2025-01-31 | January Report
Ministry
Youth Group
Started working in youth group for the first time after a reading a book called "Husband & Fathers" by Derek Prince (https://www.amazon.com/Husbands-Fathers-Rediscover-Creators-Purpose/dp/0800792742) and feeling conviction for the many teens who may not have that Christ-centered foundation in their home. So not sure what to expect or what that really looks like, but just thanking God for the opportunity to serve and hopefully plant some seeds in these young men's lives. We shall see what comes of it.
Brazil
In other news, we are preparing to team up with the body of Christ down in Brazil. We have some members of the church that moved down to Brazil full-time to live and serve in a ministry capacity. Our family intends to try and help out wherever we can and just love on people. Not sure exactly what that looks like either, but I have the family learning some basic Portuguese for getting by. I am hoping to be able to hold a conversation in Portuguese by March. So I will be studying in my spare time for the next 2 months to see how fluent I can become. I would at least like to be able to present the Gospel without an interpreter.
India (Uppahar)
Got two letters recently from some people that are serving the Lord over in India. I cannot go into too much detail for safety reasons and the hostility over there, but despite many things they are both doing well. One is a gentleman around my age (give or take) who preaches to High Caste system as he comes from the same. Another is a teenager who has been displaced by violence against Christians in India, but he is doing well in school and overall. Praying for continued boldness and great harvest for the Kingdom of God. I have not written back to them as of writing this, which is another reason I am starting this blog. When friendships become international the post office is always nice, but a blog is a bit more consistent.
Gardening (Snow in Florida)
Well after looking at the cost of groceries last year, I decided to become a farmer... sort of. I was, however, pulling weeds out in the garden beds about 2 hours after I did the math of food cost. Wouldn't you know it that many of the things that can normally handle Florida cold died. Who knew it would snow in Florida? My beans I planted sure didn't.
Technology Journey
In nerd news, for reasons I will not go into... I have had to quickly educate myself in Cyber Security defense and forensics with a bunch of White Hat Hacking stuff. Not the career path I was looking into, but it is useful.
My script kiddies (Library of Automation Scripts) have grown quite a bit as I have had to make more and more tools for both work and personal. Check it out if you wish. https://github.com/afrank84/DevOps-AutomationToolingV2