August Update - Going to Orovada

We are winding down at Fir Point Bible Camp.  The four weeks of Fir Point youth camps are over.  This week we are completing a few other projects.  This weekend (August 8 and 9) we will go to Brookings to pack up my office and a few other personal things.  We will say our good-byes on Sunday then return to our storage unit in Grants Pass.  We have to spend a day or two re-organizing our stuff to see what else we want to get rid of, and the stuff we are keeping will be put in new boxes.  We bought a whole bunch of the same size heavy duty boxes.  It only took us a few years to realize that things stack better if all the boxes are the same size. Duh. 

So the last four weeks have been quite busy.  I tended to the youth camps making sure that everything was working properly and if something broke, I would get right on it. I also had several SWAT (servants with a task) team members to work with me around the camp. Together we cut and stacked several cords of firewood, picked up leaves, repaired and painted many things. Such as the flag pole.  Every morning the campers meet by the flag pole for flag raising and morning devotion.  One morning while all the kids were listening to the devotion the wooden flag pole fell over missing everyone. So we made a new flag pole. It was a 24' pole made of metal poles all welded together.  We cemented the base into the ground and several of the young men and I put it up like the marines on Iwo Jima.

Dayle worked in the kitchen as the salad bar queen for the last four weeks.  She was in the kitchen every day from 2 to 8 not only doing the salad bar but also helping out where ever she was needed. She also sewed curtains for some of the cabins and chapel.

Today Dayle was raking up around the wood shed when she disturbed an in ground nest of bees.  Within seconds she was swarmed and stung at least five times.  Dayle has been stung before but never five times. She started swelling up and feeling nauseous.  She took Benadryl and started feeling better. Now she still has some swelling .  If she isn’t any better tomorrow, I’ll take her to the immediate care in Grants Pass. Who would of thought that raking leaves would be so hazardous.

Some of the other projects completed around here the last few weeks included replacing worn out linoleum in the kitchen, cutting and splitting firewood, climbing up light poles and replacing the photo cells, replacing the wood ramp to one of the cabins, and much more.  Needless to say, we have been quite busy.
           
We did take a couple of days off and went to the coast and spentsome time with Stephen and Neeley and the kids as they drove up for a little vacation.  We have a real good time and we got to celebrate Stephen’s 40th birthday with him.

But the highlight of this past month, actually the highlight of the past five years was attending the 100th anniversary of Immanuel Baptist Church in Klamath Falls.  (This is the church where I was the pastor for 9 ½ years.)  The entire weekend was quite an event with a picnic on Saturday and then a wonderful service on Sunday.  I was asked to be one of four speakers. Each one of us was allotted 15 minutes.  During the service the platform was filled with musicians and singers.  Instrumentalists included guitar, violins, cello, piano, trumpet, bass guitar, and drums. The music and the song selection was the best that I have heard in a very long time.  But the best part was when I realized that most of the musicians were kids most of which we watched growing up. Now as if that wasn’t emotional enough, when it was my turn to preach I almost lost my composure as I stood behind the pulpit.  I had preached from this pulpit for 9 ½ years and to be standing there again reminded me of the best 9 ½ years of our life.  We had poured our lives into this church and to see how these kids have grown into fine Christian young men and women and to see how well the church is still doing was overwhelming.

So our plan is to leave Fir Point on the 18th right after Dayle has her second infusion and then drive east to Klammath Falls and then arrive in Orovada, Nevada on the 19th or 20tht.  We are so looking forward to getting back to work in a pastoral role.  It has been way too long.  I hope we don’t have to rake any leaves in Nevada.

We covet your prayers as we tie up things at Fir Point and as we travel to Nevada.  Also please pray for the ministry in Orovada.  Also pray for Fir Point Bible Camp and for additional help to maintain the property.
       


Our next update will be from Orovada.


Please send us an email or even give us a phone call once in a while. We’d love to hear from you.

Shelley for the both of us.
Semper Famulus
(Always Serving)

Working at Fir Point Bible Camp

If you are wondering what happened to the blog entry before this one, well so am I.  Somehow I deleted it and I can't figure out how to get it back.

We arrived at Fir Point on May 31st and after a short meeting to plan the work we we right to work on the chapel.  In the chapel we needed to setup and install the brand new sound system and remove the old sound system and see what was good enough to sell.  I was asked to remodel the storage room and turn it into a nice little meeting room as well as making a portion of it for the secure storage of the sound equipment.  I made a wall, ran electricity for lights and two additional outlets, installed drywall and carpeting and hung a door. After a full week the room was was totally finished.  See pictures below.

The beginning

Finished Product

Just as I finished I had to jump in the car and return to His Place in Brookings to prepare for a wedding which I booked.  I planned on preparing the grounds but much to my delight as I arrived the yard work was being completed by Isaac (the youth pastor).  Thank you, thank you!  The wedding went quite well and the Mothers of the bride and groom complimented me on the facility and said that this is a beautiful place to have a wedding.

After the wedding I drove the 2 1/2 hours back to Fir Point where I was to fill in for Dennis while he was away at a wedding in Portland.  There is much to be done here at Fir Point including re-keying several locks, repairing and painting cabins, and much much more.  The camp season began on Friday with a weekend group.  From now until the end of July it will be non-stop ministry and work (as if there is a difference).

On June 3rd I dropped my Dayle off at the Medford airport to go to my sister for two weeks to give her a break and to help her with mom and the house.  She returns on Wednesday June 17th and I am so excited.  We hate being apart.  I am very glad that telephone calls don't cost extra these days because we were on the phone a lot.

The preceding was written two weeks ago thinking that I completed and posted it. But I just discovered that I didn't.  So let me bring you up to date.  We have been working much here at Fir Point.  Below are pictures of the finished product that Dayle and I did.  We totally rebuilt the child's play area.

My Dayle testing the newly installed slide.

We have also replaced the stairs to the kitchen of the lodge, painted the girl's bathroom in the chapel, made curtains for the upper room in the chapel, replaced rotted floor int he registration cabin, and much more that I can't remember.

Replacing rotted floor in Registration Cabin

Perhaps the best part of working so hard here is that we are working together on every project. Just knowing that it is for the betterment of the camp and making it a beautiful place for campers to hear the Word of God is such a blessing.  I am reminded what James 1:25 says, "the blessing is the doing." Well, we are truly blessed  We have also been able to interact with some of the leadership of some of the rental groups  This is always a treat as we get to hear exchange testimonies and even pray with them.  Several people have been intrigued when they learn that we live in a 5th wheel trailer and travel to ministries that could use some help.

We have been praying for a church in which we can serve and just the other day we received a call from a church in Orovada, Nevada.  We are so very excited to get back to serving in a church with God's people.  Our plan is to arrive no later than September 1st.  This church has been without a pastor for five years and are down to just a few people.  So we have our work cut out for us. It sounds similar to the two previous churches that we served in.  So we are ready to go.  However, we are committed here at Fir Point through July and then we have to return to His Place to finished a few things there. Then off to Orovada, with a brief stay with Stephen, Neeley, Jack, and Pearl in Sacramento.

We have a busy two months ahead of us before we go to Nevada.  Please pray for continued health and safety.  We have had a couple of close calls with potential injuries but we were spared each time.  One was while dismantling the old playground one of the large posts was rotted off at the bottom.  Once I disconnected the supports it fell barely missing my head.  That could have ruined my whole day or worse.

Also pray for the church in Orovada and for our future ministry there. 

Dayle is doing fine and has had no reaction to the Boniva infusion.  Her next infusion is scheduled for August 17th. Please continue to pray that these infusions will correct her osteoporosis.

Two years ago when I had my knee surgery the doctor said that I may have develop some problems as part of  my knee is bone on bone. This, he said, would require a partial knee replacement.  Well, the pain has recently begun.  I am hoping that it is because I have not been on the bicycle very much and I have allowed it to get weak.  The good thing is that it is not a constant pain and it is minor right now.  So I will try to strengthen the knee as I do not want to have a partial knee replacement. 

Thank you all for your prayers and for your continued support.  May the Lord bless you as you continue to serve Him.

Shelley and Dayle
Semper Famulus
(Always Serving)

Continuing the Work

Shame on me for not updating this blog sooner.  So much has happened that I can't remember everything.  The ministry is going quite well.  Since my last update we have been extremely busy with the facilities.  We are still repairing, cleaning, organizing, and landscaping.  Last month Brother Bob Minshew (our benefactor) allowed me to purchase several needed items including a portable  outdoor sound system, a back pack blower, and several hand tools.  The sound system will allow us to have outdoor events in the amphitheater or elsewhere.  (We had planned to have the Easter Sunrise Service in the amphitheater.  But the weather didn't allow it.)  The back pack blower greatly reduces the time it takes to clean up the parking lot as well as leaf blowing.

Amphitheater view from the top

The first week of March we drove south to the Shepherd's Conference.  I dropped Dayle off at my sister's house in Pinon Hills, then I continued to my brother's house near the church.  The Shepherd's Conference was just fantastic with 18 speakers from all over the world speaking on the inerrancy of the Bible.

My first night in southern California, I received news that brother Bob Minshew had passed away.  This was bitter-sweet news.  Bob has been suffering with heart failure for quite some time.  He woke up that Monday morning and he knew that he was "going to go home to the Lord today."  He had called the pastor, the mortuary, and his lawyer.  He called his sister and daughter to say goodby.  Later that evening he was gone.  We had the memorial service out at His Place and his life was celebrated giving glory to the Lord as Bob always tried to do.

The second week of March we attended the NICE Regional Conference in Vancouver, Washington.  This was another terrific conference with the them of developing leaders in the local church.  The sessions were very helpful but as always the fellowship with friends and colleagues was the highlight.

After Bob's home-going we returned to His Place with lots of work to do.  We had a large 8 by 20 foot shed to empty out as well as an entire classroom fill of Bob's stuff.  We asked the ladies of the church to go through and see what they wanted to hang on to for use in the kitchen facilities and the rest we were going to try to sell.  After five days of setting up, we had our "World's For Sale."  This was a huge indoor yard sale which took up the entire chapel and two large classrooms.

The sale went quite well and my goal was to get rid of the stuff.  Almost everything was on a voluntary donation basis.  We made over $1800 and all but about 20% of the stuff was sold.  The remaining stuff was put into a single 7 by 16 foot trailer and taken to a local high school for their fund raising sale.  I now have ample storage, and a shed to turn into a work shop, and two more classrooms.

We recently had a His Place board meeting to work on goals and vision for the future and to determine officers.  I was unanimously selected as board chairman .  We also discussed future goals and vision as well as projects that need to be done.  Much of this in on hold pending the receipt of the funds that brother Bob bequeathed to the facility.

Perhaps the highlight of the last two months was the Easter services.  We preformed the Easter program "HeRoes"" and I played the part of Simon of Cyrene.

"We had the Sunrise service with 55 in attendance and then at the church we had a "family breakfast" and then the regular Easter service which literally packed out the church.  The services were very well planned and the pastor gave great messages.  I even did a couple of songs on the guitar.  At the Good Friday service I did a duet with Naomi Hoard (the youth pastor's wife) singing Beautiful, Scandalous Night by Bebo Norman and on the Sunday service I did He's Alive by Don Francisco. I guess all those music and singing lessons are starting to pay off because the people loved it.

This coming weekend we will be driving to Sacramento, CA then taking a plane to Southern California to attend my cousins Donna and Al's, 50th wedding anniversary.  This event is very special to me not only because I was at their wedding and my sister, Andrea, was their flower girl, but because Al was the first example that I have ever witnessed of how to love a wife.  Al is one of the most influential men in my life.  Not only did he continually demonstrate true love for his wife but he encouraged me to join the Coast Guard and was a positive influence in my Coast Guard career.  He himself retired as a USCG Captain.

Then the third week of April we will pack up the trailer and head north to spend a little over three in Port Angeles, Washington with Jason, Shelli, and the kids.  We are so looking forward to taking a little vacation.  It has been work,work, work for the past 8 months.

Dayle recently had another bone scan to determine the seriousness of her osteoporosis.  The bad new was that it has not gotten any better after two years of diet and exercise.  The good news is that it hasn't gotten any worse.  But the doctor said that she needs to be on a treatment program.  After much research we decided to go with quarterly Boniva infusions.

Dennis May from Fir Point Bible camp called the other day and asked us to come for June and July which is their busiest time of the year.  Since we are getting things under control here at His Place we told him that we could come.  I can still prepare the institute courses while there and everything else pretty much shuts down here in Brookings during the Summer.  Dennis did ask us to come on a permanent basis, but I told him that we cannot commit to that at this time.

We just got back from the dentist and Dayle needs a crown put on.  She has another cracked tooth.  It will be put on the day we leave for Jason and Shelley.  Grrrr, my poor Dayle.  She is really afraid of any dental work.  So this Thursday they will do the crown prep then on the 21st they will put in the crown.

Until next time please remember us in prayer as we travel and continue to serve here at His Place under First Baptist Community Church. Also pray that the Boniva infusions will work for my Dayle.


Shelley for the both of us.

Off and Running for the New Year

We were on the road for most of December.  We visited our supporting church in Lake Havasu City, Az and then spent a week with my mom, sister, niece and nephew in Pinon, Hills, California and then spent Christmas with Stephen, Neeley and the grand kids in Sacramento, Calif.  One of the little joys of the trip was the cost of fuel driving all those miles. Our new car averages 45-50 MPG and we spent just a little over $100 dollars for the entire trip.  If we were to have driven the truck we would have spent 5 to 6 times more than that. Upon returning to Brookings we hit the ground running.  Dayle had a women's seminar to prepare for and I had two courses to finalize for our new Bible Institute which begins on 2-2-2015.

But first we had to get rid of the mouse infestation in our new trailer.  When we left four weeks earlier we winterized the trailer, removed all open food, and locked it up tight.  However, we kind of forgot that mice can get in practically anywhere.  We had stored under the bed some unopened bags of sunflower seeds.  When we came home and opened the door we saw sunflower seed shells throughout the trailer.  Yuck, those mice had four weeks to run-a-muck...and they did.  We were cleaning up sunflower seed shells, mice droppings, vacuuming, and washing for days.  I found where they had gotten in and sealed it up.  I also set up traps which did away with a few mice.  We haven't seen any evidence of mice now for two weeks.  Yay!

The women's seminar went off quite well and Dayle spoke in three sessions to about 40 ladies. I ran the sound booth and recorded the sessions.  I am so proud of my Dayle.  She really did a good job!

I have been busy preparing my Bible Institute courses.  These are basically the same courses that I taught to the men when I was pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church.  But the problem was that my original courses and notes are missing.  I thought that they were in our storage unit but even after going through every single box (twice) they are nowhere to be found.  The last place I remember having them was in 2011 when I was interim pastor in Lake Havasu.  But even after searching the entire building, this past December, they are still listed as missing.  Then I remembered that two of my  Klamath Falls students had asked for copies of my original notes because they wanted to teach the classes in their churches.  So thanks to Vane Day and Les Tucker I am now in possession of all of my Institute notes.  I am still missing all my original college and seminary notebooks so the search continues.

We have been busy doing a lot of hard work not just preparing seminars and courses as well as sermons and Sunday school lessons but also on the facility.  We finally ran electricity  to the outdoor amphitheater, installed the ice maker, and cleaned the exterior.  But we take some time to bike and hike.  We especially enjoy hiking the Oregon coastal trail which offers some of the most spectacular coastal views of  all of the country. 

I have even managed to get a couple of bicycle rides in which I desperately need for exercise.

Our financial support has increased and we are close to meeting our goal.  We are currently need another $50 a month to reach 100%.  Thank you to all of our faithful financial supporter as well as our prayer supporters.

Please remember to keep us in your prayers as we launch the Brookings Bible Institute (name subject to change).  There is still much work to be done here at His Place.  We don't know how long we will be here in Brookings but we expect to be here for up to another year.  Much depends on how quickly we can make His Place self-sustaining.

Prayer Requests:
1.  Wisdom and strength as we work at His Place
2.  For His Place to become self-sustaining
3.  Dayle's continued fight against osteoporosis and for the new doctor here in Brookings. (She has a bone scan scheduled next week. All blood test came back normal.)
4.  For Shelley's sister (Andrea) to find a job.

Praises:
1.  For Dayle's new doctor.
2.  For safety as we traveled to Arizona and back.
3.  For the continued opportunity to serve here in Brookings

So Much To Be Thankful For

It’s been six weeks since our last newsletter.  In these last few weeks we have not had much time to rest.  Most of the work now is preparing courses for the Bible institute beginning at the end of January. I now have Fundamentals of the Faith, The Sovereignty of God, and the ten basic theologies ready to go.  I will begin teaching Fundamentals and the Sovereignty of God.  Dayle is also quite busy preparing for a ladies retreat for which she will be the speaker in January.

The highlight of these last few weeks was being invited to spend the morning with the elders of Immanuel Baptist Church.  They had an elder’s retreat in Crescent City which is only a short drive from us in Brookings.  It was such a blessed time for us!

A couple of weeks ago we had a conference call with John MacArthur about an unrelated matter.  But during the conversation John offered the help of the Master’s Seminary to get our Bible institute up and running and even help with course material and possibly instructors.  We are very excited about this and I will be talking with them more at the Shepherd’s Conference.  Please keep this in your prayers.

We had our annual church Thanksgiving Service and meal here at His Place.  We put together the entire service with music, testimonies of thankfulness, I led the music, and Pastor Ken gave a great message.  Overall the service went quite well.
                               
We did find an economical car.  We went to Grants Pass to go to our storage unit and we stopped at Jim Siegel Car Dealership to check out the Nissan Versa Note.  The Note is the smallest car Nissan makes and the advertised price was within our price range.    After a few minutes we realized that the Note was not the car for us.  But we did look at a 2013 Honda Insight Hybrid and we loved it so we bought it.  Driving it home we got 48 miles per gallon.  The next day, just 27 ½ hours after driving off the dealer’s lot we went to Walmart down in Crescent City.  On the way back a big elk decided to mate with our new car....crash!  Dayle was driving and we were not hurt–neither was the elk.  The funny thing was that I didn’t even tell the insurance company that we bought the car and our check hadn’t even cleared yet.  But our insurance company took care of everything and twelve days later we got our car back looking as good as new.  Then Thursday morning while going to the early morning men’s Bible study I had my arms full of stuff and tripped on a piece of wood and fell into the right front fender of our new car.  It now has a dent on the right front fender.  I am not going to turn this one into the insurance company.

We did take a few days and went to spend some time with Stephen, Neeley and the kids.  I was able to ride the bike trails and ride home with Stephen from his work in downtown Sacramento.  I really enjoyed spending time with Jack and Pearl.

While we were in Sacramento with the kids I saw an ad for a 5th wheel trailer which looked really good so we went to take a look at it.  This trailer had everything we wanted.  It seemed practically perfect and the price was perfect too.  I checked online and the price that we got this trailer was the best price anywhere in the country.  We gave it a couple of days thought and prayer. The trailer was near perfect, the price was right, and they would deliver it to us in Oregon. So, we now have a new trailer.  This trailer is 6'9" longer than our previous trailer.  We now have counter space, a huge refrigerator, plenty of storage, and room to actually have someone over for a meal.  We had our first visitors today.  What a joy.

We leave on the 8th for our trip south to Arizona, then to my mom and sister in Southern California, and then to Stephen and Neeley for Christmas.  This will be a working “vacation” as I still have lessons to prepare.

We want to thank you all for your prayers for continued monthly support.  Our support has increased almost to the level required. We are now at 90%.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.  May you all be blessed this Christmas season!

Our address in Brookings is:
18881 Cornett Rd
Brookings, Oregon  97415

Shelley for the both of us.

Praises:
1.  For the new car and trailer
2.  That we were not injured when we hit the elk.
3.  For the additional monthly support.

Prayer:
1. For safety as we travel to Arizona and back.
2. For the upcoming start of the Bible classes
3. For guidance as we continue to serve at His Place.

Starting the Thanksgiving Service

Enjoying precious time with Jack and Pearl

Jack and Papa having fun at the park.

Our new home

Our new car

My Dayle is so happy

The Work Continues

We had our first conference the end of September.  It was a men's conference and we only had 15 attendees but everything went well and we learned a few things.  Overall it was a big success.  The main speaker really touched some of them men.

We have been quite busy here at His Place and we needed to take a break.  On September 29th we pulled our trailer up to Port Angeles to visit Jason, Shelley and the grand kids.  We haven't seen them since July but it felt like a lot longer.  We really miss our kids!  Part of the reason for our trip was to attend the NICE regional conference in Bremerton, WA.  As usual the regional conference was a time of encouragement and reconnecting with friends who are also in ministry. I also was asked to play bass guitar for the music time at that is always fun.  We were with the kids for 2 1/2 weeks and during that time Shelli, Asher and Autumn flew to Colorado to visit Shelli's dad and we got to stay home with Aiden.  Jason had to stay at the Coast Guard station almost the entire time so we had Aiden all to ourselves and we really had a great time with him.

We returned to Oregon on October 16th and we spent two nights at Fir Point Bible Camp where Dayle attended the Southern Oregon IFCA Ladies Retreat.

We returned to His Place on the 18th and set up the trailer at the top of the parking lot on the asphalt.  Which was just in time as the rains started that night and it has been raining ever since.  I think the rainy season is here. Golly, we sure miss Lake Havasu City!

Yesterday we had our first His Place board meeting.  I presented the board with a list of suggested priorities along with some needs and wants if we are going to make this an actual conference and educational center.   To make a long story short most everything is on hold because no money is available yet.  There is money to pay the monthly utility bills and minor repairs but that is about all.  In a way this is good because it frees me up to continue working on courses for our Bible institute that we plan to start early next year.  On Monday we we had a conference call with John MacArthur and he offered the assistance of The Masters Seminary for our teaching program.  We do plan on taking him up on the offer.

So we continue to serve and get involved with the life of the church.  We so much enjoy being part of a church.  I do miss being able to regularly preach and teach but Pastor Ken knows that I willing to fill in for him anytime and at a moment's notice.

We are still in need of additional support.  We have gained one more supporter and are currently at 50% of what the mission requires for us.  Below is the address for support.  Please put our name in the memo on your check.

Northwest Independent Church Extension
PO Box 2225
Sumner, WA  98390

Praise and Prayer

Praise:
1.  For a relaxing time in Washington
2.  For another wonderful NICE conference
3.  I still have had no back issues since March

Prayer:
1.  For wisdom and direction for us at His Place
2.  For an economical car


 Shelley for the both of us!
Semper Famulus

We are now happy non-home owners.

Today marked the end of us being home owners.  Our house actually closed today.  All the utilities were transferred to the new owners.  We didn't get as much as we had hoped but at least we are done with it.  So now we can look seriously for an economical car and a little bigger trailer.

Tomorrow begins the 1st Men's Conference at His Place.  Pastor John Kim is the main speaker and I (Shelley) will be speaking in the three breakout sessions and I will be speaking on what is a Biblical Man.  I am actually using the same outlines as the time I spoke in Washington in May.

Then on Monday we will be going to Port Angeles to spend a couple of weeks with Jason, Shelli and kids.  We are excited to see them again!

Thank you all for your prayers!  Also thank you for the additional support that has come in.  We still are not at the level required but are getting closer. 

Praise:
1.  Our house actually sold
2.  Things are progressing well here at His Place

Prayer:
1.  Additional monthly support
2.  For the Lord's guidance and direction as we serve at His Place
3.  For an economical car and the right trailer all at an affordable price.


Shelley for the both of us!

His Place Conference Center in Brookings, Oregon

View of His Place from the road.

We arrived here at His Place on August 11th.  We took some time to assess the buildings and evaluate what needs to be done and prioritize. Once completed we knew there was a long road ahead.  Since we have been herem we have cleared out rooms, painted interior walls, organized, and cleaned.  We even painted the entire exterior of the main building which took five full days.  There was much in the way of repairs that had to be done including removing and replacing the water heater, hooking up the filtered water system, repairing the door locks, landscaping and much more.  Once the work is done on the facilities we can begin actually working on the various ministries here.  The first thing we need to do is to design and print brochures. Then get the word out through mailings as well as establishing a web site, also visiting churches in the area as a personal contact.  And we need to make this ministry self-supporting as soon as possible.  Pastor Ken Whitted wants us to get started with a Bible Institute type program here early next year. We have much work ahead of us, but we are excited to be here serving the Lord here at His Place.

Before

After

We have some good news about our house in Klamath Falls.....we are actually in escrow.  We are supposed to close by the end of September.  Everything looks good and we are just waiting for the appraisal to come in.  Once we get an actual closing date we have to go to the house the week before and remove all the rest of our stuff that the buyers don't want.  We will have one final yard sale and then take the rest to the Gospel Mission.  Please pray that this sale goes through.

Something that I don't like to speak about is our financial support.  As you know we are mostly self supported.  However, we do rely upon some support.  Our monthly support has dwindled and is now well below the minimum that has been set for us by the mission.  We actually need another $175 a month to meet the minimum required.  Please join us in prayer in this matter.

We are also looking for a fuel efficient "beater car" to purchase for us to get around.  Our truck is ideal for pulling the 5th wheel trailer and it gets excellent mileage for towing (11-14 mpg).  However, using that huge truck for daily driving gets to be quite costly.  It only gets about 14 miles per gallon for city driving and about 19-20 highway.  At $4 a gallon for diesel it costs about $120 every time I fill the tank.  So we are looking for an inexpensive smaller vehicle which will pay for itself in no time in fuel savings.

Prayer/Praise

Praise that we finished our ministry at fir Point and are now serving at His Place in Brookings, Oregon
Praise that our house is in escrow.
Praise that God has given us good health to complete this task
Praise that He has provided for all our needs and even ,any of our wants!

Pray that we will have clear direction as we serve at His Place
Pray that the sale of our house actually happens
Pray for additional financial support.
Pray for an economical car to purchase.

Final Week at Fir Point Bible Camp

    We finally have internet again.  For the Fir Point Camping season which is the entire month of July we have not had internet because of all the other people that were connected to the WiFi and since our trailer is so far away, we could not connect.  So now camp is over and we have service again.

    This is our last week here at Fir Point Bible Camp.  We have been here a full three months and have worked on many, many projects.  This previous week has been the most exciting for me as I was the music leader as well as the speaker for the 3rd and 4th grade camp.  I led singing and preached in ten sessions.  The theme for the week was “Look Up” as in look to God for answers.  I taught on ten different men in Scripture and how they went to God in prayer; how they obeyed (or disobeyed as in Jonah’s case).  But my big push was that they had the right to go to God because of their faith in God and how they must have faith.  I taught them a few new songs and their favorite song was “You Got To Have Faith” written by a member of Grace Community Church, Rick Dempsey.

    While I was having a great time with music and teaching, Dayle was slaving away in kitchen.  She worked from sun up to sun down.  Janice the regular cook was away caring for her daughter who was recovering from surgery.  So Dayle and a couple of other ladies prepared all the meals. Needless to say, my Dayle was tired!

    This last week we will be finishing up a few things around the camp including the painting of the exterior of the care taker’s residence.  Then on Saturday we will be heading to Brookings, Oregon to begin our new ministry there.  These last three months here at Fir Point have been a wonderful time of service.  It was a lot of hard work and long days but we are so blessed to be able to serve in this manner!

    Yesterday we said our “see you laters” to our Glendale church family.  It was a joy getting to know them and we hope to see them again soon.

With Pastor Kent Staton

All the Grand Children

      Two weeks ago we had a family vacation at Lake of the Woods.  Our three kids and their families all came and Dayle’s sister, Ellen, was there too.  It was the first time that we were all together.  It was a wonderful few days.  We all talked and played together and enjoyed just being with one another.  Annie had a photographer friend come up and take family photos.  We are expecting the pictures real soon but we only have a couple now.  At one point when we were all together–all the kids, their spouses, and their kids and Dayle and I looked at each other and said, “Look, this is all because of us.”  That was a very special moment for us.  What a joy, what a blessing, to be able to enjoy all our children’s families.  We often thank God for our grandchildren and for the spouses that our kids have chosen.  Our kids often joke saying that we love their spouse more....I don’t think that we love them any more, but we certainly love them just as much.     
             

Our kids and their spouses.

     Next week we will be in Brookings and we hope to work out a game plan on what we will be doing.  We are so looking forward to being part of a church again for a long period of time.  We love doing what we are doing and being available to go wherever we are needed at a moment’s notice, but we greatly miss not being more involved in a church. Once we get settled in at Brookings we hope to take a couple of weeks and head south to visit Neeley, my sister and mom and take a hop over to Lake Havasu.

    Our house in Klamath Falls still has not sold.  We continue to pay all the costs of owning a house and without having any rental income it is getting quite burdensome.  Please pray with us for the house to sell.  Our realtor is still confident that it will sell.
 
   This morning (Monday) we woke up to smoke in the camp and I just figured that there was a small forest fire near by.  I was partially right....it was nearby.  Our burn pile was on fire.  Normally that is not a problem but this is fire season and all burning is prohibited.  We have not burned anything for almost two months but evidently there were still a hot spot deep down in the pile and it decided to flare up today.  I immediately ran and got about 300 feet of water hose and began spraying the pile.  We soon realized that this was going to take a long time and a lot of our drinking water so we called the local fire department for help.  The Glendale Fire Department came and brought a tanker truck and  with the help of a neighbor and his back hoe tractor they totally extinguished the fire.

Mark and his back hoe putting out the fire.

We will miss Fir Point Camp and living in the forest.

   
Check out our Facebook page for more pictures.  www.facebook.com/pastorshelley

Praise:
1.  For the gospel being preached at all four camps and many kids committing themselves to the Lord
2.  For the Lord continuing to provide for our needs.
3.  For continued health and safety.

Prayer Requests:
1.  Ministry in Brookings
2.  For our house to sell
3.  For future financial needs regarding the house
4.  For a small economical car to drive while in Brookings



Shelley for the both of us
Semper Famulus

Always Serving

 We have been so busy here at Fir Point Bible Camp that we hardly have any time or energy to do much of anything else.  We have been making a daily log of all of our activities here at camp and it is already three pages long.  We have been fixing broken equipment, building things, repairing damaged walls, performing preventative maintenance, spray painting cabins, cutting wood, using the bull dozer to skid logs out of the forest to be cut up for firewood, and much, much more!  And there is still much to be done.  I am still amazed how God has prepared us for this work here at camp and has given us the skills and the ability to do all this.  Perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that I have almost no back pain other than common muscle aches from hard work.  But a heating pad and a couple of ibuprofen takes care of that.

Three Sundays we have driven the 120 miles to Brookings, Oregon and I have preached there the last two. This coming Sunday I will be preaching here in Glendale.  I will also be preaching July 13th in Crescent City, CA and I will be the speaker here at camp for the 3rd and 4th grade camp at the end of July. 

Preaching in Brookings

Dogwood cabin freshly painted.  (That spot is a spot on the camera lens.

Painting Madrone cabin

Cedar and Alder all finished

Painted the outdoor glider chair

We fabricated and installed galvanized tops for six fire hose boxes

As of our last letter we accepted an offer for our house.  Yesterday we learned that the buyer backed out because he was unable to secure a loan.  So we are back to square one and our realtor, Lori Graves, is going into high gear to find another buyer.  At least TJ Morgan will be able to keep his summer job of maintaining our yard.

Last week Dayle's sister (Ellen Parker) had a biopsy of her uterus with the possibility of cancer .  We are very thankful to God that the pathology report returned as benign (non-cancerous).  Yay!  However, she will be having a full hysterectomy in August to prevent any further problems.  Please keep her in prayer.

We are looking forward to a busy and enjoyable summer here at camp.  It truly is such a blessing and a privilege to be able to serve our Lord in this way (James 1:25).  Not only are we so blessed to be able to serve, we are having a great time doing it.  Dayle and I try to do every task together and we are having a blast working side by side. 

Check out our Facebook page for more pictures.  www.facebook.com/pastorshelley


Praise and prayer requests:

Praise for:
    Ellen’s biopsy coming back as non-cancerous
    Praise for God’s continued provision for us   

Pray for:                       
    Ellen’s upcoming surgery
    The right buyer for our house
    Shelley’s upcoming speaking opportunities
    Continued health and safety for us both

Shelley for us both
Semper Famulus