Week 5 of our travels - Spring 2017

Friday morning we stopped in Murdo, SD at the pioneer car and tractor museum. Dodging the rain drops, we saw about ½ of it all – a very large place! And the original or close to it - motor home!

Then we went on to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center. We were hoping for a tour of one of the decommissioned missiles, but it was by appointment only. There was a lot of information to read – very interesting! BTW, there are still hundreds of active missile silos in that region of the country.

From there we took a detour through the Badlands, ending up in Wall (remember Wall Drugs?). God has truly created a beautiful world – even in its fallen state. Where's Waldo?

At Wall Drugs, Heather was able to mail her last post cards – hope the recipients appreciate the famous cancel stamp!

We parked at Alan’s – on a hill overlooking Rapid City and the Dinosaur Park. It was a cold first night, but the sun came out and the wind warmed up. Saturday and Monday we spent running errands with Galina. She doesn’t drive, so appreciated a “driver”. Heather sat in the back between 2 of the cutest kids you ever hope to meet!!!!!!!!

We were able to buy them a kitchen table with 6 chairs, a bookcase, dishes, and several other items we thought they should have! Housewarming gifts. (Everyone has their priorities!! But Galina was grateful.) It was a surprise for Alan, who got home Sunday night after winning 3rd place in some sort of Motocross race. Hip-Hip-Hurray.

Sunday we enjoyed the same church we visited a month ago on our way east. A missionary spoke in the evening – very compelling speaker.

Monday afternoon we left for home and drove as far as Sheridan, WY. The views are truly breathtaking. On Tuesday we stopped at the Pictograph Cave State Park – cave drawings that mostly have disappeared!

Later in the day we made an unexpected stop at the Mission Ranch – a nice place to take a break, even though we took it because the R.V. was acting up! Spent the night in Butte, MT.

Because of vapor locking/overheating, we decided to start our Wednesday at 4 a.m. It was a beautiful morning and the sun rose at 5 a.m. We had no R.V. issues all day, so put on more miles than planned. Even the mountains were no challenge!!

We stopped in Spokane to visit the Hutton Settlement Children’s Home. Next time, we’ll prearrange so we can get a tour.

The winds across WA were the worst we have had yet. At one point, we were tossed ½ way into the next lane. But God graciously kept us safe and no traffic was around.

Driving on, we neared Ellensburg, WA, late afternoon. By Googling, we found a church that had a Wednesday evening prayer time and attended. If we’d looked sooner, we could have had dinner, too! They have a potluck every Wednesday.

Well, their piano player wasn’t in attendance, so Heather filled in. It was a double blessing to be able to help them out while enjoying the Christian fellowship of the committed. Besides the piano, 2 played guitar. We parked in the food store parking lot and had a great night’s sleep.

Thursday by noon we were home. But, what a difficult day! The R.V. decided not to run properly, so for the last 10 miles, while Heather was driving on I-5 and I-405, it was coughing, backfiring and sputtering. We were glad for 30 mph! Roger took over at the exit. He wasn’t sure it would run all the way home. We parked in the Goodwill lot at the base of our hill, going 5 mph at this point and nursing it along. From our Tuesday experience, we were quite sure cooling the gas would let us drive again. So we sat at the bottom of the hill for about ½ hour. While there, Roger was able to help a young girl having a problem fitting her purchases into her car! Turns out she was a Christian!

The R.V. cooled off and we zipped up our last hill to home! Home never looked so good!! God brought us back and we are grateful.

Week 4 of our travels - Spring 2017

Friday was the last day of conference. John Bechtel was the speaker, and he is very funny! We laughed ‘til we cried. In the afternoon, CEF put on a “fair” of sorts – cotton candy, popcorn, suckers, balloon shapes, candy, and a photo set-up. With 1500+ people, there wasn’t much moving around! However, the long lines gave one a chance to get to know someone new. The evening/final session was filled with music. First an African choir; then a Korean one joined them; lastly, the children's choir composed of children of the attendees was brought up on stage.

Each choir sang and then the combined one – in several languages. Totally inspiring. One couple said they counted license plates from 32 different States – a great gathering! How Great is Our GOD!

Friday night we left Ridgecrest and drove as far as Asheville. Walmart had posted “no overnight parking”, so we went next door to Kohl’s, where we had company! Heading north, we had wonderful driving weather – good thing, since it was a lot further than we thought (well, I had calculated it at ~400 miles, but Roger’s smart phone and several attendees at the conference thought it was more like 300.) And, by the way, there are mountains out east, too! We went over several passes, which they call “gaps”.

We got to Columbus, OH, in the evening. The grandkids were happy to see us and came with many cards! Ellie, 8, and Kaydin, 6, were pleased to spend several nights with us.

We took them both to Sunday School and church. Daughter Crystal ended up taking the youngest to the ER in the night and they stayed in bed in the morning. A big disappointment was that that church, which we specifically targeted, does not pick up kids that far from them (about 8 miles). They have a great bus ministry, but not for us!

We spent Sunday afternoon at McDonald’s – air conditioned and a play land. Crystal and Hunter joined us and we spent hours there! It was great exercise for Ellie, who is really losing ground with her CP.

Crystal kept the kids out of school Monday so we could enjoy them an extra day. They liked the puzzles I brought, as well as the other small treats. We had a great parking spot, too.

But then it was time to move on. After lunch on Tuesday with the grandkids’ other grandma (where Roger rode the dinosaur), we headed north and west towards Rapid City, SD.

Wednesday we were glad to find a prayer meeting at a local Baptist Church in Galesburg, IL. That night there were tornado sightings where we were headed, so we stayed put. One tornado was clocked at 70 m.p.h. The R.V. got a royal washing and we were rocked to sleep. But the next day all was cleared up – and clean!

Thursday we stopped at two museums in Peoria, IL that interest Roger - trucks, tractors and trains. First the Caterpillar Museum http://www.caterpillar.com/en/company/visitors-center.html, then the Wheels o' Time Museum http://www.wheelsotime.org, and eventually the Kinze Innovation Center, a leading developer of farm planting equipment http://www.kinze.com

Now on towards SD and Alan’s place.

Week 3 of our travels - Spring 2017

The 3 days at the OM warehouse were great! Heather sorted books – 1,000’s of books!

 – and Roger did a lot of outside maintenance. It was wonderful to pray with the missionaries and over the books – that God will use all for His Glory. The book sales on board ship Logos Hope raise 1/3 of the ship’s operating costs. And, of course, offer great joy to all who buy them – most countries still treasure paper books!

From there it was off to son Josh’s house. We were glad that we were welcomed! Scarlett, 6, has become much more “tamed”, and we enjoyed her company. She seems exceptionally bright and still likes to cuddle. Also likes to play games, which I had brought along. Kindergarten grades her daily with a 4 color system, and she understands ODD – something she doesn’t want to be labeled with. I’m so glad to be able to teach her that saying “yes, ma’am” and “ok, mom” and then acting on it will keep that label far from her. She is still in Sunday School with her grandma that lives next door. She’s very good at coloring and takes pride in doing it right and well. I’ll be glad to hang her pictures on my fridge! Friday night she spent with us in the R.V.

Saturday was Brandi’s 35^th birthday (Scarlett’s mom). We celebrated at the Golden Corral after watching Scarlett play her second t-ball game.

(Photo-bombed by a finger!)

We left on Sunday after church and lunch. Along the highway are beautiful fields of flowers in full bloom – yellow/orange; purple; red; and mixed. The weather and highways have been great – if only the wind would cease!

Mid-NC we stopped at a rest area – the nicest one I think I’ve ever seen. There was a small waterfall, lots of trees and a red rose garden. The caretaker said we could spend the night, so we did!

We arrived at the 80^th Child Evangelism Fellowship International Conference near Asheville, NC., Monday afternoon. There are currently over 100 countries represented with over 1500 attending.

What a surprise to meet so many with whom we have contact or mutual friends – the most “miraculous” being the lady, Lulu, from Myanmar who is friends with a German Bible School grad who went there ~40 years ago to reach an unreached tribe – the Chins. (Here’s the whole story: Helga graduated and felt called to go to Burma, as it was then called. Burma was a closed country, but she got in because she enrolled in the University to learn the Chin language! There was a young man from that tribe also studying there. She led him to Christ, and they were married. That gave her the ticket to stay in the country. Together they translated the Scriptures. Lula’s aunt works with Helga!) I also met a lady from Senegal who is friends with friends of ours. A couple we sat beside from Nigeria knew a friend of ours; the lady in the row ahead of us heard us talking and turned around to tell us that she knew my aunt Linda, who worked in Nigeria for 45 years! Linda worked in an orphanage when she first went to Nigeria. The mother of the lady sitting next to us grew up in that orphanage. Besides that, Bob Parschauer, a missionary/friend from Germany who sings in a traveling evangelistic quartet, is here! The missionary world is small.

Week 2 of our travels - Spring 2017

Thursday morning was our 2 hours with Bryanna and Tracie.




Bryanna, 2, has started walking. Both girls are in all day developmentally delayed day care, 5 days/week. But Bryanna has been making good progress, and they aren’t sure yet if she is autistic. 

Tracie is pretty much on track, but has asthma. We really had fun with the kids! (& the sun was out in full force!)

After our 2 hour visit, we took Mary to the laundry mat and while doing laundry had lunch in the R.V. Then we walked around the small lake near her house.

We left town shortly after that, since there were no R.V. parking spots available in town (much to our surprise!).

Thursday night we stayed at the Tom Sawyer RV park right next to the mighty Mississippi River - wonderful parking spot and beautiful weather - went for a night walk right up to the river - stars out bright!! Several tug boats went by and we watched their lights. But the next morning we walked out to the river edge to see tugboats pushing enormous loads – one was pushing 35 barges upstream!

It doesn’t take long to get through a lot of States – went from AR to TN to MS to AL to GA in one day. We also crossed from cool spring to hot summer, hitting 90^o. We are very grateful it was only one day!

In Harlem, GA, we visited a Laurel and Hardy Museum. (Hardy was born there.)

We also saw a mini-museum of “everything made of wood” items (cars to scale; an engine – The General – to ½ scale; etc. Check it out at: www.russeth.com).

Sunday morning we attended a large Baptist church in Columbia, SC, that was celebrating a cookie Sunday!! Roger thought he might be called to the church!!….Their music minister had been there 30 years (and I guess he likes cookies??) We really enjoyed the pipe organ.

In the afternoon we drove about 100 miles to Florence, where we attended a "mega" large Baptist Church – about 500 attending the evening service…all ages! A large choir, many instruments, a baptism service with 12 being baptized (1 child; 6 men; 5 women – including one who just got saved on Monday), and a great sermon! We like the Bible belt.

We’re situated now for a few days volunteering at the Logos Hope ship’s book warehouse in Florence, SC. However, Roger spent the day getting new rear tires installed on the RV and some welding done on a broken wheel shroud.