Dear Friends,

Greetings in Jesus! If you'd like to read this e-Mailer with photos, or see past issues, click on "Ministry" at www.jonesjournal.org. This includes updates on ministry, family, praise and prayer.

Last issue went long--I’ll try be more brief this issue.

To all our amigos mexicanos, and others who celebrate cinco de mayo, ¡Felicidades hoy! Congratulations today!

Panamá elected a new president on Sunday, without major incident or problems. Congratulations to Martin Torrijos, son of the General Omar Torrijos, the beloved dictator who negotiated the Canal treaty with U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Don’t worry, this doesn’t represent even a hint of a return to militarism here in Panamá.

The KidsQuest Training & Crusade really impacted our leaders and workers here. We are organizing the follow-up with each child for the nearby churches. We also have been giving out the next issue in the Seeker series of PowerMark comics to children and church leaders who’ve contacted us following the Crusade early last month.

Our first Panamá-led Crusade will be at Templo La Felicidad, in the poor district of San Miguelito, coordinated by Victoria de Chavarría, one of our faithful leaders, shown here in her clown makeup during the KidsQuest training last month. There will be six nights of training the local church team. The Crusade will be 28-30 June. We appreciate your prayers for our leadership team, the local church team, and the unchurched children in the community.

Both last semester and this semester of the AG Bible Institute, we have served as project advisors for graduating seniors whose ministry has to do with children. It’s very encouraging to see the creativity and enthusiasm of future children’s ministers, and to have a small part in preparing them for that task.

In our 4/04 Newsletter and 3/04 e-Mailer we introduced you to Oscar Sanchez and Tony García. I met with both of them today, and Oscar shared that his wife, Deborah, is suffering from ongoing bleeding that the doctors can’t seem to stop. Please pray for a divine touch, just like the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment!

Last e-Mailer we left you hanging with Chloe still in El Salvador at the MK Retreat. Thanks for praying--God really did move in her life! Here you see her kicking back with MK friends, new and old. One of the first things she told me when I picked her up was that she’s so glad she’s an MK!

She got home safely, though about 10 hours late--second leg of the flight was cancelled. Gratefully, Jason & Cindee Frenn took her home for the day in San José Costa Rica and brought her back to the airport. Thanks, guys.

Anthony and Celina are playing basketball two nights a week at school. They’re getting great exercise, learning some new basketball moves, despite the swarms of tropical bugs attracted to the lights!

Celina continues her arts and now crafts. She’s added woodworking, with a little help from Dad, trying to build a "cat" house for Kiwi and Rascal.

Gracie is learning to read, opening up a whole new world to her. It’s fun to see the horizons expand in her little mind.

This month Yvonne and I celebrate twenty wonderful years of marriage! We were blessed to be able to get away for a couple days, just the two of us. It was refreshing and rejuvenating.

When King Nebuchadnezzar demanded, on penalty of death, that his counselors reveal his dream and its interpretation, and before Daniel intervened, they complained to him,

What you're asking is impossible unless some god or goddess should reveal it--and they don't hang around with people like us.

(Daniel 2:11, The Message)

Aren’t you glad they had it wrong--that God actually *does* hang around with people like us!?! As my kids would say, "That’s so cool!"

Thanks for "hanging" with us as prayer and financial partners. We appreciate it very much. God bless.

Yours for Them,

Kirk for all