Out West

Ministry Update

God gave us a wonderful time of ministry in California, allowing us to see souls saved at two different churches in which I preached. In addition, we were able to meet a new pastor of a church in which we had ministered before. God really knit our hearts together and we had a lot of sweet fellowship together with him and his family as well as with Tim and Megan Schmidt, friends from college.

The last three pastors that we have been with, including Byron Sarracino on the Indian reservation (see below), have been very refreshing in that they are very immune to ministerial politics. Having seen some politics in California, it is a breath of fresh air to be with people who only want to please God, not other people.

Now we are in New Mexico preaching for a Native American pastor whom we have grown to love. The fellowship with him and his family is always sweet and we are grateful to be here. The meeting closes tomorrow after which time we will head to Phoenix to close out our time in the West. Thank you, as always, for your prayers.

Family Update

I have succumbed to the overwhelming pleas of the masses, and decided to write another update. “Finally,” you think. I do have somewhat against thee, in that you have too much time worrying about e-mails that you haven’t received. Just kidding – we really appreciate each one of you that pray for our family. We have come off of a week and a half of great meetings in California. We made some wonderful new friends, and renewed some old acquaintances. The Lord blessed in the meetings and we saw several people saved both in the services and on church visitation!

Now we are saying goodbye to the sunny west coast, home of the In-N-Out burger, which, by the way, is the best “fast food” you will ever taste. It is worth the trip out here just for the experience! California – the place where you let someone turn in front of you, and they give you the “peace sign.” Where dumpster diving is a way of life. Where fruits, nuts, and flakes are on every corner! This is not necessarily talking about humans, although it could apply in some cases. Ha!

Presently, we are on our way to Grants, New Mexico, just west of Albuquerque for a three day meeting that will close on Sunday. Some of you have asked what we do all day in the truck and how the kids travel. They travel quite well, and today has been especially calm. Since we have been homeschooling Josiah, we haven’t really had to rearrange our schedule for travel until this week. So – we did school in the truck today. It was mostly a day of review, and I had all kinds of flashcards. Addition, phonics blends, one-vowel words, sight words, memory verses, and songs. We have been learning a new hymn each week since the beginning of the semester. This enables Josiah to participate in the song service a little better. He also read aloud several books today, his favorite being “Green Eggs and Ham,” by Dr. Seuss. He was able to read it all on his own, with only a few unfamiliar words. I am so proud of him – he loves his new freedom to read, and it makes entertaining him a lot easier. I think we have heard “Green Eggs and Ham” about five times today, in addition to “The Cat and the Hat,” “One Fish, Two Fish,” and “Hop on Pop.”

Esther has been pretty happy today in spite of being sick. She has slept a lot, and when awake, has been entertained by her siblings. Abigail has been quite a pill today, taking every advantage to plague her younger sister – taking her toys, taking her blanket, taking her pacifier, etc. We were all a little bit thankful when she finally fell asleep. Esther, never one to miss an opportunity, decided to retaliate by yanking out Abigail’s hair bows when her nodding head got too close to the car seat.

Paul likes to listen to sermons on CD while he drives. This keeps his mind occupied, and lessens the risk of him falling asleep on long drives. This is top priority for all of us, as you can imagine. Typically, as we drive, I am multi-tasking. My day goes something like this: put new CD into player, tell Abigail to leave Esther alone, turn up volume on CD so that everyone can hear over “Green Eggs and Ham” being read aloud, tell Abigail to stop hitting Esther, turn on AC since I am roasting on the south side of the vehicle, discuss point in sermon with Paul, correct Josiah’s mispronounced word, tell Abigail to quit kicking the back of my seat, turn AC on again, since Paul(on the north side of the vehicle) turned it off due to frostbite, answer phone, call person back since our reception fades during the conversation, tell Abigail to give Esther’s pacifier back, give kids a snack, give kids a drink, pick up Abigail’s sippy cup and refill it, change CD, stop for fuel, change diapers and take restroom break, buckle kids back into seats, etc. This is repeated several times in random order depending on how long the trip is.

Josiah and Abigail had a first- time experience while we were in Escondido, CA. Josiah came in to tell me that “not on accident” they “bit the grass.” My response was somewhat incredulous. “You mean,” I said, “you ATE the grass?” He nodded, smiling hugely. I figured I would just let it go with only a warning not to do it again in the future, explaining that only horses and cows eat grass, not people. “What about sheep? Do they eat grass?” he asked. “What about deer? What about dogs? And cats? What about…Mama, why are you pulling your hair out?”