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.

O, Canada!

The Oshkosh Sanderlin family just returned from Ajax, Ontario, which is a suburb of Toronto. We were at Faithway Baptist Church, which has 40 different nationalities in their congregation. We shared the day with another missionary family from Faithway Baptist Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Faithway in Canada voted to take us both on after the evening service. Praise the Lord that brings us to 32% of our support!

Elena has now been outside the United States for the first time. The biggest difference was driving with kilometers instead of miles on the signs and using Canadian money. It seemed there was a Tim Horton’s “on every corner” and every exit and we stopped there four times, once to ask for directions.

Thanks for praying for us. We will head to a Juniata Baptist Church for a missions conference starting Wednesday. We are having a good time basing at Ann Arbor with Abby’s family for the last part of March and the first half of April.

Leaving the Land of Lincoln

We thank the Lord for safety as we have been traveling throughout Wisconsin and Illinois the last few months. The Lord has blessed with many good meetings including Black River Falls (WI), Morris (IL), and Galesburg (IL). On Wednesdays when we didn't have meetings we were able to visit churches in Geneva (IL) where we have an open door for a future meeting, Roscoe (IL) where we scheduled a meeting for later, and Chillicothe (IL) where we have an open door for a meeting as well.

We will be leaving Tuesday for Michigan and then for a meeting in Ontario, Canada, this Sunday. After that we will have two missions conferences in Michigan and one in Pennsylvnia as well as other meetings all before April is over. Please continue to pray for churches to be able to support us. We are praying for 50% of our support by mid June when we hope to visit Cameroon for the first time. Thank you to all who support us through your prayers and finances.

Here are some pictures of Elena as she continues to bless us with her life and smiles :) She does so well meeting new people and being on the road. The same goes for my beautiful and loving wife, Abby...I wouldn't be having near as much fun without them!

March Meetings

February was a little slow for us and our Green Bay meeting was canceled due to over a foot of snow the night before the meeting. We enjoyed seeing many of you at the Holiness Conference. We had a full day the first Sunday in March in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. We enjoyed seeing Jessica and her kids a few days ago. We plan on being in Morris, IL, Galesburg, IL, Ontario, Canada, and Juniata, MI the rest of the month. Please pray for our safety on the road.

Also, be in prayer about our trip to Cameroon this summer. We are hoping to go for a month and are looking into purchasing tickets soon. Pray for wisdom and timing of the trip.

We are so thankful for the churches and families that took us on for support in February. We praise the Lord we are at 30% of our support for Cameroon.

Believers Baptist Church Valentine Banquet

Here are a few pictures from last night of the Valentine Banquet at the Deere-Wiman house in Moline, Illinois. Abby and I had a great time while Emily did not (Elena wasn't quite the sweetheart she usually is). Abby and I were in charge of the game "Name that Tune," all hymns with the theme of Christ's love for us or us for Him. Pastor Farmer from Milledgeville, Illinois, was the guest preacher. Dad was his usual self as MC lightening up everyone during the banquet. Thanks Mr. C. for the pictures!

Ethnic Foods

When we think of heading off for Cameroon one day, one of the many adjustments to be made will be that of changing cultures. One of those changes will include food. This morning we participated in a little bit of "Sanderlin" culture for breakfast. All Sanderlins will probably know what that was, but for those of you who don't... We were watching a video that Uncle Warren filmed of Grandad making sawmill gravy so it could be passed down for posterity. Grandad said, "We're havin' sawmill gravy, biscuits, jelly, eggs, bacon, sausage, orange juice, and coffee...and if you don't like any of that then stay away from the Sanderlins" or something like that. (I wonder if I'll have to leave all that behind, or if we can still make that kind of thing where we are going?I'll love the food in Cameroon I'm sure.) I have made everything but sawmill gravy many times in the past, so today I made the sawmill gravy for the first time...thanks Grandad! So that is a little bit of the Sanderlin culture...now I have to go out and split firewood since we are about out.

Deputation...

We had the privilege of being at a missions conference in Elgin, Illinois. We were challenged by the preaching of God's Word with our responsibility to reach people for Christ. We trust we were able to be a blessing to those in the college and church. We presented our field on Monday morning to the college and highschool with over 250 being in attendance. There were missionaries to South Africa, Brazil, Ukraine, Romania, Mexico, Bahamas, Nepal, India, and the Middle East who also presented their fields throughout the week. Thank the Lord that missionaries are still answering God's call to go into all the world. If we all went where the Lord called us then the world could be reached. May we all be willing and obedient!

Also, I received a call from a church we presented at last year, and they recently voted to take us on for support. That brings us up to 8 churches that have promised to support us though 4 of them are actually supporting us as of the end of January. Please pray that we would be diligent in presenting our burden for Cameroon, and that the Lord would burden and enable churches to support us soon.

Brrr!!

If you live in the North then you know how cold it has been lately. It is probably colder somewhere else, but it has been quite a January/February in Illinois and Wisconsin. Here are some pictures of Elena out on her first sledding adventure. She may not get much of this in the future in Africa, but I'm sure she'll have some other fun experiences to remember. This is supposed to be a recreation of Jessica's first sledding ride with Mom and her family while Dad was in Korea back in 1975. Emily keeps asking us to go sledding with her...

Wisconsin Missions

We spent the last four days with Pastor and Mrs. O'Bryon in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. They are planting Cornerstone Baptist Church and have purchased a former Catholic building for services. We helped canvas the area and did some work on the building. Sunday was a full day as I preached and presented the field of Cameroon, Abby playing the special music. Pray for this new church reaching out to a needy Wisconsin town.

Land of Lincoln 2

We are in blustery in Illinois at present busy in many ways. I have set up three new meetings in Illinois churches and have also been working for dad installing furnaces. We are planning on helping Camp Joy with a new furnace in their kitchen soon.

Elena thinks she is big stuff as she is learning to sit on her own. That seems to be where she is the happiest and most talkative right now. We are glad to have some extra help watching her at Grammie and Grandads.

Some generous gifts have been given towards Tom Needhams new plane, and he is anticipating flying it by April.

Let us know that you have been by here. Thank you for your prayers.

Tom Needham's Glasair Sportsman in Oshkosh

Please continue to pray for the completion of Tom Needham's Sportman, which is being built in the Wings as Eagles hangar in Oshkosh. Brother Needham and his son Daniel have spent countless hours there in the last few months along with Terry Rushing and many other volunteers. Here are some pictures of the plane and hangar being prepared for the full paint job. Please pray for the Lord to provide the funds for us to buy his six year old Glastar Taildragger in Cameroon. We look forward to our work together with the Needhams in Cameroon. Thanks, Adam and Chris, for your help with the plane!

Land of Lincoln

We finished a lot of business in Oshkosh and are now in Illinois. I'll post some of the pictures of the hangar activities and other things soon. We were able to spend a little more time with the Needhams and discuss Cameroon in more detail. Chris, Adam, Tina, and Tizzy came up for a day as well. Chris and Adam helped clean the hangar so Bro. Needham's plane would be ready to paint by the end of this week.
You can read our latest prayer letter by clicking here: http://www.wyldewood.org/users/ftpwae/sanderlinnewsletter.pdf
Here is a picture of our arrival in Hillsdale earlier tonight. Congratulations, Emily, on the removal of your braces!! I'd hardly recognize ya!

Happy New Year!

The Oshkosh Sanderlin family is leaving Michigan today and heading back to the base (Oshkosh) for a week. We will be having a meeting with Pastor King, Bob Warinner, and Tom Needham to plan for Cameroon.
We have enjoyed our time with Abby's family and will miss everyone. I will be scheduling meetings for the rest of this month, and we will be visiting churches in Wisconsin and Illinois. We plan to be in Illinois with my parents in another week or so.