Michigan Travels Continue

We just finished our third missions conference in Michigan in a few weeks. This one was in Central Lake in northwest Michigan...NE of Traverse City and SW of Macinac. Why it is still so warm up north I don't know, but it was a very beautiful drive. The conference was a blessing to us as we heard a preacher from Bearing Precious Seed in Ohio give the messages. Bible Baptist Church is in a small town but is a vibrant growing church. Thanks to Pastor Tharp and the church for a wonderful conference.

We are briefly in North Carolina (pictures and events to come) and will return to Michigan again for another missions conference next week. We thank the Lord for safety in travel. Thank you for praying for us!

A relaxing moment

Elena sits to read one of her favorite books in her room in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Snoopy is after the Red Baron on yet another predictable mission. She treasures this respite as she knows all too well that not too long from now she will be reading from her car seat...she prefers the rocking chair :)

Fall Play Time

Here is one of my all-time favorites...peek-a-boo with daddy from behind the tree!

We had a great meeting in Superior, Wisconsin, and the Lord protected us from several more deer along the way. The leaves were a beautiful orange, yellow, and red, which made for a refreshing drive.

Elena absolutely loves to be outside and often stand at the door to go out. Once we let her know its time to go out, she will go and look for her shoes and bring them to you talking with her usual animation the whole time. Here are some pictures of her playing in the leaves...a new adventure for her this year.

Wisconsin Travels

On our way to a meeting in Superior, Wisconsin, we stopped to see the championship softball game at Baptist College of Ministry. The Goforth fellowship won the exciting game, and we stopped at their victory get-together afterwards. Adam was gracious enough to invite us over for food before we finished our first day of travel. We stopped in Oshkosh at our friends' Lake Winnebago cottage and headed for Superior the following morning.

On the way to Superior

We had a tremendous time in Byron, Michigan, at Antrim Baptist Church's missions conference. The pastor and people treated us like royalty, and the Lord blessed in each of the evening services.

Friday morning will find us on the road for Superior, Wisconsin. Pray for safety as we drive. We may be borrowing Abby's dad's car for better gas mileage on this long stretch.

Missions Conference in Michigan

We are currently in Byron, Michigan at a missions conference. Peter Leclerc and his wife are starting a deaf church in Indianapolis...they were a real blessing to us as we stayed with them at a house down the street. The Pitmans are missionaries on their way to Australia. We heard Pastor Moses preach Sunday morning, and he is an American Indian reaching his own people in the U.P. of Michigan. Thank you to Pastor Ashley and Antrim Baptist Church for being such gracious hosts to us. Please pray for us as we continue our travels to Superior, Wisconsin next week.

Full (Fall) Schedule

We thank the Lord for a full schedule this fall. We have been scheduling meetings and visiting churches for the last two weeks. Starting this weekend we will be in many missions conferences and meetings in the Mid-west until mid-January when we head down South for two months. Our van is doing great with a few minor repairs along the way. Thank you for praying for our safety on the road.

Uhauling to Ypsilanti

We will be pulling a small Uhaul from Oshkosh through Chicago to Ypsilanti on Saturday so pray for our safety. We hope to have it all unloaded by a decent time Saturday night. If you want to come over and help/watch, maybe you can enjoy some pizza with us before we fall asleep! Elena is staying with Abby's family in Ann Arbor right now. We miss her and look forward to seeing her again

Visiting family in Michigan

Elena is walking now, although she holds her arms out like Frankenstein for balance. Abby went to get Elena from the nursery, and she saw me taking my projector and computer down at the front of the auditorium. She then walked to me with a smile on her face all the way from the back of the auditorium. She is obviously excited about her new life skills. Keep praying for us as we teach her the things of the Lord. The Lord is definitely teaching Abby and I to lean on Him for direction. Pastor Hirth preached a wonderful message about Christ being "I am..." whatever it is we need. We definitely need the Lord not only as our salvation but as our provider, our peace, our shepherd, our everything. May we seek Him today for all our needs.

We made it back!

Praise the Lord for a safe return flight last week (Monday). Brother Tom Needham flew back with us as he is preparing his new Sportsman to fly back to Cameroon. We visited Zurich, Switzerland during our layover...a beautiful city!

We jumped right into ministry here with our annual Wings as Eagles Flight Camp. Ten young men participated this year receiving flight instruction, maintenance classes, and missions classes. One young man surrendered for the mission field of Cameroon!

Thank you so much for praying for our survey trip. The Lord worked mightily, saving souls, starting a Bible study in our ministry base town of Ndop, and burdening our hearts for the Muslim people. We also saw the need for using aviation to reach out into the remote towns, cut off from civilization or just hard to get to with the current state of roads.

The picture of me standing by a termite mound was taken on our way down to the capital of Cameroon. The picture of Elena wearing the traditional tribal hat was taken the same day. The other pictures are of us in Zurich and back in Oshkosh for Flight Camp.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

This picture is of me with the Glastar. This was the first time the hangar doors were opened the whole time we have been here. Tom Needham still does not have his reauthorization to fly. We were cleaning the plane with the hopes that it would be flying soon, and with the purpose of taking a few pictures.

Salifu's family

Please pray for Salifu and his family. He was one of our Fulani guides when bro. Needham and I trekked 20 miles from Sabga to Ndop. He approached us from behind on his horse and bro. Tom began talking to him in Fulfude and witnessed to him as well as other Fulani Muslims along the way. These Muslims respect him so much even though he wintesses to him because he knows their language. Salifu was excited about us moving to the town closest to him. We spent the night at his house, had fufu for supper and fried rice and tomatoes for breakfast with hot milk. He guided us the next day all the way to the top of Mt. Ngoketunjia, which you can see in several of the pictures below. This mountain overlooks the town of Ndop, which after talking with the chief we found out has a population of about 26,000. Please pray for those who have heard the gospel in this town as well as the one we know of who trusted Christ...her name is Christine.

Scenes from Cameroon

Internet speed is slow and unreliable much of the time here, but we hope you enjoy these pictures.

We wanted to thank everyone who sent us all birthday emails...we are all one year older now! Elena had a great one year birthday party at the Needham's house with all her new friends here in Cameroon.

Tom Needham and I trekked 20 miles from Sabga to Ndop with several guides the Lord sent us to help us along the way. Tom witnessed to many of the Fulani people throughout the mountains, most of whom are Muslims. Please pray for Salifu and others who we spent time with along the way. The mountain view in the picture is overlooking the city of Ndop, where the Lord is burdening our heart to begin a church. Please pray for the people in this town as the gospel is preached.

People in Cameroon

Elena is making many new friends, including some of the Fulani girls. The picture with me was taken at the meat market. Probably the main meat here is beef and it is often killed fresh or the previous day. There are so many people on the streets walking, selling, buying, driving, riding, talking, eating, well you get the idea. It is a very social country and very easy to pass out tracts and witness because the people are everywhere.

Cameroon at last

We hope you all received our prayer letter that we emailed today. It is rather difficult to get to the internet here. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures. This country is absolutely beautiful. We experienced some jetlag and sensory overload as we arrived, but we are getting used to the way things are here. We are praying that the Lord will further direct for where to serve Him in Cameroon, and that we would be able finish our deputation quickly.

Tailwheel Pilot!

I thank the Lord for answers to prayer as I was able to go through my tailwheel training this Thursday and Friday. The weather was nasty (wind, clouds, storms) when we arrived and was forecast to remain that way. Thursday we trained in clear skys but with strong winds with the storms passing by the airport. The airplane is very light and we were bounced around quite a bit making for quite the workout of mind and body. The training started on the grass strips and progressed to the less forgiving asphalt. We practiced landing the plane on all three wheels at once as well as the front two wheels first. We also did a bit of cross wind takeoff and landing practice. The last of 5 training sessions was absolutely beautiful as we flew until sunset in calm winds. Abby and Elena came to watch the last few landings in which I was able to put the plane down on the runway without too much excitement. This training will allow me to fly the Glastar in Cameroon, but I'll be flying as much as possible here in the states before flying in Africa.

On a side note, we thank the Lord for a very large gift given to help us purchase the Glastar in Cameroon. So far since January about $21,400 has been given toward the $50,000 purchase price.

Wisconsin travels

June has been a busy month with getting some final preparations for going to Cameroon in a few weeks. We are also looking forward to Jim's wedding in only a week!

We stayed at a small lake house in Oshkosh for a few days before heading up North for tailwheel flight training. I passed the checkout and am now a tailwheel pilot! Praise the Lord!

We will be heading into the U.P. for a few days at a meeting before heading back down to Chicago for Jim's wedding.

Elena is crawling all over the place and loves to sing, conduct music, clap when you say "yeah!" and give kisses when she feels like. She talks all the time and is generally on the move. It is a rare moment when she wants you to hold her on your lap and just sit there.

Abby is doing well and generally staying busy keeping up with Elena. She is doing a good job training Elena in her manners and obedience.

End of May

The end of May we spent some time in Ann Arbor before traveling down to York, Pennsylvania. We had a great meeting in PA and visited Hershey and some Amish and Mennonite country. It was good to see the Callahans and Adams families. We thank the Lord for safety in travel, for meeting some new friends at Calvary Baptist in York, and for the good meetings we had this month.

Spring Travels

Here is a brief update from our recent travels in May. We spent a week in Oshkosh finishing our visa paperwork and getting 9 shots between the three of us. Elena is all recovered now from an ear infection, except for a small rash she may have acquired from the antibiotics.

We left Oshkosh for a camp meeting in northern Michigan (lower peninsula). This was our first experience of an old fashioned camp meeting and was in a 1500 seat tent.

After that we had a Wednesday through Sunday missions conference in Midland, Michigan. Wow! The church was such an encouragement to us and took us on for support on Sunday morning. The assistant pastor used to be a missionary pilot in Brazil, and he took me up in a Cessna 177 (Cardinal). He gave me some pointers about jungle aviation and short runway landings while we were up. Abby and Elena went up with us as well and had a great time. Also, along with the other missionaries and church staff I went bowling and in the same day golfed my first nine holes…Grandad Sanderlin would be proud. Abby had a great time shopping with the ladies. We really made some good friends while there last week. This church in Midland is our 12th supporting church.

I thought all the Petersons would appreciate the pictures of Elena’s attempt at making faces.

We are currently in Ann Arbor for a few days before going to Pennsylvania for a meeting next week. Because of the price of gas, we may end of flying as we have found a good deal on tickets.

Ypsi and the Motor City

We had two meetings in Michigan after our Pennsylvania week. Abby and I enjoyed the fellowship and burden for missions at Faithway Baptist Church in Ypsilanti last week. After the conference we spent our first day ever away from Elena. Abby's mom and family watched Elena for us as we spent our second anniversary in Detroit. We rode the "Detroit People Mover" around the city and visited some new sights. Abby and I are becoming very familiar with Detroit and could get to just about anywhere now.

This week we are back in Oshkosh, Wisconsin going through our items in storage as we prepare for warmer weather and more weeks on the road. We are also taking care of shots and our visa applications for our 5-week trip to Cameroon this summer. Please pray for all of the items for the trip to fall in to place and that God's hand would be on this trip.

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.