Silver Falls

Today our CDTS class and families went to Silver Falls State Park. It is an absolutely beautiful place. We only made it to one waterfall. Not everybody was wanting to spend the day hiking when there is water that can be played in right in front of you. (I am proud of myself that I didn't push for the hike but was satisfied to just stop and play.)

Wading in the shallow water wasn't too cold. But of course that wasn't enough for us manly men. Four of us worked our way around behind the water fall, came through it, and swam across the pond at the bottom. It was incredibly cold and much more difficult than I had expected. Several people asked me if I had fun. I am glad I did it, but I wouldn't use the word fun.The girls had a great time splashing and trying to skip stones. They also had fun playing with the adults who are part of the team. Lisa and I look forward to the opportunity to come again on a date and hike to all the falls.

Our mission team from Cornerstone should have gotten off to Reynosa, Mexico this morning. (Joe, Brenda, and team, you are in our prayers.) We are excited to hear a good report.

We were able to talk with our class leaders about the Philippines a little bit today. It was especially interesting to hear the kids (not ours, but others) ask questions. I am really looking forward to serving alongside the kids who are part of our team.

Tonight I am getting the blog done before 10 p.m. (wooohooo!) I might even get to bed early today. That would be nice since the swim really took a lot out of me.

Grace to you all,

Tom

End of Week 4

Well we've made it through one third of the lecture phase of our Crossroads Discipleship Training School! I'll be honest and say I'm glad this week is over. There were a few valuable nuggets but mostly it seemed a lesson of patience gained from enduring about 16 hours of lecture! I really learn best when I am able to have some interaction in class and this was not the instructor's style. I guess after pastoring for 39 years he thinks it's always his turn to talk, talk, talk and talk some more. Next week, we have different speakers but a challenging topic. It's the week most talked about among YWAMers. We'll fill you in when we have the facts.

The girls went on an outing with their class today. They enjoyed a picnic at a park and the afternoon at a large children's museum. Maybe we will post some pics later. Not sure what was captured since Adriana was the only one taking pictures. I do know if there were any flowers or animals in the area she probably got them on film, but people seem to be elusive to her.

Annalise and her friends, Anna and Abby, enjoyed walking in the cool creek this warm afternoon. Not sure how they all got so wet in water about four inches deep!

We are so excited about what God is going to do in and through our Cornerstone Mission Team. We ask you to join us in praying for them. They leave early tomorrow morning for a week of ministry in Reynosa, Mexico.

Another prayer concern is for a classmate of ours. After waiting for 6 hours in E.R.,Cynthia was admitted. Please pray for her healing and for provision. She does not have any insurance coverage and has already had several tests. The doctors still have not determined the cause of her pain.

Lisa

4th of July

Okay, here is the update from the 4th of July.

In the morning we had class as usual. The girls went to COD and we attended our class.

For lunch we had a sack lunch picnic on a hill in the shade The weather was beautiful. After lunch the COD kids had a car wash and lemonade sale to raise money to buy air time to send a message of God's love into North Korea. They worked hard and have been able to raise enough for 5 minutes of time. Their goal was 1 minute. Praise the Lord for answered prayer.

Lisa and I enjoyed some time to walk around hand in hand. Annalise joined us as went sat near in the shade near the creek. It was beautiful to listen to the creek and the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees. Not to get too spiritual, but it was great listening to nature praise God - a topic that has come up in class a few times.

Later I helped grill hamburgers and hot dogs for a real American cook-out. The food was almost as good as the company.

Later there was volleyball and general goofing off. Alayna was able to sweet-talk her way into a ride on the flying squirrel. She loved it! She even tried to get upside down, but wasn't quite able to do it.

Of course what is a cook-out without roasting some marshmallows?

As it got dark, some people lit off a few fireworks. We had decided not to go into town for the big display because of how late it would be when we got back. Since we had school today, we couldn't get away with staying out too late last night. We still kept the kids out later than we should have, but it was earlier than if we had gone out.

Here is a slideshow of our day...

Today we had our intercessory prayer time. The kids facilitated the prayer and led a time of worship. Alexie sang back-up. She even played the piano for one song. Each group creatively presented a passage about prayer. They did a fantastic job. While there were other nations that we prayed for, I stayed near the Myanmar display and prayed for the people and missionaries there.

After lunch we had small group time. Once again, the men went to the widow who lives near the campus and chopped wood, cut down a dead tree, did some general cleanup, etc. I enjoy helping her. She is a lot of fun. When she greeted us at the door, she said, "Here are my angels!"

Grace,

Tom

p.s. Happy Birthday to the newest member of the Geezer Club!

Preliminary July 4 Post

Just a really quick note since I didn't end up posting last night. When 11:40 came around, I decided to go to bed instead of walking around the campus looking for a good internet connection.

Everybody had a good Independence Day yesterday. More info and pictures to follow.

The kids have raised enough for 5 minutes of radio air time to North Korea.

The weather is beautiful.

I need to hurry in order to make it to our intercessory prayer time. I think the COD kids are hosting it in some way.

Grace,
Tom

No Complaints

Today Alexie has been excited. She is preparing to be part of the COD worship team. So they had their first practice this afternoon.

The girls have also been excited about an outreach project they are working toward. They are saving up enough money to buy radio air time so they can send a message of God's love into North Korea. They have a lemonade stand set-up. Tomorrow is a car wash if anybody wants to make the trip over, you can get your car washed, but you had better leave soon.

I enjoyed playing on the trampoline with Annalise before dinner. Of course, if I bounce with her, she can't stand up at all, but we had a good time. It is hard to play with just one of my girls anytime, but here playing with just one of them and not two of their friends as well can be very difficult. It was nice to have some one-on-one time.

Every Tuesday, we have an evening service. Lisa told me that tonight's message about not complaining was very good. I missed it because I was still doing dishes when the service started. Man, there are sooo many dishes and they are so dirty. Then there are the floors. I can't believe how dirty the floors can get. Did I ever tell you how nasty the dishwater can be after washing all of those disgusting dishes? Community life can be such a bother sometimes. You don't get much time alone. Personal space is almost non-existent. I suppose I wouldn't have enjoyed the sermon much anyway - you know how preachy preachers can be.

Well, God is really blessing us in our time here. It isn't all roses, but it is a nice garden. Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

Grace,
Tom

WBF Video & Photos

Today we had worship in the morning. It was a great experience. The worship leader is Korean and she had the words for the songs projected in both English and Korean (along with Korean pronunciation wording). It was fantastic to both sing and to hear the songs in both languages.

After class, while the girls worked on some of their homeschooling assignments, I worked on the following video and pictures from the World Beat Festival.



Thankfully, my computer is playing nice again thanks to God coordinating things to have a tech
support guy (like you talk to on the phone when having computer problems) here from Brazil. He is using his vacation to serve with the wilderness trips and ropes course here at the base. What a blessing. (Thanks again, Jason!)

Alayna and Annalise enjoyed some more no-snow sledding tonight after dinner. When you get hit at the bottom of the hill during the winter, it's painful. But, as Alayna can testify, having a sled hit your shin when you are wearing shorts is definitely no fun. I felt really bad for her. Later I found it must not have been as painful as I suspected because when I returned from putting her bike away for her, she was heading down the hill again. The girls are definitely enjoying how much time they get to spend outside. I just hope their knees get a chance to heal.

Well, it is really late and I should have been in bed quite a while ago. The internet connection has been frustrating the past week, so tonight's entry took much longer than it should have. But I am very glad to have it. We really do enjoy posting the day's events and getting comments and emails from y'all.

Grace,
Tom

Technical Difficulties

For those of you who check our blog daily, sorry about not having an entry last night. We are experiencing technical difficulties. I had been looking forward to what I would be able to add to our blog last night. However technical difficulties interrrupted my plans. We went to the World Beat Festival in downtown Salem. I went to take some pictures and our camera died. You know that sound a camera makes when you are loading the film and the film isn't catching? Digital cameras shouldn't make that sound. Okay, I thought, there are others with cameras, including Adriana. So late last night, when we made it home, I began loading her pictures onto the computer so I could view them. This turned out to be a big problem. Something is wrong with the data and now I can't open any pictures on my computer. I can't even delete the folder with her pictures in it and make the problem go away. Somebody else has pictures I can use, but I don't want to load them until my computer is feeling better again.

I hope to be able to put some fun video and pictures from the World Beat Festival on soon. We had a fun time at the festival. Our family and Nat and Shirley (you may remember Nat from the video) volunteered to help. So we all helped in the childrens craft areas in the Asian, European, and American regions of the festival. I had a lot of fun with one of the games in the Asian area where I was assigned, Tinkle Sticks. It is a rythmic dancing game, similar to double-dutch. Instead of a jump rope you use bamboo poles. It was fun when I could convince the kids to play, but even more so when adults would join in. When adults played, large groups of people would gather to watch and cheer. Interestingly enough, the Asian area's children's booth shared space with an informational table for Korea.

I know we will get the technical stuff all worked out, but I like to put pictures and video in the blog. I know I would get really bored of reading what I post, but the pictures and videos of the kids are just so unbelieveable cute.

Grace,
Tom