We opened our season with a trip to the far east edge of Colorado Springs.  We worked clearing tumbleweeds from a 250+ foot driveway. 

We currently have eight open work orders. 

Sifting in Black Forest

We have an open work order in the Black Forest for a sifting job.  We started this job at the end of last year and were able to make three trips before the weather forced us out. There is one more day of work left.  We will start when the temperatures rise enough for the ash to thaw.

Sifting east of Kiowa

We assessed a home that burned just east of Kiowa the first of the year.  The road conditions to get to the property were dangerous at the time of assessment and have gotten worse with the recent snows.  Once the weather clears and the roads have time to clear from snow and ice, and the ash has time to thaw we will get this one on the calendar.

Repairing Vapor Barrier

We had this job on the calendar for the 1^st of February.  It was cancelled due to weather and unsafe road conditions. This is a small job taking only two or three volunteers.  We will get it back on the calendar as soon as possible.

Tree Work Black Forest

We have work orders to help three families in Black Forest with clearing trees.  These will be big jobs requiring multiple visits. 

Dig a Ditch

We have just assessed helping to dig out a drainage pipe that clogged during the flooding last year and caused a basement to flood.  We did the mud-out and have been asked if we would be willing to come back and help dig out the pipe so the homeowner can repair it.

Fire Mitigation

We are scheduling a return visit to Jane’s home to work fire mitigation.

We were given the opportunity to present Hope Restored to the congregation at Rocky Mountain Calvary (Colorado Springs, CO) during all three services.  We also had a table in the foyer for people to sign up for newsletters, to ask questions, and to talk. 

We had the privilege to provide a training for fire, flood, and tornado response to the team at Tri-Lakes United Methodist Church (Colorado Springs, CO).  They had a great turn out of team members and two representatives from the El Paso County Emergency Operations Center. 

Byron has been invited by the El Paso County Emergency Operations Center to help teach Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) classes in May and June.

Byron and Susan have been invited to speak at a church family camp in California in June.

God is providing opportunities in our local community for our teams to work and share the gospel.  We committed to focus our efforts on the greater Colorado Springs area this year.  We have completed two work orders already, have another eight work orders that are ready to work, and have two work orders that are ready to be assessed.

We have been able to purchase two new chain saws that will be used immediately this year on the existing three work orders and the work orders that we expect to add in the next couple of months that we have that have a good deal of tree work.

Here are the ministry needs for which we are seeking prayer:

• Help to wisely discern how to invest our time, resources, and talents.

• Opportunities, courage, and success for the volunteers in sharing the gospel through all of the interactions that we have as we serve.

• Sourcing – Please pray that God will help us to get into the right places and organizations to get the donations required for tooling and supplies to support the volunteers in the work.  Specifically we are low on Tyvek type coveralls for expected flooding and fire response.

In His Service,