Life in the Big Potato

"I am cooking hot dogs" Cuteness If there were more slides like this, Nintendo wouldn't have a job. Westwood Baptist Church from Tennessee made some grood snow dogs and hot cones! Nummy. There were around 200 folk who came to the block party. Largely due to the advertising campaign of Westwood. They passed out like 2,000 flyers all over the town. During the party at least one person prayed to accept Christ. (I say "at least" because I don't have the full story and don't want to be accused of over-reporting. I think it was a man and wife.) Many more contacts were made. As we had set out to do, we served the community in a meaningful way.

The younger boys wanted to get a good view of the baptism. Gayle wants people to know that Jesus loves her and she loves Him too! A few weeks ago this little girl and her dad accepted Christ! The church has been praying for this family ever since the mother was baptized and joined the church shortly after it was started over a year ago. The father had been struggling with many life choices and spiritual decisions he had to make and finally was captured by the love of Christ. He gave his heart to Christ and wanted to be baptized. Gayle wanted to be baptized ever since she saw her mom do it. But because of her severe mental handicap, her mother and the pastor thought it would be best to wait to see if she could come to a better understanding of the Gospel. Well, once her father accepted Christ, Gayle was adamant that she wanted to be baptized along with him. I was invited to come in and be a witness to the conversation Scott, our pastor, had with Gayle and her mother. Tom, our worship pa...

Did you know that the world's longest gondola ride is in Idaho? We decided last weekend to try it out. The view from the top was amazing. The watchtower guy Phil was like, "See that fifth mountain range over there? Well that's Montana. And see that mountain over there? Yeah that sure is Washington." He was sweet.

Hey, could you guys pray for us? Friday, we are having a big ole block party.  The team that is here this week has personally invited close to 300 people.  We also have ads in the paper.  Who knows how many will show up? Also, next week is VBS!  People keep calling to sign up their children.  Will we be able to handle them all? All this is going on in the absence of our pastor who had to travel to Mississippi to be with his sick father. Through your prayers I know God will work Friday and next week. 

Well, here are a few pics now that we've unpacked The living room The dining room (actually all one room) Kitchen (last three pics taken from the same spot) Master Bedroom Guest bedroom/office Bathroom Laundry room That's all for now hope you enjoyed the tour.

Last week we had basketball camp.  Moss Bluff Baptist Church came in to provide the coaching for Upward Basketball.  It was pretty neat. Jana and I went just to help with registration and check out what was going on.  Of course, we happily found ourselves doing more than we had expected.  I was helping with ball handling skills and Jana helped explain the rules of Upward Basketball.  I didn't really know what I was doing, but the kids were pretty little anyway.  Still, I know they improved under my tutelage.

Hi family. Hi friends. We miss you. I just wanted to tell you a little bit about what has been going on this weekend. On Friday night we had our first hangout time with the students. Hamburgers, games, and Blueberry Crunch always work. Thanks DT. Saturday we spent the morning talking with one of our neighbors at the pool. Saturday afternoon I went on a little exploring Coeur d'Alene time while Bennett chilled at the apartment, and last night we had a date downtown at a tasty little Italian place. Today marks one month for us in Idaho. Can you believe that? Please pray for another mission team that just made it here from Tennessee. They are doing VBS and prayer walking at a small town about 70 miles north of here. Also tomorrow I have my second interview with Greenstone. They are a contracting company that owns our apartment. I have applied to be a part-time leasing agent at our complex, and I really want this job because I think it would be a great way to meet new people who are...

Pray for the contacts that were made last week by the team from Trinity Baptist Church.  They went into a neighborhood and gave out information about Upward Basketball camp and VBS.  They made some very good contacts. Pray for the team here this week from Moss Bluff Baptist Church.  They are leading two Upward Basketball camps each day!  They are getting tired with two more days to go.  Pray that the children that are attending will always remember the love of Christ when they play sports and that the parents will seek more opportunites to be involved with the church. Pray for the youth in this area.  Jana and I have invited several from our church to come hang out with us on Friday night.  Pray that we can begin meaninful relationships. Pray for guidance.  Jana has been trying to decide if and where she would like to work.  She's put out some applications, and we are still searching God's will. I think that should get you started.  We b...

This is the view from our balcony. We are really enjoying our new apartment. Please pray for us as we begin to build relationships with the people around us. Last Friday I went on a women's retreat with the ladies from our church. We stayed in a beautiful restored cabin in the middle of the woods. It was a great time to get to know the women of our church. Dad came to visit for the fourth of July weekend. We flew up to Glacier National Park and rented a convertible to drive the Road to the Sun . Yes Amy. We actually took these pictures on my camera. They are not scanned in postcards. This is where we live. Come visit!

Last night we gathered with thousands of others to watch the Coeur d' Alene fireworks show over the lake.  It was pretty good, but what really made people shout was the lightning in the background.  The fireworks made us ooh and ahh, but the lightning made us gasp in wonder.  I think that paints such a good picture of what will happen when people can compare the world's truth with God's truth.  The world puts on this big display begging us to watch. "Here is what is beautiful.  Here is what is amazing!"  And it is very beautiful and amazing.  But God, regardless of our attentions, demonstrates who He is.  If we happen to be lucky or blessed enough to see it, then we will know that this is real beauty; this is true amazment.  Something so beautiful it is terrifying...  Something so amazing we forget to breathe...  Fireworks demonstrate how man has tried to tame nature and put its power to work.  Lightning demostrates how man has...

Just a quick note to let you know that we finished the VBS at Kingston BC with no mishaps. Jana's class grew to 14 by Friday with four salvations. I met all my personal goals I had set for myself for the week (1.beat a 10-year-old at tether ball 2.teach Patrick to serve in volley ball 3.have three snack times before lunch and 4.turn "Artic Edge" motions into an NSync-style dance routine). And we all got recognition certificates! Oh yean, and I got to talk to the kids about missions everyday which was cool. Last night Jana went on a ladies retreat with some women from our church. It was a good opportunity to get to know several church members and, from what I hear, eat some really good food. Now Jana's dad is in town for several days, and we are getting ready for the 4th. We need to decide where the best place to watch the fireworks will be. We promise there will be more pictures once we have internet access in our apartment. Right now we are in the computer lab. Pleas...