Thanksgiving 2008 - Photos

This Thanksgiving was a little different from all the rest. My mom decided she wanted to stay home alone this year as the rest of the family got together at my grandparent's condo as usual. My aunt, uncle, and cousins came this year too. Usually they are already up in the mountains of North Carolina over Thanksgiving but this year they decided to wait until afterwards. Also, it was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple and Josh's first Thanksgiving away from his family and in Florida. It was a warm sunny day today and I took my new camera so I could take some pictures of the wildlife that is always around my grandparent's condo.

This year my grandfather was talking about his typical hobbies - boating, flying, and fixing cars. However, he started saying that he was getting tired of fixing cars and keeping up with the planes. This astounded me. My grandaddy has always been the kind to stay active and even after he retired he's stayed busy with his hobbies. Now he says he's slowing down and even considering selling his plane and car. He still goes out on the boat, but I haven't heard of them taking a weekend boat trip in a long time. They used to go on weekend trips all the time and even went on week long trips at time. I guess I really am growing up. I guess things really are changing. I guess it's true that they won't be around forever. As he was talking about all this I felt the need to record his love for old cars and preserve the memory of his hobbies. His plane was at a hanger at the airport and his boat was out at his warehouse at my aunt's house, but his car - that was in the garage just outside. I hadn't seen it in several years and I knew Josh loves old cars, so we talked him into getting the car out this afternoon so I could take some pictures of it. You can tell he is SO proud of it! It's his piece of yesteryear. Although not the best pictures in the whole world, I am still glad that I could record this passion of his and I hope he can still cherish the photo if he does eventually sell the car.

Happy Thanksgiving all! I hope that you all had a wonderful dinner and that some of those memories of friends and family have imprinted themselves in your brain. Many more blessings as this Christmas season comes!

A Quarter of a Century... - Photos

Well, there it is...a quarter of a century that I have lived. My 25th birthday was on Friday. I hope to remember all of the next 25 years! Isn't it strange that typically your healthiest, most energetic years are a time in life when you don't even remember a good portion of them? Strange. I once saw a program I believe showed on Discovery channel that went through the changes in the body from conception in the womb to 80 years of age and they basically said that you are done growing and in your prime in your mid-twenties. Then, after that point you are beginning the decaying process and health starts to dwindle. That's depressing. I'm glad that I don't base my life in what science says about my life but about what Christ says about my life. I plan on being MORE effective for Christ and enjoy life even MORE over the next 25 years (should Jesus tarry). I'm excited about what the next 25 years will bring! I'm praying for miracles, anointing, and God's glory and gospel being proclaimed!

Anyhow, I got to work on Friday at Onsite Safety and they had decorated my desk with all kinds of birthday goodies, they got me a silly hat to wear, and got me a ton of my favorite candies! Then, as if I wasn't already on sugar overload, they sang to me and had me blow out candles from a tray of brownies and cookies! DELICIOUS!!! Who needs cake? Stacey makes some great brownies fyi. :)

Friday night we went to Kobe Japanese Steakhouse with a bunch of our friends. It was a good time and great food. I think the best thing about Kobe is that they give you lo mien with your food as well as rice. Hello carb overload! I think this was probably one of the best birthdays I have EVER had!

Then, yesterday Josh and I went to Magic Kingdom at Disney with Steve, Hollie, Nate, and Jen. Steve works at Disney and got us all into the park for the day. It was a blast! Thanks Steve for the day of fun and Jack Sparrow spotting! It was a great birthday weekend and now for the best part...

My friends and family all chipped in and got me a Digital SLR camera, the Canon Rebel XTI! Courtney and Bradd then gave me a telephoto lens to go with my camera! They were the best gifts ever! I feel set up now. I have wanted a dslr for a while now. I have been interested in photography and I'm super excited to have the opportunity and equipment to be able to pursue it. I want to be able to take pictures for ministry purposes. Pictures that stir people to action. My prayer is that my photography will capture even a glimpse of what God sees in His children and that the viewers can relate to those in the images.

Anyhow, I just wanted to gush over how special my friends, family, and co-workers made me feel this weekend. Thank you all!

Medical Issues

Hey all,

As some of you know, I have been having some medical issues and the doctors don't even know what exactly is wrong. They've done a ton of tests and haven't come to any definite conclusions. Josh and I feel as though it may be a spiritual attack. Please pray for me if I'm brought to your mind. I appreciate it greatly!

The Wedding and Honeymoon - Photos

Sorry it's been so long since we've updated. We were so busy with the wedding madness! The wedding was perfect and we're ready to get back to ministry and real life. :)

We got married on the beach, however Hurricane Fay was obviously excited we were getting married too, because she decided to join us. The rain held off for the ceremony and just sprinkled off and on throughout the reception which we were under a tent for. It was really nice though because it made the August summer heat bearable.

We then honeymooned in Jamaica where we climbed Dunn's River Falls and rode horseback down a mountain and in the ocean waist deep! It was incredible. It was seriously some of the most beautiful water and sunsets you have ever seen. Then, Hurricane Gustav came and we were "stuck" there for an extra 2 days because the airlines closed down. Who would have thought, two hurricanes in a matter of a week and a half? CRAZY! However, we absolutely loved Jamaica and find ourselves dreaming about it and wanting to go back, as you do with all great vacations!

As for ministry, we have a missions convention at Markham Woods this month, a service at Bushnell Assembly in October, and a service at New Covenant Assembly in November. Please pray that God opens even more doors for us to share in the coming months.

Here are some pictures from the wedding and honeymoon:

Updated Wedding Info

So, it's official! We're getting married at The Sandbar Restaurant on Anna Maria Island in Florida on August 22, 2008! We'll be getting married on the beach and Brother Gary Crump will be officiating. He was a mentor to both Josh and I as we served in El Salvador under him in differing years. He and Mrs. Karen left El Salvador and now serve on staff at Palm Valley Church in Mission, Texas.

People have been so kind and have offered to throw bridal showers for us. Our shower from work will be July 8th. Our shower from Trinity Assembly of God will be on July 13th and the one for family and friends will be on the 26th. Also, Josh's parents are putting a wedding shower together for September after we come back from our honeymoon. Oh, and speaking of the honeymoon, Josh did a ton of research and we will be going to Jamaica to the Sans Souci Couples Resort. We are super excited!

Anyhow, that's all for now!

¡Que viaje! - Photos

What a trip! We're back now and feel like we have learned SO much! We met so many neat people and have made some lasting friendships. We worked with Dale and Nancy Johnson and Trent and Tina Morrow. With the Johnsons, we did construction on a new building for the Bible School and Josh worked mostly on the plumbing. With the Morrows, we did Kid's Quest and children's ministry with the kids out at Colón. Each night the children brought more and more of their friends. I'm not sure how many children accepted Jesus as there savior, but there were a lot! Each of them got brand new Bibles and many started reading them right away.


I got to run the video and record all of the programs. The Morrows have just been offered a spot on a local television station to do children's programming so they are filming all of their programs and editing them so they can air them. How exciting is that? On the last evening, we got to make balloon swords and hats for them as they "put on the full armor of God." It was an awesome experience!






I experienced a little bit of culture shock as I am more used to El Salvador. I'm used to tan people with dark hair and dark eyes and there they are light-skinned and have differing hair colors. Also, the Spanish is very different and took me a little bit to get used to it. Oh, and instead of squelching heat, we had the bitter cold of winter because their seasons are opposite of ours. Instead of the housing you see in El Salvador, they had little brick homes that were almost dollhouse-like in appearance and in the city they lived in high rise apartments. Both Josh and I are used to food being dirt cheap in Latin American countries, yet this country hardly seemed Latin American at all. The food was not only expensive, but similar to what you would eat in the U.S. or Europe. There was a cover to eat at just about any restaurant to use their glasses, silverware, and linens. There were eggs and ham on everything it seemed. Their national dishes where things like a Chivito, a sandwich with ham, eggs, cheese, mayonnaise and whatever else you wanted on it, or a milanesa, which was chicken fried chicken and usually came with an egg, ham and cheese on top. Their salads where lettuceless and you had to ask for tomatoes on sandwiches or salads. It was different, but good. I was itching for some good ol' rice and beans and I'm convinced there are none in the entire country. :) However, the best dish I had came from Pecos Bill's and they had a flatbread pizza with just pesto and fresh tomatoes on it that was to die for! I think I ate it three times while I was there and it still left me wanting for more. The best part was that for that pizza and a bottle of water, it was only $5; the cheapest meal we ate there. Mmm...it makes my mouth water.

We went to Colonia one day which was like our St. Augustine. It was an old fort city with the cobblestone roads and little cottagelike houses. I love places like that. It was fun for me to visit and had great photo ops! It was just beautiful there!

Anyhow, the building was just about completed and the Bible School students were happy to see it! A pastor prophesied that Josh would be back as a missionary to that country one day when we went to church on Sunday. This is after the Morrows had been telling us to stay and work with them. So, who knows...maybe one day we'll go back. Primero Dios! We got to go sight seeing and buy souvenirs like mate (a tea drink that EVERYONE has in their hands at all times) cups on our last day. It was a great trip and we loved learning yet another new culture!

Uruguay...The Missionary's Graveyard

Since Josh and I are headed to Uruguay in a few days and I really didn't know too much about the country other than it was located in South America and they spoke Spanish, I decided to do some research so I could know what to expect and what the local dialect was. I was told that since Josh and I are the only ones that can really speak any Spanish, we will be the translators. THAT should be interesting. :) So I wanted to find local words for specific items and see what was culturally appropriate to do or say (you'd be surprised at how widely this varies...words you might say in one country to mean something perfectly innocent, would be highly offensive and rude in others). So, google time!

After trying a few websites in Spanish and not finding much, I found this website which featured an article from an North American that went to Uruguay for 6 months and learned some local phrases that he thought might be helpful to others. Some of the information about the culture was somewhat common knowledge to me having been to another Latin American country, but other information was very informative and the phrases were extremely helpful (because I would have NEVER known what was being said to me if they say some of these things). The article was well-written and pretty funny. This glimpse into the culture just made me want to read more. So....another google search!

After clicking on several websites including this one, I was astounded to see Uruguay referred to as a missionary graveyard time and time again. Apparently, Uruguay is mostly athiest or agnostic. Most people don't attend any church and don't see a need for "religion" in their lives. It may take years to win a single convert to Christ! That means sometimes one or two full missions terms (4 years each) with little to no growth in your church. It's easy to see why missionaries would get discouraged and give up or feel like they must be out of God's will. This is a nation that is in GREAT spiritual need! They are european-influenced, mostly mid-class people and have enough food to eat and clothes to wear, but are spiritually starving. Does this remind you of another country? It does me! Reading all of this just makes me more spiritually aware to the culture we are about to go into and gives me a hunger to pray for the people! Please join with me in prayer for the missionaries in Uruguay that they would be greatly encouraged and strengthened by God and most of all for the people of Uruguay, that their hearts would be softened to the Gospel of Christ. Pray that we have the opportunity to witness to the people of Uruguay and God-given words come to our lips.

Also, I want to challenge you. If you've never had a burden for a certain country to pray for it's people and the missionaries and pastors serving there, start researching the country, culture, and beliefs. I guarantee you that your heart will be ignited with passion! Start reading about U.S. culture and what our youth believe. It will cause you to pray like you never have before!

Livin' life, lovin' God - Photos

I love how God works! He's always bringing people into your life at certain times for certain reasons. I'm so excited to be engaged and to be marrying this man that God has placed in my life! Josh has moved down from Oklahoma, after 23.5 hours of driving and is now staying at the missionary apartment at our church. We're looking at getting married in August and hopefully getting to the field in January. After attending a friend's wedding, we checked out a venue, The Sandbar Restaurant, in Anna Maria Island, FL for the wedding. We took one look at it and fell in love with it. It's right on the beach and we'd be able to have the beach wedding we've been dreaming of. We'll hopefully be booking it soon and getting a definite date down!

On my trip to Oklahoma, Josh and I went to the zoo with Aaron, his brother, and Stacey, his sister-in-law, the day after we got engaged. It was great getting to spend time with them again. We drove down to Dallas and Josh graduated from Southwestern and everything went well. Then, I came back to Orlando and the service at Life Assembly went great! Pastor Duke Matlock said they would give me a love offering of $500 and pledge $100 in monthly support which is wonderful news!

I'm obviously not leaving at the end of May, but after Josh and I get married, we will finish raising our budgets and then head to El Salvador for a few years to learn from Brother Don and Mrs. Terri. We know we need to learn about missions and gain the experience from the organization they already have and we both have an incredible heart for El Salvador and the children and youth there. Josh is already an ordained minister and we know we want to be missionaries and spend all of our days sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and sharing the love of our Lord with all the world. We don't know exactly where we'll go after El Salvador, but we already have some opportunities in Brazil and the Ukraine and there are several other places that God has laid on our hearts to go one day.

We'll both be leaving at the end of this month to go to Uruguay on a two week mission trip with his home church Capital Hill Assembly of God in Oklahoma City. We're both thrilled for the opportunity to work in a new country we've never been to before and it will be our first experience doing missions together. I've never been to South America and I'm excited to experience it! If you would like to donate towards this trip, please send checks to:

Patti Sears

909 SW 12th

Moore, OK 73160

Going to the chapel... - Photo

And we're gonna get married! Josh and I are engaged! Here's the story as posted on Facebook:

As of Saturday night, I am the soon to be Mrs. Sears! Josh is graduating with his Masters but for his last paper, he wrote about creationism which I read. He then sent me a package with a card for me to open everyday until we saw eachother again, knowing I was coming back on Saturday. Each card was centered around this creation theme, starting with Genesis 1:1 and continued with the theme each day until Saturday when I stepped off the plane he gave me a card that had the creation of Adam and Eve.We went out for dinner and went for a walk afterwards at the Oklahoma City Botanical Gardens. We walked around for a while, then he suddenly stopped and said, "You know God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden." "Yeah?" I replied. "And here we are in the garden," he said. Then he gets down on one knee and I yelled, "SHUT UP!" (thinking it was a joke). He pulled out a ring in a box and asked if I would marry him to which I quickly replied yes!

Anyhow, it's been a whirlwind romance which we believe to be God ordained and are just super excited to share our lives and our ministry together! We're not positive as to all the details yet, but he will soon be moving to Florida. We're going to Uruguay for two weeks on a short term trip at the end of May. We haven't set dates for the wedding quite yet. Just wanted to share the good news! :)

Oh, how time flies! - Photo

It seems like life has been SO busy lately! Since the last time I posted, I went to visit Josh in Oklahoma. I met his parents and his brother and sister-in-law (who crack me up, by the way). It was awesome and I miss him SO much! This is definitely a God-ordained relationship and it feels like we've known eachother forever. We've prayed and fasted about it and we think we're going to get married. Now the question is when. Right now, he's a missionary associate to the Ukraine and I'm headed to El Salvador. Please be in prayer with us about this. We are seeking God's will over our lives and His timing over our relationship.

This past weekend I had two services at two different churches over in Tampa thanks to a friend of mine from El Salvador, Carlos Valle. They were both Spanish services and I was super nervous because I hadn't used my Spanish since last summer really. After a few bumps along the way, I got to share about the need in El Salvador and share a passion for missions. In the second service, they also let me go in and share with the youth. I talked about Speed the Light and how they can help support missionaries and the missions programs right now by giving to Speed the Light (see my earlier post about STL and what they do). Carlos also gave me some airtime on two local Christian radio stations to share about the need in El Salvador, King's Castle Ministries, and what I'll be doing there. Two programs were in Spanish and one was in English. It was really neat to be given that opportunity to speak to a ton of people that I've never met! Anyhow, over $200 was raised and I pray that hundreds of people have caught the vision of missions "right here and right now."

I leave Saturday for Oklahoma. Josh is graduating from Southwestern Assemblies of God University with his masters degree in Theology. So I'm headed first to Oklahoma to spend time with him and his family and then we're driving down to Dallas for his graduation. I'll fly back on the 3rd because I have a service at Life Assembly of God in Kissimmee on May 4th.

Please be in prayer for Josh as he is in Colorado and Utah this week speaking at churches and raising funds as well as going to District Council. Please pray that God will annoint his lips as he preaches and give him favor in the eyes of others. Also, pray for me for safe travels and for the service on the 4th. I appreciate all of your prayers!