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The Latest on the Boones...Volume IV, Issue I, August 2016
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No News = Good News?!
It has been said, “No news is good news!", <<First Name>>.

It has been many months since we have communicated with many of you about our family and our ministry here in Flagstaff.  As a person who loves to write and communicate through the written word, it has been strange for me, Meredith, to not communicate, but the certain fact is that there has not been energy to do so.  I’ve been lacking physical energy and have been mentally and emotionally exhausted by the numerous responsibilities of the ministry and my struggling health.  Ironically, when I’ve needed to communicate the most as we desperately need prayer and support, I’ve been silent.  So, in this case, “No news has NOT meant good news.”  

We are coming upon the end of our second year as a CARES Team here at Highland Village Apartments in Flagstaff.  It is a wonderful community that is always changing.  The majority of the residents are here for the university, so they are not long term.  Some students graduate and move on, some are visiting scholars here for a year or less from another country and some simply love to roam and don’t stay long.  It’s a challenge to quickly get to know people and a little discouraging when you find they have already moved on without letting you know.  To be sure, we have some residents here that preceded us in living in this community and we are blessed to say that we have developed deeper relationships with them…such as our friends from India.  Recently, they needed to move to another apartment in the community and we were able to help them with that.  The blessing of being with them was not enough repayment in their minds.  They treated us to a delicious Indian dinner out at a nearby restaurant that is run by a friend of theirs.  Our friend is a wonderful cook, but increasingly pregnant with their second child and quite tired, so instead we had a nice walk to the restaurant and a lovely evening together. 

We need some encouragement and support!  As we come upon our busiest season here at Highland Village, there are some simple and practical ways we could use your support—whether you are local or not!

  1. Prayer
  2. Relationship Building…. Do you like to talk? Are you interested in coming to some events and just asking some good questions and listening to residents?  We are few and the residents are many.  We need some help in reaching out to the residents here.
  3. Food!  Do you like to prepare food?  We are coming up upon our Thanksgiving feast.  We need food for that feast (likely to be held Wednesday, November 9th).  Let us know if you can help with something like turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls, salad or a veggie tray.  We have a list of needs that we can pass along to you if this is something you think you can help with!  We will also have need of some Christmas sugar cookies and icing and decorations for our caroling event in December when the residents can come for hot cocoa and cookie decorating after we carol around the community.
  4. Practical support like helping with moving chairs and tables (or loaning us those) for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Last year we had about 85 for our feast and that equals a lot of folding chairs and tables to seat folks!

One of the aspects we love about this ministry is that indeed our family can work together as the CARES Team.  The end of summer brings an influx of new residents—hundreds of new residents.  Each of those needs information about the community and we are able to help the office staff put together “move-in packets” for each new resident.  This is something that even a 4 year old can do well!
Each event that we host has the intention of reaching out to the residents to bring them love and joy in living here. We also hope to develop relationships with them and share the love of Jesus.  Everyone can help at these events…even the youngest ones by playing with some of the kids in the community.

For Praise!

  1. We live in the largest Ponderosa Pine forest in the world.  The beauty around us astounds us often.  We’ve also had plenty of rain this year and have been blessed through the many storms—both literally and figuratively.  God is certainly growing us!
  2. As parents, we are blessed by the growth we see in our children.  It has been humbling to see all of them, especially the older two, step up and help in so many ways as Meredith has been exhausted and busy with many CARES responsibilities. 
  3. God’s Word!  We have loved studying it together for the Bible Bee this summer (we dug deep into John 13-15) and now we get to continue this fall in preparation for Nationals. (I John this time!)
  4. Family.  We are grateful for our extended families and the love and support they show us all year long!
Welcoming each new resident is difficult as when we knock on their door, 9 times out of 10, they are not home.  We’ve decided to make gifts for each resident that they receive from the office staff when they sign their lease and get their keys.  It has been a family effort to get these gifts put together. You can read a bit more about our Suminagashi notebooks here.

Points for Prayer...

  1. Encouragement for our weary spirits.  We can’t minister well to others if we are weary and discouraged.  
  2. Busyness.  4 of the 5 kids qualified for the National Bible Bee Competition in San Antonio in November.  This means, in addition to their normal schoolwork, they are studying I John and over 100 memory passages.  Figuring out how to schedule everything in has been overwhelming.
  3. God’s continued financial provision. God knows exactly what we need and we are grateful that He provides in so many different ways.
  4. Meredith’s health.  Diagnosed with Central Sleep Apnea last November has been a challenge.  She’s slowly been adjusting to using a CPAP machine at night, but seeing no real improvement in her extreme fatigue and this means that thinking and concentrating are almost impossible at times.  As you can imagine, this makes everything more difficult. 
There are many ways you can partner financially with us….

 

  • Give through our bank account (Contact us for info.) or paypal.com, (our account is tmpb4@mac.com ) These are not tax-deductible.
     
  • Give through Hosanna! Ministries (1809 Buckskin Way  Flagstaff, AZ 86004 and place “CARES” on the memo line) This is tax-deductible
We appreciate your  friendship, <<First Name>>. We thank you for your support and love of our family.  God has blessed us in so many ways including you! We pray that God will richly bless you during this amazing changing of the seasons.  

Serving By His Grace,
Tucker, Meredith, Paisley, Bethany, Ansel, Amelia & Ephraim
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Jesus in John 15:4 & 5
Feel free to reach us by email at tmpb4@mac.com or phone
928.525.6629 (Tucker's mobile) 928.707.9523 (Meredith's mobile)
Copyright © 2016 Tucker & Meredith Boone, All rights reserved.


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