Please feel free to visit Ann's Caring Bridge Site to leave words of encouragement and testimony.
Information on Ann will be posted to her FaceBook Site and her Caring Bridge Site.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annkiemelanderson

Excerpt:  "I'm Out To Change My World"  Ann Kiemel, 1974

June

one day a girl came in on her bicycle.
she had another friend with her
and this friend's father was president of the city college.
and she was an agnostic.
but i loved her anyway.
i wrote poetry with her;
i laughed with her.
i arm-wrestled with her on the floor;
i jogged with her;
i rode a ten-speed with her.
i shared Jesus with her everytime i got a chance.

she would call me some nights
and in the middle of of a conversation
she would slam the phone down in my ear.
i don't know how often the phone slams in your ear
but i didn't exactly appreciate it.
i mean after all,
she was the one who called me.
but i loved her.
although, i really shouldn't say so
because sometimes i really wanted to give up.
and sometimes i really wanted to smack her in the mouth.
but Jesus in me loved her
through thick and thin.

and then one day seven months later
the phone rang.
she was sobbing and crying,
"ann,
i don't know how to tell you
but today at school,
in an unexpected, obscure moment,
it came to me --
God has to be.
because no one in my life loved me the way you loved me.
if anybody can love me through my moods
and the drugs
and all my mess the way you loved me,
there has to be a God.
ann,
in an obscure moment today
i found Him."

just about a month ago,
i got a letter from June.
she has Bible clubs everywhere.
Jesus is Lord of her life.
she's out to win her family to Jesus.
she believes.
just because somebody loved her
through thick and thin
and you see, you can't stop love.
love finds a way through.

Ann asks that you would especially remember her in your prayers tomorrow afternoon as she is scheduled for a PET Scan.  As you know, she's recently been through a battery of tests and needs God's peace to envelop her as she faces this scan tomorrow. 

Ann is so very appreciative of all your love and prayers.  They mean so much to her.

God bless you,

Team Ann

If you haven't checked out Ann's Caring Bridge website, created yesterday, please take a minute to visit. 
The website address is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annkiemelanderson.
This address is also posted on Ann's FB page.  

Thank you for continuing to pray for Ann!

Excerpt from "I'm Out To Change My World"  Ann Kiemel, 1974

The Architect

i started in long beach with 88 teenagers.
i didn't know anything about being a youth director.
i just prayed one simple prayer,

"Jesus, You called me.
i am nothing
but You are everything
and i only make one request --
that You do things
so big
so unusual
that people will be able to look on
with such a sense of awe
and say it is too wonderful--
only God could have done it."

and then i didn't know where to begin
but i told those 88 kids
if they would just learn to love each other,
Jesus would trust us with the whole world.
but love is hard work
and it took a lot of months
for the big, tough football players to learn to love
but they learned.

and in a year and a half
we had sunday school in three sessions on sunday.
and we had sunday school on tuesday afternoons
for the neighborhood guys who couldn't get in on sundays,
and three more sessions on wednesdays,
and a club on thursdays.
from sunday to sunday
in a year and a half
we had four hundred teenagers
just because 88 kids learned to love each other.

you tell me love doesn't work--
and i don't believe you.
every time i went on a trip to speak
those kids prayed for me--
twenty four hours a day
around the clock--
because they were out to change the world.
they'd say,
"ann, we can't fly with you
but we'll stay here and pray."

an architect in our church walked up to me
and he was crying
and he said, "i want to tell you something.
a couple of weeks ago i got up early--
at 4:30 a.m.--
to fly to Panama
and i saw the light on under the door of my son's room.
now, rick's a sharp kid
but we can't get him up
even at 7:30 a.m.
and here it was 4:30
and the light was on in his room.
i bounded across the hall and threw open the door
and i couldn't believe it--
there was rick kneeling beside his bed with his Bible open--
praying.

'rick, what is the matter?
it's only 4:30
are you having some special problem?'

'it's ann,' rick said.
'she's in detroit this weekend
and i pledged to pray every morning
between four and five while she's gone.
you know dad, we're out to change the world
and when you change the world
you've got mountains.'

and the architect said,
"i walked out of his room
and closed the door
and forgot my trip.
i went into my room
and fell on my knees by my bed
and buried my face in the shieets
and wept--
'oh, Jesus,
i don't love you enough.
i don't care enough."

Dear Friends of Ann,

Ann is in great need of God's healing power right now.  All prayers for her are greatly appreciated.  She has recently had a battery of tests performed on her to seek to determine the causes of her weaknesses and suffering. The tests indicate that blood clots have formed in her lungs, and preliminary results test positive for cancer of the liver.

These are both life-threatening, and we can't overemphasize Ann's need for God's healing touch, unless it is His plan and timing to take her home. Please lift her up before God, and we will trust the outcome to him.

All of this has taken a severe toll on her physically, emotionally, and financially.  If you want to help her with a gift of love or note of love or both, they are a huge encouragement during a very difficult period.  

Thanks so much,

Team Ann

Ann wanted to share this beautiful message sent to her from her dear friend, Steve Forster, while she's been ill.

Ann Kiemel, you sang so many little songs so just for today, if I could sit by your bed, I would hold your hand, look in your eyes with care and concern and sing a song to Jesus for us both: You are my hiding place........you always fill my heart with songs of deliverance whenever I am afraid....I will trust in You...I will trust in You...Let the weak say I am strong in the strength of he Lord.....I will trust in you....are my Hiding Place. 
Love you dear.


Excerpt from "I'm Out To Change My World"  Ann Kiemel, 1974

Mrs. Grissom

it was saturday night and i ran across the street
to get the vacuum cleaner.
it was late and i was tired and in a hurry
and mrs. grissom handed me the
vacuum cleaner and i looked into her
tired, old wrinkled face,

and i don't know why
but as i took the cleaner and started to go
i said to her, "oh, mrs. grissom,
God loves you a lot."

and the tears just began to spill down her face
and she said,
"could you wait just a minute?"
she went back into her house
and got a plaque off her wall
and brought it out.
it was a picture of weeds---
just ugly old weeds smeared all over the picture
and underneath all those ugly weeds were these words:

weeds
nobody likes weeds.
nobody carries them in a bouquet
or wears them in a corsage.
but God waters the weeds.

and she looked up,
"you know, ann, all my life i have
felt like a weed."
"mrs. grissom, could i pray with you?
i didn't know anyone went all through
life feeling like a weed.
there are times when i feel like a weed.
but i didn't know anybody
felt like a weed all their life.
really, i just came to get the vacuum cleaner
but i was wondering
could we just stop for prayer?"

she said she'd like that and we went into her
little apartment
and i said,
"would you like to hear a little song
that i sing a lot in a big lonely world?"

i will serve thee because i love thee...
You have given life to me.
"so i'm not just a weed and neither are you
because He gives us life."

heartaches, broken pieces
ruined lives are why you died on Calv'ry.
"that's why He came, mrs. grissom."
Your touch was what i longed for.
"you see, He makes flowers out of weeds."
You have given life to me.

and i prayed with her.
when i finished praying with her
i looked her in the eye,
"oh, mrs. grissom, i love you.
you are a very special lady to me."
and the tears began spilling down her face.
"i've never been special to anyone before."

i picked up the vacuum and i ran across the street
to my little apartment
and threw myself across the bed,
"oh, God, it's so ironic!
the people who live the closest to us
are the ones we overlook,
the ones we fail to reach out to.
Jesus, use me in the neighborhood.
if i am out to change the world,
i'll have to start in my own neighborhood."

the next morning was Sunday
and i called the florist at 7:30
and asked him to put together the
most beautiful bouquet he had ever fixed.
i wanted the flowers that looked the prettiest
and smelled the best.
i mean the loveliest bouquet he had ever made!

"well, look lady, it's Sunday morning.
i barely have my houseslippers on and..."

"but sir, you don't understand.
it's for a very special lady
and i want her to know she's not a weed---
but that she's beautiful."

"yes, ma'am, i'll see what i can do."

"just write on the card ---
'bright hope' - 'love, ann' "

the very next day she knocked on my door
with tears running down her wrinkled face.
"i've never had a bouquet in my house before,
and ann,
for the first time in my life
i really knew God loved me."

i'm out to change the world---
in love---

that's my hope.

Below is one of the earlier stories from Ann's books.  Enjoy!

Excerpt from "I'm Out To Change My World"  Ann Kiemel, 1974

Taxi Driver

it was in the summer and i got up into a
beat up old cab in miami beach
and asked the old cab driver to take me
to another hotel.
it was hot and every window was rolled down.

and i asked him,
"what is the one word that describes your life?"

"can i give you two?" 

he said.

he was old and gnarled
about as beat up as his cab.
"yes," i said.
"what are they?"

"bored and unhappy."

"sir, why are those the two words that
describe your life?"

"i don't know. i guess 'cause i got
nobody in the world."

"nobody, sir?
no wife, no children, no family?
no one in the whole world for you?"

"no."

"tell me, sir,
how did you get to be an old man and
have nobody?"

"cause i never got a good job and
no woman wanted me."

"sir, can i sing you a song?"
               
"sing?"

"i don't have a very good voice,
but i know you'd like my song."

"just a minute, please."
he rolled up his window. then he nodded at me.

and i began to sing:

something beautiful,

something good,

all my confusion,

He understood.

all i had to offer Him

was brokenness and and strife.

but He's making something beautiful

out of my life.

"sir, do you know who i'm 

singing about?

Jesus Christ, He's the Lord of my life.

he laughs with me and cries with me..."

"i'm a Jew."

"sir, He'll walk with you.

He'll laugh with you.

He'll be your friend."

and just then we pulled under the portico of the next hotel

and i was fumbling in my purse for my money

when i saw this old hand reach out

and i let loose of the money in my purse.

i reached out and took his hand

almost afraid to look him in the eye

because i didn't know what he would say.

i lifted my eyes to his and he was crying.

"lady, when i got in this old cab tonight

i was the loneliest person in the whole world.

i never heard anyone talk like you talked tonight

and i want your God.

He and i could ride together."

and i crawled out of that old cab

knowing that somewhere in miami beach

an old, gnarled, wrinkled man

drives a beat up cab.

but he doesn't drive alone.

and i can hardly help but sing

when i know that the eternal God

is willing to invade an old cabbie's life

and love him.