Winter 20/21

Below are just some of our get togethers for the season.

1) At the Davis home. 2) Putting together care packages for our deployed airmen.  3) A soak in a local hot spring. 4) A trek to a local landmark. 5) Prayer time for the persecuted church.

"Normal" (not really) Summer and Fall 2020

Ministry continues while we try workarounds to do it. We continued to have Bible studies (smaller ones) and other activities. We still have to wear masks at chapel but the ropes separating us are no longer there.   We were able to have Family Bible Camp Labor Day weekend. It was amazing! Including our volunteers we had 80 people.

Tim Hazelbaker was our speaker. Wow! He really challenged us. We had an amazing children's team led by Tim and Jennifer Wood. Our kitchen crew went above and beyond serving us. 

We are thrilled with how it went and plan to do it again next year.

Two weeks later, we had a women's retreat. We had to change things up until the last minute. We were so glad we had the 12 precious women we had.

We hadn't seen our daughter Julie (and her family) for a year and our son Greg (and his daughter) for two years. We were blessed to get to visit them in October.

We have several small groups that meet here weekly (Sunday, Monday and Thursday evenings). 

This week we will start meeting on Friday nights at the Davis home. We have lots of families and our house is not adequate for children. 

We are grateful we can still do ministry during this time. Thanks for your prayers.

Summer Beginning

We are still restricted in what we can do. We have had a few events here including a co-ed baby shower.







We had a yard sale to raise money for Family Bible Camp.





Because of COVID, we couldn't have our mission wide conference in Wisconsin. We instead met zoom style on the day the conference was to have started. At the end, Dotty Hash (one of our founders) prayed for us. She passed away around a week later. You can see her second row over and third row down. 




We continue to have people here but many are afraid. So, we still feel like we are in a state of limbo.  We are grateful for our supporters and to GOD for his love. This photo is our entryway.




Last Friday night, we said goodbye to one of our favorite guys. He brought a new guy with him. This guy just bought a house about a block from us. I asked him if he needed furniture. We were able to bless him with things he needs for his house.

Half Day of Prayer

On June 6, 12 of us went to Three Island Crossing state park for our half day of prayer.

COVID Season

Last time I updated this blog, I had no idea what was about to happen. Almost all of our plans for March - June changed. 
One thing that did happen was that Ed had shoulder surgery March 20. It went well and he is healing up nicely.


Like many other people, our lives were filled with Zoom and Facebook video calls. 


We even did Easter sunrise service and communion via Zoom.



I also took the unexpected extra time to finish projects I had put off for months (even years!)

March 30, we had a strong earthquake here in Idaho. It shook the house. We had three things fall off our walls. Aftershocks are still occurring. 



Idaho opened up earlier than many other states, so we were able to ease back into having people over in May. We started off in our driveway. The next week we met in the backyard. We were then allowed to have small groups indoors. We are all so happy to be with each other at our house and at the chapel.

In October 1/3 of the base deployed for a 6 month tour which ended up being 8 months. Many of them are back now. Our singles still aren't back yet. The base public affairs posted the picture below of a dear family to us being reunited. I have spent lots of time with the wife. I am so happy for her. I walked with her and her kids a few weeks ago, that is the other picture below.





There is so much more to report but this will do for now.

Beginning 2020

We have had such a mild winter, that I find myself thinking it is ok if we have another snow episode here. Many of you know that I don't much like winter. We had thought we were in for a long, cold winter when it snowed lots in October. 

Snow in October

Wednesday morning study at Kid's Gym on base

Ed was given an award from the base commander and the command chief.

The chapel sponsored a cooking contest for some airmen. I was an advisor/mentor/coach. These were the coaches and facilitators.

This was my team.

We have several of our airmen deployed. Some of us put together care packages for them.

Some of the chapel men braved the cold and went ice fishing. They brought home lots of fish.

We are grateful to God for these opportunities to share Him and His love amongst the military.

Fall 2019

We are thankful for the opportunity to minister here in Mountain 
Home.

 

Currently we have a group of young moms who meet at the Kid's Gym on base every week for Bible study. Here every chair is occupied. We have talked with the director there and hope that they will let us use the party room to allow for more ladies. 



We had a fall retreat for our women's ministry here. I don't have a picture of the whole group. This is just those of us who participated in the painting class. This is the first retreat in years here that I didn't have some responsibility. The gals did very well without my help. We bonded and had great spiritual lessons.






Some from our Friday night group got together in early October and had a half day of prayer. It was unusually cold for October (30 degrees). I had plenty items to keep me warm. It was a great start to Autumn.









Julie and children were with us for 8 weeks while they were transitioning to Jesse's new duty station in Ohio. Jesse was with us for a few weeks. During that time, he completely remodeled our master bathroom. 



Our new wing chaplain has invited us (and other groups) to participate in Right Start (base orientation). We get to tell all of the newcomers about our ministry. This is a great opportunity.



We participated in the Trunk or Treat outreach at Calvary Chapel in town. Ed goes all out. He painted the cardboard sides with Dr. Seuss characters, scrounged up our costumes and printed out clever flyers he designed around the theme of Thing one and Thing two. There were so many kids there, we were very busy most of the evening. 




We took a group from the base to Mission Aviation Fellowship HQ in Nampa, Idaho. It was great to expose our people to missions that also has to do with aviation. I do believe seeds were planted on this trip.