Fastest Carousel Ever

This is a carousel at Caras Park in Missoula, Montana. It is one of the fastest carousels in the world. The kids rode it. It was a blast. We posted some new pics on our flicker page of some fun stuff we've done. There is a slide show on the right side of the screen. If you click a picture it will take you to our flicker site so you can see all of the our pics on a larger scale. Enjoy! More videos coming soon.

~Issac

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's (AKA Pappa Gus's) birthday! "I've been searching for
a heart of gold" and I've found it in my Dad. My family and I love you
very much, Papa Gus! Even as an adult I still look up to you in so
many ways! You are a man. There are a lot of males who are not men. I
believe you are a man and have taught your sons well how to be good
men. (even if we didn't listen and had to learn the hard way that you
were right) I believe my wife and kids have a better Dad and Husband
in me because of how God has used you to be a great example and
teacher. God gets all the glory, but I want to honor the work that He
has very evidently done in and through you. I'm thankful that God has
seen fit to give you another full year of life! I pray that you have
many more! May you learn more about Jesus and love Him more with every
day you are given...because He loves you! Thank you for everything,
Dad. I love you.

~Issac

Sent from my iPhone

The New Blog is Up

Today I published the first blog on my new personal blog site. As I
mentioned before, I wanted to have a separate blog where I can put my
more devotional type writings. The blog isn't the prettiest yet. We're
still working on it, so it's under construction. But I'd love it if
you start following me on that blog as well. I'm Hoping it will be an
encouragment to you. Also, stay patient with this blog as we are still
without the ability to add video. We will get Internet ASAP and then
get some more video blogs up. Keep looking at the pics on the
slideshow on the right as we will be posting new pics there regularly.
Love you and hope to talk to you all soon. God bless!

~Issac

Sent from my iPhone

Random Stuff

As Issac said in his earlier post, I got a job at DIRECTV! I'm so
stoked because I'll be working with him! We start on Monday and in
the mean time, we've been taking it easy - relaxing by the pool,
taking naps, etc - except for this week. This week we've been
volunteering at our local Goodwill. It's a little out of our comfort
zones, but we've been able to help out by stocking shelves with
miscellaneous items, hanging and sorting clothes, and other small
tasks. I had a chance to talk with one of the employees about why we
moved to Missoula as I was hanging clothes to be priced. Tomorrow I'm
going to give her a Remedy business card and invite her to church.
R:COMMUNITY group has been going really well! Tonight we had 10
adults and 6 kids. We grilled up some burgers and dogs and talked
about the message last weekend. We were challenged on how to live
humble, holy, lives of self-sacrificial service. It's encouraging to
see people being transparent and also cool to be able to hold each
other accountable. God definitely uses community to grow His people!
In other news, my sister graduated from high school on Monday! I was
very sad to miss her graduation, but happy that she is finished and
has plans to go to UNM. :-D

:Kristi:

Kristi gets a job and other things we've been up to...

Well, we are closing out our third week in Missoula and God has
continued to be faithful and good. (as if He is ever not) This week
has been a GREAT week. One of the biggest things that God did for us
this week was to provide Kristi with a job. We have been praying since
we were still in Santa Fe that the LORD would provide work for us, and
He has done that! But more than that, one of our prayer requests was
that God might provide us a job where we could work together. You see,
Kristi and I used to work together at MCI back in the day. It was
probably the job that Kristi and I look back at that we least enjoyed,
however we really enjoyed working together. I understand that most
married couples would not like to work together; most like the apart
time. By God's grace, Kristi and I have such a good relationship that
we really enjoy working together. I think we could spend every minute
of every day together and be totally happy. Anyway, God answered our
prayers and Kristi got a job with me at Directv. We will start on the
same day, have the same 5 week training schedule, and then maybe, by
God's grace, get the exact same schedule after training. I don't know
if I've mentioned the fact that Directv is 5 minutes away from our
house; it is literally walking distance! This is cool because we only
have one vehicle, so we don't have to figure out driving arrangements
and different schedules. Plus our gas cost will be very minimal. This
is amazing stuff! We are very thankful!

Other than that, things continue to go really well with Remedy. We
hosted R:COMMUNITY Group at our place this week and had over 20 people
with adults and children. We went outside into the courtyard area and
sang songs to the LORD together and had a great time of fellowship!
Our Sunday service is growing as well. Since the initial first service
when no one new showed up, we've had 12+ people every Sunday since
then. We are excited about the people of Remedy. They seem to be
getting behind the vision of the church and supporting it with their
time, talents, and treasures as we are all called to do for our local
church. This week, in addition to R:COMMUNITY, the men of the church
will get together on Friday night for some Fudruckers Burgers and
bowling! This is an event we've encouraged people to invite their
unsaved friends to as well. Our desire is to be on mission by engaging
those who have yet to believe, with the intention of loving them like
Jesus and sharing the gospel with them. Sometimes we go into their
world, and sometimes we invite them into our world. This is an "invite
them into our world" event. Be praying that God would bring some that
don't believe that they might experience God's love through His
people. If not, God will build community and intimacy with the guys in
the church and that will be killer.

In other news, Nate took me out frisbee golfing this week! It is great
fun and an even better work out. I am so out of shape, but I hung in
there and had lots of fun. The weather has been beautiful here and I
look forward to doing more "folf" plus hiking, camping, river floating
and much more as the summer goes on. I also went on a field trip with
Caleb this week! We went to a State Park and studied insects, did some
bird watching, and did some mellow hiking in beautiful Missoula! I had
a great time with my boy. Caleb is such a sweet kid (aside from being
a sinner) and I really enjoyed hanging with him and seeing him
interact with other kids. He was different in lots of good ways. I'm
proud of him.

I'm also in the process of creating a personal blog for myself. I want
this current blog to primarily be a means by which I can update family
and friends with what is going on with my family and our adventures in
Montana. I'm creating the new blog to post some of my more devotional
writings. That blog will exist to encourage believers through insites
from the Word, transparency in my sin and struggles, as well as
resources from other men of faith. I will let you know when that blog
is up and I invite you all to follow that blog as well!

Thanks for stopping by to check on us. We appreciate knowing that we
have the love, support, and prayers of so many. We love you back!

~ Issac

P.S. - Check the picture slideshow on the right hand side of the blog
for pics from my field trip with Caleb and more.

Sent from my iPhone

A Couple Boxes of Bibles

The other day we received a couple boxes of bibles on our doorstep,
courtesy of my Father-in-law, Ed Rivera. It's exciting to see people
getting behind the vision of Remedy Church, and ultimately the vision
and mission of Jesus Christ, and seeking to get involved. As we came
out here I could tell Ed had a desire to be a part of what God is
doing out here, but wasn't sure how. It didn't take long for God to
show Ed how He wanted to use him. The LORD put a burden on Ed's heart
to see people have bibles. "I don't think anyone should not have a
bible...especially if they just can't afford it" is what Ed told us.
So Ed began to do some research online to find a good deal on some
bibles that we could put in the hands of people who don't have the
word of God. Ed found some great English Standard Version paperback
bibles and had a couple boxes sent to us! I love that this was totally
prompted by the LORD! It makes me excited to see what God has planned
for these bibles and the opportunities that He will give us to put
them in the hands of those who need the word. We have a series of
summer park outreaches that we will be doing, beginning next month,
that we are calling "IGNITE". Through these park outreaches we will
seek to ignite a passion for Jesus through serving our community. We
will go to parks and provide food, music, games and fun for kids, and
most importantly we will be on mission to share the gospel of Jesus
Christ with the people of Missoula! I think these bibles will come in
handy for these outreaches! You don't have to move out to Missoula,
Montana to be a part of what God is doing out here! If you are excited
about what you see God doing through Remedy Church, be like Ed and
pray about how YOU can be a part of His work here! As I said, we will
be doing some awesome outreach this summer and there will be
opportunities for you to be involved. Maybe the LORD would have you
provide face paint for the kids, or some frisbees and footballs to
play with the kids at the parks. There are lots of ways that the LORD
can use you to be a part of His work here; even from afar. If you feel
like your not that creative to think of something to send, you can
always head to www.remedymissoula.org and contribute with an online
donation. Make sure to specify if you would like your donation to be
used for the "Ignite" outreaches. This is not a plea for support. I
was just excited to see how God used Ed and wanted to provide some
encouragement to those who may feel like Ed in that they want to be a
part of what God is doing, but don't know how. God will provide for
all of our needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:19) As always, make sure that your first priority is
always to be faithful to tithe to your local church. Any other
ministry that you desire to support should be in addition to that. So
we thank God for Ed, and everyone else who is supporting us on the
frontlines of the battlefield in prayer! Keep praying for our Sunday
services and for the upcoming "Ignite" outreaches that will begin next
month! Our family is doing well! Kristi has some interviews going on
in the next few days, so we are hoping for some good news in that area
as well. Grace and peace.

~ Issac

2 Weeks in Missoula and Thankful for Mothers

Well, it has officially been two weeks since we have been living in Missoula, Montana and I can honestly say that, so far, it has exceeded our expectations. I knew that I was excited to come here, as I felt strongly that God was calling us here, but I had no idea what the reward would be for trusting God and following Him even when the cost was great. Let me tell you, the joy and peace and excitement, and everything else that I have experienced has been much greater than I would have imagined. If you have wondered if we are liking it here, let me tell you, we LOVE it!

Since the day we arrived, we hit the ground running. I won't mention all the job hunting and "busy work" we've had to do to try to get settled in this new place. Aside from all of that, since we have been here, Remedy Church launched a new Sunday Service, and we've already started R:COMMUNITY Groups in our home. We have been here 2 weeks, and this week we will host our 2nd Community Group in our home! I LOVE it! Besides that I have been down to the college campus engaging students with the gospel, and meeting with guys one on one over coffee in order to build relationships with guys in the church. It has been such a great blessing to be involved with all that is going on.

Today was our 2nd Sunday service. Last week, being our first Sunday, no one showed up who wasn't there the night before, for our Saturday service. By God's grace, we kind of expected that. Any time that you do something new, you may not get a great response the first time you do it. But today, we had 4 or 5 new people, and some some people who were previously involved in the church but stopped being able to attend Saturday services! Our 2nd Sunday service went really well! It was encourgaing to see that the word is getting out and people are coming!

On a more personal note, being that it's Mother's Day I had an opportunity to reflect on the Mothers that are close to me. First of all, my wife. I just celebrated my 8th anniversary with Kristi and shared a lot about her as my wife in a previous blog, but she is also an incredible mother to our 3 kids. Kristi loves the LORD and models godliness to our kids. I'm thankful for that! Secondly, I think of my Mom. I am thankful for the love, care, and support that my Mom has always given me. My mom is the greatest example of sacrifical love, and unconditional love (especially for her children) that I have ever seen. My mom is the greatest example of self sacrificing service to others that I have ever seen. My mom is the greatest example of perseverence through suffering that I have ever seen. My mom is the greatest example of considering others better than herself that I have ever seen. My mom is a great woman. I cannot express the love, respect, and admiration I have for my mom. I love you, mom. And finally, I think of my Mother-In-Law, Carol. Just looking at the children that she has raise gives me much respect for her. All of her kids are respectable people, but over the years I have had the opportunity to get to know and love Carol. I greatly respect her as being an amazing mother to her children. These three women are the most prominant mothers in my life, however, I know many great Moms and wish you all a happy Mothers Day as well!

Thanks for continuing to follow up with how we are doing! I promise we will get some videos and pics up soon! Until then, keep living for Jesus and honoring Him in all that you do! (only by His grace) Talk to you soon!

~ Issac

The Remedy for Unfruitful Individualistic Christianity: R:COMMUNITY

The bible lays out the concept of community throughout it's pages. Biblical community is the concept that God has not just saved us as individuals, but He has saved us and called us into a body of believers. God hasn't called us to our lives independent of anyone else; He has called us to be in intimate relationship with each other. All throughout the New Testament we see commands that we often refer to as "the one anothers"; these are commands to love one another, pray for one another, serve one another, confess our sins to one another, etc. None of these things happen entirely during a one hour church service each week. These passages of scripture and more call us to resist the temptation we all have to be isolated, and be actively involved with the lives of others while allowing others to be involved with us. This is not a call to be in a Christian bubble. As believers individually, and as a Christian community, we are on mission with Jesus. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He has commissioned us with that same initiative. So as a Christian community, we are intentionally engaging the lost world around us with the purpose of making Christ known and seeing souls saved. The clearest picture we see in the scripture of this being lived out is in Acts 2:42-47. This is the type of community we strive for at Remedy Church.

The question is; how do we cultivate that community? At Remedy, one way that we seek to cultivate community is through R:COMMUNITY Groups. (Remedy Community) These are small groups that will meet in homes during the week to practically flesh out that Acts chapter 2 type community. We will always share a meal, have good fellowship and laughs, pray for and with one another, and discuss how we can practically live out the things the LORD is teaching us through His word. The goal of these groups is to be the launch pad for community driven missional living that will take place all throughout the week and will ultimately characterize our lives for the glory of God. Our community groups will always be a place that we are inviting friends, co-workers, family members, and others who may not know the LORD, but that we have been praying for and are seeking to win for Christ with the gospel.

Last night we had our first (unofficial) R:COMMUNITY Group at our new apartment. We were really excited at how it went. Kristi and I made dinner, our friend Talitha made an amazing dessert, and we had 7 adults and 6 kids here fellowshipping and glorifying God. One of my main roles, at this time, is to get R:COMMUNITY Groups up and running and I'm so excited about it. I am passionate about our unity in true, biblical fellowship within the body of Christ, and have a great desire to see legit discipleship flow from these groups. Be in prayer that the people of Remedy would catch the vision for biblical community and devote themselves to honor the LORD through living intimately involved with other believers. We will keep you posted with how God continues to move through these groups as time goes on. As always we would love your prayers. We love you and pray that you are blessed.

~ Issac

8 Years of Grace: My Marriage and the Gospel

Yesterday, Kristi and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary! I am so thankful that the LORD has seen fit to give to me Kristi as my wife. I am praying that the LORD give us many more years together. The bible says that he who finds a wife finds a good thing. I have definitely found a good thing in my wife, Kristi. I pray that I can continue to strive to be the godly man that a godly woman deserves. I fail and fall short, but continue to strive, by God's grace, to be like Christ.

Now, the statistics say that the first 7 years of marriage are the most difficult and the time frame in which most divorces happen. Well, we made it through to the 8 year mark and are still going strong. The reason for that is grace. We have had 8 years of grace. Let me tell you, if it was all dependant upon me to hold my marriage together, it would have ended a long time ago. I will mess things up very quickly if it's up to me. I know that Kristi would say the same thing. Neither one of us have the ability, in and of ourselves, to make anything work, let alone something as significant as a marriage. The reason that our marriage stands stronger 8 years later than it was the 1st year is that we have made Jesus Christ the Lord of our marriage. You see, we recognize the fact that our marriage, although it is a blessing and has brought us much joy, is ultimately not for us. Our marriage is for God and His glory. Ephesians chapter 5 talks all about how husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and that women are to submit to their husbands as to Christ. This is one of the passages in scripture that lays out very clearly what a marriage relationship should look like. But then Paul the Apostle, the writer of Ephesians, says in verse 32 "This mystery is profound and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church". What Paul is basically saying is that our marriages are to illustrate the gospel. God has designed marriage so that it points to Him (as He has designed all things), but even greater than that He has designed it to display the gospel to the watching world. You see mountains, and trees, and rivers and streams are all of God's creation and designed to point us to Him. But none of those things illustrate and display the gospel. The husband loves his wife and gives himself up for her. The wife loves the husband and honors and submits to him. Do you see the picture? In the "drama" that is marriage the husband is playing the role of Christ and the wife is playing the role of the church! How beautiful is that? Kristi and I realize the purpose of our marriage and we recognize that it is not ultimately for our pleasure; although our marriage is VERY pleasurable. Our marriage is to display the gospel. That is why our roles as husbands and our roles as wives are so crucial. What do our roles in our marriages say about the gospel. When the husband will not love His wife and give Himself for her, in spite of ALL of her sins and failures, then our marriage is telling a lie about Christ; that He is not ALL loving and ALL forgiving and has not given His life for us. And when a wife does not submit to her husband's loving and Christlike leadership, then our marriage is telling a lie about the church; that the church doesn't have to submit to Christ; that we can be "independent" and do our own thing. And if the roles are reversed and the husband is submitting to the wife's leadership the picture gets really distorted and we are no longer representing the gospel and our marriages are no longer fulfilling their purpose. God created marriage for His purposes. Kristi and I have resolved that we will seek to honor God with our marriage and display the gospel in our roles and relationship. Now we are sinners and we blow it at times, but we offer the same grace and forgiveness that our LORD has offered to us. So as the husband (playing the role of Christ in this gospel drama) I have a tall order to fill; as do ALL husbands. I would appreciate your prayers in that and will pray for the husbands that I know as often as I think to do so. But as Kristi and I have sought to honor the LORD with our marriage and our family, He has blessed us and we are so happy! We are not a marriage that has survived "for the kids", or out of any other compulsion. Kristi remains my best friend today and there is no one I would rather spend time with than her. I have heard her say the same about me. Nothing good in our marriage has fizzled out and faded away! Only our sin and failures in our roles are fading as time goes by and we grow more in God's grace. All of the good things in our marriage (communication, friendship, intimacy, love, care, concern, commitment, etc.) are increasing and being strengthened with each year!

So here is to my wife! I love you, Kristi and I promise you that I will continue to strive to love you as Christ loves the church and gave Himself for her. I will commit myself to growing and being the godly and Christ-like leader that you can joyfully submit to. I promise to pray with you. I promise to read God's word with you. I promise that I will guard our time together and never let anything come between us and hinder our oneness. Here is to 8 amazing years!

~ Issac

First Day of School

Yesterday, the kids had their first day of school. They were each greeted with friendly interactions, which made Issac and I very happy! It's always hard, as a parent, to let your kids go into the "unknown." Hellgate Elementary/Middle School did a GREAT job in making the kids feel welcomed!
As we took Ikey to his class, few of the kids in the hallway said, "Hi, Issac!" They must have remebered him from Friday when we toured the school! His teacher was really nice too and showed him where to put his things. He was the visibly nervous out of all the kids, but made a lot of friends and was the "popular" kid for the day. He said that at recess, all of the kids played with him and followed him wherever he went.
Caleb was greeted by his teacher, who is SO FRIENDLY! The class made him a welcome mat for his desk, where everyone wrote little notes to him and drew pictures and signed it. None of the kids were in the class, so he was allowed to play some computer games until everyone came in. He said that everyone in the class was his friend. That's so awesome because he said in Santa Fe, he had no friends.
Courtney received her class schedule at the front desk and 3 girls from her homeroom came to the office to greet her and show her how to get to her classes. They showed her where her locker was and how to open it. They were very friendly and I noticed another girl introduce herself to Courtney as we were leaving. Courtney said she made some friends and she really enjoyed her classes. Of course, she likes the library a lot and spent her break time in there.
I'm so happy that they all came home with great news to report about their new school! We've been blessed to have kids that actually enjoy school, so that makes it much easier too!

:Kristi:

Glad We're Here

So the moment came for us to finally experience the reason we came. Up
till now we've experienced the beauty of Missoula, the blessing of
great friends, and the privilege of meeting amazing new people; just
to name a few of the many good things we have experienced. But none of
those things are the reason we came. We came to Montana, by the call
of God, to serve and help build Remedy Church. Last night was
officially my first Remedy service. I was here once before, last July,
as a guest speaker, but God has now brought me back as an Assistant
Pastor. Let me tell you, I'm glad I'm back. It didn't take long for me
to be fighting back tears of joy during the music portion of our
worship service last night as I watched the beautiful people of God
sing to their Savior. I am so humbled that God would allow me the
privilege of serving these people. I was truly on a high last night.
It is just so exciting to be right where God wants you. Kristi and the
kids were just as excited and that makes it even better! Today we
launched Sunday services at Remedy. I wasn't surprised that no one new
came being that it was the first time we had done a Sunday service.
The staff was there as well as a godly guy from the church that was in
attendance last night but wanted to come and support the Sunday
launch. It's a new thing and we have got to work on getting the word
out, so I didn't expect a whole lot more than we saw today. But we
will pray that God bring people on Sundays to hear the gospel, worship
the LORD, and be equipped for the work of the ministry. Would you join
us in prayer for that? We would appreciate that. So we have our work
cut out for us! We have to get out there and preach the gospel and
spread the word of Remedy's Sunday service. That's why we're here. We
look forward to sharing all of the awesome things that God does with
Remedy with all of you. This was an exciting weekend and we are so
glad we are here. Thank you again for your support. Grace and peace.

~ Issac

Sent from my iPhone