Quick Update

Elena signing up for our email prayer letter at the last missions conference.

We had a wonderful conference in Marietta, Ohio and are in Ypsi repacking for our next road trip. We thank the Lord for safety and good meetings these last three weeks on the road. We are home in Ypsi for about 24 hours as we repack for the fall meetings we have for the next three weeks.

We are headed to Stephen and Tina's wedding in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin before a meeting in Indiana this Sunday. We wish Stephen and Tina a wonderful day and a wonderful marriage as they serve the Lord together.

Raleigh conference

Beacon Baptist Church Missions Conference 2008- Raleigh, NC
Introducing our family and field
Opening gifts from the church!
By our table in the lobby after the last service.
She is still smiling after a full week of conference!
A wonderful group of missionaries and pastoral staff we had the privilege to be with.

Carson Fremont preaching in the Spanish service. I had the privilege of teaching Sunday School, preaching, and showing my Cameroon slides in the Spanish service. I enjoyed preaching with the Spanish Pastor interpreting. He had a busy job throughout the week. The Spanish missions conference was happening at the same time as the English services at Beacon Baptist.

Elena making a new friend at the Spanish church.
Our family with Mr. and Mrs. Carson Fremont
Elias is sacked out after a busy week.

We have concluded a wonderful missions conference in Raleigh, NC. Beacon Baptist Church is so missions minded and really took care of us all. They took us on for support late last year but wanted to have us in for this year's conference.

One of the best things about deputation is being able to meet new preachers and missionaries. We met Carson Fremont and his wife, who are missionaries to the Far East. He has been a missionary for over 50 years. He was a soul-winning partner with Jim Elliot. He has been a faithful servant and an inspiration to many. We met bro. Mike Patterson who has been a missionary in Mexico for many years. He has been a help in our research for a translation project in Cameroon. These two men were the Missionary Statesmen of the week!

We are headed to Ohio in a few days for another conference before heading back to Michigan for a day. We will then leave for Wisconsin and Stephen and Tina's wedding.

Lady Liberty

Elena holding up the torch as she approches "Lady Liberty."


Elena holding up the torch again, as she says goodbye to the lady.

Before we left the house we were staying at to see the statue of Liberty, we showed Elena pictures of where we were going. She practised saying "Lady Liberty" most of the morning and also held her arm up with the torch. She was so excited when she saw the real think in the distance. She was even more excited when got to the island. I can't put it into words the thrill it was to see this great American monument. We are so thankful for days like this in the midst of our busy travel days. It truly was a refreshment and encouragement to us as a family.

The Big Apple

This man was playing "America the Beautiful" on steel drums. He dedicated his next to Elena and played "Twinkle Twinkle."
This bronze symbol of peace used to be on or nearby the world trade center. It is the only one to have survived, though damaged, the attack. The city was gearing up for the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the twin towers.
After we found the parking garage in Mahattan down by the harbor, we were finally able to relax a little. We walked out of the garage to find oursevles at One New York Plaza and right by Wall Street. We were most thankful to see the McDonalds across the street. We had to calm Elena down who could not stop talking about the man who took our van away in the parking garage. I told her that the nice man is watching our van so we can go see Lady Liberty. She never mentioned it again.

Brooklyn, NY- Robert Lowry

97 Lincoln Pl, the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY
New historical marker of Pastor Robert Lowry
If you can read the marker on by clicking on the picture, it would be worth your time. Robert Lowry was a pastor in the NE states including at the 6th Ave. Baptist Church here in Brooklyn. He is well known for the many hymns and tunes that he wrote. You may have sang one of them last Sunday. At the church we were visiting, we sang "Christ Arose." He also wrote "Shall we gather at the river" and many others. Anyway, we stopped here on our way to the Statue of Liberty. This marker was placed at the church in May of 2007 by our friend Pastor Jeff Faggart of the Baptist History Preservation Society. Hope you can read the marker.

Long Island, New York

We had a good visit with a church on Sunday morning. They took us out to eat, and we had a good time of fellowship.
After our Sunday night meeting with Bible Baptist in Elmont, the pastor and his family took us all out to a New York diner...by far one of my favorite places we have eaten on deputation. The meeting was wonderful, and we thank the Lord for the fellowship of God's people from so many diverse ethnic backgrounds. It was quite a busy day for us!
This morning, Elena and I took off for the diner to get some coffee...
...but our van pulled in to Dunkin Donuts instead!!

Tropical Storm Hannah

The bridge to Long Island...we found out why the island is called "long!" We chased Hannah all today from Pennsylvania to Long Island, New York. The worst of the storm at this point is just putting out a lot of rain and will spin on by us tonight. It made for a slower day of travel today and tired us all out. It is pretty neat though being on Long Island. We had a meeting cancel for Sunday morning, so we are visiting a church we found out about. We have a meeting on the Island Sunday night. We hope to visit some neat sites on Monday.

Ann Arbor

We have had a wonderful time in Ann Arbor for the last week. Our days have been full including successful scheduling of a few more meetings; taking my brother in laws and father in law flying; preaching at AABC on Sunday night. Abby has been able to spend time with her mom and sisters at various times while myself and others have watched Elena...always a fun adventure. We also had a wonderful time with family and friends on Labor Day. Hope you all are doing well. Thanks for praying.

Illinois Summer

We had a wonderful brief visit to see my parents in Illlinois. We are now in Michigan catching up and scheduling more meetings.

Please see the link on our blog to keep up to date with Tom Needham's new plane as our guys at Wings as Eagles prepare it to go to Cameroon in less than a month!!

Chris and Laura

Chris and Laura are happily married and are now on their honeymoon somewhere in the Midwest. What a beautiful wedding! It was great seeing everything from just a few feet away.

Meanwhile, we had a great meeting in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. We have lots of friends at this church especially since Abby's sister, Tina, is marrying Stephen Rains from there. We will be at their wedding in another month.

We are in Illinois visiting my parents for a day and will return to Michigan for a week beginning tomorrow. Then it is off to NY, NC, and OH before back to WI for the wedding. The Lord is good...thanks for praying and checking in on us. Thanks, Mr. C. for the picture!

Chris' wedding

My brother Chris is getting married on Friday to Laura Frueh from Pennsylvania. The wedding will be in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. We wish them the very best as they start their lives together.

After the wedding we will have a meeting in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. We plan to visit my parents for a day after that before finally heading back to Michigan for a week!

Abby, Elena, and Elias are all doing well. Abby looks forward to nights of a little more sleep, but Elias is only waking up once or twice on most nights now.

Meetings

Please pray for us the next few weeks. Tomorrow we have an all day meeting in Wild Rose, Wisconsin. My brother Chris is getting married on Thursday, and we have a meeting on Sunday in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. Have a wonderful Lord's day and a great week serving the Lord!

Grandma and Grandpa Peterson

My Grandparents came to see Elias and to take us out for several meals. We went to Machine Shed and the next day to the best Chinese place around. Grandpa had fun teasing Elena since she was so willing to give in to his tricks. Reminded me of the good times growing up with Grandpa and Grandma.

Oshkosh

Elias' first Culver's. When Elena saw him with her fries she immediately protested!

Elena enjoyed the cows, pig, duck, kittens, and dog at the farm where we had the Flight Camp cookout.
Elena singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her little brother.

We enjoyed having Mary and Mom (Burtt) up for a week. I could not have spent as much time with the guys for Flight Camp without them helping Abby. Abby enjoyed having lots of help!

More visitors for Elias

Hard to believe that Elias is one week old!
Uncle Chris with Elias and Elena. Elena took to Chris and enjoyed the visitors as usual.
This year's Meeting in the Air at Wyldewood. This is always a great time of year when pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and pilots from all over the world fellowship during the conference and EAA Airventure week.
Grammie had a special visit getting to know Elias and playing with Elena.
Elena cried when they left. Abby is doing very well and enjoyed the help with meals. Thanks, Emily for helping for the whole week. We enjoyed having you up here...even if you beat me in the Africa game.