Ward Wanderings

Graduation rehearsal dinner

Henry was part of the graduation ceremony from Great Plains Baptist College in Nebraska. After the practice we went to Denny's for dinner. There were about 30 people at several tables. The first one is all my children that were able to come: Teresa, Sara, Jewel, Peter and Matthew

Here are pictured Henry, Pastor Reeves, Hope Reeves, Mrs. Reeves, Mrs. Tyson, Pastor Tyson and daughter

Cranberry cobb Salad

Pastor Reeves' truck

Link to a video

This link is a video taken at the Missions Conference at Mountain Lake IBC at the beginning of the month. The missionaries sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" . While Rebecca was signing the first verse in every language, we sang first in English, then Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, then the last verse in English, Cut and paste the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do8vX4qU-O0&feature=youtu.be

The film is not in focus, but the audio is good. Sounds to neat to hear God's praise in several languages. ♪♬♩♩♫

May 18, 2017, 63 years young

I love the flag, especially big ones

Jewel bought a variety of cheesecakes for the birthday celebration.

She gave me some hair clips, which I really like. Henry gave me two new flannel nightgowns, one pink, one blue, plus a pretty red necklace. Thanks for celebrating my special day.

May 17-18, 2017

Wednesday Henry and I went out to do some errands like go to the post office, then to the photographer to order wedding pictures from Jewel and Peter's wedding (finally). While in the mall, we stopped in at JC Penny which was having a going-out-of-business sale. I found a nice pink sweater for under $7. Henry, however, bought a pair of slacks for $50; nice pants but a bit much. They did not have the dress shirts he likes, so that's a disappointment.

Thursday, my 63rd, I went out to camp to help Peter in some cleanup. I got the kitchen area in decent shape, wiped out all the cabinets, the freezer and fridge.

Matthew and Sara got to Denver OK and are driving to North Platte. They will stay in a hotel nearby.

Jewel fixed spaghetti and meatballs and salad which was delicious. Then she, Peter and Henry had to rush off to Bible class where Henry is teaching on Missions tonight. When they return, we will have cheesecake in celebration of another birthday.

Teresa is to fly in on Saturday. It will be nice to see everyone and also watch Jewel finish Bible college. It will be enjoyable and busy at the same time.

Pictures of old quilts

Years ago I made Stephen some quilts at different times. He laid them out on the bed we slept in.

May 15-16

We drove to Indianapolis to see Dan and Charlene Rider and met them at her Mom’s house in Plainsfield. Mom was out playing bridge with friends. At 94, she is doing well, though we did not see her. We had a nice lunch of lettuce wraps brought home by Dan; then we talked for an hour while watching the local squirrel scamper up the tree with nuts and go around the house to do it again.

We left there about 3:30 to go to our next destination which was Des Moines, IA, to spend the night. We stopped at a La Quinta Inn which was not the best thing going. It could use a facelift.

Tuesday, May 16, Stephen’s birthday

Today Stephen is 33 years old. My, how time flies. We drove from Des Moines to North Platte all day and arrived about 5:00 pm.

Jewel has decorated this small apartment very nicely and has added the woman’s touch to the former bachelor’s pad.

Mother's Day 2017

Sunday morning about 9:00 am we drove to Mannington, about 30 minutes away. I set up the display table in the lobby while Henry got the video presentation set up with the people who handle that. He taught Sunday School on the subject of “Walking in the Fear of God”. Then Pastor Bowman preached in the morning service. There was a good crowd of people there for both services.

Pastor Camp and his family from Connecticut were in church this morning at the invitation of a member of the church. We last saw them in 2010 and he has since resigned that church.

Pastor Bowman, Henry and Pastor Camp

After services, we drove about 30 minutes in another direction to a different restaurant. This time it was of a Greek flavor. Customers line up at the grill/cashier and give their order which is then prepared and brought hot to your table. There’s a variety of meats, veggies and salads to choose from, all about medium-range priced. For appetizers they brought out cut flat bread with either hummus or jalapeno dip. You could refill your drink anytime. The meal was very delicious and filling.

Then we returned for the evening service at 6:00 pm and Henry preached about “Beware of Blindness” in the spiritual life.

May 12 Peter's Birthday - Saturday May 13

Happy 30th birthday, Peter!!

After our visit we drove to Spartanburg to stay with Stephen, but he was not home when we arrived. We decided to get a snack and tried to call him, but no answer until about 7:00 pm when he got home. He told us that he had to have the foundation corners reinforced and that the joists under the house were bowed. The house is over 50 years old and he did have it inspected before he bought it. It’s just costing him some money to maintain it.

Saturday, May 13

We left Stephen about 9:00 am and started toward Mannington, WV, for our next meeting. The drive through North Carolina had lots and lots of road work being done, mostly on the median. I guess infrastructure is in need of fixing. NC highways were very clean and neat and some spots had beautiful wildflowers in the median or under/near overpasses. Pretty. Virginia looked well-kept also, but there were also spots of construction going on also. West Virginia is rolling hills and plenty of greenery. I was wondering what’s all the fuss about carbon emissions when there are so many millions of trees and mountains that can absorb this supposed “bad” gas. Anyway, it was a beautiful drive and we arrived about 5:30 pm at the hotel.

A small business

The roads were carved from these rock mountains...

We called Pastor Bowman and they came over from Mannington and took us to dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant, which we have been to before. They are regular customers as the wait staff called them by name. The food was delicious as always. I had veal parmesan, which I have not had in years. Excellent.

We were taken back to the hotel and then headed for bed.

Thursday, May 11 - Friday May 12

Today we drove to North Carolina to meet Merry Sensing who lives in Morrisville. We arrived about lunch time. Merry is Japanese and we’ve known her since the early days in Japan. She has a dog named Sukoshi which means “a little bit” in Japanese. She invited a friend over and the four of us had a lunch of tonkatsu, which is fried pork cutlet, Japanese style. We had a nice conversation. Merry’s husband is not yet saved. They live in a new house on a corner lot with the entrance on the back side where the garage is.

About 4:00 pm we left to go to Fayetteville and see Ruth and Bob Bunting, friends of ours from IBC back before we moved to Japan. They are both retired and still funny. They have a dog named Gizmo who was not too friendly.

After dinner we played a card game called Hand and Foot, new for us. Once we got the hang of it, it was pretty interesting and moved quickly. We stayed the night and slept on a wonderful mattress. Would like to take that home with us to Japan.

Bob, Ruth and Gizmo

We left the Bunting house about 9:00 AM and drove south to Lattimore/Shelby area of North Carolina, West of Charlotte.

Along the way we saw the Bread of Life Baptist Church

We stopped in to Ambassador Baptist College to visit the campus. The Dean of Men, Mr. Dillon, met us and gave us a tour of the place. Graduation was last week, so there were very few students around.

It is a beautiful campus, which I believe is all paid for. There are several dorms for the ladies and the men in separate locations.

We talked with the President, Dr. Beal, for a few minutes. Then Mrs. Dillon, Dean of Women, took us on a short tour of one of the ladies’ dorms. Looked to be very nice and efficient, easy to keep clean. Sara should do well there come the fall.

May 10, Richmond, VA

We went to Landmark Baptist Church in Richmond, VA for the Wednesday night service. We met Pastor Don Sumpter, who took over from his Dad in the last couple of years. The church was in the process of getting a new floor, so the tile in the lobby was gone. There was a good number of people in the service. Pastor Sumpter announced that Dr. Eugene Parrisher, long time pastor in Virginia, passed away that evening. He was one of our early supporters.

This lady came to me and asked if I remembered her. This is Tovah Gerber, my flower girl nearly 34 years ago! She and husband John, have six daughters and are members of Landmark. It was really good to see her. All the girls are precious. Here she is back in 1983, just shy of three years old.

Monday, May 8

Bright Maryland Day today. We took Seth to his friends' home near Hagerstown. Ruth and hubby Don have a huge farm as shown above from their dining window. There's also several bird feeders out another window.

Don and Ruth

Maryland Sunset

Seth played piano and sang in Portugese. He's a second generation missionary.

Missions Conference Mountain Lake

Seth Lunday at the piano, Rebecca and Jonathan Pape singing

Henry speaking at the Mountain Lake Baptist Church Missions Conference

Dr. Creed was the conference speaker. It is always good to hear him preach.

The Faith Promise for the year was approaching $100,000 on the last day. God is good.

These photos are of the lake side home at which we missionaries are staying. The owner let the church use this rent-free for the week. It is so beautiful. It has three floors and we are here with another family and a single man; we each have our own floor and share the kitchen/dining area.