Breakfast on the Go

Hey Everyone!

We had our third breakfast on the go and it is getting better and better!

We planned for food enough for 50, which has been working the last couple of times. Today we ran out of food! How exciting! People are catching on and are liking it. We are discovering the benefits of planning consistent and repetitive events. People appreciate it a lot more, it seems. And truly, it makes events much easier on us! Each time gets more familiar and becomes less work. We like that. We are looking forward to more repetition and consistancy ourselves.

- Steve & Rebekah

Yard Sale

Hey Everyone!
Steve and I worked harder than we ever have on promoting an event.
We put a flyer out two weeks before hand and then a second one a week before hand. Then we put flyers on everyone's car, reminding them the day before, to bring their stuff out to sell.
We advertised in the paper and on Craig's list and put signs up on intersections. Then we put signs up the night before directing drivers to our property. Then we waited to see what would happen.
Three families participated in the yard sale. They had fun and greatly appreciated the opportunity to sell their things on their apartment property. Sadly, though, that was the extent of the morning. We wandered the property most of the morning, visiting the sellers and handing out breakfast and snacks. It was fun to have extended visits with people we have met but not spent much time with. We even got pictures again!
While there were not many people, we learned how to work our hardest and best and then not feel bad when it doesn't turn out well. At least we know we did our part to the best that we knew how.

- Steve & Rebekah

Safety Awareness

We had a gentleman from the Tempe Police Department come in with two police officers and share about safety tips.
We served pizza and hosted in the office, which we have done very few times. We were pleased that the location worked well. Because of a rather large mix-up, we were unable to get flyers out, announcing the event, until the day before. Suprisingly, though, a good number of people showed up - nearly twenty.
It was a fun and easy event and we are still seeing new people come in. We tried something new this time. Every time someone walked by the office, I, Rebekah, called them in and enticed them with pizza. I found out that tactic actually works! It was so much fun to put in that extra effort and see positive results.
Always learning...

- Steve and Rebekah

Changes

Hey Everyone,
We have recently had a switch of managers. Our new manager has a very different way of working than our previous manager. She also has a very different way of working than we do. It is taking a lot of adjusting, but we are convinced but we are convinced it is growing us and challenging us.
We have come to the realization that we have been focusing most of our efforts on ministry and very little on the business side of what we are doing. Our new manager, without realizing it, has helped us to see that. We have nearly doubled our efforts in learning how to better promote events, learning how to communicate with the manager on a clear and consistent basis, how to word flyers that we put out and how we even put on events, such as how to attract people over to what we are doing.
It has nearly turned our world upside-down and we are exhausted, but this is a good thing.
We are excited about the organization that is coming to our work and the more focused events that we are planning.
Please be praying for us as we continue to learn and as we get to know our new manager. Pray that we know how best to love her.

- Steve & Rebekah

November Calendar

Let me know if this form of posting is workable. I'm not certain you can zoom in this way or not.

Pumpkin Carving

Hey Everyone!

I have posted pictures from out lastest event, last night. I am working on finding a more professional way to post these and also a way that I can label them for you.

God has begun some major reconstructing on what we are doing physically as a CARES team and with our lifestyle as a married couple.

We had a marshmallow roasting on October 2nd. It was a lot of fun, but not many people came. This was beginning to be the routine.

October 6th, we had a fitness awareness day, which was the kick-off to a 6-wk weight-loss challenge. Two people showed up. That evening and the following day was very frustrating and left us very confused and discouraged. What are we doing wrong? Why does it seem that no one cares about what we are doing? Why won't people come to our events?

We began to re-evaluate our strategy. We began to realize that we have been focusing on certain people at a time. Right now - as we are trying to get our names out in the community - we need to be including everyone in all of our events. So we began to plan for that in the following month.

On October 12th, we put on our second breakfast-on-the-go and it was, once again, a hit! I actually had help from some dear friends at church, so we were able to cover both sides of the street. It was so easy and much more fun to do an event for the second time! We are big fans of that concept!

On the same day, we had our first weigh-in for the 6-week challenge. Four people showed up! It was a small number still, but it was a lot of fun as a woman came to give some nutrition facts and show a couple of new exercises.

October 16th, we were informed we had a new manager. We knew this would change possibly change a lot of things; some things for the better and possibly some things for the worse. We could only wait to find out.

On October 19th, we had another disappointment. One person showed up. Not even our instructor showed up! This was becoming embarrassing.

On October 22nd - a Thursday - I, Rebekah, was called into the office. The regional manager and the new manager were awaiting me. In short, the regional manager was not happy with the direction we were headed in. We weren't known well enough in the community yet and she was more than upset. The new manager was right behind her and telling me how I needed to better what we had been doing. It was a good thirty minutes of slapping me on the back of my hand and telling me that things were going to change. A lot of direction was given, though, and Steve and I both feel that is just what we needed. It was a painful and tactless session of direction, but it was received humbly and gratefully.

The next couple of days involved involved both of us finally sitting down with the new manager together and getting on the same page together, and the two of us intensely discussing how we can change direction and meet the high expectations of these two women. Prayer also entered our lives a little more than usual. We were overwhelmed. I began to find resources and use them. I emailed every CARES team in the valley - 22 of them. I asked them for direction on how to better approach the business side of CARES and not so much the ministry side of it.

We are beginning to get loving and encouraging responses back from other teams. It feels so good to have that family and support team offering what they can.

Following all of this was our big event of the month: our pumpkin carving.

We brought out music this time and balloons to draw people in a little better. Some kids showed up early and we sent them out to find more people. They also helped us set up, which was such a blessing and a lot more fun : )

We bought thirty pumpkins, fully expecting to have to return some. The end result: we ran out of pumpkins! Praise God around forty people showed up! We had all the tables we could find and they were too crowded. People ended up on the ground. Whole families came, which has never happened. Children are almost always the only ones to show up to events. We had almost ten parents! Many preteens and teenagers came as well. We even took pictures and people loved that. Afterwards, people stayed to help clean up! The kids who helped set up stayed to help clean up until there was nothing left to do. It was so much fun!

Some one told us we are great parents. When we told her we weren't parents yet, she was shocked and assured us we would be great parents : ) Other mothers thanked us for saving them the mess in their kitchens. Everyone thanked us for putting the event together and told us how much fun it was. God gave us success this time and we know it was Him.

We have so much to learn from this successful event and we can't wait to put on our next event.

Thank you for prayers. They were a help as well.

In Him,

Steve & Rebekah

October Calendar Attempt #2

Catching Up

Hey Everyone,
Since I last wrote to you, we have hosted a Men's Grill and Chill, a Ladies' Night, and Breakfast on the Go. The Men's Grill and Chill mainly consisted of children : / While the hope was that I got a little break, I ended up staying for the whole event to be crowd control. The kids were great, though, and we utilized them with set-up and even clean-up and they had so much fun. They even volunteered for next time. The few men that came that night, provided some excellent meat that made the whole night worth it. Also there was a group of young men that came late and sat right down to talk with Steve. They had attended our very first event as well and did the same thing. They stayed quite a bit later than our projected ending time. Things like that are always exciting to see.
The Ladies' Night had a small attendance, but it was a lot of fun. We closed the rental office and made it all cute, made chocolate fondue and coffee, and had a lady come in to do facials and a lady to sell candles. It was all new faces, which is a little disappointing, but at the same time exciting to know that more and more people are hearing about us.
The breakfast on the go was yesterday morning. Steve had to go to work and I didn't end up getting any help so we were not able to man both sides of the street. I picked the side that had the office and set up my donuts and Starbucks coffee. It was a hit. I was super popular with the school kids! I was encouraged to notice that I recognized an awful lot of people and even remembered a number of names. I also met a lot of new people and peaked some interests.

Steve and I settling in more and more. We are discovering a list of supplies that we need to have at all times. Recently the regional director for the company that owns our apartment, has offered to pay for some of the things on our list! Praise God! The problem is that we have no space for those things. Our complex has no clubhouse and absolutely not storage space. We are having space issues that just are not being remedied, so the latest talk is that we may be moving into a two-bedroom to save us and the staff the frustrations we have been experiencing.

There is a small handful of people that Steve and I have connected with a number of times. I have three different women into our home on a couple of different occassions. One woman was here yesterday using our computer and she stayed for two hours! We did not go deep, but we were real with each other and I am developing a respect for her. My hope is that she is doing the same toward me. Please pray for Tonya and her heart and my words when we spend time together.
Whenever Steve and I are out together, it seems he always runs into some other man that he met at one of our events. They end up talking and I end up leaving them alone to talk for an hour! It is interesting to see that sometimes the men are more willing to talk openly than the women. For a month or so, Steve has been developing a friendship with a neighbor named Phillip. They have had some good and long conversations, but yesterday as we were handing out October calendars, we noticed that he and his family had moved. That was our first neighbor to move away and far from our last, but still it was sad.
I know that I failed to post last month's calendar. I was having difficulties retrieving it from a pdf folder. I will try again to retrieve the October calendar so that you all know what's going on!
Thank you for your prayers and please begin praying for these neighbors as we tell you about them. And let this be an encouragement to you to begin praying for your own neighbors.

In Him,
Steve and Rebekah

Ice Cream Handout

Hey Everyone,
I have two orders of business today.
1. We had the funnest event so far yesterday! Steve and I obtained the possession of the apartment golf cart that maintanance uses, we packed the back with a cooler full of ice cream and cones, and headed off around the property! We caught so many people. We even got people out of the pool to come get an ice cream cone! All ages and all people groups enjoy a good ice cream cone. We got kids, older men, older women, college kids, highschool kids, Hispanics, blacks, and whites. We had numerous opportunities to tell people that yes we live here, too, and why do we do this? Because we want to. That threw a lot of people off. I got to use my Spanish a bit with two ladies. One was visiting her sister, and between my attempts to reach them in their language, and the guesture of free ice cream, she was very impressed. She told me I am welcome in her home in Mexico anytime! I only knew her for 5 minutes.
I think we really got the word out about ourselves yesterday, which was very encouraging. The ice cream went over so well, we decided to do it again soon with the left over ice cream : )

2. On a more personal side, Steve and I have made some important decisions lately that effect us greatly, so I wanted to share them with you.
We have been searching for months now for health insurance coverage for me with my epilepsy. We've looked everywhere and tried everything, but nothing came up. We did discover ACCESS, which we had heard positive things about, but didn't have much faith in, so we didn't want to go that direction.
Also, I had been struggling to get hours at my job a few months ago and then found a perfect new job, so I quit the old one. After two weeks at my new job, I and a few others were let go until they could afford us again. Now I am without a job and Steve and I decided that jumping right into a new job might not actually be the right decision. So we thought and prayed about it for about two weeks. The other night, we came back to discuss where we felt we were being led. Seperately, we both feel that I am not supposed to get another job. We feel strongly that my place is now at home, where I can focus attention on CARES and on our neighbors and on women in our church, and possibly on volunteering in linguistic areas, which is what I have been waiting to have the opportunity to do.
Not having a job also means we have eliminated an opportunity to get one that provides insurance for me. So we are still without insurance. That is the other decision we made. While we understand the world will find us irresponsible, we have recognized that God has allowed this disorder in my life and He will take care of me. We have decided to get ACCESS, but after that, we put our full trust in God and His provision.
He has been so faithful and His presence has been so sweet in our lives over the last few months. He is teaching us so much and drawing us closer to Him and to each other. The day after we made these decisions, we both felt so much peace about it. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and that I had nothing left to do or figure out - just to fall into His hands and trust Him.
Praise God for His love and faithfulness!

- Steve and Rebekah

Our biggest event yet...!

Hey guys,
Well, Steve and I - with God's help - have pulled off our biggest event yet this weekend.
We did nothing this week but work, eat, sleep, and CARES stuff. By the day of the event, we felt like we had already done the event!
The Back to School Bash for kids was so much fun. We made up a school themed obstacle course and handed out 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes. Then we did a slip n slide. I was afraid the obstacle course would be to juvenile for some if not most of them. But it was a challenge to just about all of them. It was just right. Some of them got good mini-lessons in looking up words in a dictionary, putting shapes in order for geometry, and eating fruit! Most of them were intimidated or grossed out, but they all accepted the challenge and succeeded : )
A lot of new kids showed up, which was exciting. Only a few parents, which, sadly, we expected. We did meet a few parents, though, and Steve had more of a chance to connect with them than I did. I was too surrounded by twelve roudy children.
All of the kids and their parents heard about the college event we were having at the pool an hour later and so they all waited for us. We had a total of three college-aged people show up. It would have felt more like a failure if so many others had not shown up who were not technically invited : ) I couldn't be frustrated with our uninvited guests; they were so fun and enjoyable. I decided quickly that it didn't matter who was there as long we talked with whoever was there. So I found one of the moms and we talked for a long time.
We ended a little early because only a family of three was left and we had spent an extended amount of time talking with them. We finally called it a night, cleaned up at the pool and in our apartment, and then collapsed in front of a movie.
We are encouraged because we have completed a full month now of CARES. We have planned the events and used up the budget and handed in the receipts. We are also encouraged because we have completed all the fliers for September's events, which sometimes take a considerable amount of time, causing us to get the fliers out later than they should be put out.
We have already learned some good lessons in organization and in how to read how each event goes.
Thanks everyone for your prayers and interest. We'll be back with September's update. Soon, I will begin taking pictures so you can see what is happening here. I am waiting for the comfort level of a camera to arise. I think it will be soon.

- Rebekah

Lemonade Stand

Hey Guys,
I'm a little late, but here I am. We had a lemonade stand last Thursday night. We had four or five friends come and help, making the night very easy for me and Steve. We made strawberry lemonade as well as regular and it was a hit! Someone asked for the recipe, which was a huge compliment to me, as I have never concocted anything worth sharing in my whole life! Now that I'm a housewife, I'm working on it, though. I guess it's already paying off.
There were not more fifteen people at the pool, but a couple were at our previous event so it was fun to connect with them again. They were two ladies and one of the ladies' kids. I sat and talked with them for a while. One of them asked what religion I am and what church I go to. She said she was Christian and that she'd tried some churches and, for different reasons, never continued at any of them. I invited her to our church and she enthusiastically said she would come. We are hoping she follows through this weekend, because she didn't last weekend. Be praying for Marilynn. We discussed cooking and baking, and Marilynn bragged about her cheesecake and then last weekend she left me the recipe for it.
There are numerous little signs of relationships forming already. And people are asking what our next event is going to be. It is a lot of fun. The lemonade stand was especially fun because we could just talk to people. We discovered how helpful our volunteers are!
We are praying for volunteers tomorrow. We are having a back to school bash tomorrow and it is our biggest event so far and the last one of our first month! We are excited and pray a lot more people come to this one than the last two.
Pray with us.
More to come...
In Him,
Rebekah and Steve

Mission Accomplished!

Hey Everyone,
Well last night was our first event with as a Cares team. It turned out great! Satan tried to set us back a little, but little setbacks are real puny against God, so it worked out alright. Our new printer wasn't working so we couldn't print out a game we had made up. The office couldn't even print it out without a lot of hassle because the manager was out sick. The maintainance guys had treated the pool that we had announced our event would be at, but no one told us until about 10 minutes before started setting up. So we set up on the other side of the street at the other pool. A couple of little things like that kept us on our toes, but my grandparents and a couple of our wonderful friends from church came to help set up and pray around the place and just be there for some support. It was so wonderful to have them there.
The first hour, maybe 10 people showed up and most of that was one family. About 6:00, though, a whole lot of people started showing up. We had hoped for around 50 and the final count was around 30 - not bad. People came and went, though, and they were never all there at the same time. A number of people commented, "They should do stuff like this all the time!" and then they proceeded to share suggestions for other ideas. It was great! One guy, Steve spent time talking with, said, "This is way better than hanging out at the mall."
I got to spend a lot of time coordinating some game time in the pool with the kids. They had a lot of fun. One or both of us managed to talk to everyone who came into the pool area. There was a lot of talking going on. It was actually pretty easy and a lot of fun. Everyone was so receptive to the idea and even excited. It was very encouraging. We are even more excited for our next event. Everyone knows about it and hopefully will bring more people!
Thank you all for your prayers as we kicked off. It feels so good to have one event finally under our belt. We feel properly and successfully initiated now *smile*.
Keep praying. Our lemonade stand is next Thursday. Anyone have fun ideas for a lemonade stand?
God is good, all the time!

Hey Guys,
We have had an exciting and interesting couple of days. On Thursday, we had our first area-wide Cares meeting with all the teams in the valley. It was so encouraging to be around other Cares teams finally and to see all the different personalities and hear about all the different methods of putting together events. It was also encouraging because we have not met many young married couples like ourselves and Cares teams are mostly made up of young married couples, so we were surrounded by them the other night. It was refreshing.
The second exciting and interesting thing was last night(Friday). A dinner date was mis-communicated to us and we went out last night instead of tonight. We discovered our mistake and frustratingly headed home, by way of the grocery store. We were in the grocery store when we ran into one of the Cares teams that had been at the meeting the night before. We talked for a long time and connected well with them. It was a second round of refreshment and encouragement in the midst of starting up this ministry. We discovered this couple, Santi and Kayla, live very close to us and the opened their lives up to us, offering help in any way that we will need it in the next few months and just offering friendship. I cannot express how happy we were to run into them and how bewildering it is the way God orchestrates things.
The third exciting and interesting thing that happened was this morning. We have a mentor couple to get us underway. We had them over for breakfast this morning and they stayed for four hours! We had so many questions and they had a lot to offer and I think it is safe to say that we clicked pretty well. The time flew and we learned a lot and got to know each other a little.
God is blessing us with loving brothers and sisters to surround us and help us and affirm us and confirm that we are right where God wants us. There is so much joy when a believer is aware of the presence of other believers working for the same purpose. It brings such joy, peace, motivation, energy and unity. One wonderful thing about being a Christian is the feeling of family that can be found. There is nothing like it.

- Steve and Rebekah

Our schedule this month

Hey,
I am attempting to post our calendar for you guys to keep up with. So here we go.
Let me know if something goes wrong with viewing it, but I think you should just be able to click on it and enlarge it.
The only thing wrong with this calendar is that we will be moving the Back to School Bash back to Saturday from Sunday.

- Rebekah

Event One...Check!

Hey Everyone,
So last night was our first semi-official event. We helped the staff host a resident lease renewal evening. We gave pizza to anyone who came in to renew their lease. Steve and I were able to meet some people, introduce ourselves, and encourage people to come out to our first real event this coming Tuesday. A couple said that for sure they would be coming!
It sure is interesting interacting with so many people different people. A couple of guys just stuck around to talk to us. They didn't seem in any hurry to be back home. People do like to talk - a lot - if you give them an opportunity!
Steve and I were quite exhausted by the end of the event. Meeting so many new people is a bit tiring. We pray for growing energy as we move along into this ministry.
I'm off now to continue preparing for this coming Tuesday. Pray for us. We will let update you on that one as it comes.

Hey Everyone!
Well it is August 3rd and Steve and I have been officially in the ministry for 3 days. Our friends from church have been so kind and considerate and loving in remembering when we started up and in asking how the first few days have gone.
Saturday we passed around invitations to all the residents who have leases ending soon. We invited them to the resident renewal party we are having at the office tomorrow evening. This is normally a staff member's job, but we asked if we could help out with the party and the apartment manager gave us invitations to hand out. As a result, we got to meet new people and personally introduce ourselves and the concept of a Cares team to some of the residents.
I had no idea what to expect, but everyone seemed surprisingly excited about us and our upcoming calendar events. It was a great way to start, by getting see a few faces first and getting a few reactions to us. It was an encouraging start. We keep telling each other how excited we are about our first few events. The event tomorrow is not really our event; it was already planned by the staff and we are helping out. Our first real event is on the 11th - next Tuesday.
A praise to be mentioned is that I have obtained a job that will not be requiring me to work evenings and will allow me most of the afternoons and evenings. That is greatly beneficial for our ministry and for mine and Steve's marriage as well, so praise God!
I find myself getting so caught up in the needs to be met for this ministry that I forget to recognize God and all of His provision thus far. But oh, how much He has provided - for me and Steve as we begin life together, our food, our finances, and the obvious confirmations He has offered to tell us that we are in the right place with Apartment Life. So why should I get all worked up and even forget about Him? Beats me... Oh Lord, You are so patient with me as Your child is constantly forgetting and having to turn back around and start over again.
I will be letting you all know how tomorrow evening's renewal party goes.

Our very first blog

Steve and I have been married for seven weeks. We have been living in our new apartment for about a month. In less than two weeks we will begin working with Apartment Life ministry.
We recently began training and are getting a better idea of our role here:
- we are in charge drawing up monthly calendars full of events for the entire apartment complex.
- we have a couple of different goals to reach each month as far as how many people we talk to about God, how many people we invite to church and how many people to whom we present the gospel.
- we are the welcome committee. We visit any new neighbors that have moved in within the last month and make sure their needs are met.
- we do our best to bring in help from our church so that the church is aware of this ministry and has the opportunity and the privilege to help in ways that their gifts and talents best offer.
This is the basic list of roles we play. Ultimately, we are required to learn how to live out the Christian life in a more holistic manner than most Christians are used to doing. We will be doing a lot of hosting, a lot of visiting, and a lot of learning about people. Our business is going to be about people. We are so excited, but also utterly clueless. We want to be about people, but we want to make sure we are servants and that we are making Christ evident in our lives. Pray for us as we begin this journey.
Pray for organization in our lives
Pray that we are focused on this ministry as much as we need to be
Pray for proper balance between the ministry, our marriage, and our friends and family
Pray for dedication and determination
Pray that we grow more humble and remain so
Pray that we are praying together

- Stephen and Rebekah