Dear Friends,

I am back from my evacuation to Tennessee. Gustavo apporached us 8 days ago as a Category 3 hurricane. The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin advised the city of New Orleans to evacuate as it was thought that we would potentially have a direct hit.

Thankfully, we were only grazed by the hurricane, however, the signs of how powerful this hurricane was are obvious. Plenty of tree branches are lying on the roads, some communities are without electricity and might be without electricity for weeks. All in all, given what the city experienced during Katrina, it was not too bad.

Right now we are trying to re-start our normal lives, it will be a while but hopefully not too long. My prayer is that we do not have to go through this again this hurricane season.

May God Bless and keep you safe.

Sylvester

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I pray that the Lord is leading you as you live out your lives.

All is well in New Orleans, we are in the new hurricane season now. It is imperative at this time of the year to be prepared to evacuate in the case of a direct hit. My prayer is that we do not have to experience any hurricanes.

Angel food is really picking up, we have partnered with another church and as a result, our orders increased from 78 last month to 335! Quite a daunting task awaits us. Please pray that we will have the ability to handle this huge increase in volume. Your prayers are also requested for provision in terms of more volunteers or enabling by the Lord this Saturday when we make the pick up.

The Lord has been good to us by bringing to us Thomas whose truck we shall use for this delivery. Thomas worked with us for the first time on the last delivery, he is an immense asset and his truck was an absolute blessing as we would have never been able to make this pick up without spending a lot on hiring a truck. Thomas is also great at organizing and he has worked with Angel food before, so all i can say is that the Lord has been good.

Psalm 139: 17 "How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!"

Dear All,

I pray that the Lord is Keeping you safe and that you are mindful that nothing can separate you from His eternal love.

Today is June 1 and it is officially hurricane season once again. We are all making the necessary arrangements to be safe in case we are affronted by one. Our prayers are that we do not have to worry about getting hit.

Angel food continues to grow and we had another record distribution yesterday. Please pray that we are able to cope as we grow in this ministry.

You are all often thought of with fondest memories.

Your brother in Christ,

Sylvester

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are all well and that you have an ever growing awareness of the Lord in your lives.

All is fine here in NO, plenty of news particularly about Angel food. You might remember that my last post mentioned the new project our church is currently involved in (Angel food). It is basically a ministry involving the distribution of nutritious food at affordable prices. Well, we had our second distribution day last saturday and all went according to plan. We had a significantly larger order to work with compared to our first order but by God's grace, there was no major mishap.

We are now having more people enquiring about the ministry and it is our prayer that we get more people coming in. We also hope that we can have more volunteers as it can be quite taxing on the distribution day.

My prayer is that the Lord is continuing to reveal His plans for SBBC to you and that you are all growing in your faith through all.

Philipians 4: 4-7

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope and Pray that the Lord is continually strengthening and growing you, whatever the situation. In weakness and strength, in despair and in hope.

We are slowly steering the church in directions that we hope are going to help us outreach to the community and allow us to reveal the love of GOD for all. We have initiated the Angel food initiative and so now we are a delivery centre for our area. The Angel food initiative seeks to provide affordable nutritious food at reasonable prices to those who can not afford market prices. We pray to express God's love whilst we pursue this project. So far we have made one delivery and are preparing for our next delivery. Please pray for us as we plan for this particularly so we can have sufficient volunteers.

I thank God for our pastor and his wife who are extremely good and who actually came up with this idea. Please pray for them as they continue to guide us and as we seek to encourage each other during this time.

I pray that your last meeting went well and that you came up with God-led decisions that will help SB Baptist continue to shine the light for Christ.

Roy and Mu thank you for your message, am always glad to her from y'all :)

God bless you all.

Sylvester

Dear All,

Happy New Year! I hope that you had a Merry Christmas and that the previuos year has been full of blessings and that opportunities to grow in faith and perseverance have been embraced with thankfulness.

Christmas was a quiet affair in New Orleans, i was blessed to have been invited for Christmas dinner by a colleague from work. It was a unique experience to celebrate Christmas with them. It was also an opportunity to have special New Orleans cuisine. Of particular interest was "GUMBO". This is basically a mix of sausage, okra, shrimp, chicken, rice and a host of different spices all simmered together till delicious.

We have been blessed to have a new pastor who with his family are very nice people. Right now we are looking and praying for new directions to steer the church. Please pray for us as we think about ways for outreach to the community.

God Bless y'all in this new year!

Romans 5: 1-5

Well,

That time of the year when being a turkey is not quite glamorous (if it has ever been) came and went. Turkeys were fried/roasted and families sat around tables laden with pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie, depending on preference or even both, in case one could not make up their mind. The stuffing came in burrow loads and it is likely that the wine flowed freely. Rivers of cranberry sauce flowed and mashed potato was plenty.

So, why all the fuss? Why must one day be dedicated to the ravishing of one single species of bird? The story begins in 1619..

"December 4, 1619, 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred, about 20 miles upstream from Jamestown. The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a "day of thanksgiving" to God. On that first day, Captain John Woodleaf held the service of thanksgiving.

However, the settlers had to move to Jamestown and other more secure points following skirmishes with the locals. After several years, the site became Berkeley Plantation, and was long the traditional home of the Harrison family, one of the First Families of Virginia. The early settlers were particularly grateful to Squanto, the Native American and former British slave who taught them how to both catch eel and grow corn and also served as their native interpreter. Without Squanto's assistance, the settlers might not have survived in the New World.

The Plymouth settlers (who came to be called "Pilgrims") set apart a holiday immediately after their first harvest in 1621. They held an autumn celebration of food, feasting, and praising God." (Source, Wikipedia.com).

Please visit wikipedia to get more information. Hopefully, this serves to explain the death of so many turkeys since that time. Maybe it does not but one sure thing remains, there will be alot more Turksgiving days to come!

God Bless

Sylvester

Dear All,

I pray you are well. It has began to cool down in New orleans and we have seen the temperatures drop to the 60s. The good part is: NO MORE HURRICANES!! Thank God! Till next year, that is one less thing to worry ourselves with.

We have also had the local elections for the Governor, Prosecutor, Judges and so on come and go, so there is some new people in and some old faces back.

The city has reached 75% of its pre-K (Katrina) population numbers, which is good for the businesses. Apparently, New orleans has it highest tourism spate during the fall and winter since the weather is fair so most people are pleased with the turn of the weather, particular the tourist industry.

Ever since Herb left for Florida, we have been praying for a minister. We had to do without one for two weeks but presently, we have a visiting minister that is in New Orleans only briefly. am not sure for how long. We had a nice service with him last sunday and we should have him again. Numbers have grown since he started as he brings friends of his along for the service. We are thankful for that. Hopefully, he will be with us for some time. Please pray for our minister as he adjusts to a new surrounding and that his family will come to join him.

I pray that all church activites are going well and that you are continually seeing God's hand in all you do.

Have a nice day!

Hebrews 2: 5-18

Well, once again we were on edge fearing the worst; a category 1 hurricane was brewing to the East around the Florida area and was expected in the Gulf coast over friday and Saturday.

However, Friday came and went without event, apparently it fizzled out as it swept across over land so once again a sigh of relief was breathed. Ever since Katrina and Rita, people are not lax about hurricanes, even category 1 hurricanes which were previously hardly an issue. Well, this time, flood shelters were opened and the University was extra careful, raising the elevators to mid-level and sand bagging some sensitive buildings. So, there you go. The internet sites affiliated to weather channels have programs that predict the expected tangent of hurricanes, so we were looking at those over the past week. Pretty much everyone becomes obssessed with the weather when we get these mini scares, eclipses the English love for weather chat, for abit.

Nice to hear from you Ruth, am happy to hear about Mike's good news and about your silver wedding anniversary! I pray the Lord will remain steadfast in His presence and guidance as you prepare to begin the next 25 years!

Today was special because Herb preached his last sermon, he retires this Thursday. So, prayers are requested, in abundance. Anyone planning a sabbatical?

Isaiah 42: 1-9.

Dear Sutton boningtonians,

I hope that you are well and that the Lord is keeping you all well.

As things go we are fine here in NOLA. Today,
sitting out in the sunshine and humid feels like being in a sauna- endlessly. But, am not complaining, at least the sun is shinning and we are not all watching the weather channel biting our nails and praying that the dreadful hurricane will suddenly change its "mind" and somehow stay in the Gulf area. That's what we did during the last visit. Not too far up north, the carolinas are supposed to be in line for a very heavy shower if you believe the weather guys, so thats one less hurricane to worry about this season- till the next tropical depression.

We are all fine in the church and last week we had a surprise visitor during our Sunday service. I hope we will be surprised once more today!

1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24