Great Meetings, Bad Roads

Thanks again for your interest in our ministry and for taking the time to catch up on what we're doing. It means a lot when we get on here and realize that people have been visiting our site to catch up on the news. Please continue to visit the site and pray. We need it! We have had a few great weekends of ministry these past two weeks. On the 15th we were way up north in Wisconsin at a small church in Hannibal. Even though this church was small, it was filled with people that seemed to really love God and missions. We had an excellent time ministering there in the morning. In the evening we had opportunity to minister in New Lisbon, WI. We were nervous going in since the Packers had just finished up losing when the service was starting, but the people proved to be pleasant and the service went well. We enjoyed finding connections we had with several of the people. Speaking of connections, this Sunday we were in two churches a little closer to home. In the morning we were in a church that is pastored by the father of one of the college guys we met at the Four Day Focus last summer. We were excited to meet his family. The meeting was great. We were so blessed again to enjoy finding these odd connections that we have with some of these pastors and church members that we never knew we had. We also enjoyed the schedule on Sunday. We are finding that many of the rural churches that we find are going to the AM service, lunch, then afternoon service. We enjoy this because we get to sit down with the church people over lunch and get to know them better. After the afternoon service in Warren, IL, we made the two hour trip on icy roads to Silver Lake, WI. The pastor at Silver Lake is a great guy that generally is challenging the norm. For instance, the past few weeks he has brought the kids Sunday School into the adult Sunday School class so the adults can see what their kids are learning and also to get the adults participating. We enjoyed being with this church and ministering with the people there. A quick personal story and I'll be done. Sometimes as a red-blooded Midwestern boy, I feel sorry for myself on Sundays because I never get to watch any football. I was feeling this way on Sunday as I listened to the first of the two NFL games on the radio on the two hour trip between churches. I knew that the timing of when the evening service started to the time that we were to arrive home that I wouldn't get to see any of the second game either. As we arrived at the church, one of the first things the pastor asked us was if we would stay after the service for some pizza with him and his family. After the service we went over to the pastor's house and Pastor Cliff turned the game on! I was so excited. Not only did we sit and talk for a while after we finished eating, but we were able to see the exciting ending to the overtime game! I had resigned myself to the fact that I just wouldn't see the game, which was fine. As we left the pastor's house that night, having seen a good portion of the game, the Lord reminded me of the verse in Psalm 37 that promises that those that delight themselves in the Lord, will be given the desires of their hearts. It was a nice surprise to be given the desire of my heart, even if it was just a silly football game. God cares, even about the little things. Thanks again for the prayers and encouragement. Continue to pray for the process of getting our paperwork in order for Ukraine. We did find that if worst comes to worst, we can hire an agency that will take care of getting these things for us. However, they charge double or triple for everything, so we're still trying to navigate this alone. Pray that the Lord would bless our efforts.