Grammer

Dear Friends in Christ,

Last month, we were able to travel to NC for 10 days to visit two of our daughters, sons-in-law and grand children. It has been two years since we were able to get away and see family, so this was a real treat to us.

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
God tells us to “give thanks”, “rejoice”, and “be glad”.  Once we focus on what we have to be thankful for, it’s not a difficult command to obey!  We have so much to be thankful for, but often get occupied with daily life and forget to look beyond the struggles.  Though it’s good to thank others, we need to continually thank God, who is our provider and our strength in life.  We’re so glad that our country still sets a day aside to remind us to be thankful.

November 2011
Dear Friends in Christ,
 
As many of you understand, fall is hunting season!  This year’s hunting camp is now history.  There were a total of 7 hunters- with 3 elk and 1 bear taken.  Some were hunting for a trophy and passed up shots early in the season and went home without meat, but everyone had a great time.  These camps are actually men’s retreats as they spend time in Bible study each night around the campfire.  This year’s study was on the book of Jonah.

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
This past month we took a couple of weeks off for a vacation.  Janet went home to Flagstaff and enjoyed being a housewife again as she cleaned up the dirt that has collected over the months. She also enjoyed cleaning up around the outside of the house.  It may not seem like much of a vacation to you, but she enjoyed the more normal pace of life after several months of “camping”.

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
Early August saw the first day of school.  Growing up with school starting the first day after Labor Day, this seems really early.  But then, graduation was mid to late June and not in May.  With temperatures between 96 and 106, the lure of air-conditioned classrooms sure beats the great outdoors this time of the year.
Some of our young people are also leaving home for the beginning of Bible College.  Tyler graduated from high school here in Page this past spring and is now packing up to move to Bob Jones University.  Please pray for him and his family as they face the struggles ahead; financial, academics, cultural, miles from home and spiritual battles.

Dear Friends in Christ,
Both our juniors and teens had a great time at camp this summer.  The teens had to go to a later camp week as a result of the fire, but it all worked out.  The fire extended into the state of New Mexico and made the record for being the largest ever for Arizona- but it is now extinguished.  Now the danger is for the flash floods that are threatening, similar to the flash floods we had last summer after the fire on the Peaks.  Thankfully, the summer program is over and the campers safely in their homes. I’m sure they will appreciate your prayers that the camp property will suffer little or no damage during the monsoon season.

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
Many of you have seen Arizona on the national news.  On May 30, a campfire that wasn’t fully extinguished started a forest fire in AZ that is breaking the records for the country.  The fire in Flagstaff last year, that burned the San Francisco Peaks in front of our home, was only 18,000 acres and this one is closer to 600,000 acres (854 square miles).   As I’m writing this a month later, we are only 77% contained and spreading into New Mexico.

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
Spring always brings some strong winds to our part of the country.  In Flagstaff, it’s dirt and in Page it’s red sand.  Both can create some sudden visibility problems when driving and you  never know what the driver ahead of you is going to do when suddenly you can’t see anything!   We lost electric at the camper one day and found the box where we connect to the church was full of sand and we had melted wires and melted plastic around the outlet.  So thankful God protected us from a fire!

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
84 degrees!!  That was our last day in Page before we returned to Flagstaff where it was only 60 degrees.  That’s what happens when you climb from 4,300 ft to 7,000 ft.  We return to Flag each week for Thursday and Friday and then return to Page each Saturday to be ready for Sunday’s services.  This allows us to get our laundry done, take a long hot shower, take care of our mail, shop for groceries and whatever else needs tending.  It’s a bit inconvenient at times, but we enjoy the ministry in Page.

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
The winter months have challenges for most of us.  This year’s challenges include trying to keep our camper-home warm with the water flowing.  We are thankful that, so far, we’ve had no loss of electric and have propane as a back-up for our heat.  We’ve grown accustomed to our comforts and are reminded of an older missionary sister who told us how she put her potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables under her blankets at the foot of her bed each night to keep them from freezing.  We don’t even have to carry buckets of water from a river, but can fill a pitcher in the church kitchen when lines are frozen.  How spoiled we are!  And thankful!