Yesterday we left the house at 7:45 am and drove 106 miles north to Burlington, WA in the beautiful Skagit Valley. Jim Shaw is the pastor of Faith Baptist Church. We were there to speak in the morning service and then after a potluck lunch. The church has been one of the most active over the years in supporting us, sending cards, letters and notes. So we were glad to be going to re-connect and report.

Attendance was small, but people were enthusiastic. The music team had three guitars, a piano, a violin and a cello, plus singers. You don’t see cellos in church every morning. It was a blessing to be able to share what we’d been doing and what is on our hearts to go back to Puebla and do. We’re trying to work on really getting people to think about what they could do with us in Mexico. At least people seemed to be listening closely!

The big attention-grabber was that they had had a fire in the men’s bathroom a week-and-a-half before. It was apparently a cigarette left in the garbage that smoldered and smoked and filled the bathroom and church with smoke. Providentially the bathroom door was closed (always a good idea, under any circumstances!) and the damage was limited to the bathroom, which is now being remodeled. So God was merciful and kept the church from a huge loss. Beside that, the building goes back to 1898 (and 1910) and is a traditional white, steepled structure with nice old stained glass windows.

There were lots of kids and young families at the church, including a college classmate of Tim’s, Shelley (Mordhorst) Struiksma (and her husband, Andy and four cute kids). Up there in the northwestern part of Washington you’re in Scandinavian dairy country! Lot’s of little blond children running around!

We drove back down in the late afternoon, passing by Qwest Field as the mediocre Seahawks were completing a comeback win over the even-worse-than-mediocre Lions. We beat the post-game traffic!

Thanks, to Faith Baptist!

Here’s what they said:

One of the things that we always said on pre-field (aka deputation, support-raising) is that we’re looking for partners and that prayer-partners are equally as important as financial partners. Well, Sunday on Bainbridge Island was the reality of that. The church, led by Pastor Dan Wymer, wasn’t able to take us on financially, but over the years they’ve prayed for us-and let us know that. Even without monthly financial support, they’ve been very generous in gifts and in taking on Laura Reyes for a time. We’ve known they are with us in our work, and we’re thankful for that.

So it was a privilege to be with them Sunday night to report on the work in Puebla and to share our vision for the future. In fact, it was a great time, very humbling to be there and feel their love for us. They were very generous with their time, and food, and even gave the kids special birthday gifts. The kids were very friendly with ours, and Drew picked up a pen-pal in Max. We even came home with some fresh-squeezed apple cider. It was good to be out on the Penninsula again and see the mountains and water up close!

Thank you, Bainbridge Island!

Ok, this is just an excuse now to be posting. The Fireballs tied one for the Gipper tonight, 3-3. They played hard and were pretty worn down at the end of the game (they’ve missed Bill, one of the stronger players for the two games this week). So the Rebels were on the attack most of the second half after we took a 3-2 lead early in the half. Kayla scored that goal. She’s scored in all three games so far. But the story of the night is Jesús Manual, the Sonoran Shooter. He scored two goals on breakaways, finishing with powerful shots that the goalie had no chance of stopping. Good job, Manuel!

But fun was had by all. No games next week. I’ll try to get some photos up tomorrow.

Drew kickoff

Drew’s soccer team, the Fireballs, earned their first win of the season (in the second game), 1-0 over the Cougars. It was a hard-fought battle, with Keila (Kayla?) opportunistically scoring the only goal when two opposing players fell down. Everybody on the team played great, though, in the ever-so-objective view of this observer, Drew was the fireplug of the Fireballs, aggressively going after balls, dribbling well and playing solid defense. All the markings of a good midfielder. I’d like to think it was my backyard pep talk, telling him not to let anyone beat him to the ball, but his post-game response of “Huh?” might indicate otherwise. Anyway, fun was had by all! Jump below for the photo and video… Read more…

Well, just a brief note on our time today at Mt. Tahoma. Our first real presentation was at this church 8 years ago. For some reason they supported us, and we really haven’t been back to present since then. So it was really amazing that a lot of people (Cliff, Jonathan) remembered us. Obviously this is a church that prays for its missionaries. Read more…

Well, we’re in the middle of life…not too busy, but just enough activity that we have to prioritize. It’s been good to be in churches and to renew old acquaintances (“Should ald acquaintance…”). I’d like to start updating this on a regular basis with a weekly Sunday night “how’d it go” report, and also updates on books I’m reading as research for my ThM thesis, prayer requests, Drew-Gavin-Fiona updates (Drew soccer scores) and such. It would also be cool to add photo posting (a link to Flikr or some such service?) and videos (YouTube?). And we’re not too busy to do that stuff, but we’re still juggling things. Read more…

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest!

Well, we made it to Tacoma safely. What a trip! We’re thankful, very thankful, for the uneventful travels and good times at our various stops. Even the two rainy thunderstormy nights in our tent weren’t too bad. They could have been way worse, and now we’ve got a good start on camping built into our family DNA. And, yes, Barbara-Lee is awesome for going along with that!
Read more…

Well, we made it to Tacoma safely.  What a trip!  We’re thankful, very thankful, for the uneventful travels and good times at our various stops.  Even the two rainy thunderstorm-y nights in our tent weren’t too bad.  They could have been way worse, and now we’ve got a good start on camping built into our family DNA.  And, yes, Barbara-Lee is awesome for going along with that!

We saw friends outside Chicago, in Iowa, then got to appreciate the wonders of the Badlands for a couple days, then Devils Tower before resting up in Billings.  We managed to put the finishing touches on our presentation for churches in Billings, then went to Missoula where we were greatly encouraged by the Faith Baptist Church.  What a warm welcome we got.  Then, finally a long day’s drive, well not even too long, to Tacoma, where the Fam was waiting for us as we pulled in at 6 PM.  It was good to have rainy weather as we got to Tacoma.  It just wouldn’t be Tacoma without it!

So now we’re going to take a week or so to settle in, then start finalizing our calendar for church visits, edit and revise our presentation and start thinking about plans for our return to Puebla next year (August 2010, Lord willing).

But thanks for your prayers and care about us as we traveled.  We’ll try to get some photos up, but there are about 1000 to review and organize first!

Tim

Hi!

We’re here at the Glads. We had a pretty good trip from Illinois. Drew and Alena were pretty excited to see each other. Gavin and Andrew (born three weeks apart you may remember) were quick to wave and say hi.

We made a useful discovery on the way. Before leaving PA, I discussed with PaPa ‘n PA if the gas gauge in newer cars (which tells you “X miles to empty”) is really accurate; i.e. if when it tells you “0 miles to empty” you run out of gas. Well, we ran the gas gauge down to “0 miles to empty”. And yes, the needle was really on empty, and yes, you can still drive at least two miles. We just got to an exit with a nearby gas station. A little closer than I usually cut it! Of course on the newer cars, now that it actually tells you “X miles to empty” it may be a little scarier than it really is. But we probably won’t let that happen again (for a while at least). We were (and remain) thankful for that station.

It looks as if the weather through SD tomorrow will be ok. We’re going to go out here and get some food for the camping, then enjoy the Glads a bit more.

Love,
Tim