On the Slippery Rock

Wow! We have had a great week here in PA. The missions conference at Slippery Rock Baptist Church was a blessing. We were one of four missionaries attending and enjoyed getting to know them and the people at the church. The church here has grown from around 30 to 400 in about 5 years. They are taking a good stand and have a great ministry to the two universities in town as well as to their community.

We had a free dental checkup by a dentist from the church. I was able to get in 6 hours of flight training with a Christian busnissman who owns a 1947 Piper Super-Cruiser taildragger. We went to a farm and went horseback riding. Elena absolutely loved the animals including their Great Dane named Mia. We have enjoyed our extra time in the prophets chamber here as well. Abby enjoyed some good shopping at the Grove City outlet malls. And finally, we were able to catch a Pittsburgh Pirates game as they shut out the dreaded Houston Astros, both of whom are doing better than the Cubs right now. I wore my Tigers hat since I didn't have anything to rub in.

Granny and the Throckmortons live just up the road in Grove City, so we were able to visit with them a number of times. Granny is doing well and was able to meet Abby and Elena for the first time. Warren gave me a pack of baseball cards for old times sake. No suprise, Elena loved Granny's dog Pepper. Thanks for all the meals, Debbie!

Return to Lima

We spent Easter Sunday morning with my favorite music pastor in Lima, Ohio, and enjoyed his cantata, “Behold the Lamb.” The music was a blessing as we truly enjoyed hearing such pure beautiful music about the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection.
We returned Sunday night so we could hear my second favorite music pastor in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Again, the music was very refreshing and a great blessing to us spiritually.

(By the way, these two music pastors...Jim and Justin...are the ones who first told me about Abby!)

If you do not receive our prayer letter, you can read our latest one at the link to the right.

Michigan Missions

Well it’s the first week of Major League Baseball, and the Cubs and Tigers are off to a slow start. As my dad’s sense of weather and baseball come together, he states firmly that every year it snows the first week of baseball. It is supposed to be 67 degrees in Ann Arbor today, and tomorrow it is supposed to be 34 degrees and snowing! We will miss such predictability in Cameroon and wonder such questions as, "Will we ever see snow there?" and "Will we ever see baseball there?"
We have had a great week at Juniata Baptist Church. The missions conference there was one of the highlights of our deputation, and we enjoyed spending time with Dr. Flanders and his people. We also met some new missionaries and preachers and trust to be better servants of the Lord because of our time spent in Juniata. Pastor Tom Fittis, a pastor in Tennessee, is originally from Northern Ireland, and he favored us nightly with the Bagpipes! He gave me a lesson one of the afternoons, and I realized that you don’t just pick them up and start playing. He said that it takes a couple of years to be able to effectively use all the parts of a bagpipe together in order for it to make that beautiful music! Did you know that you have to tune bagpipes just like you do other instruments?!
Pray for Elena and Abby, as Elena sometimes has a hard time adjusting to our schedule on the road. We look forward to being in a home in Cameroon one day living a more steady life. There may be a lot of things to get used to over there, but we look forward to having the stability of a regular base as a family! Please pray for our family in this regard as we continue to travel and stay in different homes. All that said, we are having a great time!
We will be in Lima, Ohio, with Jim for the morning of Resurrection Sunday! Lord willing, I will be preaching the gospel message for Pastor Hamblin after Jim’s cantata. Pray for souls to be saved as they hear the music and message of Christ’s victory over death.