I am "riding high" on God's goodness. We are seeing first hand God's creative energy at work. Women who come to Family Services are introduced to God's love and hope on a weekly basis. They are being helped in very practical ways through Vital Connections as well as beginning their spiritual journey with solid discipleship. Our alliance with New Generations is such a joy. Women are being discipled and mentored by other women in our Vitality Groups. It is a toss up as to who is being blessed the most. Just the other day, Helen, our English speaking coordinator, shared the gospel to one of our clients who responded enthusiastically to the salvation message. Helen's comments to me were "I consider it such a privilege to work with these women and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to see them come to Christ.

We celebrated our first graduation where 13 women were honored in a festive service designed to celebrate their accomplishments as well as present an evangelistic message to the many family members and friends that have been invited. Many of these women are going on to participate in other aspects of our "empowerment" program. The Learning and Career centers are opportunities for them to develop computer and communication skills for career advancement. Many of these women and their families will be participating in a cell group that will be meeting at Family Services.

City Team has plans to expand its outreach by bringing Family Services to Salinas and East Palo Alto. I will keep you posted on our progress. It is a total joy to see doors of opportunity open up to us knowing that it means "hope" is on its ways to many men, women and children. In fact one of our goals this year is to get Family Services into the communities and out on the streets. That means we need to go to where the need is and make our presence know.

Take Care and God Bless,
Hermie Smit