Johnson Family Mission

Let me be brief

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:47:00 +0000

Lets catch up -- since our last update much has changed.
We spent most of the month of November in New Orleans leading/helping with groups. We led two great teams - one from Illinois and the other from Pennsylvania; and helped with the Gordon's home church. Thanks to the Thompsons, we had a place to stay. Although it was not complete when the teams left, Ms. Josephine was able to get into her home before Christmas. Praise God! Four adults living in a FEMA trailer for three years - what a wonderful Christmas present.
After spending the month there, it became clear to Bob and myself that as much as we love the people, church and our co-workers, New Orleans was not where we are called to be. Living in the disaster prone area has proven to be difficult and a change of scenery is necessary. So the search began.
We spent a month in Ohio to determine if this was the place to return to. While there, we had an offer to visit Missouri which we promptly took advantage of. After having attended college, lived there and lead a group from the area, we have strong ties to Branson. The girls stayed in Ohio with friends/homeschooling families and enjoyed the snow, while Bob and I scouted around for housing and work. It quickly became clear that Branson, MO was the place for us.
We have been in Branson for a month now. We have an apartment, have visited half a dozen churches and are plugging to places to serve - more on this later.
So the big question is How does this affect our missions work? With your help and prayers, it won't affect our work. Bob is headed to Texas in a couple of weeks to lead a team and will be there this summer also. The girls and I will join him as our schedules allow. This is still the passion of Bob's heart to serve others. Being connected with Forward Edge and partnering with other organizations, we will continue to serve where ever there is a need. As always, our biggest needs are continued prayer and financial support. And, as always, God will provide.
Blessings to you all in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ

house is done!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:19:00 +0000

One more complete! Bob handed over the keys on Oct. 3 to Russell. We started this house the last week of April. With the help of seven teams in eleven work weeks, it was taken from being completely gutted to move in. During Katrina, a tree fell through his roof. It was tarped, but that only lasted for a short while. It had been raining in his house ever since.
Also, this month, Bob was able to finish work on one other home here in the Moss Point area. That officially ends our commitment to this area.
Now for finding a house in New Orleans! Please pray that this will come soon as we would have liked to have moved Oct. 1. Obviously that did not happen!
Bob will head to Texas this week also to lead a group. Please lift him up with all the traveling and being in a different area. Please pray for the girls and I as we will be staying home.
God's grace and peace to you all!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:24:00 +0000

Greetings! We are in Ohio just for a week before stopping in Indiana and then heading back to Mississippi. My family (Diane) will be getting together to exchange gifts and eat until our hearts are content (or until we can't move, which ever comes first)!
Just to update everyone, we moved into our house on October 31st. I am still unpacking boxes and moving things around, but it is wonderful to have more space. And to finally have access to all of our school books. We did English and Math for the first three months of the year, and now we are working on catching up all other subjects. It is good to have a routine again!
Bob has had some down time from hosting groups, but not from work. He is lining up jobs and supplies for the next few months. We have a team in late January and then again in mid-February. During this time, he also finishes up some of the houses that may not have gotten completed - finishing touches and such. We also do follow up with home owners and with the groups that have come down to serve. Oh, and organizing the tool shed!
Hope you all had a great Christmas! We so look forward to what God has in store for us and for you in this coming year. Please be safe over New Years!

Preparing

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:46:00 +0000

Hello, God's grace and mercy to you all!
We are looking forward to and preparing for Saturday when the first of three groups arrive to work next week. All of them are fairly small - total of about 30 people in all. The following week, we will also have group. You know what that means - we might not get an update on here for a few weeks. Please pray that as we work, it will be in God's timing that we will get two houses completed. One woman has been living in a home that is nearly complete. She cooks via microwave and toaster oven because she does not have a kitchen. It is just one room, but what a major impact it will make on her life.
Awesome news from Branson! We have one group planning a trip in November. Please continue to pray that more will respond and that all the details with fall into place with the one in the works.
We have been working steadily on our house and had hoped to move in this weekend. However, we are not far enough along. Again it is all about God's timing. There have been times when we were stressed living in the church, but God is teaching us - dare I say - patience and contentment. Thanks be to God as he continues to grow and stretch us. Maybe we will be in by the beginning of next month.
May his peace - the peace that surpasses all understanding - be yours.

Can you help us with more groups?

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:30:00 +0000

Bob has returned from New York! Everyone is safe and New York was a huge blessing. We can not wait to see what awesome groups and great things come from there! If you are interested in listening to the radio interview, you can hear it at http://sharpens.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
We have been working steadily on the house. God is amazing and blessed us with a new bath tub (old one had a hole) and three rooms of carpet for the bedrooms. Please pray for our health and backaches as we work to get things finished up. The girls have chosen to paint squares and rectangles on two of their walls - very time consuming. They chose blue, green, tan and brown. Someone said it reminded them of the Partridge Family Show of the 70s(?).
We are in need of more groups! This is slower time of year for us when we have the opportunity to travel and make contacts. If you have a desire to bring a group, know someone looking for a destination within the United States, or a name of a missions leader - we want to talk with you! There is still a huge need for workers as well as supplies in this area. We can supply you with printed material, videos, and in-person presentation from ourselves or other FEI leaders. Please feel free to contacts us by phone 937/546-1219 or by email at Bob@forwardedge.org
May you be ever growing in your knowledge of God and his will for you life, and be obedient to that call.

Praises

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:12:00 +0000

We had an awesome time in Branson, Missouri. Thanks to Captain Dave and his many contacts, we ate at some great restaurants, stayed at a beautiful inn and made contact with several pastors and leaders. Please pray with us as we wait on God to move in the hearts and minds of those we spoke with to bring the groups down from that area.
Last week, we rented a house - with the hopes of buying it soon! Yea!! Currently, we have torn out the carpet and are preparing to paint. Please pray for us as we price flooring and other needed items for the house. It is a small three bedroom, one and a half bath ranch with attached garage and a good size yard. I looked for two and a half months for a place, but let my husband get involved and within two weeks he had things worked out. God knows what he is doing if we will just stay within his plan. Praise be to God for my husband and his leadership of our family.
While we were in Ohio, we found homes for our dog and cat. Funny, I thought that they would go to people we knew but that was not the case in either situation. We miss them terribly and hope that they are a blessing to their new homes as they were in ours.
Bob is in New York now. He is traveling with our co-workers David and Lynne, Pastor Jerry, and Brother Croon. They are presenting to churches and on Christian radio and television the need for groups to this area and the work that still needs to be done. Please pray for their success and safe travel when they return on Tuesday.
Blessings to you all!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:04:00 +0000

On the road

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:35:00 +0000

Hello y'all!

As of August 20th, we have completed and moved Sarah Pritchert in Alabama and Yvette Stewart in Ocean Springs back into there homes!

We have had a crazy busy summer which is good, but now the groups are slowing down. This has given us the opportunity to travel to meet new pastors and recruit new groups. We just spent the weekend in Ohio, visiting and participating in a triathlon fundraiser. Currently, we are headed to Branson, Missouri to meet with several pastors.

Please pray for safe travel and success in our meetings. If you have leads on people interested in missions and may want to come down to Mississippi, please contact us.

A big thank you and God's blessings upon those who pray for us and support us financially. May each of you be blessed because you know Christ.

Finally an update !

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:13:00 +0000

Hey Ya'll
It has been entirely to long since we have updated anyone, I am so sorry! We have been really busy since June the 9th. We have had a couple of day's "off ". Those days are either filled with clean-up or prep work in order to be ready for the next team's arrival, or we as a family cherish that time together.
Since we've been here we have seen God work in the lives of so many people. Just last week Forward Edge in partnership with New Covenant (the name of the local church) hosted a high school summer camp of 150 students and 50 adult leaders , that's right a group of 200. We were able to work in the public schools; the group painted 28 classrooms, 1 office, 1 cafateria, and 2000 feet of hallway. All of the areas painted had at least 2 colors. They also installed 500 feet of fence around a basketball court and did some landscaping. The favorite activity of the students was the sports camp they had for the local youth. What a week! The best part of the week was on the final day, there were 16 students that made a public profession for Christ and were Baptized in the Gulf.
The first job I started when I got here was Ms. Yvette's house. She has two daughters living with her - Brittany and Shania. Also, living with her is her 30-year-old handicapped sister Lovey. This family got lost in the shuffle and had not had anything done to their home. We had three back to back groups that finished the roofing, completely gutted her home, rewired the electric, replumbed and hung all new drywall. Tomorrow we have a group that will finish the drywall and painting by the end of the week. We hope to have her back in her home by the end of August. For those of you that have ever done any remodeling, you know how fast this is moving. One of the most gratifying parts of the job is that Ms. Yvette and her daughters work on the home in the evenings and on weekends. Side note: please keep Ms. Yvette in your prayers because she has been in the hospital twice since we have been here for heart issues. Ms. Yvette comes out and shares her story with each group. They rode the storm out in their home. They had approximately three feet of water in their house and a hole in the roof where the tree came through. They continued to live in their home with no electricity or water for several weeks. Her mother passed away two days prior to the storm, and the house was in her name which left Ms. Yvette and her family unable to receive help from FEMA so they continued to live there with a tarp over the hole in the roof and most of the home in disrepair. We are so blessed to be working with her.
Housing update, we are still living in the church. we have been looking for a place to live but the problem is they had a storm down here and it ruined a lot of homes. Love Ya

We Made it, whooooww

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 23:29:00 +0000

Greetings from sunny and warm (Diane says hot) Moss Point Mississippi. We had a safe and uneventful trip. The next few days should be pretty exciting, we will find a place to store all our stuff, look at houses, get a p.o.box, find a bank, and whatever else that comes with moving.
My job as a field coordinator will officially start this Saturday, I am really looking forward to it. Our thanks go out to all the people that have joined together with us as a team. Over the last few days we know that God has heard the many prayers for our safe journey.
I am soooo tired right now, so keep watching we will update again soon.We love ya'll.

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:49:00 +0000

We're taking a break from packing and thought we should update. The garage sale went great! All the large items sold in God's timing - namely Saturday afternoon between 2:30 and 4 p.m. (the sale ended at 3)! We spent Memorial Day weekend camping with our church family. It was a small group, but time well spent building relationships. God answered a prayer for us this week also. Bob prayed that if he should take his van down that it would run good, if he should not take it that God would let us know somehow. Well, its dead! We asked, God answered. He's cool like that! Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to move. We leave Monday, June 4th. Blessings to all.

getting close

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:01:00 +0000

We are getting excited about moving! On May 17-19 is our garage sale. Whatever is left goes to Goodwill. Someone suggested we should be packing - What a novel idea. Still hasn't happened. Our departure date will be the first week of June. Please pray for a safe trip.

Up and Running!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob & Diane) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:45:00 +0000

Welcome to the new johnsonfamilymission blog! While we're relatively new to this technology thing, we're excited for the opportunity to stay connected with friends and supporters. In the coming months we will be attempting to update this blog on a regular basis as we prepare for the move from Ohio to Mississippi. And once "in the field", we'll let you know what we're up to and how you can best pray for our ministry to those still devastated by hurricane Katrina. Thanks again for stopping by - watch this space!