Back in Ypsi

Elena amusing herself on the final stretch of the long trip!
Uncle Jim is trying to bribe Elena with Cheese-Its to get her to come and see him :) We stopped to see Jim and Jill on our way back from our last meeting down South. We had a wonderful trip!
We got a bird feeder for our backyard here in Ypsi. We all love to watch the birds...but a lonely squirrel is the only one interseted in the food right now so we are feeding him.
My beautiful co-pilot seen here smiling at the airport in Jackson, Michigan. We flew together from Ann Arbor to Jackson and back (a short trip). We found a nice little restaurant on the field to go back to later.

We will be spending Resurrection Sunday at Ann Arbor Baptist Church with Abby's family. On Tuesday we will be heading back to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the first time since before Christmas...too long! We have meetings in northern Wisconsin where no doubt winter will be lingering for a bit longer.

The Lord is good! We have experienced so many blessings from His hand. We heard from a church in Tennessee that just voted to take us on for support. We continue to eagerly anticipate leaving for Cameroon as the Lord enables us to go.

New Jersey Aviation Conference

New Jersey was a new state for us on deputation this year, and we just had our second meeting there last week. This was the church's 51st annual missions conference and the theme was missionary aviation. It was a real blessing to be invited there. Our good friends Jack and Jonnie Hunt were there as well as Les Zerbe, missionary to Alaska, and George Pine, missionary deputee to Alaska. Abby and Elena are standing next to brother Zerbe's bear skin at his display.

As you can see, we went to yet another old Baptist church. This one was Cohansey Baptist Church, the oldest church in South Jersey. It was one of five churches that made up the original Philadelphia Association, the mother of all Baptist associations.

I took one morning to return to Philadelphia. This time I was by myself. I visited the First Baptist Church, where the Triennial Convention met to begin supporting Adoniram Judson. Judson later preached here. The hymn "He Leadeth Me" was also written by a visiting preacher right after he preached here. The church was started in the 1690's. I couldn't resist having another Philly cheese steak sandwhich and also a Philly pretzel. I love this city!

Tennessee Baptist History

Here is another Baptist History site that we found along the way. Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church was the first church of any kind in Tennessee and was founded in 1779 by Tidence Lane. He was one of the converts and preachers from Sandy Creek, NC who moved to the Tennessee wilderness to start churches for the pioneers. He helped form the first Baptist association of churches in Tennessee not long after that. The church today is a gospel preaching growing independent Baptist Church. It was a blessing to see the church in its current state standing for the Lord.

We stayed at an awesome Bed and Breakfast in Tennessee along with several other missionary families during a conference we were in. This was the beginning of March. I have rarely been to Tennessee, but we really enjoyed it! We stopped at Pigeon Forge, TN on our way to New Jersey for the next conference. It was off season and on a Monday night, so the rates were so low!