Guatemalan Missionary's Appeal for Help

Bill Ellis - Guatemala City, Guatemala

Editor's Notes: This appeal is from an email sent out by Bill Ellis to subscribers to his monthly Central America Missions newsletter. Bill also writes a weekly blog called Guatemala Notebook. You can read a previous story on Central America Missions from Bill by clicking Here.

Hi friends and family…

The motive of this email is to ask for your help. I am an American missionary sent out from the church in Orlando, Florida in September of 1994. I am now approaching twelve years on the mission field and am coming to my friends, my family and members of our congregations to ask for help.

As many of you know our congregations across the globe have gone through some substantial changes over the past few years. One of the areas that was most impacted was support for foreign missions. Due to lost confidence in the yearly "Special Missions Contribution," many of our mission societies were forced to close; others reorganized and called their missionaries home.

There are still a few of us Americans abroad, mostly working with HOPE worldwide projects. Still believing in the mission and the positive impact that we can cause, we decided to stay in Guatemala after being laid-off by the Central and South America mission society. We Invested our capital in a small Christian book distributor which was destroyed on Dec 31st, 2005 when our home was flooded by raw sewage.

In the hope of continuing our mission work in Central America, I am asking you to make a donation. After cutting back our living expenses and receiving a monthly contribution of $100, our present monthly need is $900 and we are still paying off $5000 on a credit card that we used to clean our house when it was flooded.

If you are interested in helping us or know of someone who would be, you can donate through www.paypal.com using the email williamrobertellis@centralamerica4him.org. You can also deposit directly into my Bank of America account #205844824, or you can send a check to me care of Iglesia de Cristo Internacional to my P.O. Box in Miami: P.O. Box USA:ELLIS, WILLIAM ROBERT/B5452110914 N.W. 33rd Street Suite 115Miami, Fl. 3317

If you send a check in care of the church in Guatemala we will send you a reciept that together with your canceled check can be used for a tax write off.

Please help us get the word out. If you know of others who would like to recieve my monthly update, please forward the link to them and ask them to sign up.

Thanks in advance for your prayers for the church in Guatemala and our family in this time of transition. Your family in Christ,Bill, Wendy, Steven, Mathew and Angelina

Editor's Note: You can read more about Bill Ellis by clicking Here.

- Posting from Pui

My picture contributions

Just a few to get us started.

Peace, MarkO

Seattle Trip - Got to visit with Lydia... YEAH!

We took a 10 day family vacation in the Northwest... Seattle, San Juan, Vancouver B.C. and Victoria B.C. It was a fabulous trip. And one of the best thing is that we got to spend time with our lovely friend, Miss Lydia. We definitely didn't have enough time together. Hopefully, we will see each other in September in Atlanta.

Lydia, it was pure joy to be with you again in person and spend some great time together. Thanks for driving us around as well, we really appreciated it and especially the time we got to catch-up with life.

With much love, Richard & Jennifer

Wonderful friends in Birmingham

Within this past year, we have had many guest come up from Florida to visit us. And they have been some of the most amazing times. The Suns, The Halls, Chris Willingham & David Poole have all come up to Birmingham within the last year. Here are pictures from our spring break visitors, The Halls.

{March 31, 2006}	{McWane Center}
{Team Work}	{Tower Falling}
{April 1, 2006}	{DeSoto Caverns}
{Potty Race}	{Had to be locked up}

I'll post the other photos when I get the chance to update this posting.

Important Update: Need Input on Campus Reunion Weekend

Important Update: Please read below for "Need Input on Campus Reunion Weekend", or click here.

Campus Reunion Blog is bring us all back together again...

Yes, yesterday Digna & I got the privilege to spend sometime together again after 13 years… or was it only 13 days??? It sure did not seem like it has been that long…

After reading the Campus Reunion Blog and contacting Digna, we found out that we live about 15 minutes from each other. How incredible is God!

We had a great time meeting at a wonderful new park in the area with all of Digna’s kids… Ha, Ha, Ha! Two of them are mine and guess which ones are really hers?

I have to get back to work but I wanted to share with all of you our first of many “Blog inspired” reunions.

Love to all, Zeni

PS: Guess what car I drove to our get together? Just for all times sake, I drove Peggy Wangs’s old ’91 Corolla that I purchased from her (back in '94?) when she moved to Taiwan! We are considering trading it for a gray Highlander… which happens to be what Digna just purchased back in May. Hey, maybe she will consider trading cars for an album full of old campus pictures… Ha, Ha, Ha!

The Dollmaker

What does this remind you of?

Jim Peternell

I've found many of the old campus folks thru the internet. And one of them is Jim Peternell. He says to give his email address to anyone who is interested in contacting him. So, you can either email me to get his email address or you can make a comment to this post for him to read. He travels a lot for his job, so he may not return your email immediately, it all depends on his travels.

Bill Ellis' Blog

Read about Bill's passion for the mission field and his family, click here.

The Simon's Blog

See the beautiful Simon Family, click here

Ramen Noodle

Being a campus student, our main staple was ramen noodle. How did you cook your ramen noodle?

Denny's

Who actually got any studying done at Denny's?

Corn Nuts

Do you remember the corn nuts?

Hefty Bag

What does this remind you of?
(Click on image for clue.)

An IDEA to think about

I've been thinking about this for a while... It would be wonderful to plan a Campus Reunion weekend. We had a campus reunion BBQ a couple of years back in Orlando. But this one would be a weekend event, where we would rent a large house on the beach, and we would catch up all weekend long. Of course, we would have to plan it in a few years advance, so that everyone could make sure they have the time off and it would work with the kids school schedule. Like a July 4th weekend or Labor Day weekend. This is just an idea that I've had for a long time, so I figure I would throw it out there for thoughts and suggestions.

-Jennifer

{Updated on Friday, August 4}

NEED INPUT ON CAMPUS REUNION WEEKEND.

Event: Campus Reunion Weekend

Location: Lake Oconee, Georgia, USA

Accommodations: House - 10 Bedrooms + Convertible bed(s) - 9.5 Baths - (Sleeps 24-33)

Rental Cost/Days: Total of ~$350 per family/per room for 3 full days (Check-in on Friday @ noon & Check-out on Monday @ noon)

Amenities:

• Full Kitchen with Butler Pantry, Microwave, Dishwasher, Refrigerator, Ice Maker, Cooking utensils provided & Linens provided


• Dining room table that seats 14 people


• Huge game room with wet bar, pinball, golden T, poker table and large screen T.V.


• Fireplace, Air Conditioning, VCR, Stereo, CD Player & Cable TV in each room


• Washer & Dryer


• Private Hot Tub & Private Heated Pool with bar


• Charcoal Grill (BBQ), Volley ball court, Cabana, Gazzibo & Large backyard


• Deck boat and jet skis available under special arrangement


• No Smoking

{Lake Oconee Rental House}
{Kitchen with Butler Pantry}	{14 seater Dining Room Table}
{Master Bedroom)	{Part of Recreational Room}
{Backyard: Cabana}	{Backyard: Volleyball & Lake}

For more information on the house rental, click here.

Questions:
(Please answer questions by making a comment. You don't need to login to make comment, just click on the comment link located below this posting. Thanks!)

Location: Do you like the location?

Date: What weekend date would be the best? (ie... July 4th, Labor Day, Memorial Day weekend?) AND what year?

Interested Families: Which families would be interested? (We will need 10 families to agree before reserving the rental.)

I had some fun roommates

{1st household: Moving-In Day}	(Thanks to Pui & Marshall for the help)
{The International Household}	{June 30, 1989}
{Transformation Household}	{Transformatin Household}
{Rollins Crew}	{Rollins Crew}

Greetings from the Pirri Family

Memories with those we have loved are moments to always cherish...

Jerry & I were just blessed with celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary this June 8th!! How time goes by... For the last 3 years, Miami has been our home. We have two wonderful children...

Giovanni Antonio (6)


and Mariana Mercedes (3)...


Rincon, Puerto Rico
Marians' first visit to my native land!

Love Always,
Jerry & Zenaida
(305) 200-1082

The Tang Family

Pui & I will be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary this December!! God has truly blessed us.

Also, the FDC in Daytona was incredible!! It was so encouraging & uplifting. We had a great time Sunday after church. We got to have lunch with Carlos & Nikki Crespo and their daughter, Kira!!! It was a fun time talking about "old times" and catching up.

- Debbie Tang

{Pui, Debbie, Micah-11 and MaLesa-7}	{Taken: November 2005}
{MaLasa's 1st Jag Game}	{Micah's 1st Jag Game}
{Future Jaguar cheerleader}

What was your campus Nickname?

We all had nicknames in the campus ministry. And I think Pui created most of them. What was your nickname?

We knew how to have FUN!

Question: What is the first word that pops into your head, when you think of the old campus ministry?

Richard and I think of "FUN". That is one thing we all shared ... fun and memorable times. Think about it ... how much studying did we really do? How many of us really graduated within 4 years? he-he.

Remember all the theme parties that we had?

{Miami Vice}	{Charlie Chan, Janet Jackson & Jeannie}
{The Preacher Lady}	{Heart}
{The Blue's Brothers}	{Pumping up with Hans & Franz}
{The Joker}	{Max Headroom}