The end is here!

 We are at the end of the conference. It will be four years until the next one.

It has been a wonderful week of teaching, preaching, singing and fellowship with CEF people from around the world. 

This is just a brief mention of things we have done in addition to attending the conference. Our goal is to always help if help is needed. 

Heather has made nine airport runs to pick up or deliver folks. We had to get up at 4am one morning for an airport run.

Roger took several of the vehicles for fuel getting them ready for travel.

The conference ended with a concert by Phillips, Craig & Dean.

Here are a few miscellaneous images in the main meeting hall.

1st full day at International Conference

 Tuesday morning started with a 7am prayer meeting. The room was packed with at least a hundred attendees seated and standing around all four sides of a giant floor may of the world.

The food service at Ridgecrest is great. After breakfast we went to the morning general sessions.

We attended the aftermath breakout sessions. The first session was led by a missionary who works in a "sensitive area" in the middle east. The second session was on the pros and cons using AI tools in ministry. 

The evening general session featured an international choir from African nations.

CEF International Conference begins

The conference officially starts this evening. Many people have been arriving all day from airports. Heather made three airport pickup runs to the Asheville airport. 

They are expecting around a thousand attendees.

We have enjoyed reconnecting with our CEF friends today. Some from Washington and others from around the world.

The evening session was one of celebrating a year of ministry of praising the Lord for how He has used CEF around the world to reach children with the Gospel message. The program featured a Korean worship dance ensemble.

For the evening session, we sat behind a couple from Germany. Turns out, they graduated from the Bible School Heather's dad founded and taught at! Herold and Erika Kunkel. Small world...Also, on one of Heather's airport runs, she had as a passenger a lady who was somewhat acquainted with our missionary friend, Isabelle Dunn. Her home church in Iron Mountain, MI, supports them, she said.

Sunday in Ashville

This morning, after checking out of the motel, we drove to a nearby church, The New Bridge Baptist Church. We enjoyed worship and fellowship with other Christians for Sunday School and church. They are a welcoming (and growing) congregation. The pastor is an excellent preacher.

After church we went to a Cracker Barrel restaurant and enjoyed their chicken pot pie dinner.

After lunch we drove to the Ridgecrest Convention Center where we will be this coming week. We settled into a large room with 2 bunk beds and a queen. Don't think we'll be sharing the room - we'll see!! lol

Travel day Saturday - tornado

We left Warrenton, MO, in the morning and traveled all day, arriving in Asheville, NC, in the evening. The trip took us through MO, IL, IN, KY, TN, and NC. We spent the night in a Day's Inn.

Along the way, as we passed by Corbin, Kentucky, we saw some of the aftermath of a tornado that had occurred earlier that day. Cars were lined along the side of I-40 and we didn't know what they were looking at. Then we saw the devastation - houses smashed in and wood pieces all over - including the median of the road and the other side of the highway. The fierce wind had blown the debris off the highway pavement to along the edges.

The wind was very strong most of the day and made some wavy driving. You could even see truck drivers having difficulty keeping their rigs in their lane. We were so grateful to not have the R.V. - not sure it could have survived, since keeping a small car on the road was a full time job.

 

Thursday - still busy

We finished installing the luggage barriers on the four rental vans. (Heather was released from food services to help with this. She even "ran" the chop saw!) It was hard for us two old folks handling and cutting 4×8 plywood sheets and 2×4's. Fortunately there is wonderful wood shop. The design we were given will not damage the van's interior.

Oh! We finished a 500 piece Mt. Rushmore puzzle. It took about 5 hours, which is unusual for a small puzzle. But it was more difficult than most. (Our evenings are usually free, as workers go home.)

I took photos of the beautiful CEF campus the other day.

Their campus is nearly a square mile with woods and wildlife.

Wednesday tasks

Today was a very busy day here at CEF as we are loading trucks and getting vans ready to transport people to the international conference in North Carolina this weekend. There will be a lot of airport runs to pick folks coming here from all over the world. There are "pre-conference" meetings here before driving to NC.

Heather continues to work in the kitchen and help out in Guest Services. Roger started constructing "luggage barriers" in the back of four rental 15-pasenger vans. The idea is to somewhat isolate the rear baggage from the back seats in the event of a hard stop.

Monday & Tuesday at CEF HQ

We've both been kept busy so far. Heather has been working in the kitchen. Up to this point they've only prepared lunch for the staff. Tomorrow they'll add breakfast, and Thursday they will add supper. This is because a lot of new guests will be c arriving from all over the world. So she'll be busier.

Roger has been pressure-washing places around campus. Picnic tables, patios. sidewalks, etc.

We have time each evening to relax in the RV. We've done a jigsaw puzzle each evening. We got these at the train museum we visited. See previous post.

Florence, SC, to Warrenton, MO road conditions

We purposely avoided route #40 that sustained so much damage during the recent hurricanes. (See previous blog postings.) So, taking the southern route, #20, #75, #24, we drove through SC, GA & TN on very good roads. Traffic was light. 

KY roads were not as smooth and in IL route #57 was terrible! For about 50 miles, we were in one lane or speed limited to 55 for construction sites. However, since it was Saturday, there was no construction, but considerable delay in travel. Keeping the R.V. on the road when it's very rough is another trick!

Routes #64 and #70 were o.k. We were glad to arrive at Warrenton, MO!

It took 2 hours to get through/past Atlanta - even though in some places there were 8 lanes for traffic going in one direction! The other slow city was Nashville, although that only took about 1 hour!

Now at CEF HQs for a week

Today we drove from Paducah, KY to Warrenton, MO to volunteer at the Child Evangelism Fellowship headquarters.

Last night we parked at a Love's Fuel stop outside of Paducah. A quiet night considering that it's a gas station/truck stop. Today we did some shopping for supplies for the upcoming week at CEF. We stopped in for lunch at a Chick-fil-A.

We visited a railroad museum in Paducah since we were in town. It always interesting to see a little bit of America's history. The railroads had a major impact.

Friday Travels

We left Love's before 8:30am and headed north toward Nashville. 

Heather spotted a sign for the Lodge Cast Iron Museum in South Pittsburgh, TN.

Google's ai says...

"Lodge is the oldest and largest cast iron cookware manufacturer in the United States. They use a traditional sand molding process, pouring a proprietary mix of molten pig iron, steel, and other ingredients into a sand mold. This process creates the grey cast iron cookware for which they are known."

Their museum section has some very interesting and well done displays. Some are video-based, some are hands-on mechanical devices.

Thursday at Love's

We left Florence, SC this morning and are parked for the night at a Love's Travel Center in Cartersville. GA. North of Atlanta. The scenery is pretty.

Heather teaches a Zoom Bible club on Thursdays so we were able to use the McDonald's open wifi signal.

The drive here via Atlanta was crazy with traffic. It took over two hours get through that area so we decided to take the Love's exit. Getting from one exit to the next took about 1/2 hour each time, so to make sure we were set to Zoom, we took an exit that said Love's and McDonald's. Both those places often have free wifi - and that was the way it happened.

Roger liked that he could see our reflection in the truck's rear panel! We followed closely as traffic was barely moving (& often not at all)! Several ambulances and tow trucks went by, and the overhead signs told about stalled cars and road repairs...It wasn't much fun, but we were grateful not to be part of the problem! Around Atlanta at one point there were 8 lanes for traffic going one direction! Guess traffic is an issue here - we'll have to remember that.

This morning we heard that our pastor's wife, Holly Kohls, had passed away. She was in a coma for 4 days. We don't know any more, but are praying for Mark and our church.

Tuesday book-sort

We completed a book sort today of all kinds of Christian books...big, small, thick and thin on a wide range of topics.

Each day before lunch break we take time for prayer for the needs of OM Ships ministry.

We had a lot of ice cream treats left over from yesterday, so whoever wanted could help themselves.

Our three friends stopped by the RV for a few minutes after work and tasted Heather's taco dip. It may be our final visit before we leave on Thursday morning.