indonesia..... God is amazing

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Looking Back, One Child At a Time

Hey everyone.. I have to write a "personal narrative" for my english class, and this is what I decided to write...
Keep going4god,
Maddie Gonzo :)

One Child At a Time

It all began with my mom praying for my dad that he would come back to the Lord, and want to live for him. Dragging him to church one day in 2004, changed his life, and my family’s life. In church that night, there was a pastor that came from Cambodia to speak about his ministry, and the poverty there. As my dad listened to the pastor talk, he was wondering how God could ever let young girls (as young as I was) live as child prostitutes and in so much poverty. After my dad was praying, he heard God speak to him very clearly saying, “Rudy, how could you let this happen? You’re my hands, and feet.” Two weeks later, my dad was out in the jungle of Cambodia building an Orphanage, and taking care of little kids, and it changed his life forever.
The next summer he wasn’t able to go back to Cambodia because he couldn’t get enough time off of work. He was very disappointed, and wanted to do something. One weekend a pastor friend called and asked my dad if he wanted to go to Mexico with him to build a church. Of course he said yes, and my brother who was only fifteen years old at the time went with him. There they met another pastor named Pastor Troy who was all the way from New Orleans, LA. They had a blast on the trip, and got their hearts broken all over again for the kids living in the garbage dump, and orphans without a place to stay.
About a month later when they got back from Mexico, we heard that Hurricane Katrina was about to hit New Orleans. My brother recognized that Pastor Troy was from there and told my dad that we had to go help him. My family raised hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donations, and sent over fifteen teams to New Orleans to help.
After Hurricane Katrina, is where I came in. I was only 9 years old at the time, and asked my dad if there were any hungry kids in Santa Rosa. I was disappointed that I was ‘too young’ to go all the way to Cambodia, Louisiana, or even Mexico. He told me that there were, so I asked the question that changed my life; “Why aren’t we feeding them?” That week I put together 18 bags of groceries that I took out of my kitchen cabinets. My dad came home after a hard day of work and saw that I had groceries packed. My mom asked my dad where we were going to go and he said where Jesus would go. We went to the most dangerous part of Santa Rosa where 90% of crimes happened, known as Papago Court. When we showed up, we knocked on doors and told them we had food and prayer from Jesus.
Our lives could not have been crazier at the time. My mom was battling with cancer, and my little sister and I had just collected fifteen hundred toys for orphans in mexico. Now we wanted to start a neighborhood outreach. From the 18 bags of groceries in one neighborhood, the outreach has grown to five thousand pounds of food every week out of my front yard distributed into eight different neighborhoods.
My younger sister and I have been interviewed on ABC7 News, and were honored by the American Red Cross as Good Samaritans in Northern California. Although it takes a lot of effort, it is worth developing relationships with little kids and seeing all the smiles on their faces. I will not stop, and I will keep helping, one hungry child, and smile at a time.

ugo4god schedule this week!

Monday: Bold In God bible study meets from 6:00-9:00pm
6:00-9:00 Bible Study with Pastor Rudy & Rich, Starbucks on Hopper

Tuesday: Praying for the nations! If you would like to donate hand sewn warm fleece, flannel or Christmas print juvenile blankets, we can use them for Mexico~ and if you would like to purchase a blanket for the children of Pakistan ($15) please donate to: RAVEN Ministries and we will be sending donation towards warm blankets for children at Christmas to Pastor Swan in Pakistan at Thanksgiving.

Wednesday: Join us at the Living Word Prayer Night at 7:00 pm at their new location off of Airway Dr

Thursday: Mommy gathering at 11:30, Gonzalez home and Outreach to Roseland at 5pm (getting dark), gathering at Gonzalez home at 4:30pm

Friday: Bundles of Joy! Wrapping baby kits at Lori's from 6-9pm for the nations! Please bring something to put on top of a baked potato to share for dinner!

Saturday: Keeping the sabbath holy! Soccer, Go Aftershocks!

Ministry opportunities if you can't make it to regular Thursday night outreach:
Please consider donating postage stamps, envelopes or homemade cookies and/or your time addressing 'treats' to over 60 college kids we are sending packages to on a regular basis (weekly); cooking dinner or a dessert for the RAVEN team~ Mondays by 5:30pm (for 12-15 people) and/or Thursdays by 4:00pm (for 12-15 people); donating diapers for local families with babies (any size); sewing baby blankets; donating JoAnn or Walmart gift cards for diapers/fabric for raven babies ministry; donating airline miles for team to get to Mardi Gras in February; donating gas cards for team to go to Mexico in December; donating sleeping bags for Santa Rosa outreach to the homeless the morning after Thanksgiving!

Thank you everyone for partnering with us!
Please email prayer requests 24/7 to: gonzofamily5@aol.com

RAVEN babies!

Another new RAVEN blog to check out!
www.Ravenbabiesinternational.blogspot.com

IEROT.shutterfly.com

Please go to the above address to see the latest journal entries from the team in Indonesia!
Thank you so much for your prayers for Rudy and our family!
To God be the glory!

ugo4god schedule this week!

Monday: RAVEN BIG (Bold In God) Gathering at Gonzalez home for dinner and bible study 6-9pm contact Maddie for info

Tuesday: Abortion Clinic Prayer Vigil on Hwy 12 and Mission Blvd. Please join us from 11-2 We are getting the box truck turned into a mobile RAVEN baby boutique to be used through the second week of December! We will continue to share JESUS, free prayer and doula support to families in our city and now have a baby boutique on wheels to park as we do outreach!

Wednesday: Prayer with mommies of College Kids at Lori Rowden's 4:15. Contact Lori for more info.

Thursday: Prayer with Judy and the ladies from Living Word Fellowship at 1:00, Contact Lori for more info. Outreach at 5pm sharp (getting dark now) to Apple Valley and West Ninth, we will have something for dinner ready at 4, please come on over straight after school! Please wear RAVEN black and bring plastic grocery bags, thanks!

Friday: 7am picking up Pastor Rudy at the airport, he comes home to Santa Rosa!

Saturday: 5:00 pm RAVEN Gathering at Gonzalez home for dinner, testimonies and fellowship with our families and the college kids! If you want to 'dress up' for Halloween, I'd wear or bring your raven shirt... they usually go out to the streets after they eat :) or should i say, between dinner and Maddie's cookies :) You never know how long you can get them to stay before one of them says, "Let's go witness!"

Sunday: Keepin the sabbath holy! Soccer morning... Go Cece go!

JESUS relief to American Samoa and Indonesia

hi all~
pastor rudy is taking 10 days from work to go to bring some JESUS relief to the earthquake victims in Indonesia~
we need your prayers, homemade baby blankets and financial support!
He leaves on Oct 21st~ returns Oct 29th~
we will be collecting baby blankets through the 20th!
we will be collecting financial support daily through the month of October!
Thank you to those who have already pledged your prayers and support!
Thank you to the Apple Valley Families and RAVEN Amarillo for all the clothes which our friends Sefa and Martha are sending to the victims of tsunami in American Samoa. You can still donate items by contacting Pastor Brian Chock at Foundation Christian Fellowship in Santa Rosa, California.
Also, thank you to everyone who has already pledged financial support to Pastor Rudy's trip to Indonesia~ we need $1500~
That would be 15 people at $100 each
30 people at $50 each
100 people at $15 each!
Please ask your families, churches to give to help Rudy GO!
Thank you to all who have supported so far:
Mercedes, Suzanne, Gloria, David, Merideth, Maddie, Gavin, Gloria Jr.,Pastor Nick, Shayne, Pastor Larry, Karen, Don, any amount is GREATLY appreciated!
Please remember you can donate through the month of October!
Please place Cash in the UGO4GOD penny jar at the Gonzo home, checks in the mail: 815 Pacific Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95404 made out to RAVEN Ministries and/or paypal on this website!
Contact Pastor Rudy for more info:
707.206.7208
or email Lori: gonzofamily5@aol.com
We will continue to post as baby blankets and $ comes in!
Karen, Nancy, Naomi and Lori pledged to sew baby blankets so far!

ugo4god schedule this week!

monday: Bold In God meeting 6-9, Rudy's house. Couples Bible Study 6-9 Lori's house.

tuesday: abortion clinic prayer with 40daystolife.org 9:30-10:30 starbucks mommy gathering 10:30-12 noon, raven baby boutique 12-2

wednesday: court. please pray for mommy. 8:30am

thursday: outreach. 5pm gathering at Gonzos then Roseland.

friday: prayer at abortion clinic for Lori's birthday! 1:30-2:30

saturday: keepin the sabbath holy!


Please pray for:
Mommies with flu
Mommies in homeless shelters
Pregnant homeless mommies in Santa Rosa
Mommies with husbands in jail and prison
Daddies without work
Families affected by tsunami and earthquakes and hurricanes
Teenagers with swine flu
College students taking a stand for JESUS on their college campus
Favor upon the students
Perseverance for the college students, middle school and high school students
Mommies losing their children in court
Mommies in jail
Pastor Swan in Pakistan
RAVEN Guadalajara
RAVEN teams nationwide for protection and provision
Streetwise Ministry
Comfort of Hope Homeless outreach on Tuesdays in Santa Rosa
Sonoma County Down Syndrome Support Group
Lake County Down Syndrome Support Group
Hope for the Homeless outreach in Santa Rosa
Sonoma County Churches, pastors and their families
Repentant hearts
Laborers
Provision for the RAVEN West Coast Team to take the gospel into Indonesia, New Orleans, Mexico, Sonoma County, Skidrow, Berkeley, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco this fall/winter.
Thank you LORD!

If you would like to consider sponsoring our team for a particular outreach please contact Pastor Rudy Gonzalez: 707.206.7208
For any other donations please drop off or mail to: RAVEN Ministries, Attn: Rudy Gonzalez, 815 Pacific Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Thank you to: Suzanne, Judi, Brasica Family, Huerta Family, Marilyn, Naomi, Gurrola Family, Scott, Judy, Christy Family, Burroughs Family, Elgin Family, Emily, Donaghy Family, Santana Family, Cardenas Family, Adrianna, Susan, Suzy and many anonymous and unmentioned families who have helped this past month with donations of: bibles, jeans, toiletries, clothes, dinosaurs :), baby clothes, baby equipment, box truck, boxes, sorting hours, cookies for college kids, postage, picture taking and prayers. We lift you up to JESUS! We praise God for you all!