Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

And so begins another week on the great adventure God has called us to!

We had a great week! We spent most of the week catching up on rest, reading, studying and spending time with Lord and our friends. Tony and Chriss are such a blessing to us!

Wednesday night we went to an awesome Bible Study. Frankly I (Rhonda) was not having a good day. I needed to get into the Word...I needed me some Jesus, some Word and some fellowship with believers! I was like junkie I needed it so bad! As usual, the Lord blessed beyond measure. My nephew Jake invited us to the adult Bible Study of Southwest Christian Church. Sam and Jake went to youth and Ron and showed up at Pastor Loren's house. Pastor Loren and Julie Copp welcomed us in like they had known us for a hundred years. Brother Eric lead the Bible Study and we just had the best time learning and sharing about the Lord. Brother Eric asked first where/when we remembered experiencing God's presence in a real and tangible way. It was a really interesting opening. Everyone had a different story to share and only one actually shared an experience that happened in Church.

So what about you? Where have you experienced God in your life where you KNOW that you know that you know He was there with you, touching you? Respond to this Blog with your answer. I will compile them anonymously and post them. We need to look for God everyone. God says to us “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” Let’s encourage one another with our word of testimony!

So, we had a GREAT time with the brothers at Southwest Christian Church (http://www.swccmo.org ). We plan to return this Wednesday night and Lord willing, attend this Sunday.

Sam had a tremendous opportunity this past weekend. He was able to attend a youth rally called FM419. This name is based on Matthew 4:19 Jesus said, "Come and Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19. ”Youth [have]…a weekend of high-energy music and life-changing training. [Youth] Get down to the basics of what [they] believe, find power to live what [they] say, and learn how to share [their] faith with others” ( http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883230?bctid=18737868001 ) The band “The Afters” were there. They sing “Never going back to Okay”. Sam and his two cousins went and they had a great time. Ron took some video footage after the event asking Kids who Jesus was to them. Look forward to a short U-Tube of this footage. It is pretty cool! Sam was blessed by the event and I believe it gave him a better comfort level in sharing his faith. Of course the enemy has been at him a little. He is a little blue…missing his friends…his life is so different. PLEASE pray for Sam. Call him, email him…encourage him. (sam@lovelyfeet.org)

Saturday afternoon we got a call that someone was interested in seeing the house. We were so happy. I told the girl on the phone that of course they could come and look at the house and that they should invite all their friends to come too. (she thought I was a little crazy…huh…imagine). You may have heard that the sale of the home fell through. We were disappointed but we know God is sovereign and that He has something else in mind. We know that He has a better house suited for the Johnson’s and a buyer who is looking for exactly what our house has to offer. Please partner in prayer with us about this. God will bring the buyer in His time.

Yesterday we had a GREAT day. Of course it was Mothers Day and that was great. Sam got me the most beautiful pair of earrings. They are silver doves. I LOVE THEM! I heard from all of the other 5 kids as well and basically felt like I must be the best Mom ever. Thanks kids! I love you all so much!!! (especially you…you are my favorite…you know who you are…)

The pictures posted above are from Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Charles MO. My brother Rich was able to work with his Pastor in giving us the opportunity to share about God’s work in Bolivia. We were given 5 minutes to share (you all know Ron…this was HARD…but he was able to say what God had him to say in 6 ½ minutes…a new record for Mr. Haynes!). We had so many people stop at the table and ask questions. Someone wanted to know when they could come to Bolivia and help in God’s work there. We were so blessed! To see the interest and compassion in these dear brothers and sisters was so amazing!!!

For dinner Chriss spear-headed the kids efforts and we had a great time visiting, eating, visiting, eating and visiting.

We leave you with this blessing…

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
We love you all!

Diosampiki,

Ron, Rhonda and Sam

Meet me in St. Louis...

Dear Brothers,

Greetings from St. Louis MO! (and surrounding areas)

We arrived in St. Louis late Friday night (May Day). We brought with us the blessing given us by Brother Ron Moore, a pop-up camper. Bullet (our truck) had no problem pulling the pop-up. In fact we got much much better gas mileage! We are very thankful to God for this blessing. You would be surprised how much it holds. We were thinking we would have to leave a lot of our things behind in Chicago but were so grateful to find that almost everything fit! We had to leave two things behind...Rhonda's Bike and Ron's bass guitar. However, one other blessing is that Ron's brother Buddy let him borrow his bass guitar which is much smaller and lighter. Therefore Ron does have a bass, just not "his" bass. So we are thankful. Also we were able to bring Ron and Sam's bikes so if Rhonda wants a bike to ride she does have access.

We had a great day on Saturday. We went to Rhonda's brother's praise band practice; Rhonda even got to sing a long. It was a great time of worship and fun. Rich introduced Rhonda to everyone adding that she was going on a "mission trip" to Bolivia. Rhonda had to point out that her dear brother was still in a little bit of denial about the whole thing. Rhonda pointed out that we are MOVING to South America not taking a short term mission trip. Rich grinned and we all had a bit of a laugh at his expense. It is hard for a big brother.

Sunday we were so blessed to minister in two churches in Steelville MO. Steelville is about an hour and a half from St. Louis. We left early Sunday morning for Center Point Baptist Church. The Pastor, Matt Cook, is married to Rhonda's cousin Sharon. The congregation was so welcoming! They treated us just like family. Well I guess we kind of are...Rhonda's aunt and uncle have been members of this church for about 300 years so, we felt right at home. Ron preached an anointed message and we praised and thanked the Lord. We talked afterward with several people. Rhonda shared with some really cool teens who were very interested to hear more about the mission. One girl Hannah Banana is home-schooled and seemed especially interested. We thank God that He is moving in the hearts of our youth and preparing them for their calling.

After church we had a great lunch and visit with Rhonda's family. We all shared stories of times past. Later Uncle Terry took us over to the Meramac Baptist Assoc Camp Grounds and showed us around. We are hoping to take the pop-up down there and park for a week or so to rest and spend sometime together as a family and with the Lord.

Sunday evening we were invited to Straightway Baptist also in Steelville. How awesome to be invited by Christian brothers and sisters we haven’t even met! God is good all the time! Pastor Mike and the whole congregation invited us in with open arms. We had the best time singing some old time favorites and then Pastor Mike turned the pulpit over to Ron. WOW, Ron was on FIRE! He preached from Mark 2 and shared about the Aymara. The Lord really moved. The congregation was so generous in every respect. One brother spoke up and made a motion to for the church to make a donation to the mission to the Aymara and it was quickly seconded and past. Another brother was ready to sign up to come and minister and work on a short time mission trip. This brother (Brad) wanted to plan a trip and bring his 13 year old daughter. We hope to spend more time with Pastor Mike and his wife as well as Rhonda’s family while there camping.

It was such an encouragement to see these two bodies of believers so on fire for the Gospel! We were greatly blessed! We pray that they were blessed by our sharing as well.

Today we wait to hear if the deal will go through on our home sale. There have been a few hic-ups but we know that God is sovereign and faithful and that He will sell our home at the right time to the right people and the He will greatly bless us and the buyers in the process. We are so thankful for our new friend and Real Estate agent Karen Miller. She and Jessica Smith have worked so hard for us. We feel more like they are friends than agents. We are thankful to God for them and for our new friendship.

Please be in prayer for the final steps of selling our home. Also please continue to pray that God will open doors for us to minister. We are overwhelmed by the church’s desire to hear more about the Aymara. It is amazing how the people want to know more and help more to spread the Gospel. We trust God to open doors that no man can shut and to direct our paths.

Thank you, thank you for all your prayers for us. We feel them and God answers them!

Diosampiki!
Ron, Rhonda and Sam

On the road in Chicago!

Dear Brothers,

Here we are in Chicago. What an adventure!

After days and hours and hours and days of work on the house (Nate & Kelly’s house now) we departed Chattanooga on Friday at 9pm. That’s right 9 PM! We were pulling a 28’ Camper and it was late and we were running on faith, coffee and excitement! We made it over Mounteagle with MUCH prayer (Rhonda white-knuckled hanging onto the door)! We then made it down Mounteagle with more prayer. We were praising and thanking the Lord for His provision and protection! We were determined to drive further.

At about 2:30 in the morning somewhere in the middle of Kentucky, Sam noticed something flapping on the roof of the camper. We got out to take a look at the roof to see what was flapping and found the "what" was the shredded pieces of the roof that had come off was what was flapping. We drove a little further to Paducah Kentucky and parked in Wal-Mart for the night…or at least for the rest of the night.

By morning (a few hours later) we prayerfully determined that we needed to leave the camper behind and head on to Chicago. Ron was due to preach at Abundant Life Church in Wilmington IL that next morning. We knew that the enemy was trying to keep us from getting there so we were more determined than ever to GET THERE! The devils a liar! We called brother Rob (owner of the camper) and he agreed it was best for us to go on and he graciously agreed to come and pick up the camper in Paducah.

We had to unload all of our personal items from the camper and on to a U-Haul tag-a-long. Finally we were ready to leave Paducah at about 4 in the afternoon. We had to get rid of some of the food we had packed and we had and noticed a couple of homeless kids (16 or 17yrs) near the Interstate. We walked over and offered them the food. Their names are Creeper and Sassy. They are a young couple on their way to Mt Sterling IL. We asked if we could pray for them. Creeper’s only prayer request was for the Sassy and the baby in her tummy. Creeper doesn’t know the Lord but he did allow us to lay hands on him and pray for him, Sassy and the baby. We didn’t have room to offer them a ride and fortunately they had a place to stay for the night. Please join us as we continue to pray for them, their salvation and safety.

We arrived late to Chicago on Saturday night and made it to Abundant Life without too much ado. We had a wonderful time of worship! This body of believers was so sweet and welcoming to us. Ron preached a great message (he is my favorite preacher) and many were moved by the Spirit. One sad thing…we missed the Lord in one area. A woman spoke up asking for prayer for depression. I was greatly moved by her request. I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to go and lay hands on her right then and pray for her. I found out later that both Ron and I felt this urging at that moment. Sadly, we did not respond to this prompting. We prayed for her when we got home and with great sorrow repented to God for not responding to His voice. Please pray that we are not only sensitive to the voice of God but also RESPONSIVE!

After the service we had lunch with Pastor Greg when a brother (also named Ron) called to say that he had a pop-up camper that we would be welcome to use and we could come over right then to take a look at it. We drove the short distance to Coal City and found the camper to be really nice and perfect for our needs…in some ways even better than the travel trailer. The pop-up weighs less and will be much better on gas mileage. We thanked Ron and told him we wanted to go home and ask the Lord about it.

We called the members of our board and asked them to pray about it as well. We are so thankful to God that He has provided for us. We all prayed and felt the Lord urging us to accept Brother Ron’s generous offer. Today Ron is working with Brother Ron on the finishing touches to get the camper road-ready. I cannot express our joy. We are so humbled by the love we have been shown and by all the prayers you have all offered up on our behalf.

Today we received an email from a brother Mike and a sister Peggy in Steelville MO sharing that they had been praying for us in Sunday School past. As you can tell, their prayers were heard! WOW, people we do not even know are praying for us. They have invited us to come and share about the Lord’s work in Bolivia next Sunday night. We are so blessed! We of course responded with thanks for the prayers and excitement over the opportunity to share.

For those of you who may doubt how much the enemy hates us and how much our Father loves us…let me tell you this last thing. Today I (Rhonda) went up to Starbucks to check email and update this Blog. When I went to boot up the computer the entire monitor was white with stripes of colors…like a rainbow. I heard Windows boot up but could not see anything on the monitor. I began to pray against this attack of the enemy pleading for God to intervene in this situation. You all know we can do without a laptop but it really is a blessing to have for so many reasons. I laid my hands on the computer as I prayed and I rebooted. After the reboot there was no change. I still saw a white screen with rainbow stripes. As I continued to pray slowly stripe by stripe I began to see fade away and my Windows desktop appear until all was restored. For you computer experts you may tell me something about heat or cold or electrical connections but I know that the enemy was defeated once again in an attempt to steal our peace and rob us of gifts given by our Father. All I can say is “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” and Amen…so say we all!

Love to all,
Ron, Rhonda and Sam

And they're off...

Dear Friends,

We are amazed at how awesome our God is!! Tomorrow we pack up the computer so this was our last chance to touch base until we are ON THE ROAD!

Praise the Lord we have sold our house. But wait...it gets better! We found out today that the couple buying our house are members at First Lutheran Chattanooga. In fact, Nate is the Director of Christian Education at 1st and he knows many of our Good Shepherd Lutheran friends. Before we ever met, we were praying for Nate and Kelli. We began to pray in January for the family that God would lead to make this their home. We prayed that they would feel the love and comfort here, that they would feel the presence of our Father. Wow, why are we so surprised when God answers our prayers?

So today I (Rhonda) was in the bedroom when the people came to measure for the new carpet for the new owners. We had not met the new owners but we knew their names. So I am in the bedroom making a DVD on the computer when I see Stephanie Henze walk by my room. I was like "Stephanie?" and she was like "Rhonda what are you doing here? Is this your house?" of course I said yes and then she asked if I knew that Nate had bought the house. I told her I knew that a guy named Nathan bought the house but that I did not know him. She introduced us (Ron and I and Sam) to Nate. What a great guy! He has such a passion for the Lord it is wonderful to see!

He asked if we would be interested in sharing about our mission at 1st when we come back to TN in July. Of course...YES! God is so funny. I know He is up there grinning at His handiwork. My friends, He is not slow in keeping His promises. He has answered every prayer!

We have been greatly blessed by our dear friends Rob & LeAnn for the loan of the camper. Ron and Rob have been working and working (with some help from Brian) to make all things ready. The camper is already beginning to feel like home. Sam was sitting in her (I think of our camper as a her...weird? maybe...so what) anyway, so Sam was sitting there and said "Ok, I'm home".

Cocoa and Figaro seem to really like it as well. We have added a special brake for the trailer to the truck that will make things safer. Tomorrow we put the final touches and sanitize the water system and she is ready to go! We have named our truck Bullet but not sure about the Camper girl yet....maybe we will just call her lil' sis cause she is a tag-a-long...get it?

Please continue to be in prayer for us. There are still challenges and obstacles to be overcome. We have an older truck and an older camper…”Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”!

Our first stop on the US Tour is Abundant Life Church in Wilmington IL. We are so blessed to be able to share with Ron’s great friend Pastor Greg Linkous. We will be there for about a week then we are off to Steelville MO. For those of you who don’t know…take Highway “Farty-Far” (44) to Cuba and turn left. That is Steelville. There, we will be sharing at Center Point Baptist with Pastor Matt Cook and his lovely, sweet, wonderful wife (and my cousin) Sharon.

From there we will spend some time with family in St. Louis with hopes of God opening doors there for us to share His great work in Bolivia.

We love you all and feel your prayers. We know God hears as we see His hand moving in our lives.

Pray on Faithful Warrior Friends!

Love,

Ron, Rhonda and Sam

No foolin'!

Hey everybody! We are making our way to the promised land---Bolivia??? Yes, Bolivia. Step by step God is taking us there as a response to the desire of our hearts and the need of the Bolivian people. So where are we along the route??? Well, we now have the truck to pull the camper! We listed our cars for sale, sold one and traded the other for....you guessed it, a truck. We have been blessed with a wonderful Dodge Ram truck as an even swap for our Pontiac Grand Prix. And we are loving the truck.

It has a towing package on it...which we needed! And another friend of ours put on new brakes including the rotors so that it would be ready to stop as well as pull the camper.

Our house is still for sale! We have had many people come to look at it but we are still waiting for the "ka CHING!!!" money offer! So, to all who are reading this---stop right here and ask God to sell it, then rebuke the enemy from trying to prevent it. You wouldn't believe what the enemy has done---it is laughable! TWICE, that's right TWICE, we have had realtors come to the house to the show the house and then tell us the door know wouldn't open! There is NOTHING wrong with the door now! It's perfect---there is absolutely no reason it would not open. IT's a brand new doorknob! Everytime I get home I take the key and turn it, and the door opens!!! It's never been stuck! So, the night before last I anointed the door knob with oil, prayed over everydoor and then left. This time: no complaints about the door!

WE are also trying to open the doors for the churches to have us come in order to hear the message, learn about the Aymara and support this mission with prayers and finances! Again, pray for open doors! Our scheduling is currently sparse but is picking up steam!

Check back with us soon. WE ARE LEAVING SOMETIME AFTER APRIL 15 AND BEFORE APRIL 25. Send us YOUR prayer requests at ron@lovelyfeet.org or rhonda@lovelyfeet.org.

We Got Wheels...and a bed

As you know we have been praying for a camper, a truck, the house to sell, and financial supporters and prayer supporters for our ministry to Bolivia. Now, you might ask why we need a camper and truck....are we driving to Bolivia??? No! But we are driving through the United States until the end of September meeting pastors, preaching on the street, and ministering in churches to raise support and partners for the mission in Bolivia. The three of us have to live somewhere while we are driving across the U.S. And about a month ago God dropped it in our spirits to get a camper and a truck. So, I began a search, finding a few trucks here and there and a few campers that seemed the right fit. But, without any finances I simply said to God, "Hey, this looks good, don't you think?" And I also reminded God that the clock is ticking (more about that in a minute).

So, two days ago I get a message from my friends that they have a camper that we could use. I said, wow, how generous but I need it the whole summer until September and he said, "I said you could use it as long as you need it. Come by and look at it." So, we did and its even more than what we had been asking God for. It has a bunk bed for Sam...under my plan Sam was sleeping on the floor (just kidding...no angry letters please). Sam would have slept on the couch that converts to a bed. Now he has a place that is his. God is more than we could even ask or think.

As for the clock ticking....In November I was asked how our ministry development was going and I answered with , "I'm just waiting on God." In December friends started delivering messages to me from the pulpit and in sermons saying God is waiting on YOU! During the first week of January I received a word of prayer from my own Son saying the same thing---the sixth time! Another said that I would hear it again. A few days later, I heard it a seventh and then I heard another word from a friend who said, God wants me to tell you this and it doesn't make sense to me, but he says, "The clock is ticking!" Then she asked if I knew what that meant. ----only too well! So God and I have had this thing since then. He reminds me and I remind Him, "the clock is ticking!" Now we are at work everyday getting everything ready and receiving more and more ideas about the ministry. We are locking in arrangements in Bolivia as well. STAY TUNED GOD FANS, SAME GOD TIME, SAME GOD BLOG! (I'm feeling kinda Batmanish, Supermanish...ummm, God's manish? I hope so) {Ok, for you young people the Batman TV show used to say Stay tuned, Same bat time, same bat channel----sheesh, it loses something when you have to explain it!} - RON-

We love you all and thank you for your prayers and support. We are going to try and keep you posted on what is going on with us via this Blog. God is doing such amazing things so quickly that we have a hard time keeping up. Please please please keep us in your prayers. -RHONDA-

Bolivia Summer 2008 Video

These are photos of our recent trip to Bolivia Summer 2008.