Hallelujah! He is risen indeed!

Jesus said, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." Luke 24:46-49.

The purpose of this monthly e-mail is to share updates on ministry, family, praise and prayer. A secondary purpose is to see how many of you change your e-mail address each month. ;-D

God taught me once more that He will provide if I'll be persistent. Expecting a polite rejection, I dutifully called a pastor whose church had supported us when we first went out, but support and contact had stopped. In fact, we were informed the church was closed. You can imagine my surprise when the pastor called me back, and then told me the church was flourishing, and that they wanted to add us on for $100/month--double the original pledge! That motivates me to make that "one more call" even when I think there's no hope.

Early this past month we were in Fresno participating in the Missions Convention at Peoples Church. We try take advantage of travel days to give our kids fun trips, so we went to the city zoo Monday and had a great time. That is, until we got to our car--a window was smashed and Yvonne's purse was stolen. They could have taken other stuff, but didn't, thank the Lord. They later used a credit card to go to a disco, but nothing else that we know of.

Yvonne got the purse back-surprise! It was definitely a God thing--thanks to a misdialed number to another lady who had lost her purse.

We still had to cancel all accounts--downside. But at least Yvonne didn't have to get a new driver's license, and she bought herself a new purse--upside! While she did get her Social Security card back, please pray with us that we won't become victim to identity theft. Thanks.

Through March we've held 87 services and had 49 appointments with pastors. Currently our monthly pledges are at $6372 of the $9937 needed. Cash budget is about $4500 of the $47,842 needed.

Celina slipped in our own living room, hit her head on the edge of a board under the desk, and came up bleeding and bellowing. Memories of her getting a bunch of stitches in a Panamanian ER flashed through all our minds. It was small enough (3/4") and she protested loud enough that we didn't go to the ER.

I always request prayer for protection in our travels; I never thought about inside our own house! Celina is doing just fine now, but will likely have a small scar above her left eye. She thinks that is kinda "cool."

Anthony has been learning centerfield and second base on his little league baseball team the A's. The name fits him--it matches his grades! We're very proud of him.

Gracie still loves going to "Happy Feet" class once a week. She would go every day if she could. One day she dressed herself in a hurry to go to her class. Yvonne told her the shoes were on the wrong feet. So she crossed her feet over and said, "There!"

I have asked a report on the day of fasting and prayer from our assistant in Panama Manuel Miranda. He only has access to e-mail once or twice a month. I'll pass on a report when I get it.

At this point in the note I have to pause for a little while in my composition. Here is where we thank many of you for your prayer and financial support. Even though we repeat ourselves often with similar words, the gratitude in our heart is new and fresh each time we say, "Thank you!"

God is so high tech He uses two pda's at once... Isa. 49:16 "Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; ..."

Kirk for all