Today Matt Musil from KHOU Channel 11 came to our main equipment drop off location to do a story about AIM and what we are doing. The story should be airing early next week, hopefully Tuesday. It was amazing to see so much equipment. The kids in the Dominican are going to be so excited to get so much equipment. I am really amazed at how much of the equipment is really good quality stuff. The generosity of people has been overwhelming. Monday we will be getting together for a picnic to separate all the equipment and get it organized. As the trip gets closer and closer I am getting so excited. I am really praying for the right place to start giving lessons. I never thought I would see the day that my wife would be so passionate about sports and I love it that she is really getting into baseball and sharing my passion to start teaching underprivileged kids. I thank God every day for bringing my wonderful wife into my life.
I just thank God every day that He allows me to serve Him. I am so happy and thankful for all He has done for my family and myself.
Thank you to everyone who donated equipment and money to this mission. And thank you to all those who are praying for our trip and our mission work. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. And I challenge you over this next week to do one small act of random kindness for someone else. We are huge believers in random acts of kindness. When you bless someone else, you will realize that you also receive a blessing. And --- it will put a smile on your face and a smile on someone else’s face!
Have a great day and God Bless,
--Carlos
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
I am truly grateful to see so much equipment still coming in to us. Tomorrow we will be sorting equipment and we will also be featured on KHOU News Channel 11. I will post the exact time this will air as soon as I know. Yesterday my son got a call that he had made the Mickey Mantle team for La Porte High School baseball. This is a type of select baseball team just for incoming freshman at La Porte High. I am so proud of him – 46 boys tried out for this team and they only accepted 13.
As each day passes and our trip comes closer, I look around and realize that we are so blessed. When we get back from this mission trip I plan on giving baseball lessons to underprivileged kids at no cost to them. I will give lessons to kids who can afford to pay, but all the funds will be used to maintain the batting cage and pitchers mounds. We are praying for the right location for this. I finally feel like this is a way for me to teach God’s Word. I feel like I have found my passion – and that’s an awesome feeling. I have always loved baseball and baseball is a way for me to give God the glory He deserves.
Have a great day and God Bless,
--Carlos
As each day passes and our trip comes closer, I look around and realize that we are so blessed. When we get back from this mission trip I plan on giving baseball lessons to underprivileged kids at no cost to them. I will give lessons to kids who can afford to pay, but all the funds will be used to maintain the batting cage and pitchers mounds. We are praying for the right location for this. I finally feel like this is a way for me to teach God’s Word. I feel like I have found my passion – and that’s an awesome feeling. I have always loved baseball and baseball is a way for me to give God the glory He deserves.
Have a great day and God Bless,
--Carlos
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
May 24th - 15 days and counting!
We depart for the Dominican Republic on June 8th and will be gone for 1 week. I will try to post every day from now until the day we leave on our trip. In this post, I hope to bring you up to date since the first AIM meeting on April 25th. Hope I don’t ramble for too long!
The group we’re traveling with is Athletic International Missions (AIM) – www.aimissions.net. There are about 94 people going on this trip – adults and children. Each day, our group is experiencing miracles surrounding this trip. In our personal lives, the Lord is providing the funds needed and helping us collect equipment. Like Carlos said, we decided to make and sell custom domino necklaces and bag tags for our fundraising efforts. We also had 2 bake sales. We have not only raised funds with the domino necklaces, but they are a great conversation starter and opportunity to share what we’re doing with other people.
God has also given us peace about the trip costs. Instead of worrying or stressing –we both just have a peace about it – we know God is providing. It’s a very different feeling – but also an awesome feeling. Even though I just turned 34 and have been saved since I was a kid – I’m still very much a baby in my walk with God. I have grown more in my faith in the past 2 years then I did in 15 years before that.
Most recently, AIM Founder Fred Billings requested that we all stop at noon last Tuesday and pray. He also asked us to fast thru lunch. Specifically, we were praying about the contract from Continental for our plane arrangements. AIM has been working hard to secure a plane for us and get the pricing our group needed. Here’s what happened on that day of prayer and fasting:
-At 12:36pm, Fred received a call from Continental that they did have a plane we could charter direct from Houston to the Dominican. In addition – they had pilots lined up to donate their time. This would help us get the pricing down to where we need it.
-Another leader, Russell Emmott, received a call during the noon hour from a gentleman in the Dominican Republic involved in mission work. Long story short, he wants to help us secure a plane that can be left in the Dominican for the week we’re there --- thus cutting our fuel cost in half as the plane would only have to make 1 trip back and forth.
-A family in the group received notice that the husband’s semi-annual bonus would be enough to cover the trip costs for his family. Last year, due to the economy, the bonus was only enough for a dinner out. But this year, God provided enough to cover their whole trip cost.
There are other miracles happening as well – too many to post here in one post. I will try to share those miracles each day as we hear about them. We did another prayer/lunch fast today. I’m excited to read what Fred will share with us tomorrow that happened as a result of our prayer/fast.
God Bless and have a wonderful day!
Stacy
The group we’re traveling with is Athletic International Missions (AIM) – www.aimissions.net. There are about 94 people going on this trip – adults and children. Each day, our group is experiencing miracles surrounding this trip. In our personal lives, the Lord is providing the funds needed and helping us collect equipment. Like Carlos said, we decided to make and sell custom domino necklaces and bag tags for our fundraising efforts. We also had 2 bake sales. We have not only raised funds with the domino necklaces, but they are a great conversation starter and opportunity to share what we’re doing with other people.
God has also given us peace about the trip costs. Instead of worrying or stressing –we both just have a peace about it – we know God is providing. It’s a very different feeling – but also an awesome feeling. Even though I just turned 34 and have been saved since I was a kid – I’m still very much a baby in my walk with God. I have grown more in my faith in the past 2 years then I did in 15 years before that.
Most recently, AIM Founder Fred Billings requested that we all stop at noon last Tuesday and pray. He also asked us to fast thru lunch. Specifically, we were praying about the contract from Continental for our plane arrangements. AIM has been working hard to secure a plane for us and get the pricing our group needed. Here’s what happened on that day of prayer and fasting:
-At 12:36pm, Fred received a call from Continental that they did have a plane we could charter direct from Houston to the Dominican. In addition – they had pilots lined up to donate their time. This would help us get the pricing down to where we need it.
-Another leader, Russell Emmott, received a call during the noon hour from a gentleman in the Dominican Republic involved in mission work. Long story short, he wants to help us secure a plane that can be left in the Dominican for the week we’re there --- thus cutting our fuel cost in half as the plane would only have to make 1 trip back and forth.
-A family in the group received notice that the husband’s semi-annual bonus would be enough to cover the trip costs for his family. Last year, due to the economy, the bonus was only enough for a dinner out. But this year, God provided enough to cover their whole trip cost.
There are other miracles happening as well – too many to post here in one post. I will try to share those miracles each day as we hear about them. We did another prayer/lunch fast today. I’m excited to read what Fred will share with us tomorrow that happened as a result of our prayer/fast.
God Bless and have a wonderful day!
Stacy
Monday, May 24, 2010
Post by Carlos
May 24, 2010
Stacy told me that I could also write posts for the blog. So…sometimes you will see posts by her, and sometimes I will post (when she allows of course). :)
Our journey started when Stacy and I really felt like we were meant to be doing more for God. We both have a big heart for kids and knew we wanted to do some type of mission work with kids. We have kids that love to come to our house and sometimes we have as many as 8 kids at our house. That being said we started searching for missions that involved kids. I also wanted to maybe somehow incorporate sports into the mission. So the search began and to our surprise, it was hard to find missions that involved sports. As God always does, He leads you to the right place. On April 12th , we both got a post on Facebook from our Sunday School Administrator for a mission group based in Houston that does missions around baseball. Baseball has always been a big part of my life. This was the perfect mission for us.
We went to our first mission meeting on April 25th and we knew this was the mission for us. Also – originally we had thought we would go without the kids for our first mission. For financial reasons, and also because this would be our first ever mission trip – we felt it would be better to leave the kids at home. However, during the first meeting Stacy and I both felt strongly led to bring our boys on the trip. We walked out of the meeting, and I turned to Stacy and said, “I don’t know about you – but I want to do whatever we can to bring the kids with us.” Amazingly, this is exactly what she was thinking as well. We instantly started trying to get the funds together to go and started collecting used baseball equipment.
It was truly amazing to see all this equipment coming in from friends and family and complete strangers. We started selling domino necklaces and bag tags to earn the money for the trip cost. This has been amazing too; it has been great talking to different people and seeing their reaction to the dominos we create. No words can explain the feeling you get when you are doing God’s work. Every time I turn around there is another blessing from an unexpected source.
I was truly floored when I asked a few places to put drop boxes for baseball equipment. What amazed me was how receptive these businesses were. Hilton Furniture, Hooters Seabrook, Chick Fil A Kemah, Chillin’ Time Friendswood, and Bayside Little League. Each of these places graciously allowed us to place drop boxes for collecting equipment.
God Bless -- Carlos
Stacy told me that I could also write posts for the blog. So…sometimes you will see posts by her, and sometimes I will post (when she allows of course). :)
Our journey started when Stacy and I really felt like we were meant to be doing more for God. We both have a big heart for kids and knew we wanted to do some type of mission work with kids. We have kids that love to come to our house and sometimes we have as many as 8 kids at our house. That being said we started searching for missions that involved kids. I also wanted to maybe somehow incorporate sports into the mission. So the search began and to our surprise, it was hard to find missions that involved sports. As God always does, He leads you to the right place. On April 12th , we both got a post on Facebook from our Sunday School Administrator for a mission group based in Houston that does missions around baseball. Baseball has always been a big part of my life. This was the perfect mission for us.
We went to our first mission meeting on April 25th and we knew this was the mission for us. Also – originally we had thought we would go without the kids for our first mission. For financial reasons, and also because this would be our first ever mission trip – we felt it would be better to leave the kids at home. However, during the first meeting Stacy and I both felt strongly led to bring our boys on the trip. We walked out of the meeting, and I turned to Stacy and said, “I don’t know about you – but I want to do whatever we can to bring the kids with us.” Amazingly, this is exactly what she was thinking as well. We instantly started trying to get the funds together to go and started collecting used baseball equipment.
It was truly amazing to see all this equipment coming in from friends and family and complete strangers. We started selling domino necklaces and bag tags to earn the money for the trip cost. This has been amazing too; it has been great talking to different people and seeing their reaction to the dominos we create. No words can explain the feeling you get when you are doing God’s work. Every time I turn around there is another blessing from an unexpected source.
I was truly floored when I asked a few places to put drop boxes for baseball equipment. What amazed me was how receptive these businesses were. Hilton Furniture, Hooters Seabrook, Chick Fil A Kemah, Chillin’ Time Friendswood, and Bayside Little League. Each of these places graciously allowed us to place drop boxes for collecting equipment.
God Bless -- Carlos
Saturday, May 22, 2010
A Little About the Gauna Family
We’ve been married for two years in June. Talk about God at work! We are your “typical modern-day American family” – my husband Carlos; I’m Stacy; and here’s the scoop on the kiddos:
From Carlos’ previous marriage: Carlos Jr (15); Maeghan (13); and Makenzie (10)
From my previous marriage: Cody (10)
Our “inherited” son: Shelby (13) --- biologically he belongs to my ex-husband --- I’m the only mother he’s ever known – and he is definitely one of our children!
Obviously…this is not how I pictured my family when I was a kid with dreams of a white picket fence. Carlos and I have both been thru a lot – and made plenty of mistakes over the years. But we are so blessed to serve an awesome God that gives us grace and always loves us! Carlos was saved on Easter Sunday two years ago --- shortly before we were married. I was saved as a child – and have gone forward and backwards in my relationship with God over the years. Two years ago after witnessing the awesome change in Carlos – I rededicated. Since then, God has done awesome things in our life. We are so very blessed – we are the happiest married couple in the world. And we continue in our journey to follow God’s will for our lives.
This blog will follow the next steps in our journey – mission work. Don’t forget to follow our blog! And remember, God loves each and every one of us. No matter what we’ve done – God never forsakes us and He’s always waiting patiently for us to finally turn to Him and say --- “Okay, God. I’ve tried it my way and it failed miserably. I’m ready to do it Your way.” Awesome things will happen in your life when you say that!!
God Bless You,
Stacy Gauna &
The Gauna Family
From Carlos’ previous marriage: Carlos Jr (15); Maeghan (13); and Makenzie (10)
From my previous marriage: Cody (10)
Our “inherited” son: Shelby (13) --- biologically he belongs to my ex-husband --- I’m the only mother he’s ever known – and he is definitely one of our children!
Obviously…this is not how I pictured my family when I was a kid with dreams of a white picket fence. Carlos and I have both been thru a lot – and made plenty of mistakes over the years. But we are so blessed to serve an awesome God that gives us grace and always loves us! Carlos was saved on Easter Sunday two years ago --- shortly before we were married. I was saved as a child – and have gone forward and backwards in my relationship with God over the years. Two years ago after witnessing the awesome change in Carlos – I rededicated. Since then, God has done awesome things in our life. We are so very blessed – we are the happiest married couple in the world. And we continue in our journey to follow God’s will for our lives.
This blog will follow the next steps in our journey – mission work. Don’t forget to follow our blog! And remember, God loves each and every one of us. No matter what we’ve done – God never forsakes us and He’s always waiting patiently for us to finally turn to Him and say --- “Okay, God. I’ve tried it my way and it failed miserably. I’m ready to do it Your way.” Awesome things will happen in your life when you say that!!
God Bless You,
Stacy Gauna &
The Gauna Family
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
