"New Outreach and 35th Anniversary" Feb Missions Report

Dear Pastors, Churches, Family and Friends,

               My apologies for missing the January report letter, with Holiday traveling and starting the New Year I let it slip by me. I will pay more attention to our calendar for the rest of 2012.

35th Anniversary at Grand Canyon

               We traveled back to Texas in December and part of January, it was good to get out of the cold of Flagstaff and back to the warmth of Houston and our family, friends and home church. While in the area I preached for the wonderful folks at Temple Baptist Church and their great pastor Rudy Rios. I have preached so often for Bro. Rudy that I feel like an Associate  when I am in town. The people of Temple have been a blessing both with their prayers and support. It is good to see the church doing well and flourishing where God has planted it. The following week we touched base with our home church Santa Fe Baptist. I do not know how board missionaries are able to function without the moral and spiritual foundation of a sending church. When we have opportunity to attend services at Santa Fe it is like being welcomed home as a hero back from the war. Pastor Larry Jones and our church pour blessing on top of blessing when they see us. It is a joy to worship with them and such a sorrow when we have to say goodbye.

               We continue to seek employment in Flagstaff to offset our living expenses and allow us to devote our support fully to the work or outreach. I recently attended a meeting in which the job situation in Flagstaff was one of the topics. At the meeting it was reported that 120 people responded to a job with the city and over 300 responded to a job opening at a local fast food restaurant. Needless to say the area is hurting for jobs. I have been interviewed a couple of times and was asked if I was willing to work on Sunday. When I voiced my willingness to work on Saturday or even at night instead of Sunday I was politely thanked and then told Sunday work was not an option. LeeOra has begun some work caring for people’s vacation homes and cabins in the area and we are very grateful for the income but it is usually only once or twice a month.

               I have begun the process for applying to the local school district as a substitute teacher or bus driver. The first step is a finger print card and police clearance. The clearance takes 4-6 weeks to go through and I am still waiting after 5 weeks with no word of any progress. Once I am cleared there are a few more hurdles but I am hoping that once all is done I can work at the public and charter schools in the area. This will help with our finances as well as give us an avenue of outreach for the gospel.

               The weather is bitterly cold and we have experienced our first sub-zero temperatures. The snow and low temperatures have hindered out outreach but we are working where we can. At present we are researching meeting rooms at hotels and schools though the prices are out of reach at present. We are also gathering tracts, door hangers, Scripture booklets and other evangelistic materials for use once the weather allows us to begin some proper outreach.

               We are using Ustream, a free video streaming site, to broadcast our Sunday morning messages and our Thursday night Bible Studies. We are averaging 5 viewers during the broadcasts, with a total of 64 views including those who check out the recorded messages for the first 2 weeks of our broadcasts. We are praying that some of those viewers are folks in Flagstaff and that we will soon hear from them or see them in our services or Bible Studies. The Sunday messages are recorded and you can find them at this link http://ustre.am/HBpF/1 the Bible Studies are at http://ustre.am/Hs0p/1 . We would love to have you join us live but please don't miss church, just take advantage of the recorded messages and Bible studies at any time. Please forgive the commercials every 10 to 15 minutes, but that is why the service is free.

               LeeOra and I celebrated our 35^th wedding anniversary on the 14^th of February, which is also Arizona's 100^th anniversary as a state. We took advantage of the free admission to the Grand Canyon to mark our special day. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes and we are looking forward to many more years of serving Him together as husband and wife. 

                                                                                          In His service

                                                                                          Kris and LeeOra Minefee