December Newsletter

  Lee and Dana Trotter

  Prescott Community Outreach

  December 2014

Advent is always a great time of reflection for us; a time to prepare my heart for Christmas.  Love, Joy, Peace, and Hope.  As I reflect on our lives and ministry this year, the activities and events that were succesful and the ones that didn’t work out so well, I realize that God was adding His love, His joy, His peace, and His hope to it all.

The days leading up to our Neighborhood Thanksgiving meal, I cooked 9 turkeys and was trying to make sure we had enough of the stuff necessary to make the meal happen.  Gabe from Lenexa Christian Center was bringing tons of food for food baskets and many were bringing different items for the meal.  I am always a little anxious about the event being a success.  Will people show up?  Will there be enough food?  I’m not sure why I worry, it always seems to work out!  We had close to 60 people from the church and neighborhood come eat and share our thanks to God!

At La Paz House, you never know what might happen.  Some days we have 20 kids there, some days we only have 5.  Some days things are calm, other days  are rough.  A lot of the kids come from homes and lives that are less than stable.  Last week, two teenage girls came in and were troubled over an uncle and step-dad who passed away over Thanksgiving.  They told me that they didn’t know how to pray and that they knew I did. They wanted me to pray with them.  I was able to pray and share God’s love with them.  Sometimes I think the most important thing we do in our ministry are not the programs or events; it is simply being here and available for our neighbors.

As we close the year and start planning for next year, we appreciate all that you do for us and our ministry!  Your prayer and financial support is what God uses to keep us reaching out.  Thank You!  We are looking forward to a great 2015!

We hope and pray that you have a very blessed Christmas!

We love you all!

La Paz de Dios,

Lee & Dana

May we draw near to God so much that it brings Joy.

May we believe God’s Word and promises that it brings us Hope.

May we love each other and our neighbors that we experience real Love.

May we live together each day to bring about real Peace

in our lives and in our world.

_______________________________________________________________

Support gifts and donations should be made out to “National Christian Foundation”

and are fully tax deductible. We receive 99% of the funds you donate. Please designate
“Prescott Community Outreach Fund #935502” on the memo line.
Use the enclosed envelope or send to:

Prescott Community Outreach Fund #935502

c/o National Christian Foundation
706 North Lindenwood Drive
Olathe, KS 66062

November Newsletter

 Lee and Dana Trotter
 Prescott Community Outreach
 Kansas City, Kansas
 November 2014
Wow. We are already into the Thanksgiving month. We try to be 
thankful every month. We are gearing up for our Neighborhood Thanksgiving Meal. Last year we had many of our friends, church members, and neighbors together for a feast. We worked hard to be a blessing to them and were able to pass out some Thanksgiving food baskets. We are hoping and planning to step it up this year. Perhaps you would consider joining us. We will be busy setting up on Thanksgiving morning and have our meal at around 1:00. We are asking people to bring a side dish, a dessert, a song, or whatever God puts on your heart. We have so much to be thankful for. Let’s show our gratitude by loving others!

In our home, the standing rule has always been that you have to wait until your birthday month begins until you start asking for gifts. The kids also had to wait until Thanksgiving to start with the Christmas gift lists. I am going to bend the rule a little and give you our Christmas list for La Paz House. We operate on mostly 
what Dana and I buy. We thought we would get the word out early so that you might consider this list. 

La Paz Wish List
• playing cards
• card games
• DVD’s -(Disney, Pixar, Wishbone, Bill Nye, Magic School Bus, etc.)
• math munipulatives (for counting, addition, & subtraction)
• storage cabinet with lock
• headphones
• pencils, paper
• balls- playground balls, nerf soccer balls, etc
• bicycles, basic tools, tires, tubes, path kits
• volunteers!

We are very grateful to all of you who make our outreach possible! 
Thank you for your support and prayers!
We pray you have a great Thanksgiving and are truly 
thankful to God for everything!

La Paz de Dios,
Lee & Dana

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed

you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

–Colossians 3:15

_________________________________________

Support gifts and donations should be made out to “National Christian Foundation” 

and are fully tax deductible. We receive 99% of the funds you donate. Please designate

“Prescott Community Outreach Fund #935502” on the memo line.

Use the enclosed envelope or send to:

Prescott Community Outreach Fund #935502

c/o National Christian Foundation 

706 North Lindenwood Drive 

Olathe, KS 66062

The grass is always greener.

Finish this saying:  The grass is always greener...

This summer, we visited some family up north.  As I was sitting in one house, I found myself thinking, “Man, it would be nice to have a big new house like this, with a big garage, and a nice vehicle or 2 to go in the garage. Oh, and a garage door opener,  I have always wanted one of those. Or I think, “If I could only win the lottery.”  Or “If I was only in the Beatles.” “If I only had a heart.”  

‘If I only had a brain.”

We have all thought this many times in our lives.  We often look to the things or relationships we don’t have, thinking it will make our life better or make us happy. This has been the case for the Israelites who Moses led out of Egypt. They were wandering around in the wilderness, still thinking the grass was still greener back in Egypt.  

 This comes right after Moses gets the ten commandments from God and breaks the tablets because of the people’s rebellion.  He goes back up Mount Sinai, gets the new tablets.  God makes Moses put them in a wooden ark or box (so he can’t break the second copy).  Moses addresses the people proclaiming that the people should love and serve God above all else. Remember that this is the main message of the 10 commandments.

Duet 11:13-15 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

Basically this says if you love, obey, and serve God, He will provide everything you need.  It is interesting that he mentions rain and grass.  

Did you know there are about 10,000 types of grass including rice, corn, wheat, sugar cane, and bamboo?  God provides rain and sun to make the grasses grow to feed us and provide for our needs.  The grass feeds the cows so that we can have tacos. Our lives depend on the grass that covers 2/3 of the earth's ground.

When we start looking at and lusting after someone elses greener grass, we allow our envy to rob us of a deeper relationship with our God.

Here are a few ideas that will keep us on track:

1. Be content with what you have. Thank God for what you have, not for what you don’t have. Thank God that although your grass isn’t as nice, you don’t have to mow as much.

2. There is always someone with less.  You are rich in comparison to much of the world. There is always someone in worse living conditions or relationships. Ask God to use what you have to meet other’s needs.

3. Grow where you are planted.  Grass grows exactly where it is planted.  God has you here for a reason.  Whether it is in your neighborhood, your church, or your family.  God wants us to love and serve Him right here, right now!

4. True joy and contentment comes from God. John 15:10-11: If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

The Bible mentions grass over 50 times.  One of the most recognizable verse is: Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.

This isn’t in the Bible, but I’ve heard it said, “The grass is always greener over the septic tank.” This is in the Bible:  Ecclesiastes 6 (the Message) “We work to feed our appetites; Meanwhile our souls go hungry.”

Feed your soul. Let God worry about the grass.

June 2014

 Lee and Dana Trotter

  Prescott Community Outreach

  Kansas City, Kansas

  June 2014

We just returned from a wedding in Colorado Springs.  It was kind of a 3-day mini vacation blitz.  Dana and I definitely needed a break after this hectic spring.  The mountains, Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs and the whole area is breath-taking.  I admit being a little envious of my friends who live there.  With my mountain bike and motorcycle, I'd be in heaven, at least when it wasn't snowing.

Ten hours later when we pulled in our little crumbling driveway in urban Kansas City, it was not nearly as exotic as where we spent the last 3 days.  We were greeted by Christopher and Amaris, 2 of the neighbor kids.  Amaris gave me a hug and said she missed me.  It was good to be home.

La Paz House is over for the summer.  The kids already tell me they miss it and ask me regularly when it opens up again. The building becomes the sleeping area for the La Paz Kids Summer program the 8 groups that will be doing their mission trip in our neighborhood and area.  We will be leading devotions, a worship service, a discussion on immigration, and trying to foster relationships with our neighbors. 

Dana is hosting a summer book club for  some of the kids.

Summer is busy but Dana and I hope to regroup and plan for the fall to improve our outreach.  It seems that to be effective, we continually need to be mixing up our programs. We are hoping to recruit some volunteers to help with La Paz House or lead a class or activity from 6:00 – 7:00 every week or month.  These could be Bible studies, art class, bike repair, book club, math club, science club, kids exercise, computer club, music lessons, or whatever God brings our way.  We already have a leadership class and guitar lessons lined up.  We also will be setting up a computer café this summer.

I also hope to get the bike shop re-stocked with bikes and parts.  Everyday so far this summer, I have repaired 2-4 bikes a day on my front porch.  Can your church,  neighborhood, social group, or business host a bike drive for us?

I say “thank you” every month in our newsletter.  I hope you realize that we are really thankful to you and blessed and honored by your prayers and donations that allow us to do this ministry. 

We love you all.

La Paz de Dios,

Lee & Dana

“Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging

love and helping out,” Hebrews 10:24

_______________________________________________________________

Support gifts and donations should be made out to “National Christian Foundation”

and are fully tax deductible. We receive 99% of the funds you donate. Please designate
“Prescott Community Outreach Fund #935502” on the memo line.
Use the enclosed envelope or send to:

Prescott Community Outreach Fund #935502

c/o National Christian Foundation
706 North Lindenwood Drive
Olathe, KS 66062

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."

We just returned from Kolten Craft's wedding in Colorado Springs.  It was kind of a 3 day mini vacation blitz.  Dana and I definitely needed a break after this hectic spring.  The wedding was beautiful; mostly because it was filled with people we love very much.  The mountains, Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs and the whole area is breath-taking.  I admit being a little envious of my friends who live there.  With my mountain bike and motorcycle, I'd be in heaven; at least when it wasn't snowing.

Ten hours later when we pulled in our little crumbling driveway in urban Kansas City, it was not nearly as exotic as where we spent the last 3 days.  We were greeted by Christopher and Amaris, 2 of the neighbor kids.  Amaris gave me a hug and said she missed me.  My daughter Joyanna took over as neighborhood bike mechanic while I was gone.  I got a big hug from her.

Driving home across Kansas, you pass the Wizard of Oz Museum.  I couldn't help but think about how Dorthy goes on this amazing adventure only to realized that the place she belonged was at home in boring, uneventful, black and white , tornado filled Kansas.

God lives here in urban Kansas City just as He does in Colorado Springs.

There's no place like home.