the Lago Yoja School children in worship.

Donathan teaches the kids the story of Noah's Ark.

Singing for the older kids at the ophanage.

Here I am hanging out with the toddlers and preschoolers at the orphanage. We sang for them then Donathan told them the story of Noah's Ark and I translated into Spanish.

This little orphan fell in love with my brother. He hung on him for most of the time that we sang.

My brother Donathan and I share some music in the playground of the Pan American Orphanage. How do you like my rythm instrument. It's called the 5 gallon water bottle djembe.

We shared music and helped serve food to a few hundred children at Sister Maria's Soup Kitchen.

We just had our school science fair. My 2nd grade class did such a wonderful job presenting their projects. We made musical instruments made of disposible materials and then we experimented on what affect the sound and pitches of each instrument.

This is the video that was part of my 2nd graders science project. We had a lot of fun working on this.

This blog is titled FROGS so I should tell you why. My brother, PASTOR Donathan, took my kids and and the 6 kids on his mission team to go catch frogs one night. They filled the bucket with frogs. Then Dono and kids took the frogs over to Megan's and Heather's house (2 other teachers from our school), dumped the frogs in their house and then left. He thought they should experience what the Egyptians went through during the Frog Plague. Now how's that for a practical joke.

School is coming to an end. Next week we will be doing final exams.

May God richly bless you,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

What a Rockin' Month

2009-05-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

We have had such a rockin' busy month. Serving the Lord is so awesome. Never a dull moment.

Just a reminder that we are on Face Book. If you would like to see what we're doing on a daily basis then join us on Face Book. Our screen name is MichaelandGolden Preciado.

Here was are celebrating Ramón's birthday. Ramón was so sick last month. He had thrown up for 5 days straight and his parents had to take him to a specialist in San Pedro.

Last month we had to fire our caregiver for Jayden. She was stealing from us, the other teachers and our neighbors when we weren't home. Needless to say we finally caught her in the act and let her go. Now we bring Jayden to school with us. He wanders around the classroom and plays with the students water bottles and erasers. Does he look like he's distracting the students?

Oh, he might be distracting but he's so cute. Actually, my class is getting used to him being there.

Michael's been teaching the Romans Road in Bible class. This is one of the illustrations he had on the white board. The kids all copied this in their Bible notebooks.

This month Karen Lafferty (author of the music to Seek Ye First) came to Honduras. She and her team from YWAM put on a 3 week worship conference for the Honduran locals. Michael and I taught music classes in the conference. Michael taught guitar. I taught vocal classes and music theory. My Dad happened to be here at the time the conference was happening so he taught sound classes and we lead worship together.

Michael teaching guitar classes.

Here's me teaching one of my vocal classes.

Here's my Dad and I leading worship during one of the general sessions.

Here's video of my Dad and I leading worship at the Worship Conference.

One of my second grade students, Laura, invited us over to her house for the afternoon. She has 4 dogs, 2 cats, a turtle, a bunny, and a bird.

One of Jayden's favorite passtimes is playing in the mud. He has all these toys in the house yet he chooses the mud. Asi es la vida! (That's life!)

Prayer Request: We are in the home stretch with the school. Please pray that we can finish strong. This month until the end of school will be the busiest we have ever been. Please pray that we can balance it all and still have time to be parents to our kids.

I Couldn't Think of a Good Title for this Blog

2009-04-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

In a land where resources aren't available, you use whatever you have. Here we are leading worship at our little Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca, Michael on guitar and me playing the 5 gallon water bottle djembe. It actually sound pretty good. -Golden

Here's Michael teaching a guitar class to some of the Honduran locals. I'm translating. Our kids are playing in the background.

One of the ways I teach my kids how to speak English is by having them participate with Blue Clues videos. They think it's just pure fun. But it's really helping their understanding of English.

Micah and Zachary swimming in the river with their Honduran friend.

We can only stay in Honduras 90 days at a time. So, we went to Florida to renew our visas. While we were there we visited my brother. Between our 2 families we have 7 children.

While the rest of us went back to Honduras, Avalon went to visit Grandpa Evan and Grandma Sherry in MO. Here we are melting in the heat of Honduras, while Avalon's freezing in the snow in MO. She returns to Honduras with my parents on April 14th.

Here's video of our family singing a Spanish Praise song at my brother's church in FL.

Here's video of me teaching Jayden how to swim.

I found my friend, Keri, from my gymnastics years. She tagged me in this photo. I'm the one on the far right. I'm 13 years old.

What's the Gift?

2009-03-07T06:58:00.000-08:00

Most of us know that the free gift of God is enternal life, but many of the kids we teach don't. I love how Michael explains to them about the free gift of God. Bible is definitely a class favorite.

Our children playing with their friends.

Here I am having music class with the prepa students.

The other day I was driving with one of the other teachers and the brakes on the car ceased to function. I was going downhill and there was a large truck in front of me. I've never had my life flash before me, but this time I really thought I might die. I looked around for things that I could crash into, maybe the truck in front of me, maybe the bus station, maybe I could drive the car into the ditch to the right. Then it occured to me I could try the emergency brake. By the grace of God I was eventurally able to come to a stop using the emergency brake. I destroyed what was left of the already failing breaks on the car and there was smoke everywhere. But we were alive. The other teacher and I sat down on the side of the road, pulled our panicked selves together and thanked God that he brought us to a safe stop.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. May God richly bless you as we serve Him together!

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

Finding The Heart of the Matter-Prayer Request

2009-02-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

This is my sweet little Laura. She's 8 year old. She's in my 2nd grade class at Lago Yojoa Bilingual School.

A month ago, we learned she had a heart condition when she fainted in class. By the time she made it to a cardioligist for a complete physical, she was normal and her results came back normal.

Today during class she fainted again. She did not have a normal pulse. Only a flutter. She broke out in a cold sweat and her beautiful chocolate skin turned ashen-white. She looked like the epitome of death.

In the U.S. we would call the paramedics. But there is no such thing here in Peña Blanca. The nearest cardioligist is an hour and half away in San Pedro. So we called her mom, stood by her helplessly and did what we thought might be the best thing to help her.

I recognize her symptoms. My friend, Dawn, back in Menifee had these symptoms when the paramedics discovered the type of heart condition she had. It's a condition that can only be discovered when caught in the act.

I told Laura's mom about my friend Dawn and her experiences, but she just couldn't reconcile the fact that her physical checkup was completely normal but yet continue to have these blackouts.

Please pray that the doctors in San Pedro might be able to discover her problem. If she does have the same condition as my friend, Dawn, she will need to be within range of a medical facility when the next occurance happens. That certainly won't be here in Peña Blanca.

I have always taken for granted our Emergency Medical System in the United States, until today, when we really needed medical help and there was none.

Prayer Request

2009-02-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

In our last Bible class Michael started teaching the Romans Road. He explained how sin separates us from God. One of our dear little students, Gaspar, looked up at Michael solomly and said, "But I want to be with God." And so Michael continued on with his teaching about the Hope of Salvation we have through Jesus Christ. Our school will be learning the Romans Road for this month in class. They will then be challenged to start a relationship with God. This is a pivitol month for our little Honduran kids. Please pray that God will soften their hearts. It's moments like these that make our time on the mission field so worth while.

The 23 Musketeers. Lago Yajoa Bilingual School 2nd grade class.

The teachers pray before we start the school day.

A Defining Moment

2009-01-21T17:56:00.000-08:00

Ever so often I will have a defining moment; for example a beautiful scenic landscape. I'll stop, take a picture in my mind, and save it to my memory so I can later reflect on God's beautiful creation.

Tonight in our family devotions, while we were worshipping together, I had one of those defining moments. This one was more of a sonic soundscape. My children were singing "Everlasting God" together with Mommy and Daddy; in 3 part harmony none the less. And now I am reflecting on the 4 beautiful little creations God has given Michael and I; Avalon (8), Micah and Zachary (7) and our little Jayden (1 1/2).

We have such a good God!

Feliz Navidad

2008-12-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

Here's our internet Christmas card. We are standing at the edge of Lake Yojoa.

One of our big highlights so far in this Christmas Season was our school play. Avalon played one of the angels.

Micah and Zachary were shepherds.

The girls from my second grade class were angels. Don't they have the most angelic little faces?

This look of indecision on Michael's face is pricless. Actually, this is the way we feel most of the time. WHAT DO I DO? Michael and I did all the music for the school Christmas program.

Here's Avalon and angel friend, Stephanie.

We played at Sister Maria's Soup Kitchen for kids. Pastor Chris was asked to be Santa Clause. He pulled off the coolest evangelistic tactic ever. He had the kids totally mesmorized because he was Santa. Then he got up to the mic and told the kids that Jesus, not Santa, was the most important person and then shared a mini gospel message.

Here is a video of Micah and Avalon's musical debut. Wow, what an exciting time in our lives. I can't think of anything cooler than ministering together as a family in a third world country. We had no idea what God had in store for us when he gave us the name "Together Ministries" for our ministry. But now I can see why God choose that name for us.

Some of the kids from Sister Maria's share their music.

One night we went caroling from house to house. The song Feliz Navidad seems to be a hit everywhere.

Here's Jayden and Mommy having their morning coffee and milk together.

I made this video for our Christmas program so all the parents could see their kids in action during a school day.

Our visas are expiring so on Thursday our whole family is going to Beliz for the day to get our passports stamped. On Friday my parents are coming to visit us.

May God richly bless you as we serve Him together!

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

Can We Build it? YES WE CAN!

2008-11-12T06:34:00.000-08:00

Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca is close to being finished. Pastor Chris officialy ran out of money and had to send all the workers home. Fortunately, we had a group from Calvary Chapel East Albuquerque here who took over the building when the workers left. Here is a little video I made of the mission team hard at work building Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca.

Please pray with us for the completion of our little Calvary Chapel. We have been meeting in a home and have not been able to open it up to the public yet since there is little space in our current meeting place.

If you would like to make a donation to Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca please contact Pastor Chris Rivera at cmrivera007@msn.com .

May God richly bless you as we serve Him together!

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

A Day At Lake Yojoa School - Honduras Flooded

2008-10-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

The following is a video we put together of an average day at Lake Yojoa Bilingual school. We are excited to see the work God is doing here and feel privileged to be apart of it. Enjoy!

Please pray for the country of Honduras. We have had so much rain that Honduras has been declared in a state of emergency.

The flooding is overwhelming. Houses are under water. Bridges are washed out. There doesn’t seem to be an end to the rain.

A major dam has become so full that water is being released into the already flooded villages.

We live at a high altitude so we haven’t experienced the same devastation from the downpours. We are thankful God has kept us safe.

It remains to be seen how Honduras will be affected in the near future as so many of the country’s crops have been destroyed. Please be in prayer.

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah and Zachary

Honduras Highlights 9/14/08 - 10/10/08

2008-10-11T06:48:00.001-07:00

Here is Michael teaching Bible to my second grade class. He's going story by story through the Bible with first through fourth grade.

We get up at 5:30a every morning. We arrive at the school at 7 to receive the children. School starts at 7:30 and goes until 1:40p. The school minivan is stuffed with teachers and students going to and from school. It's considered a privilege to have a car in Honduras.

When there's no more room inside, there's always the bumper. There doesn't appear to me to be seat belt laws.

Here is Micah and Zachary and one of their school friends.

Micah and Zachary are a real hit with all the girls. The little Honduran niña's love to tease, talk and play with them.

Here is Avalon with her 3rd grade class making a human pyramid. This was one of their P.E. activities.

This school has been an excellent experience for our children. They are learning how to behave in a classroom environment and they are learning that life isn't just about winning (my kids are competitive). They love to play with their Honduran friends.

One Sunday we went to one of the local churches. Today is "Día de la Biblia" or Day of the Bible. We marched around the community with the church, stopped on different street corners and had open air mini Bible studies. In this town is a whole group of Mennonite families. There are several ladies who are raising Honduran children whose parents gave them up because of the extreme poverty. These Mennonite Honduran children speak perfect English.

Here's our little Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca lead by Pastor Chris Rivera. His wife Maria works at the school with us.

Our Bible Study is quite intimate at this point. We meet on Sunday's and Wednesday's.

Here is the building of Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca under construction. The church hasn't been advertised yet because our meeting place so limited on space. The building of the church is a huge answer to prayer. God is going to huge things with this Calvary Chapel.

Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca is $5000 short in funds from being completed. Please pray with us for a miracle.

My brother, Donathan, and his wife Kim and their friends came out and visited us in September. They built us a screen door for our place to keep the mosquitoes out.

As you can see, Jayden is quite the happy camper. He just goes with the flow. As far as he's concerned there was never a cultural adjustment. Jayden has had a pretty serious diaper rash since we've been here. The climate is so humid that it never has a chance to heal. I'm faced with the reality that I may need to start potty training now if we want this diaper rash to heal.

Avalon and Blackie. Blackie is our neighbor's dog. Avalon and Blackie are best buds.

Jayden loves to be swung in the hammock. "Ahhhh, this is the life."

We are in the rainy season right now. It is a magnificent sight when a storm front moves in.

A local herd of horse takes a stroll in our backyard while our clothes are hanging out to dry. Only in Honduras!

This is the view from our back yard. The terrain in Honduras is absolutely breath-taking. I love to sit on our porch with my coffee (the local coffee is absolutely awesome) and drink in this view.

I must say, I'm falling in love with the children in my second grade class. They are all so precious. Michael and I feel privileged to have this opportunity to teach and pour into the lives of these children. Please pray that God will give us insight and wisdom on how to best teach these kids.

Neither of us has had had training in teaching English as a second language. We're kinda wingin' it. We are becoming experts at charades. Michael does an excellent job drawing his Bible stories on the board. 2 days after the last Bible class my kids are still drawing pictures of the Tower of Babel for me.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. May God richly bless you as we serve Him together!

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

Live Like A Honduran

2008-09-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

We had to jump through a few more hurdles at the airport but we made. Yipee!

Lake Yajoa Bilingual School started 4 days later. I’m teaching 2nd grade and Michael is teaching Bible. We’ve been given almost no instruction on how and what to teach.

The downside of that is, we were at a total loss when school first started. We had to develop our own lesson plans and strategy AND QUICK. The upside is we have the freedom to teach how we want.

Michael is teaching straight through the Bible for grades 1 through 4. How wonderful to have the freedom to teach the Bible.

I have been teaching academics all in English, which I have found to be quite a challenge since most of these kids hardly speak English. Needless to say I have been learning Spanish very quickly.

School has been a challenge for our children because they’ve never been in a classroom setting before. This has been really good for them. Half of their classes are in Spanish. They really have to pay close attention to keep up with the rest of the class.

This is our helper, Bani. She helps care for Jayden while we’re teaching.

Meanwhile, while school is in session, Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca is being built down the road completely by hand. Right now we are meeting in the home of one of the locals.

Living here hasn’t been so easy for us because we are so accustomed to the American way of life. We have no air conditioning. It’s sweltering hot and humid. Our family is covered in mosquito bites. Every bit of plumming in our place leaks. The toilet doesn’t flush. When it rains, which is pretty much everyday at 4p, our house floods. We don’t have our own car out here which makes it very difficult to get around. It’s been very difficult to find working internet. I could go on and on, but when I look around we are still living better than most of the Hondurans around us. I have to remember that we didn’t come to Honduras to live in the lap of luxury.

We feel like God wants to accomplish a tremendous work here in Honduras but we are realizing that more importantly He wants to accomplish a work in us personally.

Our biggest prayer request right now is that we would adjust to this culture. I think I’ll write a song to the tune of “Walk Like An Egyptian” and call it “Live like a Honduran.”

Tom this picture is for you.

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

We Got 'Em

2008-08-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord! We got our passports. They were waiting for us in the Delta Cargo Bay when we landed in Ft. Lauderdale. I'm overwhelmed at how God took care of all this. Michael did get a 10 year passport, but I (for whatever reason) only got a one year. But that's OK. I have one. We are waiting at the gate for our international flight and reflecting on God's faithfulness. Thank you all for praying. Our request got passed around to several prayer chains. We felt your prayers. This is totally amazing. We are relieved.

Ooops! Lost Passports!

2008-08-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

PLEASE be praying for us. We discovered as we were moving out of our house that we accidently threw away our new passports and kept our old ones. We discovered this 5 days before we are supposed to leave for Honduras.

An agency in New York that specializes in emergency passport issues is helping us to resolve this. It's concievable that our new passports could arrive at and be waiting for us at the Ft. Lauderdale International Airport on the day we are supposed to catch our plane to Honduras. But, there are many variables.

By faith our family will fly to Ft. Lauderdale as planned and hope for the best when we get there. My parents will be travelling with us.

A worse case scenario is that our passports are not at the airport waiting for us in which case my parents would take the kids on into Honduras and we would wait in Ft. Lauderdale until our passports arrive.

We feel absolutely horrible about our careless mistake. We will most likely be penalized by the government and only be issued a one-year passport.

If you are on or part of a prayer chain, can you please circulate this prayer request through the chain?

Pray that our passports will be waiting for us at the Ft. Lauderdale airport and that we won't have to be separated from our kids. Pray that we will be issued regular 10 year passports.

Broken, but available to serve Jesus,
Golden, Michael and Family

My Feet Are Made For Walkin'

2008-08-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

It has been so cute to watch Jayden take his first steps that I was inspired to make this music video to the tune of "These Boots are Made For Walkin.'" This music video is called "My Feet Are Made For Walkin.'"

Happy Birthday Jayden, Michael and Avalon!

2008-07-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

All their Birthdays are really close together, Jayden 7/25, Michael 7/30, and Avalon 8/2. So, we just celebrated them altogether.

This also ended up being a family reunion. My Mom and Dad flew in from MO and my brother, Donathan, and his wife Kim, and their 3 kids, Brenden, MacKenzie and Kylie, frew in from Vero Beach, FL. Needless to say, we had a very very busy household. During their time here, Donathan officated his first wedding. He didn't even throw up or faint. Good job, Dono!

We all had a total blast. Enjoy the Birthday music video.

See the raw video footage on our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3FBF50478563CD70

Jayden's First Steps

2008-07-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Jayden gave us a present for his Birthday. He took his first steps. That made all our hearts so happy. He was excited that we were excited. Jayden turned one on July 25th.

We Are Moving To Honduras

2008-07-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Stepping Out In Faith

We never imagined that a short mission trip to Honduras last June would lead to such an extraordinary missionary journey.

While in Honduras, we were presented with the need for teachers at Lake Yajoa Bilingual School. We would never have considered it, except that the school was specifically looking for English-speaking teachers. God was challenging us to step out of our comfort zone to minister and teach these children.

While in Honduras, we were present for the ground-breaking of Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca. Missionaries, Chris and Maria Rivera, would need help getting this fellowship off the ground. Again, God was challenging us to step out of our comfort zone.

On August 26th our family will move to Honduras for the next year. We will teach at Lake Yajoa Bilingual School. Our children will attend the school and receive a bilingual education. We will assist Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca with worship, children’s ministry and whatever other needs they may have.

The challenge to serve God in Honduras is clear. What is not clear to us at this point is how God will provide for us as we leave for the mission field. But that’s what we love about ministry. The details are in God’s hand!

Adopt Michael, Golden and Family

We would be honored and blessed if you would prayerfully consider adopting us as missionaries.

First and foremost we covet your continual prayers.

Prayer Requests
· Cultural transition for our family
· Health and safety
· That we will learn Spanish quickly
· Our mission work at Lake Yajoa Bilingual School
· Our mission work at Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca
· That details will be taken care of state side before we leave

Second, we would like to extend to you the opportunity to support our mission financially. Monthly donations from individuals will be our primary source of income.

Our commitment to you is to work diligently to touch the lives of people for Christ and to keep you informed on the work that God is doing in our ministry through email, online videos and blogs.

How It Works

Should God lead you to help in this way, checks can be made payable to "Together Ministries." If you join our team it would be helpful to hear by you by August 1st.

Our Support Address is:

Together Ministries
Michael and Golden
26100 Newport Rd. A12, #401
Menifee, CA 92584

When you send a check, an envelope for the next month's check will be mailed back to you. Please send us your email address and physical mailing address with your first check. All our correspondence and end-of-the-year receipts are done through email.

As always your contributions are tax-deductible and 100% of your gift goes to our ministry.

If you choose you may donate online: http://togetherministries.com/inside/sponsorship.htm

Please feel free to contact us with an questions you may have. You can reach us by phone at 949-400-4339 until August 25th. We can be reached by email at anytime.

Please pray with us we embark on this incredible missionary journey!

In His Grip,
Michael, Golden, Avalon, Micah, Zachary and Jayden

This is a video of our mission trip to Honduras last June. This will give you an idea what we will be doing and area we will be working in.

Precious Moments From Honduras

2008-06-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

We had 2 ministry outreaches everyday we were in Honduras. The opportunities to share God's love were endless.

Students from this local jr. high/high school respond to the Gospel.

We taught some new songs to the students of Lake Yahoja Bilingual School.

We travelled to a remote village with Calvary Chapel Jesus Film. We opened up with music to draw a crowd before showing the film.

I made some new friends from the little village where we showed the film.

The villagers response to the Gospel after the Jesus Film was overwhelming.

We did a praise and worship workshop. Here Michael is teaching on worship as a lifestyle.

Worship leaders from churches all over the region participated in the worship workshop.

A young boy comes forward for prayer.

This is precious little Gabriella from one of the local orphanages. I held and played with her for about 15 minutes. Whenever I tried to give her back she would cry.

Here we are with a group of children from the orphanage that we played at.

Here we are with our mission team at the ground breaking of Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca.

A little bit of culture.

The scenery was breathtaking.

This was kind of like a second honeymoon for us.

Your Life Is An Open Book

2008-06-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

This devotion really spoke to me. I hope it blesses you.

Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee (I Timothy 4:12-16).

As a Christian, you're a marked person - because you have claimed to be a child of God. People are watching you to find out what a child of God is like. How does he react under pressure? What does he do when the going gets rough? What does he do when there seems to be no way out?

At work, at school, in your neighborhood, people are watching you. They are watching you, because they have problems and they want answers to their problems. Christianity promises an answer. You're a Christian, so they want to see if the answer works.

Whether you want to be or not, you're an example of a believer to those people around you. They're watching you, because they don't know what a believer is all about. They assume that you're what a believer should be.

Being a Christian is a glorious thrill! God has washed away my sins and written my name in the Book of Life. It is also a fantastic responsibility. People are watching me to find out what a Christian looks like, what he acts like, and what he is.

Many people will never read a Bible, but they're going to read your life like a book. They'll be watching every chapter to see what it says. Be thou an example, not to the believers, but of the believers. By the way you're living, people are determining whether or not they want to believe in Jesus Christ. Is your life drawing people to Him, or are they walking away from Him, saying, "Well, I thought maybe Christianity has the answer, but I guess maybe it doesn't."

"Answers For Today"
Chuck Smith

Promoted To Glory

2008-04-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend we lead worship at Calvary Chapel Creekside. The senior pastor, Eric Sorian (pictured left) wasn't there. In fact, he hadn't been there for several months. Eric had been fighting a difficult battle with brain cancer.

After we played, we went to visit him. Michael had walked into the facility with his guitar to sing some worship songs to him. But when Michael got to his room he discovered that than hour earlier pastor Eric had been promoted to a personal worship experience with the King Himself.

Words failed me as his wife, Susan, and the family wept over his body. All I could do was hug her.

We are so happy that Eric is with Jesus, but do keep his wife and family in prayer. Susan is now a single mother of 8 children, no income, no life insurance and thousands of dollars in medical bills. Though her situation seems impossible, I know there is nothing too big for our God.

Life Is But A Vapor

2008-03-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

Besides our music ministry I have had the privilege of assisting in a assistant pastor role at Calvary Chapel Hemet. God has been stretching me in many new areas of ministry.

I met Tim back in December when he came in for some pre-marital counceling. He had recently surrendered his life back to the Lord after discovering he had serious cancer. I started to prepare for the possibility of officiating at my first wedding ceremony. The couple did not end up staying together and Tim's condition got worse. Tim went home to be with the Lord a week before Easter. The family asked if I would preside over the memorial and I agreed.

Little did I know when I first met Tim that instead of preparing for a wedding that I would be preparing for a funeral service. The Bible says that our life is but a vapor (James 4:14). None of us know how long we have in this life. I rejoice that Tim was wise to realize this and commit his life back to the Lord.

We are to make the most of every day because every day is truly a gift from God. Serve him with all your heart!

Blessings...Michael

My Life on Wednesday, March 5, 2008

2008-03-05T21:25:00.000-08:00

6a - baby gets me up

6:15a - feed baby milk and do devotion

7:15a- feed the other 3 kids and feed baby solids

8:30a - homeschooling starts. Juggle the baby and teach the other 3 at the same time. Language Arts, Math, Typing, Bible, Reading and Spelling

12p - make and feed everyone lunch. While kids eat Mamma works on the computer.

1:30p - finish homeschooling the kids. YES! Jayden went down for an afternoon nap.

3:30p - do whatever cleaning up I can possibly do and get ready for church.

5p - feed all the kids dinner

5:45p - depart for church

6:15p - sound check and worship run through with Michael and the worship band. Make the kids sit in the pews and read their books without talking or they get on the LIST (the list isn't a good thing). Jayden plays in the saucer on stage while we rehearse.

6:45p - check the kids into AWANAs. Fix the baby's milk and check him into the nursery.

7p - run back to the sanctuary and take my place on stage for worship.

8:30p - service ends. Pick up the kids and go home.

9:30p - get the kids and the baby ready for bed.

10p - collapse in bed

His Hands And Feet-A Devotional

2008-02-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

A story was told that after the war a local church had occurred some damage to there sanctuary. During the clean up, the parishioner noticed that the statue of Jesus which was in the front yard area had also been damaged and the hands and feet were broken off.

Hearing of this, a professional sculpturer paid a visit to the chapel and offered his services to repair the statue to its original state. After carefully considering the generous offer, the parishioner thanked the man but decided to keep it displayed as it now was. He then made a plaque that was placed next to the statue of Jesus that read; “We are to be His hands and feet”.

Whether this story was actually true or not, the message rings clear to every follower of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 25:35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Serving Him together,
Michael

Raise Praise-A Devotional

2008-01-26T21:02:00.000-08:00

2 Chron.20:21 and when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.

22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

Now when the singers began to sing and praise, the Lord defeated the enemy. The battle was won by the Lord just as he promised. The people of Judah and Jerusalem then collected the spoil, and returned to Jerusalem rejoicing and praising God. So they came to Jerusalem , with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord.

The first lesson we must learn is that God delights to make His power manifest where His people are praising Him. Sending a group of singers into battle, ahead of an army, is an unlikely military strategy, especially when you have told the army that they won’t need to use their weapons or even fight. Yet this is exactly the situation that God creates so that His people depend upon Him; and He receives the glory when His power is manifest.

(Fruitful Worship by Bruce Zachary)

New Season

2007-04-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought we fell off the face of the earth. We’re still here. If you didn’t know, we are expecting our 4th child; due around Aug 1st. I had pretty bad morning sickness for the first 3 months, but I feel great right now. I am home-schooling Avalon, Micah and Zachary and I am loving it.

NEW SEASON IN OUR LIVES

I wanted to give you an exciting update! God has opened up a neat door of ministry for us to help in our balance of home-schooling and travel. We had been praying and waiting on the Lord for specific direction in this area for some time now. We are very grateful how God has answered our prayers. Michael is now a worship pastor on staff at Calvary Chapel Hemet. This allows us to have a home base with the flexibility to continue ministering out as "Together Ministries." Our pastor, Gary Johnson, is very supportive of our outreach music ministry and has given Michael a flexible schedule that allows us a week off a month and one month annually to minister out. The church will be covering us in prayer during our various ministry trips throughout the year. God is so good to give us a good balance for our family. We appreciate your prayers in this new season of our lives.