I’m starting this post off with an apology for not doing a better job with keeping our blog up to date. Some of you may be waiting to see the last part of our trip…and while we don’t have quite as many pictures from our second weekend in Oklahoma, here’s a little taste of it.

So a quick retracing of our footsteps so far…the first weekend of our trip was in the area of Ada, Oklahoma, where we sang a couple times at Blue Baptist Church; the next week was spent in San Antonio, Texas, where Dad did some recording for The Storyteller and our van was stolen and, miraculously, found (go back and read the story if you haven’t already!); that weekend we drove back to Oklahoma, which brings us to this part of the story.

Tahlequah, Oklahoma. We arrived on Friday at our friends the French’s house, where we would be staying for the next week.

Here you are supposed to imagine pictures of our concert.

Sometimes afterward we let any children who want to come up and play the instruments. It’s fun watching some of them, many of whom have never played anything like a banjo before. (Actually, it’s also fun for the adults who can’t help themselves either.)The church was holding a revival, which Dad preached for and we sang. It was nice to meet other brothers and sisters in Christ and to see some again whom we had met last year at the camp in South Dakota.Revival…we like to think of that as something that sweeps across a church, or multiple churches, or a nation…and God can do that. But what about ourselves? Revival begins with individuals who are humble and broken before their Creator. If you are praying for revival, remember the words of Isaiah 57:15– “For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'”

After the revival was over, we settled in a little more at the French’s house. It would be a few more days before we left because there were some testimonies for Dad to record, and he had to drive back to San Antonio to get our van!

Dad always enjoys meeting Native believers and recording their testimonies. In Tahlequah he was able to record three men who are following Jesus Christ.

Mr. Holcomb (right) and Mr. French (left), who led him to the Lord

Mr. and Mrs. French were so hospitable, making us tasty meals and providing us beds, fellowship, and many laughs! Some of our family especially enjoyed the two-wheeled vehicles…Some of us girls enjoyed being enthusiastically given rides, and Abby and the boys had too much fun on the moped.

On Monday, Dad and Daniel drove down to San Antonio to get our van back from the shop it was being fixed at. That was a long two days of driving round trip! The night they were down there Dad made use of the opportunity to do some more recording for The Storyteller.

Jonathan was lonely for his brother, but found a job to keep him occupied for a while.

scraping paint…

…and blowing it away (the fun part!)

The morning we left, Mrs. French made us homemade biscuits and gravy. And bacon. We had such a good time with them while we were there. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. French!

loading our van, in the rain

We drove to Missouri to spend the night with our good friends the Fesslers, who not only put us up but made a feast for dinner and breakfast. It was so good to see them again. (We love you!)

Upon arriving home we were greeted by something we were expecting but at a larger degree than we had imagined. A broken window. And glass. Everywhere.

dining room window

Our neighbor who was watching the house for us saw that our window had, as you can see, a hole it in. We called our friend and co-laborer Tom and he came and boarded up the window for us. In the process he saw the culprit: a dead grouse under our dining room table. Thankfully our neighbor came and took care of that for us!

Imagine if we had been home…and the boys had been sitting at the table doing their schoolwork…We are so thankful God allowed it to happen while we were gone! Glass was everywhere, and had gone farther into the house than we would have expected. It took a while to get it all cleaned up.We can so clearly see God’s hand in various ways on this trip. Thank you for all your prayers and for everyone who was a part of this story, both on the road and here at home.

Now we are wishing you a (late) Merry Christmas…because of Christ!

Who is like the LORD our God, who dwells on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth? Psalm 113:5-6

Hello from Oklahoma! We are on a three-week trip to the South, to sing and share here with some others whom we have been able to minister with in South Dakota the past two summers. We would really appreciate prayer for this time.

We are a week into the trip and hopefully will be able to keep you updated a little bit. So, a recap of this past week…

We started off the trip by going to a Labor Day church conference in the Twin Cities. Our friends the Kramers were so hospitable in hosting our family for the weekend. At the conference we were able to catch up with a few friends, meet new people, and hear many messages from and about God’s Word. We also were asked to sing a few songs for the gospel meeting one night, which came as a surprise to us but we took it as an opportunity God had given. Sunday night after the conference we headed over to another family’s house for some fellowship, mostly inside, and soccer, in the rain. It was a great evening. Um, we don’t have any pictures from the weekend, but trust us, we had a good time!

Monday we headed out for Lawrence, Kansas, where our friends the Morris’s hosted us for three nights. Day one in Kansas Mr. Morris took us on a tour of his mission field, Haskell Indian Nations University.

the football stadium

an inside view

“ussie”

Mr. Morris heads up the Haskell Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and that night was the second meeting of the school year. They open the meetings up to all the students, not just athletes. God brought out enough people to total over 60! Mr. Morris does the teaching, but it was encouraging to see other young people who were taking lead as well and helping in different ways. Haskell FCA meets at Indian Avenue Baptist Church, strategically located just across the street from Haskell and founded by Mr. Morris’ father. What a ministry this church is to the campus!

playing charades

the music team

singing praises

Mr. Morris shared from the Bible

we broke into small groups to pray

newly-met Christian family

visiting

Mrs. Morris made us wonderful meals. One night we helped her out by peeling potatoes along with her mother-in-law, Miss Olelah. Miss Olelah and her husband were the first missionaries to Haskell. She is a well-known and respected elder on campus, still shining for Jesus.

Miss Olelah and the potato team

Yesterday we went from Lawrence to Pomona, where we stayed with our friends the Hendersons who are very gracious hosts. We were able to share a couple songs and also about what God is doing in our ministry at the prayer meeting in their home, and of course the fellowship was greatly enjoyed! We left their house feeling blessed again.

the Hendersons, minus two

Please keep us in your prayers. This coming week we will be heading down to San Antonio where Dad has a meeting regarding The Storyteller. We are looking forward for what God has in store for the next two weeks!