The Goodness of God

It has been awhile since my last post. Things have been very busy for us. We started hitting the deputation trail very hard in January. God has been so very good to us since we started this "deputation adventure". We were able to spend November through February in Arizona and California where the weather was just picture perfect (sorry to all of you in the cold states). We had successful meetings and met some wonderful people. We had many new churches take us on for support and some that absolutely spoiled us!

Since we left the stability of our jobs in late April, we have seen the Lord provide for all of our needs and most of our wants. It has been just amazing to see how God will use his people, and sometimes unbelievers, to help us along the way. Our mantra is to be just be faithful every day in what God has for us to do. God is certainly blessing us for our faithfulness.

I have been asked to speak at a ladies' meeting at our sending church in March and then again at a church in Battlefield, MO in April. This is not something I have done often enough to feel comfortable at just yet. But I know that God will provide me with the words He wants me to say that will touch the hearts of the ladies who are in attendance.

We are praising the Lord also for A.J.'s salvation. He had made a profession of faith back when he was 6, but he realized recently that he does not remember the prayer he prayed and wanted to be sure. So on Sunday, March 8, A.J. accepted Christ as the Lord and Savior of his life.

Please pray with us that the situation with our house in Nixa would be resolved soon. We are in the process of a short-sale and we had a buyer, but the bank took so long in processing all the paperwork, that the buyers have backed out. So we are back to square 1. We know God has a plan in all of this, so we are not worried, just wanting to be free of the liability and debt.

May God bless you and your family with a fresh touch!

Home for the holidays.

It has been awhile since I posted an update. We are in Tucson now and enjoying the Christmas holiday with Scooter's family. This is the first year we have been here for the holidays since 2004. Last year was the family's first holiday season without Scooter's mom. So this year we decided it was time to return to the family's holiday traditions. We did Thanksgiving with all the trimmings and almost the whole family present. It was a great day. We had a wonderful day together giving thanks to our Lord for his blessings in our lives. Now the busyness of Christmas is upon us. Christmas was always my mother-in-law's favorite time of year. She did it to the max, so Christmas here on earth will be difficult for all of us. But it is not really about us, or our family or our friends, as the world would have us to believe. It is about Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us. So as we decorate, bake, and shop, we need to make the effort to not become too busy to remember why we are doing it all. It's not about the wreaths and lights, the cookies and candies, or the gifts and cards. It is about Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, who gave up heaven to come to earth as a baby and die a painful death for the sins of the people of the world. Have you thanked Him today? Take a moment to do that now. If you don't know Jesus as your Lord, please contact us and we would be happy to share our Lord with you. Merry Christmas from all of us!

Idaho - land of ...cows?

We just finished up a month in Idaho. It was a great month - full of God's blessings. We made some great new friends and enjoyed seeing the history and sights of Idaho. We were caught a little off guard by the early snow and the number of cows. There are dairy farms everywhere, especially around Jerome where we spent two weeks. We were given some freshly harvested potatoes and Scooter and AJ picked up a sugar beet dropped by a truck. That was interesting. We came away from Idaho thoroughly impressed with God's creation. Near Twin Falls there is a huge canyon where the Snake River winds through. We were told this is the place where Evil Knievel tried to jump the canyon with a rocket-powered motorcycle. It is hard to imagine when looking at the huge gaping chasm. We also got to see the Shoshone Falls. They are huge and as tall as the Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, they had the water dammed up to repair turbines or something and so there was only two small streams of water coming over the cliffs.

While we were there, we participated in three missions conferences and speak in the regular services of three other churches. The first church we visited was in Pocatello. The pastor and his wife are in their early 20's and they took us out on Saturday night to play laser tag. That was a blast. We met the church people on Sunday and they were very friendly and generous towards us. Then we went to Jerome and the pastor there allowed us to park at their church for as long as we needed. So we used that as a hub and left the RV parked there for two weeks. We were able to be the final speakers in their missions month. AJ and Alex attended their children's and youth activities during the two weeks. I was able to speak at their ladies meeting and we all participated in their fall clean up work day. We met some wonderful people and were very blessed by the friendship and warmth at that church. After that we went to Mountain Home for their missions conference. We were able to park the RV at their church and they gave us a key so we could use their washer and dryer (hallelujah!). The pastor and his wife really know what hospitality is! They had us as well as the other missionaries over to their house for lunch and dinner at least 4 times during the week. They organized lunches at the church on 2 of the days. They joined us in Boise on Saturday. We had to get a few things at the mall and they wanted to go along. We went to Cabela's and checked out the animals. Alex and AJ got to shoot a bow and arrow there. Then they treated us to dinner as well. We met more great people in the church there. Alex and AJ both made new friends as did Scooter and I. The Faith promise pledge exceeded their goal by over $10,000. It was very exciting.

We left there after the Sunday night service and surprised the kids by going to the Grand Canyon. We drove there at night after they were asleep and when we got up in the morning, we told them we were going hiking. They were pretty excited when they realized where we were. It was truly amazing. I don't like heights, so I was getting a little queasy, but it is so awesome to see. The scientists and geologists will tell you that it is the result of billions of years of erosion, but we know it is really the result of the erosion following one catastrophic worldwide flood. The power of our God is so unfathomable!

We are headed back to Tucson now. We will be in a missions conference starting Wednesday and then visiting in churches around the area during November and December. We will get to spend the holidays with Scooter's family for the first time since 2004. It will be bittersweet as this will be our first holidays at home since his mother went to heaven last spring.

God bless you all and we will post again soon!

On the Road

Well, we are officially full-time on deputation now. We were approved as BBFI missionaries in a series of meetings held in Raleigh, NC at the end of September. As soon as the meetings were over we went straight to Tucson. It was quite an experience. We traveled from Belton, MO through Missouri, Illinois (visited Leslie's siblings), Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia (spoke in a church), Washington DC (did some sight-seeing), North Carolina (attended the Fellowship meeting), South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. We spoke in a church in Coolidge, AZ in the morning and then at our home church in Tucson in the evening. It was so good to be back in our home church. They showered us with blessings and spoiled us rotten. We spent another day packing up the motorhome, and then headed north through Arizona to Utah. We were able to visit Scooter's aunt in Salt Lake City and speak in a church there. Then we headed north again to Idaho. We have been in one church here with 4 more to go. We will be here for most of the month and then go back to Tucson for a conference.
The traveling has gone very well. God has definitely given us the grace to deal with each other and the situations that arise. The kids have been doing homeschooling on the road and have done pretty well overall. There are some days when they just can't seem to focus, but usually they get done by about 1 or 2 in the afternoon.
Adjusting to motorhome life has been exciting. Everyone knows that it is much smaller than a house, but the smaller quarters has really not been an issue for us. It's those other things that you don't know until you're experiencing it! We have had to re-learn how to take showers, wash dishes, flush the toilet, etc. I've learned to appreciate having a washer and dryer! But we have been blessed that the people and churches we have stayed with have allowed us to do our laundry. That has been a huge help. God is good all the time.
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A Faithful Servant

Sometimes we meet people that inspire and encourage us to do all we can to serve the Lord. We have met a lady like that this summer. She is 80 years old and widowed. She is a member of our sending church, but she not only attends...she serves. Every year she is packed and ready to go to both senior camp and junior camp. I went to those camps this year and it wore me out! She does the laundry, helps with the cooking, and leads activities for the counselors younger children. She gives sacrificially to sponsor kids at both weeks of camp, too. Back at home, she works in the nursery and helps in the kitchen on a regular basis. During VBS, she was there every night helping with the kids. Now that Awana's has started back up, she is involved in that. She comes to church while the choir is practicing so that she can keep an eye on the choir members' children. Everyone in church loves her dearly and everyone calls her Grandma. It is people like her that take away all the excuses. In our churches today, there are so many who just come to sit in the pews and be ministered to. If they would only realize that it is in the ministering that the Savior ministers to us. We have learned through the years that while being in church is what we are supposed to do, it is not enough. Scooter said in his message last night that God didn't save us so that we could just sit back and wait to go to heaven. He saved us so that we could spread that Good News to others. To really experience the love and fellowship that Christ intended for believers to have, one must be willing to serve others and use their God-given gifts for the work of the Lord. Granny Smith has been an inspiration to us. She is like the energizer bunny, she just keeps on going. I pray that when I am 80 I am still going strong (bounding in jumping castles and planning skydiving trips) and serving the Lord and those around me.

Labor Day Picnic

We had a great time Monday at the Southland Baptist Church Annual Labor Day picnic. Scooter played volleyball, hillbilly golf, and football. Leslie helped with the food, took pictures, and jumped on the trampoline (for a little while). Alex played hillbilly golf, took some pictures, and hung out with friends. AJ played on the trampoline, the playground, and the swings. We were all exhausted when we got home. (and the grownups were pretty sore this morning)

Today is A.J.'s 10th birthday. It's hard to believe our "baby" is 10 years old. He loves "family movie night," so tonight we are going to get some pizza, watch a movie, and eat birthday cake at home. We only have two more weeks to live in a real house. Then we are on the road until November.

This summer up in Belton has been a blessing to all of us. We have enjoyed getting to know the people at Southland and helping with the camps and VBS. God has been so gracious to us in taking care of our needs. We are depending on Him to find a buyer for our house in Nixa and take care of the expenses in the meantime.

Hope you all had a fun Labor Day weekend as well!

Summer Full of Blessings

The last few months have been a whirlwind. After graduation and ordination in May, youth camp and VBS in June, and junior camp and candidate school in July, August should have seemed a bit more relaxing. I don't remember relaxing much, though. It's hard to believe that the summer has passed already. We saw souls saved at VBS and the camps, with Alex leading two girls to the Lord at junior camp and Leslie leading one young lady to the Lord. Candidate school was a lot of fun. We stayed with Alex's best friend's family in Republic in their lovely new home. It was wonderful getting to know them better and we appreciate their hospitality. We met the other new missionaries and forged some new friendships. Leslie has finished the last of her distance ed classes and the kids have begun their first year of homeschool. So far, so good. As we prepare for the departure from here (Belton, MO) to Raleigh, NC for approval and then on to the Western U.S., we continue to send out packets, make phone calls, get the website ready, and decide what can go and what cannot. We are looking forward to getting on the road full time. The kids are excited one day and dreading it the next. But all in all, there is an air of excitement about our upcoming adventure.
Our home in Nixa still has not sold, so we do need prayer in that area. Thanks to all of you who pray for us. We appreciate it.