2012-11-27 Short Order Update

Cook's Short Order Update
Finally, a few moments to write an update.

Thanks giving. Giving thanks. Time with family and friends. We enjoyed a feast with our staff (and some additional family and friends) at Camp David of the Ozarks. Later that evening we helped serve a feast of thanks and worship and food at our church. Saturday was just our family, just the six of us helping prepare the meal, making the house look warm and homey, sharing the day as family.

While we are being stretched in ways that are uncomfortable to painful, God has shown Himself to care for us abundantly. Seeing God's care is where we want to find ourselves, even in the discomfort.

Please pray as we minister this weekend in Rolla. The city is hosting a parade and Camp David of the Ozarks will be in it. What a great time to share in the community.

We rarely ask you directly for anything but maybe that's wrong. If we don't ask, you won't know our needs. So, let me share some things and ask you to pray diligently that God will supply.

We are currently at 22% of our needed monthly living expenses. Bruce is seeking part time jobs that allow us the flexibility to serve at camp during retreats and take trips for recruiting and fund raising, Please pray that we will find work that alleviates our financial burden. While we are thankful, the substitute bus driving is not very substantial.

Michelle is seeking to start a business producing homemade crafts and such. While we are not counting on this for living expenses, it could help when things are very tight. Pray for God's blessing as we plan.

Please know that when God graciously supplies our support need we will budget for these things just like anyone else. In the mean time, we believe our God will meet these needs through people who can't support us on a monthly basis.

We hope you won't see any of this as complaining. God has been so good to us. We have a warm home, we have free heat (takes some work getting the wood cut and stacked), we have food, we have a vehicle that runs great, our kids are serving God joyfully. We are able to obey our Savior because we love Him.

Thank you, each of you who gives and prays, for being so faithful to us through our 3 years of full time ministry. We love you.

Bruce Cook

Staff Ministries Director

Camp David of the Ozarks

573.364.2786

For Michelle (my best friend), Bryan (22), Nate (20), Caleb (17), Kaitie (13), Seth (10)

Find out more at

www.campdavidozarks.org

2012-11-07 Cook's Short Order Update

There we were, in the emergency room, wondering, "How are we going to pay for this?"

Our support raising trip has been exciting. Several hours from our first stop in West Virginia our van electronics quit. It's quite noticeable while you are climbing a steep hill, cruise is on, CD is playing, and all of this quits. We shut everything down and nervously proceeded. A few hills later it happened again, only this time, the engine died as well. 70mph, full van, no power steering... I put the van in neutral and restarted it. It worked! So, what's going on? We will make it?

We sent out a request for you all to pray. You did. Praise the Lord for technology! God provided and we made it safely to Mount Tabor Baptist Church, Beckley, WV. We shared our burden for serving with Camp David of the Ozarks and rested Sunday afternoon. After the evening service we visited with some friends, ate way too much and came back to the church apartment.

For no apparent reason I began coughing (heavy upper respiratory congestion) and itching in my hands. My hands and feet began swelling quickly. This has NEVER happened before so we decided to seek medical attention. I was given allergy medications and steroids and sent home. By Monday morning the swelling was mostly down. But the van was still being really cranky.

It turns out that one of the bolts on the battery cables was stripped. Replaced that and Chevy Astro seems to be happy.

I am spending most of Tuesday and Wednesday hanging out at Appalachian Bible College visiting with students. Pray that God will send us (CDO) many great young people to serve as counselors next summer.

We spend the evening with Bryan last night, sharing our ministry in Fellowship Bible Church tonight, enjoying WV Thursday, heading to Indiana on Friday, sharing our ministry in Pine Ridge Bible Church Sunday and World Missionary Press on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday to our middle child, Caleb. He turned 17 on our way here. We celebrated his life by attacking him with silly string and a cookie cake in the van. We love you, Caleb!!!

Thank you for being faithful pray-ers,

Bruce Cook

Staff Ministries Director

Camp David of the Ozarks

573.364.2786

Michelle (my beautiful best friend), Bryan (22), Nate (20), Caleb (17), Kaitie (13), Seth (10)

Find out more at

www.campdavidozarks.org

Special Update - 2012-11-01

We are sending this as a special request for prayer. We are leaving for West Virginia Saturday, God willing, but have a small mountain of stuff to accomplish for this trip to be worthwhile. Will you pray that God will give us efficient thinking, and help us discern what is really important in the next 2 days?

Thank you for partnering with us,

Bruce for Michelle, Nate, Caleb, Kaitie, Seth