Sharon's Testimony

I grew up in a family of nothing but alcohol, drugs, mental and physical abuse. I was married three times and all three husbands were alcoholic and into drugs. I drank, but not too much. I started doing drugs (crack, cocaine) with my 3rd husband 15 years ago. I’d do them off and on. My husband and I separated 6 years ago and I just started doing drugs more and more. About 3 years ago I started getting high on a daily basis. After about 1½ years of steadily getting worse, I was reported to Social Services about my drug habit and my little girl was taken from me for 6 months. I had to do outpatient drug therapy and counseling to get her back, which I did, but not honestly. I had someone else doing U.A.’s for me while I was in therapy and continued doing drugs and beating the system, so I thought. I finally hit, I guess what you call rock bottom, and couldn’t quit drugs on my own. I cried and cried and even thought of suicide at times. One day, I just thought there has to be something or someone out there to help me. I finally decided to go to church and ask the Lord to help me. On November 10th, 2007 I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and help me, and Glory to God, something happened to me that I can’t even explain. Since then I’ve been clean and sober and I’ve lost all desire to get high. God helped me, and I know it was Him because I could not do it on my own. I love you Jesus for coming into my life and changing me.

It's amazing how time has flown by! We have been here one year this September! God has been so good to us this last year. We've seen many testimonies just like Sharon's; testimonies of lives changed forever. God has changed me too, and looking back at my life a year ago I can see where He's brought me from. It's hard to put into words what we feel and all that has happened but i know without a doubt that there's no place I'd rather be! Being here and being a part of seeing lives changed is such a hands on experience and it has really given me a compassion for people. I feel so priviledged to be here doing what God's called us to. It's almost overwhelming at times to think of all that is yet to come. We know that God is not done working in this city. We thank you all for your support. It means a lot to know that there are people that stand behind us and support what God is doing here. We love you all!

Outreach, Revival and...Tarantulas?!

Last weekend, JB and Gail Sanchez and the kids came and did a three-day revival for us. Many of you may have heard that we had a fire in the apartment connected to the church a couple weeks ago. Thankfully the people were home to catch it or the firemen said the whole church would've burned down. So, it wasn't serious but it was an electrical fire, so the power had to be shut down for a while and we were hoping it wouldn't interfere with what we had planned. We were without power or heat and were unable to have services, but in about a week it was back up and running. When the revival came around we were ready to go and thought all that was behind us. But when we arrived early on Friday to do an outreach we noticed it was cold and not getting any warmer. So after a couple hours, when our hands and faces were numb, we realized the furnace wasn't coming on! We called our Landlord and he sent out a handyman to check it out. The handyman concluded that it was a blown fuse but he had to leave and my dad also had to leave for work, so me and my mom were left with the task of replacing the fuses. With the help of Pastor Rod, we got it done but it only lasted about 10 mintues before the furnace was out again. So by this time it was almost time to start so we bundled up in our coats and had service anyway! We a great service regardless and then we went somewhere warm for dinner!

The furnace was fixed the next day and ready for the Springs youth group who came up for a special Saturday night youth service! The furnace guy even found a dead tarantula underneath the furnace, but that's another story! It did cause quite a stir though! Springs brought two van loads up and we had an outreach before the service to pass out the rest of the flyers. After outreach and pizza for dinner we had a wonderful service. The weekend was concluded with two more awesome services on Sunday and good times of food and fellowship in between!

All in all, it was a great weekend! Lives were touched and people were chanllenged! Thank you Jb and Gail for taking time for this revival. We are looking forward to seeing the fruit that comes from it! And thank you Youth for helping with outreach and services!

God is doing new things all the time, and through Him we will build this church one person at a time! It's not always easy but it is always worth it! God is always faithful and it is such a privilege to be here doing what we are!

It's Been a Long Time Coming!

Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long since I've updated. :( I really have no excuse...But I will give one anyway! We left our camera at my aunts house so I haven't been able to take pictures lately. (Even though I know Jess has a camera lying around somwhere...) So like i said, no excuse. Well, I will try to get back on it as soon as possible. Until then I will just tell you a little of what's been going on lately, but unfortunately, without pictures.

On December 30 we had Tony and Melanie Wilkins come and give their testimonies during the morning and evening services. We had a few outreaches for it before hand although the weather didn't give us any mercy and it was quite cold, we did the best we could though. Both Tony and Melanie did a wonderful job telling of what God has done for them and where He's brought them from. After that evening service we ordered pizza and had a good time of fellowship! There was supposed to be a spades game but Tony was just too scared to lose...I made him promise he'd sing if he lost. It must have been too much for him. Just kidding Tony! You can just lose another time I guess. :) Thank you Wilkins family for taking time to come up! We love you guys!

Last Sunday night, Bill and Jo Trijillo came up, along with Natalie and Daniella. Mr. Bill did a great job sharing his testimony and sharing some things from the bible. We prayed with people down at the altar and had a wonderful service. After the service we had a potluck (with some wonderful mexican food, I might add) and talked and played games. Thanks for coming out Trijillos!

Lately we've been doing a youth night every other Friday night with Joe and Stephy. We get together with some of the teens and young people from church and eat some food and play games. As time goes by we'll start to do more stuff and we eventually want to have to youth from Springs come up and do a service for us. I'll keep you updated as we go along.

Well that's my update for now. Remeber to continually keep us in your prayers! They are much aprreciated!! I hope to see you all soon!

Signs, Wonders, and Miracles!

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 9th - 11th, we had a three day healing revival with Pastor Marshall and his beautiful wife Cherise! :) Friday night the Spanish Service from Springs came up to help us with an outreach and join us for service that night. It was a wonderful time! We had a total of around 110 people come through out the weekend and people got saved and we prayed for many to be healed! One lady came down to the altar for healing of a head injury and God healed her! Another lady and her family came and her daughter gave her life to Jesus and they have been coming since! Many people were touched and we are seeing the fruit of it! Thank you Marshall's for taking time to come up!

It never ceases to amaze me to see the miracles God can do in someone's life! Sometimes we just don't realize how much people are hurting or just choose to ignore it. Many are desperate for something to fill the void in their life that the world leaves and we have the answer! God forbid we would go through our lives without sharing that answer with as many as we can! It is so easy to become comfortable where we are, but the bible says this life is like a vapor; we are not promised tomorrow. Jesus' command was simple: "Go and preach." We come up with so many excuses not to, I am guilty of it myself, but it all comes down to a matter of the heart. Where we place our priorities will be shown by the fruit in our lives. Don't let the devil cheat you of what God has in store! We are fighting a fixed fight; We have already won! Nothing is impossible for God! Take Him at His word and see what He can do!

Harvest Carnival

Halloween...a time for candy, cavities, costumes and carnivals! This past Wednesday, we had our very first Harvest Carnival. After a couple weeks of building, buying, painting, and outreach, we were ready to go! We had games, prizes, hot chili, and of course, candy; lots and lots of candy! There was a cake walk, sucker tree, bean bag toss, bowling, basket ball, and face painting with Joe, our very own clown!

At the beginning of the night, we weren't seeing too many people come through and we all had visions of eating chili and candy 'til Jesus came back! But as the night went on, they started to come and the candy level started to drop. We saw princesses, doctors, superheros, Jack Sparrow and some, well, we weren't quite sure what they were... We had around 150 people come throughout the night, and every piece of candy was gone and most of the food. I only got 7 pieces of candy, but I try not to be bitter... :) We got to meet new people and had opportunities to witess to the kids and their parents. The kids had fun with the games, and even some of the adults. We learned you could never have too much candy and you should never let a clown do his own make-up! (Haha! ;) Just kidding Joe!) The whole night was a wonderful time of food and fellowship! Although, I will never eat another bowl of chili again...EVER! :)

What a Weekend!

Sometimes I find the hardest thing about writing posts is starting them...so, I will just start from the beginning! (Good place to start, huh?) Last Saturday the spanish service came out to help us with an outreach for the following Sunday services. We had Mario Owens coming in the morning to preach and we were showing a movie Sunday night. We passed a lot flyers out and prayed with 8 people for salvation! After that was done we went back to the church for some lunch. We all piled into the headstart classroom and sat in the tiny chairs for some sandwhiches and chicken! After all that was over, we pried ourselves from the chairs (literally), and started cleaning up, then headed home to get ready for the next day.

The Next day, Mario, DeAnza and the kids came out for the service that morning. Tina and Jason Farrell and their family were also in town so they brought some relatives and stayed for the service. We had 6 visitors that morning and a total of around 32 people! Tanya, Kenadee and Kobey also came up from Springs for our very first baby dedication that morning with Joe and Stephy and their baby girl Ashlyn. We had song service and Mario preached a wonderful message and then pulled the altar call. We had two people get saved that morning! After the service we all headed to Applebees for some lunch, and then over to my house to just lay around and watch football and soccer until the evening service. That night we arrived at the church ready to set up for the hotdogs and movie only to find the power was out in the church, and in most of the neighborhood too. People started coming anyways and we kept on setting up and decided that if the power didn't come back on we'd just grill some hotdogs and hang out. It is true what they say...if there's food, they'll come! :) The power did come back on after a while so we got the building warmed up and everything was set up for the movie. We ate some hot dogs and chips, then after a short song service we started the movie. We had 10 visitors come out and we all had fun and were able to witness to people through out the night.

I apologize for some of the pictures...I forgot the camera that night so I had to use the cell phone to take pictures...some of them are kind of grainy. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. God is still moving here in Denver and we're excited for the things we have planned for the coming months! I'll give you an update soon and let you know what's going on!

Conference and Much More!

What to say about the last 2 ½ weeks....Well, I'll start with the Jones family visit! Sunday, September 30, we had Pastor Paul come up to preach for us. He brought his family (including Landon) and we had a blast! Tyler and Shaunna were also in town celebrating their anniversary so they joined us that morning. It was so wonderful to have all of them with us! Sunday morning Pastor Paul preached a powerful message out of Ephesians 2:19. He told us that if we’re going to have what the apostles had we need to have what Jesus left us. We need to have the confidence and the boldness of the Holy Ghost believing that God is going to do what He said He would do! (I John 5:14 – 15) We must remember our calling and remain committed! (Acts 2:43 – 47) That night he preached again from Jeremiah 29:11 – 13 about how there are no shortcuts to God or answered prayer. (Matthew 6:33) All in all we had a wonderful time! Food fellowship and great messages. Thank you Jones family for your encouragement and for all your help with our song services and sound system! :) It means a lot to us!
That following Monday was the first night of conference; I don’t quite know what to say about that first service cause I was in Sonshine Kids, but I’m sure it was awesome! We did have quite a night in nursery though. From throw-up to rebellious little “angels”! :) But that’s beside the point. The whole week was a wonderful time of encouragement and fellowship. Not too much sleep though, but that’s to be expected! The atmosphere was wonderful and you could feel the presence of God in the services. It seemed as though everybody was, as I heard many people say, really “On the Mark” this year. That friday night the youth continued the tradition of staying out all hours of the night, well, until 12 anyways. We ordered Dominos pizza (which IS the best) and we ate in the fellowship hall and then split up to play soccer and dodge ball. I don't know how the dodge ball went, but soccer was AWESOME!!! Soccer is always awesome though! Unfortunatley my team lost...but not by much! Only by three points which we could have easily made up for if we had like 10 more minutes! lol We all had fun though! It was all over too soon, but I made new friends, hopefully no enemies, and we will take what we heard with us into Denver. I hope the rest of you will do the same! Never let the vision grow cold and stagnant! It’s who we are and what we’re called to do. If God’s not in it, then we labor in vain. Stay encouraged and keep moving forward!

I just want to give a big THANK YOU to all the wonderful ladies in the office! Conference time can get pretty hectic for the office. Without you guys how would we stay organized?! Big thanks to the kitchen ladies who fed us and kept us from malnutrition! Conference malnutrition can be pretty ugly and may even lead to delirium! lol I've experienced it! A BIG THANK YOU goes to all our nursery workers and leaders for keeping the children those long 5 days! Much appreciated! And thanks to anyone I might have forgotten! Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of conference; :( I was slacking there. Hopefully most of you were there, and if not I’d recommend getting some CD’s of the services. Well, until I post again, have a great day! :D