How the Years Do Fly! Happy Birthday, Jo!

Happy 25th! You have brought much joy into our lives since you arrived to "complete" the family unit! And who would believe that in such a flash we would be kissing you "good-bye" on the steps of the church and now you are going to be a mama! Happy Birthday!

Sixty is Super!

A Big thank you to all of you who made my birthday extra special. Of course, it was Dad who helped plan and execute the great surprise party that the church gave me on Sunday. Those pictures will be coming later after we get them from the others. Then I walked out in the morning to a new coffee table (that matches the furniture in the dining room) and a table full of gifts. Along with all the emails (thanks, Donna!) and calls, it was a full, fun day.

So, here is your "old" Mom ready to go out to eat today at noon with Dad and Derek. The outfit is the one that Dan and Brenda and kids sent and the earrings are from Jo and Brian.

Thank you all-- most of all for your love and just being YOU!

Gladys Aylward's personal testimony

Many of us are familiar with the name Gladys Aylward from the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. An Mp3 of her sharing her own testimony can be downloaded here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WORLD'S MOST WONDERFUL WIFE, MOTHER, AND GRANDMOTHER!

Happy 60th, Mother! We love you dearly!

Our Rockford "Men's" Retreat!

I couldn't resist this shot of my two favorite guys in their white tees enjoying a quiet Monday afternoon nap. Our home has been bit with a bug of some sort and so this has been a common scene by all of us at random times. We hope to be a bit more filled with vim and vigor when Dan and Brenda's crew arrives this Friday.

Although Corban and Mommy missed Sunday morning services, we were glad that we made it to hear our sweet Patience sing in the Children's Choir, "Source of All Truth".

1st Ever Men's Retreat

Last Friday and Saturday our church had it's first "annual" Men's Retreat! There were seven in all who went down to Araujuzon for a 24 hour get-a-way. It was a great success--that is why I said "annual"--they all want to do it again. As you can see by the pictures, they played some games, did some hiking, played some petanque, enjoyed the scenery, ATE and had several Bible studies on the function of the local church along with many great discussions. (Dad had by far the best "form" in petanque, but he never got a point--I am sure that was because he wanted the others to win :-)!)

Cafe' Bixby

Saturday morning I hosted a CPBC ladies "Book Brunch" at 7 Hampshire. My husband helped me transform our dining room into a cafe' that would seat 16 ladies. We had an enjoyable time of fellowship over our brunch, and then gathered in a circle for a jam session over the book we have been reading as a group this summer: Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. We then enjoyed a sweet time of spiritual fellowship as we shared the lessons God has been teaching us through this summer-long study of several women of the Bible who were exemplary for their faith in Christ.

Isabelle is 6!

Well, she got spoiled! We of course delivered a delicious breakfast to her Royal Highness. :-) Then, we were off to MOA for rides and a yummy lunch! Back home for pizza, cupcakes and to open her new BIKE! It's hard to celebrate ALL DAY LONG!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISABELLE!

6 YEARS OLD! Wow, would we ever like to be there with you today! We hope that you have a great day and that breakfast in bed was extra special.

Singapore

Well, I am sitting here in Portland, trying to kill a couple of hours. It is good to be back on the eastern side of the Pacific. My body isn't quite sure what time it is. I can't complain, though. I do feel quite rested. I slept well on the airplane.
I Left Minneapolis after church on Sunday and flew straight from MSP to Narita-Tokyo airport. 12 hours in an airplane is a long time, as Bob can attest to. His was at least that long, if I recall. It was a full flight. Brenda knows how well I sit still. The little Japanese lady next to me never budged once. I'm sure she thought I had some sort of wiggle-worm disease.
I was afraid I was going to have a trouble in Japan, as my flight was two hours delayed leaving Minneaplis, and I only had a 1:40 layover in Tokyo. Thankfully, they held the second flight and I was able to get off one plane and on the other. That was another 7 and a half hour flight.
I got to Singapore at 1AM on Tuesday morning. After I got up (around 9AM) I spent the rest of the day with my colleagues shopping for necessary items. Wednesday and Thursday were spent training the Bosch associates there. One from Hong Kong, one from India, and one from Singapore. The two from Japan and mainland China were unable to make it, which was unfortunate.
Singapore is not a bad place to visit, really. Much, much nicer than neighboring Malaysia, so I'm told. I wanted to venture over there, but my Singapore host would have nothing of it. They call Singapore a "fine" city (the country is one city, so country and city are used interchangeably) - because there are fines for everything from chewing gum to forgetting to flush the toilett.
Everything is very strictly controlled by the government, who owns all of the land. You can lease it for 99 years, but it still belongs to the government. Because it is an island, and limited in space, land is very expensive to rent. It does appear to be quite open to Christianity, however. I even saw a minivan that had "Asian Baptist Bible School" written on the side. I also saw an Asian Theological seminary (don't know any more than that) and several churches.
I went to bed early on Friday night, and slept until 2:15. My alarm was set for 3, but I decided I would just get up and take my time. Got packed and went to the airport for the long ride home. It is so nice to be so close to home. I can't wait to see my family.

Pictures: 1) Singapore Opera House; 2) The Lion City; 3-4) food (I could take pictures of just about anything and not be embarrassed - I was just "fitting in!"; 5) They insisted that I be in at least one of the pictures. I finally relented when I realized it really was a big deal to them; 6-7) city scenes.

Our Vacation in Araujuzon!

We had a wonderful week of vacation in southern France. The house that we stayed in is the gray up top. Most of the others are just some of the many,many beautiful sights that we saw. The Keisers came up and spent two days with us. It was lots of fun.

CM1 et CM2 à Greenville!

Beautiful Country

 

Yesterday (Monday) we left Hamilton to drive through the mountain range to Hawkes Bay. It is about a four hour drive. We stopped at Lake Taupo on the way where GFA missionaries, Jerry and Linda Craven, are pastoring. Silsbees have friends here that they are visiting and I am hanging out with Joe Fleener. Joe teaches at the Shepherds Bible College here, the mini-MacArthur world of NZ. Neat place. Heard Joe teach his OT survey class last night. Enjoyed it very much. will show pics of that later. Head back over the mountain range today. Very curvy, two-lane road. Pray for us!

A few snapshots of the ministry here

Update: A post by Lori on our church blog with another picture of me with the folks.

From left to right:

1. Daniel, Bob, Heidi at the Lane's home on Friday night.
2. Speaking on Martin Luther at the Lane's home Friday night.
3. Speaking at the Silsbees on the Doctrine of the Local Church on Saturday night.
4. Sunday morning in the school hall where the church meets - Daniel
5. Lori - an exceptional pianist
6. A good congregation - about 40.
7. I think this scene could be anywhere all over the world in small churches - two men counting the offering.
8. We had to set up and tear down for a number of years. This church has been doing it for some time now. I thought this was a nifty idea for protecting the electric piano. (They can store stuff at the school.)
9. The outside of the school building where GNBC meets.

Pray for Tim!

I'm not sure if our brother Tim is a tintinologist, but he must be anguishing over the international flap that is taking place over his beloved character, the intrepid Tintin. You can get all the trivia you can handle on the controversial "Tintin Au Congo" here.

I doubt this is making news in the US, but in NZ it was on national TV.

Good News Baptist Church in NZ

 

I think it is wonderful that the government school allows the church to have such a large and permanent sign. It really is an ideal situation that God has granted the Silsbees and the believers here.

Dakota County Fair

Yesterday the kids and I went to the Dakota County Fair. We went with some friends from church. It was very hot. Daniel is glad he had to work!

Bosch open house picnic

On Thursday the family came to the Bosch Communications Systems family open house. They were able to tour the building, listen to loud speakers, go in an anachoic chamber, scream into a microphone (loudest decibel competition - can't believe we didn't win!), dispatch some radios, and - most important, see Daddy's humble cubicle. They also got to race toilets and bathtubs! We had fun.

Bass Lake - Martin family reunion

Last week we spent at day at Bass Lake Camp, the hallowed grounds of the Martin family reunion. We had fun and are glad we went. Tried to add a few pics of people you'll know. We missed you, Jennie. Too bad you couldn't come.

Visitors from La Reunion

This evening we had Luc and Brigitte for supper. They are here from La Reunion for three weeks. The girls, Miora and Mialy, are at Arc-en-Ciel for two weeks of camp. We had a really nice time with them. Can you believe that it has been ten years since they left? By the way, Tim, Luc wants you to know that La Reunion is part of La France :-)

Down Under

 

Well, my first time in the Southern Hemisphere. It is impressive to think that there is no country lower than that in which I find myself right now. The flight was long. Real long. 13 hours from LAX. But I had three seats to myself. I think I would have been miserable if I had to stay in one seat the entire time.

Arrived this morning (Thursday, Aug. 9) around 6:45. Silsbees picked me up and we went to the one and only Dunkin' Donuts that they know of in NZ, a special treat for them. After breakfast at McDonald's we went to find Auckland Baptist Temple, a one-time Gospel powerhouse that was pastored by none other than Thomas Spurgeon, the son of C.H. Spurgeon. Scott asked me if I had heard of it, and I had. In fact I have written an article about it that was supposed to go in the "This Day in Baptist History," but was cut for something different. It was really neat to see the place and recall the excellent biography of Thomas Spurgeon that I read three years ago. It was sad, however, to see how liberal it has become.

From there we went to the Auckland Museum. It is a national landmark. I was very impressed. Much of everything to see from New Zealand involvement in the World Wars and the Maori culture and history. It was very interesting to be reminded of the Polynesian culture, the culture that first moved the heart of William Carey toward missions. We could have spent a lot more time there, but I am glad we didn't as I was fading pretty quickly.

I spoke tonight to the precious group of believers that call themselves Good News Baptist Church. There were about 19 or 20 folks there, a good midweek turnout for them. If my brain wasn't too foggy from the jet lag then I think I'm right to hope that I was somewhat coherent and they were graciously receptive.

Scott and Lori have a nice one-level home that is modest and comfortable. I have a room to myself without displacing anyone in the family which is nice.

Visit from the Allen Family

We really enjoyed the quick visit from Ron Allen (Pastor at Bible Baptist in Charlotte where Donna used to teach and one of our supporting churches) and his family this past weekend. He, his wife Janice and their four children were all a delight and blessing to us. They were only here for a day and a half, but we squeezed as much as possible into that time. The children sang a quartet for church and Ron preached with Dad translating. Then we had a repas fraternal after which we went to St. Emillion. Monday morning under very wet weather, we visited downtown and then they took us out to eat at the Entrecote (always delicious!). About 3 we headed for Spain in two cars. We met Keisers and Bergmans at McDonalds parking lot. Allens were going home with the Keisers. We had a quick supper with Bergmans and did some shopping. We were back home at midnight.

Guess what I'm up to now...

Blood Drive hosted by our church

In an effort to be helpful to our community we organized a blood drive. It was actually very easy to do, helped us get to meet people, and was greatly appreciated by some of the people in our community. We need to do it again next year. Jennie and I would have gladly donated blood, but ours is rejected because of the fact that we have been contaminated by living on foreign soil for so long. But we could make goodies and hang around chatting with people.

Micaiah's 1st Day of School!

We finally decided to go ahead and start K-4 with Micaiah. Had been postponing that decision because of all the upcoming changes in our lives this year. But I had been given some used teaching materials, so I just added to them and we are off! Micaiah has been looking forward to August 1st for more than a week now, and as you can see, is quite thrilled about his new backpack and all its contents. On his first day of school, he also drew his first-ever self portrait.