Missions Outside the Box -thats the theme of the latest ABWE magazine "Message". I thought I would post a couple of quotes that I thought were noteworthy but the whole issue is worth a read.

"When we speak of doing missions outside the box, we are speaking about functioning according to God's creative character for He never gets trapped into a box when seeking to accomplish His plan." ... "As we view the task of missions in the 21st century, we must understand that we are approaching a huge undertaking that involves approx. 12,000 etno-linguistic people groups worldwide. Many of these peopl groups live in remote areas accessible only over difficult terrain and through difficult political permissions, and are discovered to be illiterate with no written language. How could anyone conceive of attempting to reach people like these using a process that would fit into a box?"

"Indeed missions is anything but factory assembled, shrink-wrapped, and shipped next-day air. Yet, as we seek to utilize God-given creativity to take the Gospel to the nations, the Gospel's dynamic, saving message remains ever the same." -Michael G. Loftis

"Only when this discouraged missionary rediscovered the dynamics of hands on compassion from our Lord's ministry in the Gospels as a universal paradigm of effective ministry, combined with new understandings of culturally effective outreach, was a church-planting methodology developed that produced multiple believers and reproductive churches." -Bill Commons

" A social Gospel without the Gospel is just social work" -Scott Roloson

Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise before the Lord! (Ps. 96)

I(Todd) was blessed to be able to spend the last three days in the mountains with a really good friend of mine, his son and two of his son's friends.

Scott Roloson is a missionary to South Africa who is here in the States for furlough. He claims that the whole time that he is in South Africa he dreams of snowshoeing in the Adirondacks. I am glad that I was able to share that experience with him once again. Hopefully it will last another four years until his next furlough.

We hiked from the garden parking lot in to Slant Rock lean-to on Wed. The next morning we awoke to a couple inches of fresh new powder. We started up the trail towards Haystack mountain. On the what we thought was the summit it was windy and low visibility. Later we realised that we had actually been on the summit of little Haystack. We headed over toward Basin Mnt and the weather improved. At the trail junction Scott and two of the boys headed towards the summit while the other boy and I waited for them. They soon returned victorius. Then after sliding down to the lean-to we climbed into our bags. This morning we awoke to a couple more inches of fresh powder. Amazing that God can take a speck of dust and make it as white as snow! We made really good time on the hike out as it was mostly downhill. Overall a great time in God's creation with fellow believers.

We hope to stop at the camp (Die Kroon) that Scott works at in South Africa on our way into Lesotho in the fall.

The view from the summit is awesome, and so is the feeling of being able to finally pay off the stack of bills that we had. Praise the Lord! we found a fish with a coin in his mouth so to speak. Unlike the story of the disciples finding the coin in the fish to pay their taxes, in our case the fish WAS our taxes. We got a good tax return and was able to pay the bills AND buy groceries.

Things are not looking to great for world travel due to the cartoon uprisings. I just read about unrest in Indonesia now. We were planning on going there in the fall. Pray that things will quiet down quickly.

I have a build with Signature coming up next week in Tenn. -Pray for safety and for Kris and the kids while I'm away. Gary and I are going to meet with Steve Hill (AIM-Lesotho) the day after I come back. I was trying to figure a way to stay overnight in Albany area so I wouldn't have to travel back and forth, and low and behold I get a voucher for a free night at the Red roof inn in the mail! So Kris will be able to drive down and spend a well deserved 12 hours of alone-together time with me!!

The Pakistan trip is on hold. It is amazing to me how Satan can use a cartoon to close the doors so quickly. But with the recent rise in violence there, we decided to hold off for now. Besides, Gary has three strikes against him 1.Christian, 2. Journalist, 3. Danish -Keep praying- There are many people in the mountains of Pakistan who will die this winter without hearing the Good news.

Yesterday at work I managed to smack myself in the eye with a large chunk of ice (no safety glasses on). Praise the Lord that I still have my eye! Its alot sore today but I can still see ok. Please continue to pray daily for my safety and that I would be wise (safety glasses etc.)

Lesotho- It looks like we will meet with Steve Hill (Africa Inland Mission) on March 4. Pray for that meeting -for wisdom and discernment.

Haiti- Keep this upcoming trip in prayer for safety and open doors as well as discipleship opportunities among our team. Still on schedule for April 17-30.

Costa Rica-( YRO) Praise the Lord I have enough $ in my WOL account to cover the trip! Pray for wisdom as I go to talk with the director about the possibility of allowing my daughter Rachel to go with us. She is younger than the required age but we are praying for an exception to be made because dad is going. If she goes another local girl(a friend) may also go.

Indonesia- Things are moving ahead on this trip. This is going to be an expensive trip, due to airfare mainly. We don't have a definite figure yet but if you would like to contribute then you can do it two different ways.
1. Online using a credit card or paypal funds here http://www.climbingforchrist.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1431
2. Or you can mail a check to Climbing for Christ; 5726 W. Wautoma Beach Rd; Hilton, NY 14468 -include a note that it is for Paris/ Indonesia or just Paris/support for salary and general use. Thank you in advance for you generosity.

Habakkuk’s final statement of faith 3:19
The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places.God will supply everything I need
"God is my strength" - Not I will be strong
"He makes my feet like hind’s feet"-The hind is the female deer, a sure footed in the mountains which bounds over rocks and vegetation in the mountains.
Mountains are hard to climb. It is a lot like the troubles of life. But if my feet are like hind’s feet, we can leap over the troubles in our life.
"And Makes me walk on my high places"-There is nothing like the view from the mountaintop.
Habakkuk knows that with God strength he will leap over the difficulties and gain a perspective that is marvelous.
That is what God wants to do in your life. But it is only available to those who walk by faith. Live every moment - no matter how bleak or hopeless.
With the knowledge that God is doing something - beyond my ability to comprehend. It will come about – Wait for it!
If Habakkuk could wait walk by Faith so can I
If Habakkuk could wait for total devastation so can I
If Habakkuk could rejoice in the worst of circumstances so can I
If Habakkuk could live above the trials of life, so can I
-Pastor David Peterson

"The only normal people are the ones that you don't know very well." -Joe Ancis

God honors the poor and humbles the rich? This is so contrary to the common thinking of the world but that is what James says in the Bible. James 1:2-18 Riches and the things that riches can accomplish or buy are fleeting, temporary. But the things that we are learning, and the character, endurance, patience, that is being developed by being poor will last forever. God has chosen the poor in this life to be rich in faith. James 2:5 So I am finally (after several Holy spirit 2x4 blows to the head) rejoicing in our poverty and turning my energy that has been wasted on worry about money towards more eternally productive things such as my personal and families spiritual growth.

Ministry update:

Word of Life Youth Reachout- It looks like I will be going to Costa Rica as the program director this summer! I don't have the dates of the top of my head (2x4 blows) but will post them when I have them.

Lesotho- Still trying to arrange three busy schedules to find a time to meet with Steve Hill.

Haiti- Tickets have been purchased for April 17-30th! pray for stability post election, discipleship opportunities amongst our team (there is a good blend of young and old) as well as to those we go to minister to. Continue to pray for the details to work out smoothly.

Indonesia- Pray for details that still need to be finalized.

Tanzania-postponed til further notice -pray for God to provide the right people to place there to work with the porters on Kilimanjaro

Pakistan- Currently putting together a team to go and build more permanet temporary shelters to help earthquake victims. Reports for those that have been there say that this mostly muslim country is wide open to the Gospel.

Shepherding a Child's Heart
Todd and I recently began going to a new SS class at church - a video series called Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp. I was hesitant to go at first because we've been parents for 13 years now and are supposed to know what we're doing.:) I'm so glad we did, though. I had read the book about 7 years ago and remembered thinking how good it was, and the video series is just as good. It is an excellent reminder of the goal of parenting - our children's hearts. It challenges us to look beyond behavior to discover the heart issues that are causing the behavior. When we deal with bad behavior we may get temporary change, but when we deal with heart issues like selfishness, pride, anger,etc. we are able to work toward lasting change because of Jesus Christ. Focusing on heart issues is so effective because it puts us all (parents and kids) on the same page (we deal with the same issues as they do, we just express it differently), it helps our kids to examine what is going on inside and see what the Bible has to say about it, and it always brings us back to the cross and experiencing God's grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love. The video also addresses the struggles of parents between just wanting what is convienent for us or wanting what is Biblically best for our kids and taking the time to get there. Going to this class together has led to some good discussions (and laughs) at home between Todd and I about why our kids do what they do, and has reminded us that we need to take time to open the Bible more often rather than just using the phrase "because I said so". I would highly recommend the book or video to anyone who has kids or works with kids - perhaps your church would consider the video for a Sunday School class, too!

A story on Climbing For Christ ran in today's Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle. The link: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060206/NEWS01/602060316/1002/NEWS

While walking through the valleys, if you aren't focused on your feet and meditating on the pain and take a moment to raise your head in the general direction of the goal, sometimes you can catch a glimpse of the summit through the trees. We have have had a few of these small glimpses this past week. I was able to get some work last week and were able to buy gas and groceries at least. A couple of people still owe me money (pray that they will pay in a timely manner). I was also able to complete my income tax return and will be getting a good size Fed return which will take a good size chunk out of the bills.

In Ministry news:

Haiti: We have booked our flights! Leaving Mon April 17 and returning April 30th. Pray for the Elections taking place tomorrow Feb 7th. Also pray for the finances to be successfully transfered and withdrawn from the bank in the DR. Pray for open doors of ministry and for boldness to take advantages of opportunities. Pray for wisdom as we have discipleship opportunities among our own team. Two team members are young men HS and college age.

Lesotho: We are still trying to set up a meeting with AIM missionary Steve Hill. Prayerfully end of Feb. Pray that we will be able to do that and that we will have wisdom to determine our involvement/partnership with them.

Local church (Mountainside): I (Todd) have been asked to participate in a mens wilderness trip to Canada Eh? in the fall. I am excited about the possibilities of that.