Doreen – Page 2 – Rick Newton Cross Carrier

January 28, 2016August 19, 2025

My Heart on Missions

Treating a Kwaio woman's foot — Treating a Kwaio woman’s foot

The mission field…
Is there ANYTHING more beautiful than seeing spiritual eyes open for the very first time?!! The scales drop away and the light of the glorious gospel enters in!!! I truly (and of course, speak for Rick as well), can’t think of anything that compares!! Yes, there are many hardships and I will admit there are times when I want to pack it in and run home to the many comforts, but then there we are, once again out on the streets sharing the only truth that really matters!! It’s actually quite easy, comparatively, here in the Solomon’s because they, like we used to be, are a Christian nation, hungering for the things of the Lord!! Oh, the stark reminder is before us daily!! They just went through a revival in the 70’s and though the memories are slowly fading, the evidence is still obvious, such as an acknowledgement, respect and a love for the Cross and what Jesus did for us!!
Like in the Hebrides, the children of the revivalists honor their parents and talk about growing up in a home where, after salvation, the JOY was never ending for years! The presence of the Lord was so palpable! They remember the singing and praising that would go on through the night and without any sleep, the people would go to work the next day with a skip in their step and a song in their hearts! Then they’d do it all over again the next day!! In the book about the revival, “fire in the islands,” they speak of cannibals who gave their hearts and lives to Jesus and lived peaceably the rest of their lives honoring and praising the Lord!! Repentance, honesty and forgiveness penetrated the hearts of the Solomon people!
Remission of sins…If one lied to another, they would quickly repent and go to that person and ask forgiveness! Oh Lord, come down once again in Holy power! At least they are not ashamed of the gospel!!! Their newspaper, “the Solomon star,” did a full page on Ricks journey up to Kwaio and also on the next page was a beautiful article about King David! They will be doing a second article on Saturday! Tell me, which is really the free country?!!!!!
The indifference in America and other countries is stark compared to a hungry people, hanging on every word taught from Gods word!!!
Life on the mission field, foreign or domestic, is filled with heartbreak and Joy, hardships and love, connectedness and separation! Heartbreak for the people who don’t know and may never taste the Love and goodness of our Lord and instead, will be separated from Him for all eternity! Joy in the unity and love that is shared (a connectedness) between brother and sisters in Christ who were just strangers 5 min before, and knowing that we may not see each other again this side of heaven but our hearts dance together knowing we WILL meet again!! Hardships yes but Gods grace is then even more apparent!! He says, “I am with you even to the end of the age!” No we aren’t facing severe persecution and those saints are truly the heroes but we all have Crosses to bear as we step out, not in our own strength but His!!

Our prayer…Father,
We humbly call on your name and seek your face! Come in manifest presence! We pray for all who do not know you yet! Open their eyes Lord that they may taste the sweetness of your love, the cleansing power of your blood, forgiveness and peace that passes all understanding and the life-giving joy that abides with you for eternity through salvation!!!

September 10, 2015September 10, 2015

International Literacy Day – with World Vision

How can every day get better?

June 16, 2014May 30, 2015

When God winks

Well, there are different ways to describe His blessings and we are just calling them winks right now, big and small! His mercies are new every morning right?! Well, we just want to share the beautiful mercies that God has been showing us even in the midst of the battle! Yes, the battle!! We know that He will never leave or forsake us but we also know that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood and the enemy does NOT want us out here sharing Gods grace and love!! Sometimes the obstacles are overwhelming, but yet what the enemy means for evil The Lord always uses for good!

Let me go back to 4 weeks ago when we first laid eyes on what is now our little “Holy Roller!” Rick and I were making due in the cargo van we had rented and The Lord definitely blessed along the way, with all the little things we found here and there in the charity shops, to make it our home! It was a wonderful month even living in a dark small box but soon our backs began to ache and we could not cook which would certainly save money even though we were only sharing 2 meals a day! I didn’t want to complain to The Lord because we really were grateful but I did ask The Lord to put a camper blatantly in our path if It be in His will to allow us better sleep and to be able to cook! The next day Rick was out carrying the cross and as he was walking by this car dealership, the man in the parking lot was surprised but very interested in what he was doing. Rick shared with him and then said that he just felt a nudge to ask this man if they happened to have a campervan for sale and Jason said, “yes, I sure do, in the back!” After Rick looked at it, he called me on the phone and said that he thought I should come look. As I drove in, I noticed the BMW’s and Audi’s and sports cars and I was thinking, “this doesn’t look like a place that would have an old campervan but there was Rick talking to Jason and as I got out of the cargo van, Jason just greeted me with and great big smile and handshake, thanking us for what we were doing! He excitedly showed us the VW campervan and said he would like to help us. Rick and I were reluctantly excited as well, wondering if this could be an answer from The Lord, though so quickly?! We told him that we needed to pray about it. We came to the decision that this was Gods hand and so we soon became proud parents! However, the next two weeks proved to be quite trying! We actually had come to question whether we had missed God! The van was in and out of the garage 3 times and though it wasn’t costing us money, it was costing us time and we wondered whether it was even able to be fixed since every time we got it back, it ran worse! This is where more of Gods little winks come in….

After much prayer, Rick and I decided that we would not look at the circumstances! We would just praise God in the storm and thank Him, for we knew this surely was from Him though the troubles were many!! (Psalm 46:1) So….The 3rd time that we brought the van back to the garage, meanwhile camping in their lot since we had no where to go, we decided to take the day and go into town to just get away! It was the coldest, rainiest day since we had arrived so we asked if there was a bus that we could catch into town. We were told that a bus stop was only about a half mile away so we bundled up, grabbed our umbrella and set out. Just as we were crossing the road to the bus stop, there went the bus!!! We missed it by 5 seconds and they only run on the hour! Rick decided that we would grab a cab since it was so cold and rainy. A few minutes later, we noticed a cab at the stoplight soon to head our way. Rick stepped out into the road to flag him down only to have him drive right by! We just looked at each other and shook our heads. Was this really happening?! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! Well, we noticed another cab at the light and as he was coming toward us, Rick stepped out again to wave him down. The cab started to drive past us again but pulled over a ways down. We walked up to him and asked how much it would be to bring us into town. He said, “£10-12” which is $18-20 for us! We opted to take it though it was only 3-4 miles into town! As I climbed in, I heard “amazing grace” playing so I asked him if that’s what it was?! He said, “yes” and so immediately Rick asked if he was a believer! The next 7-8 min. was filled with rejoicing and short but sweet fellowship! David shared with us how he wasn’t even a taxi driver and that’s why he almost passed us by, but he works in the office and decided to just grab one of the taxis to run into town to do an errand! He shared his excitement about the ministry so when he dropped us off he said, “this one’s on me!” (First wink…thank you Jesus!)

To be continued…tune in later for more “Winks!”

bless you,
Doreen