The Christmas Store!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!
This morning we had the opportunity to be apart of Mile High Ministries Christmas Store. Mile High has been doing the Christmas Store for 19 years now. The way the store works is families in need of a little extra help during the holidays are able to come purchase really nice toys for 75% off the regular store price. Mile High has a motto that they like to to stand on that we give the community a hand up, not a hand out. The parents don't walk away with free stuff, they walk away from the store with dignity that they were able to provide nice presents for their children for Christmas. There were tons of volunteers that came to be apart of this special day!


Here is a video of all the volunteers before the Christmas store shoppers arrived...





Let the shopping Begin!


Cashiers are ready for some shoppers...


Toys are ready to be taken home!


We all listened to Christmas music as the shopping took place


We were the toy stockers for kiddos ages 4-7


Helping the parents find the perfect gifts was so much fun!


How about this one?


What a blessing to so many parents and their children


After the toys were purchased, the community sat and enjoyed the music, coffee, and yummy home-made treats while their gifts were wrapped by volunteers



What a great day! I look forward to Martin Missions being able to host a yearly event like the Christmas store! So many smiles, so many lives changed by volunteers joining together to serve.. wow, just gives me goosebumps!

We love being His hands and His feet among His people! We have never been so fulfilled in life as we are right now. When God calls, we encourage you to go, step out, or just do what He says, the reward is great and the impact you can make will change your life and the lives around you for eternity!

Thankful in 2009

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful this year! First we started off our festivities at Joshua Station on Wednesday night. The community came together to give thanks for all that we have been given. Matt and I cooked alot of potatoes and boy did they go fast! Here are some pictures and a video from our fun night at Joshua Station.














Volunteers from a local church came to decorate and serve us turkey, dressing, and gravy! Here they are in the community kitchen preparing the meal.




















Having fun together, giving thanks.














We are blessed to have the opportunity to be apart of such a life changing place.



Thursday, Thanksgiving Day with our friends, the Franson's


Jessie and Wendy


It was such a beautiful day, we decided to go play at the park





We hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are thankful for all the Lord has blessed us with this year. We are thankful for your love, prayers, and support!

October Blessings

Martin Missions hosted a pumpkin painting "Family Pumpkin Picnic" at Linda Spurlock Park in North Richland Hills. Even though the weather was rainy (Unexpected), we still had fun painting pumpkins, feeding the duckies, and spending time together.


Make a Smilebox scrapbook

October was a month of some expected and some unexpected blessings for Matt and I. We were prepared to leave for Matt's sister's wedding the first week of October when the Monday before we left we got an unexpected call from our renters back in Texas at 5am that our house (which we just finished remodeling in March) was flooded. The renters woke up to several inches of water under their feet because of a busted line under the sink in the kitchen. We left right away as we made phone calls to clean up the mess the water had created. We are blessed to have insurance! For the rest of the month we scheduled help to RE remodel our home. It was sad to see all the hard work ruined, but we were able to make the house even nicer for our renters and it also raised our resale value. The house got new paint, carpet, base boards, all new tile flooring (that looks like wood) in the living areas, kitchen cabinets, countertops, backsplash, and lighting.

(Unexpected)


Thank you to James and Abby Crowley, Eva Martin, Danny and Heidi Cox, and Barbra Elder for allowing us to stay in your home! Also, a Huge thank you to all our friends that provided meals for us during our stay, your company and food was wonderful!
We are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

While we were in Texas we were able to be apart of some fun times! Check out what we were able to be apart of while remodeling our home...

My Sister in law, Melissa's Tea before her wedding (Expected)~

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Aaron and Melissa's Fun Wedding (Expected)~

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Family Fall Festival Martin Style at Michael's school(Expected)~

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

And last but not least.. Early Thanksgiving and Big Announcement with Granddaddy(Unexpected)~

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

And to all our supporters who receive our newsletter, October was a crazy month, sorry we were unable to send you an update. You will be getting an update in the mail soon! If you are not on our list and would like to be, email us or message us on facebook with your address. Thanks!

"You Did It Mommy!"

Today was Town Hall meeting at Joshua Station. Town Hall is held the first Thursday of every month after community dinner. During this meeting, residents are informed of changes, announcements are made, and best of all those who have completed the program are announced. This is a story that melted my heart and brought me to tears. One of the residents had completed the program and moved into stable housing so this was the night that the staff was to announce the graduation. Her family advocate stood up with her in the front of the room and began telling us all the struggles and accomplishments that had taken place over the past year she had been a resident. The resident had also brought her four year old son who had walked this journey with his mom. He sat patiently and quietly as the family advocate wrapped up the congrats and gave his mom the framed graduation certificate. Everyone clapped and as the room then got quiet her son made this precious statement, "Mommy you did it!" Four years old, I can not imagine how proud he was of his mommy. This right here is good news my friends. Lives are being changed forever. Everyday we learn more and more stories that make us thankful to be apart of this incredible adventure and drive us to help families. Thank you for reading my story. This is what we love to do.

You are invited to the Martin Missions
Family Pumpkin Picnic


When? 5pm-9pm Sunday,October 11, 2009
Where? Linda Spurlock Park, North Richland Hills, Texas


Bring your family, your pumpkins, and your picnic dinner to Linda Spurlock Park.
We will have paints and stickers to decorate pumpkins together.

So lets get together, decorate some pumpkins and play!

We would love to see you and fill you in on what's been happening with Martin Missions in Denver. Feel Free to invite friends and family to this event! We would love to share our vision to help families.

Hope to see you pumpkins there!

Love, Matt and Wendy

Joshua Station Benefit Concert

The Joshua Station Benefit Concert was loads of fun! Here is the church where the concert was held. This church is really old. It used to be a Jewish Temple. It is located in a great location, Down town Denver. (Sorry for the blurry pictures, I used my phone)
This is one of the beautiful stain glass windows within the church. Isn't it beautiful? I had to take a picture as the sun was beaming through.
On Thursday before the concert, one of the residents and I baked in the kitchen from 1pm to 6pm. We had fun making muffins, cookies,and cupcakes! I have never baked so much in my life. And, boy were all the baked goods yummy, ofcourse we had to taste them... Here is just a "taste" of what baked goods we had to offer! And guess what? By the end of the night ALL the baked goods were bought!
Thank you Lord, our baking really was good!

Here is our new friend Rich picking out some yummy treats! Not that he is not sweet enough already!

The band~ The residents and staff had a great time dancing and singing to familiar party songs! What a great time was had by all. Money was not the only thing raised at the concert.. so were praises to the Lord and the spirits of the Joshua Station residents and staff.

Thank You Martin Missions Supporters

We just want to say a huge THANK YOU to all our Martin Missions supporters. We are blessed to have the opportunity to train here in Denver. The resources are amazing. Besides Joshua Station, we have had the opportunity to be apart of a couple of local homeless meetings recently which have opened our eyes to the issues that are present here in the city. We have met many great people involved in helping the homeless at these local meetings and through Foothills Community Church. We look forward to visiting and serving at many different facilities in the area who have a heart like ours to help families in need. We want to be able to see different housing situations, ways of running transitional housing, and learn from other leaders in the area whose goals are similar.
If you would like to partner with us you can become a monthly supporter or give a one time gift. You can either give your tax deductible gift(s) online or send it to Martin Missions Inc. P.O.Box 2472 Englewood, CO 80150. Once you send a gift online, we will have your information for further updates.

Thank you for your support! Your willingness to give helps families in need. We have all had people who have believed in us, supported us, helped paved the way. Thanks for being a support to families who need a foundation to build upon.

Blessings,

Matt and Wendy Martin