Baptism

Wednesday evening we had a baptismal service at the lake. We baptized three people, Leslie Belmore, Jasmine Libler and Jesse Hochstetler. It was a nice evening. By the time we went into the lake for the baptism, the sun was going down. It was much colder than the baptisms in Haiti.

It was a very meaningful service. A lot of people from the community came to observe the baptism. It really was a public statement by these three people that they have committed their lives to Christ and have declared their allegiance to Him.

Here we are heading out into the lake for the baptism.

Cabin

This summer I was working on putting siding on the cabin by our house. I am almost finished. I have the stain and sealer finished on two sides. I should be able to finish it in the next day or two.

Here are some pictures. I am pleased with the way it turned out.
Here is the cabin with the stain and sealer finished.

Here is the cabin with the siding on but not stained.

Here is the cabin before I started.

Mission Conference

We had a good time at the mission conference the last few days. Allen Roth had some great messages and we had some good times of fellowship with other people.

Today Allen is speaking at our church here in Sioux Lookout. He and Carolyn are staying at our house while they are here in Sioux.

It is hard to believe that this is already the last week in August. The nights are definitely getting cooler. This is the children's last week before school starts. Elaine is beginning grade 9 and Dallas grade 7. I am sure that I was much older than Elaine is when I was 14 and started grade 9.

I am not going anywhere this week. Can you believe it? I am going to be home all week. I hope to get finished putting the stain and sealer on the siding on the cabin. I also have John Yoder here. He is doing an mission internship through the LAMP program at SMBI. I need to help him get started with his ministry here in Sioux Lookout this week. So, don't worry, I won't be bored!

Mid-Week Update

This morning we went to the school and did our bit of Fall cleaning while Edith had a prayer meeting with a few ladies at the church. This evening we have Bible Study at the church.

Tomorrow we are going to Dryden for the mission conference. Allen Roth from New York will be the speaker. We will be there from tomorrow afternoon until Saturday noon.

Saturday Allen and Carolyn Roth will be coming to our place. Allen will be speaking at our church on Sunday. We are looking forward to being with them again and hearing his teaching.

We have a three year old girl named Asia staying with us for a few weeks. She has some interesting comments that she makes rather frequently. One is, "My Mommy said no!". Another is "Fine!". Both of these are used when someone asks her to do something she really would rather not do. She will probably be with us until early in September.

I'm Back!

I returned back to Sioux Lookout this afternoon. I arrived home around 5:00 PM. The seminar in Haiti went well. I got to spend an evening with Bethanie. My flight out of Haiti was on schedule. I had a wonderful time with the people at Cadiac.

I spent Thursday night through Sunday noon at Stuarts Draft, VA. I was speaking at the Passion 07 camp. There were about 60 single men attending. It was a very good weekend. I shared three messages. One on relating to authority in the church, another on developing spiritual relationships with other men, and the third one on sharing Christ with others.

I left Washington Dulles yesterday at 6:30 PM. The flight was scheduled to leave at 5:00 but the airport in Minneapolis was only using one runway. We had to wait until they would give us a time slot to land there.

My flight from Minneapolis was scheduled to leave at 9:45 and arrive in International Falls at 10:50. Instead of that we lifted off the ground in Minneapolis at 12:30 AM this morning and landed in International Falls at 1:30 AM. I got to my motel room at 2:00 AM. I slept until 9:30 and then left to come home. I had a few things to do in Dryden and then arrived here at 5:00 PM.

It is wonderful to be home!

In Haiti

I made it from Minneapolis to Haiti today. There was a big thunderstorm in Minneapolis at 3:30 this morning. The power was still off at the motel when I took the shuttle bus to the airport. They had no back up generator. I got to the front desk at 5:15 AM with my flashlight. The staff there were quite amazed, and thought I had really come prepared.

I told them that I am going where there is no power, so I have everything I need. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.

We are leaving at 5:30 tomorrow morning to head out to Cadiac. We hope to arrive there forthe morning service. There is a river we need to cross at Gran Goauve that has no bridge. You can pray for us that the water will not be too high for us to cross.

Dale Eby from New York State and Pastor Gabriel from LaColline are the other teachers at the seminar. We begin the seminar Monday morning at 8:00 AM.

Haiti Trip

I am on my way to Haiti. I drove from Sioux Lookout to International Falls today. From there I flew to Minneapolis. I am staying in Minneapolis tonight and will fly from here to Miami and then to Port-au-Prince tomorrow. I plan to drive out to Cadiac Sunday morning in time for church. Pastor Paul has asked me to preach Sunday morning. I usually don't like to preach in Kreyol the first day or two, until I can get my Kreyol sounds practiced a bit. I will see what happens. I probably will preach in Kreyol on Sunday morning. The Cadiac people know me and they love me enough to forgive my mistakes.

I was quite fortunate today. They had resurfaced the runway at International Falls and were painting the lines and numbers on it. Because of rain they had cancelled the flight yesterday afternoon and all the flights today until the one that I was scheduled to fly out on. There were people that were waiting there since yesterday afternoon for a flight. I felt quite fortunate to be on the first flight that was actually flying out of there for over a day.

Harlan, Marilyn and Eve Barnhart were on the same flight as me. It was great to be able to visit with them a little bit.

If you think of me between now and next weekend pray for me as I travel and teach at the seminar in Haiti. I need God's angels around me and His Spirit guiding me.

Fall Busy Season

I think the Fall busy season began for us over the weekend. We were at a wedding on Saturday and then went to Dryden for family camp. Sunday morning I preached here in Sioux Lookout and then we went to Dryden for family camp again.

From Dryden Edith and I went to Blackduck, Minnesota. We left the children with Henry and Grace Schrock. While we were in Blackduck for a Kitchi Pines Church accountability team meeting we went to visit Leroy Yoder. He appears to be very near the end of his life. I was touched to see him and his wife and daughters with him while he is going through this trial. He has been a faithful man of God.

We got home about 11PM yesterday. Today we had a church leadership team meeting. Tomorrow John and Rachal Yoder arrive. They will be doing a six month missionary internship with me here in Sioux Lookout.

Friday I leave for Haiti. I am eager to see Pastor Paul and my friends there again. We have a seminar in the church there from August 13 to 15. I will be teaching from the book of Ephesians.

It seems like our schedule is really full from now until we get back from Thailand around the first weekend in November.