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