The Good Samaritan

Maybe not everyone knows it, but when I (Gloria) work part time at the city bus lines here in town. It is a great way to meet all kinds of interesting people all over the city.
Recently, I was driving one afternoon on one of those routes that is almost impossible to keep on time due to the amount of people riding and the traffic. The longer I drove, the further behind I became, with little chance of catching up. I was pulling into the grocery store parking lot and noticed a long line of people waiting. No chance of catching up here.
I pulled up and smiled at the people boarding, daring not to look at my watch. There, at the end of the line, I inwardly groaned. Two large individuals, a man and woman, were waiting. The lady was using a walker overflowing with groceries and they both were poorly dressed. Why was I not surprised when they had to fumble for their passes?
As they lumbered back to their seats, I hurried to shut the door and hopefully try to make up some lost time.
I began maneuvering my way down the streets again through the slow traffic. Somewhere, I began to hear the conversation going on behind me.
"I am so proud of you, girl! You're an over comer!" someone was saying.
"Yea, we've sure been down and out before. Sometimes you have to get to the very bottom before you can start working your way up."
Somewhere behind me a girl was sharing,"I don't have anything but this apartment, not even a bed or a table, but I am so glad to have my own place now, I don't care."
"Do you know anyone in town? You can come over and visit us. Come visit our church. They are always happy to see new people." the other lady was saying.
I glanced back in the mirror, trying to see who was talking. One was a girl I had not even noticed get on, just another girl on the bus. But she had no friends? No money?
Who was that encouraging her? Who was that now offering her advice on how to get some furniture and help from the Salvation Army?
I realized, to my shame, it was the large woman with the walker. I listened as they exchanged addressed and phone numbers, and eventually got off the bus. And a new thought began to go through my mind as I remembered the story of the Good Samaritan.
The Samaritan was the one where the real issue lied with the expert in the law asking the question, "Who is my neighbor?". And the girl, the wounded man? How often am I just in too big of hurry to even notice there is a need?

Coming Home

This Sunday we had the priviledge of attending the church that Gloria grew up in and we were married in six years ago. There is something always special about coming home to a place where people know you. Of course, it has been several years since we had been there, so there were many new faces, but it has specail also to meet new faces in the crowd. It ended up being especially nice because they had a picnic, complete with horse rides, clowns, and games for the kids. Sam really liked the horses and the special sand box they had, full of soft white sand- great for wiggling toes in. We got to spend a lot of time reconnecting with old friends we had not seen in quite a while.
One neat thing was that the church had just had a missions trip to Mexico with the youth, so we had a chance to hear about their trip to work at an ophanage there. It was really neat to see how God is working in those teens lives as well as in Mexico. What a joy it is to see God working!
This visit came at a time when we were starting to feel a bit discouraged. What a blessing it was to step out in faith and see God do good things.

Grandmother

Grandmother died. It is hard to put into words all that goes through one's mind when one hears those words. Grandmother. She was really a quiet person with a quiet faith that did not shout or draw attention to itself. We all knew that she loved Jesus and that she had to be at church on Sunday, but it was not til she was in her final days that the truth of the legacy she has left behind began to unfold. The Grandmother who quietly prayed and saw her children and eventually her husband become Christian. The Grandmother who quietly attended Bible studies and prayed with friends weekly. The Grandmother who collected poetry and wrote long quotes of her faith in Christ throughout her Bible and notebooks. I knew my Grandmother for 27 years, and I never knew all this until these last weeks. No attention was ever drawn to her quiet life of faith, and yet it changed our family and all those around her. Her life was quiet and simple, filled with the heartache of lost children and a lost farm. But somehow, that quiet life relying on God was glorified God in a magnificent way. May that be true of us all.

Saying Goodbye

This past week has been a sad time of saying "goodbye" to Gloria's grandmother. She was a devout Christian and is now home with the Lord. We went to her funeral this past Saturday. It was a very specail time to pat tribute to a quiet life lived for Christ. We are up in Remer, MN for the next week. We are meeting with several of the people we know in this area and also enjoying some time with family.

Home Again

It good to finally be home again here in Rochester! This past Sunday it was so nice to see many of our good friends at Berean Community Church. These past few weeks have been hard as Mike's brother passed away last week. We, however, are so glad for the time we had to visit with him and the rest of the family the week before.
Mike was able to spend an extra week up with his family while Sam and Gloria went back home. It turned out to be a special time for them just to be together.
Now that we are back home for a while, we hope to reconnect with many of you in the area. We will be here, meeting with people. On August 10, we are heading up to the Grand Rapids, MN area. We hope to see many of you in that area.
Until then, God bless

Heading to Wisconsin

Our time here in Fishing Lake is cut a bit short due to a family situation back home that we need to attend to. So... once again we are packing our bags and heading to Superior, WI for a week. We will be visiting family and meeting with two churches in the area.
This past week in Fishing Lake has been very encouraging for our family. We have been able to meet several of the families, and we are getting a better feel of the area. Another big blessing was being able to meet the local pastor and his wife. They are running a camp out at Fishing Lake this week for kids all over the area. We also were able to visit with a fellow missionary family in the area. They will be about 1 1/2 hours away, and they already have been a great help in understanding the area better.
We will be back in Rochester the second week in July and look forward to seeing many of you then.

update

Good morning all! Thank you for your prayers. Last night we had a great opportunity to meet some of the people at the community of Fishing Lake. We attended a retirement/going away party and we met some of Chief Allen's family as well as extended family. Tomorrow two teams from NAIM'S summer missions will be here and we will be working with them. We have been very excited and encouraged in how God is working here. Please continue to pray for open doors for building relationships
"Praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ" Phil 4:3