Blessed be the name of the LORD!

Awe struck, really.
In the past five days I've experienced the necessity of being ready in and out of season with the word of God in a whole new way.
It's caused me to hunger after HIS righteousness all over again...
From the homeless to the homeowners, the pregnant to the grandmothers, the churched to the unchurched, I've listened to the believers and the lost and my heart is overwhelmed with HIS amazing grace.
Saints, HIS grace is sufficient.
Often times when I testify about witnessing to people I hear many excuses from people that they are not 'equipped' or 'ready' or 'called' to sharing the gospel.
That is not a personal attack on anyone, that is simply an accounting of what I've heard over the past five years.
And I'll remind you, that was me on the other side of salvation.
There is a tremendous amount of fear that people share with me about going to the streets to be a witness of Christ that sometimes I daresay, borders on simple disobedience and indifference to the multitude of lost people in our community.
Those conversations can easily turn into a HUGE opportunity to share the gospel to not only rebuke, but teach and encourage, restoring not the 'street' people's vision back to JESUS, but my peers who are 'housed.'
His grace is sufficient.
Enough rambling.
What I want to say, is in the Lord's mercy, He has opened my eyes to the urgency of seeking the lost.
If you are a believer, will you please pray with me, in one accord for these men and women who the Lord divinely appointed us to preach to and pray with these past few days? Grace and peace to you. Saints, if you need to repent, please do so. Believe in the gospel. Share the gospel this season with those you love and those Christ has died for so they can live.
That's every creature.

Prayer requests for:
Donna G who cried in my arms remembering pain from decades ago from her ex husband murdering their 3 month old baby in the sand at a beach.
Henry, who asked for prayer while confined to a hospital bed after being shot eight times at the age of 15 on the way home from basketball practice in Oakland, eight years ago with a bullet still lodged in his neck.
Shelley, who wants to come home specifically before Christmas after being healed by JESUS after being in a coma six months ago and is praising God for being alive and able to wear boots.
Claire who has one eye and sick and tired of being sick and tired and after being drawn to the Cross, thanked JESUS for the kind words preached... the message was REPENT.
Raimie who I think tried to 'shock/scare' me last night on fourth street around midnight by telling me he had just gotten out of prison, then after I told him I had friends who were pastors and had found the Lord in prison he grabbed my hand, bowed his head and said, "guidance, please pray for guidance for me."
Christina who's man left her and is pregnant and homeless...
College kids who are facing finals this week...
Dozens of pregnant women and hundreds of families, trusting God for their next dinner.
Thank you JESUS.
His grace is sufficient.

Saturday, November 28, 5:30 pm

Hi friends~

Tomorrow night, we are gathering with our families for a potluck dinner at Vista Del Lago in Bennett Valley, Santa Rosa, at the Community Center. It's off of Yulupa Avenue & Lakeview Drive.
While we are usually gathering in the streets, tomorrow night we are blessed to be hosted by the Bray family in a warm place!
We would LOVE to see you all!
The college kids are in town and they would love to see everyone as well!

Please join us as we give thanks to our Lord, for HE is good!
Pastor Rudy will be sharing his Indonesia testimony~
The kids will be there with their guitars :)
Come, now is the time to worship :)

Love
Pastor Rudy, Lori, Anthony, Maddie, Cece Gonzalez & TEAM Raven

Please bring a potluck dish to share, a friend, a testimony, your guitar :)

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