Alternatives Pregnancy Center Prayers

1. Please pray that an abortion-minded client will come to her ultrasound appointment this week and that she will connect with the image of her baby. Pray that she will experience God's presence during this difficult time and that her interest in spiritual issues will flourish.

2. Please pray for an abortion-minded client who is struggling with the pain and anxiety of multiple miscarriages. Lord, please give her strength during this difficult time. Pray that her family and friends will give her the support she needs to choose to life.

3. Please pray for a client who is approaching her due date and is living in a motel. Pray for an opening in one of the transitional housing sites she has applied for. Pray that she and her husband will be able to find work.

4. Please pray for a client who is planning on having an abortion. Pray that her heart would connect with her unborn child. Holy Spirit, please instill a renewed sense of hope in this client that will enable her to reconsider her decision.

More from Caleb Holman ministering at Woodside School in India

Swimming Pool:

Well we've come a long way with the pool: from not having one and having no lifeguards, to having five lifeguards, four others that can help with dry-land rescues in medical emergencies at the pool, and to having almost all the safety equipment to meet international standards. Woodstock has also appointed me as the Pool Safety Officer, consolidating the responsibilities of the pool and the training of water safety team members. With this added responsibility, I'm in charge of the training for the pool safety team, developing a swimming program for the school with the PE department, and working with our security department so we effectively use the training of the swim safety team in case of emergencies.

A few of the projects we are working on for this next year include:

-  a larger partnership with the Royal Life Saving Society of India for our swimming program and water safety program

- installing a solar-based heating system for the pool, increasing the length of the seasons we are able to use the pool

- raising funds so we can purchase an automatic defibrillator

- most importantly, ensuring that the kids have fun this next year while we are expanding the swimming program.

It's exciting to help develop this program and I look forward to receiving the necessary training.  I need to become a lifeguard trainer, receive some advanced medical training, and become a swimming instructor in this next year.

15 August 2011   Dear Friends Around the World, Our family is at an exciting point in our journey, and so we wanted to give you a Kids Update this month. Carly took off last Saturday for Mexico for a semester studying abroad as part of her Hispanic Studies major at Westmont College. While we will miss her while she is abroad this Fall, we are also so proud of her as she grows into a wonderful young adult. She is now in her junior (third) year of university. Steven and Brian spent a week traveling on the East Coast of the U.S. together visiting five universities which Steven is considering for studies after his final year of high school. His topic choices are New York University, University of Virginia, and University of Southern California. Quite the geographic diversity! He begins his senior year of high school next week, with a full load of advanced placement classes. The four of us had an end-of-summer mini-vacation in Williamsburg, Virginia last week before going to my nephew Dan's wedding in Richmond. It was good closure to a work-filled summer in which all four of us juggled multiple jobs and ministries. We are grateful to the Lord for this unique time for our family. And now it is onto the Fall season. Thanks for your friendship and encoruagement. With Grace, in Christ,   Brian and Susy

Caleb Holman

Greetings from India I hope everyone is doing well.

Wow it has been another busy and exciting year for me here in India. From working with the students here at Woodstock at the swimming pool, at the student wood-shop, camping, and the general responsibilities of being a dorm parent - I've been busy! I have also had the time to work a little bit with the Sharp Memorial School for the Blind, go scuba diving, and, if my parents haven't told you, climb a 20,722ft. peak. Before getting to talk about all this other stuff, onto the most common question that I am asked.  Yes, I am still single.

Well now that's out of the way, Woodstock:

I've had a really exciting year building new relationships with a new set of boys after my last group graduated. Like all teenagers, relationships (especially those with the opposite sex) are something that we talk about an awful lot. And it's exciting to see these guys grow and develop in a positive way. But it's not just girls that the boys think about.  They are also thinking about making the world a better place, why the world this is the way it is, and what they need to get into university.  At times are also carefree and enjoy video games and just being a kid. Like in any large group, there are some students  doing really well and others that are struggling. One highlight for me was when some of my boys came to me and asked if they could figure out a way to restore some of the trails on campus and other areas where everybody walks and hikes. I've also had the opportunity to talk an awful lot to one of our students from Afghanistan about politics and his life growing up in different world philosophies. I really appreciate how fortunate I am to have this interaction with students it is great to get to know them and help them develop into good men and women. I also have some students who struggle.  One in particular has faced a lot of unhappiness in his childhood along with some academic struggles.  He often struggles with sadness.  Although this student needs a lot of attention and support, Woodstock is the best place for him.  I'm very grateful to have the support of my colleagues and to have earned this student's trust.  I am in a position to support him as he walks through this difficult time.

Like always, Woodstock has a lot of changes.  This upcoming year we will have an interim principal for the first semester and we will have a new principal after Christmas holidays.  One thing that hasn't changed is that, for the first time in 24 years, the Hostel Dorm team has all the same members that we had at the end of the previous school year.  It is really exciting that we can give some continuity to our students that they have not been able to have in the past.

HELP ALTERNATIVES PREGNANCY CENTER Alternatives Pregnancy Center is in need of pregnant women between 6 and 22 weeks gestation to participate as models for limited ultrasound practice scans. The practice scans are scheduled for Tuesday-Friday, August 16-19, and Tuesday-Friday, August 22-26, between 9:00 am and 4:30 pm at our downtown location. The ultrasounds will be offered without cost and each model will receive a $5 gift card as a thank you. For details or to sign up, please contact Becky Rohr or Elisabeth Buchholz at 303.298.8815.

Serve the City Recap

We have been back in Denver for a few weeks since leading a mission team to Amsterdam the first week of June. It was a great time working with Serve the City there. Our 11-person team spent four days painting apartments, serving the elderly, and helping to feed a crowd of volunteers every day. Special thanks to all of you who supported us!
       I am excited about the growing opportunities for The Isaac-Ishmael Initiative in reaching out to both Jews and Muslims in places such as France, Belgium, Scotland, Los Angeles, and Denver. I am in the midst of finalizing a Mission Proposal for this upon receiving input from some trusted advisors. In the next couple of months I will be sharing about this in our newsletter and elsewhere.
       Here are some photos from Serve the City and our time in Amsterdam:

       



With Grace, in Christ,
  

Brian and Susy

Crutches for Africa update...

Our trip was amazing, God provided Max, a Kenyan who is all american, big, black and fun to be with.  Our granddaughter Brooke called him Gigantor.  She felt very safe and protected by his presence.

He arranged TV interview, meetings, with head honchos of every description every where we went.

There were newspapers, radio stations, and all sorts of meetings with heads of communities we hope to distribute into.

About 9 reporters were at Bandera College where we had free storage before loading up the train in Mombasa to go to Nairobi.

 

We were given native costumes, baskets of mangos and a GOAT!

 

NO we did not kill and eat the goat.  We regifted it.

ahhhh recycled goat....ha ha.

We gave away over 3000 devices in three weeks overseeing at least 500 ourselves, personally one on one.

We were in so many places, city slums,

 

deep in the bush

 

   

the far country this was a shock to the woman who had never had anything given to her.

The toughest thing we ever have to face is when we cannot help someone, either because they are too twisted up by the ravages of polio,

  This was a sad moment when David got down on the ground and said "if we can do something we will do it, but right now I SEE YOU."

I think for the invisible people on the ground, in huts hiding, or abused and neglected, the greatest gift is to be seen.  To be counted as a person.  It shocks them and is hard to take.  The children are so used to the neglect and abuse they don't believe it and when they get a wheelchair they go into shock and disbelief.

  until now the grandmother had to carry this girl everywhere she could not scoot on her twisted limbs.  She only has one useable arm....

sometimes we ran out of what we needed.

We were in Kenya and Uganda. 

We got to see our sponsored orphan Oliva in Tororo, Ug.we met her in 2005.

David went to Rwanda to meet with the officials in charge of the shipment to the new government hospital to be arranged.

I was able to spend some quality time one on one with Brooke, our granddaughter from Tenn. who is 16.We were able to take a long safari in the Nairobi nature preserve, which is unfenced and full of many species of birds and wildlife.  Giraffes were prevalent, but we also saw lions up close and personal, thanks to Brookes perfect imitation of a bleating goat.

   

We all stayed well, ate plenty of "chips" french fries,

scrambled eggs, instant coffee, and samosas. 

Our favorite food was sugar bananas

Bottom line, we were blessed, kept safe despite horrible traffic and near misses on the road.  We also were blessed to deliver about 40 dresses from Dressagirlaroundtheworld.org.  That was "fly by the skirt" distribution for sure.  Out of van windows,

 then when wehad a van breakdown I dressed 5 kids!

.

Gave out about 90 devices at a remote location then about 12 dresses afterwards.

 

 

 

on our way home (36 hours) we had a layover for 8 hours in Chicago.

 glass floored deck of Sears tower, now Willis Tower....wild

 

  

thanks to all who participated, through giving, prayer, volunteering, or any other way.  We cannot do this alone, and it is growing by leaps and bounds.

Please share this with whomever and however you can so that people can see we are really grass roots, on the ground, face to face people who love what we have found to do.

Candice Talbot