Travel Journal: March 17 & 18, 2012

SATURDAY: This morning I did my usual morning walk and then left Michigan to drive toward home.  At one point during my journey home the GPS kept saying "Bridge to Canada 1 mile".  I was getting a little concerned when hardly anyone else was driving on the highway with me except those with Canadian license plates.  If you didn't already know this, my GPS has taken me to some odd places in my travels.  Most of the time it is very useful and I am thankful for how helpful it is, but that day I was getting a little concerned that it might take me to the border and I didn't have my passport with me.  Needless to say, it did not take me to Canada, Whew!!!!   

Driving was not too bad on Saturday morning.  After I got halfway to my destination, I stopped at a Rest Area to stretch my legs and to get a little work done.  After a few phone calls, it was very clear that the Lord's will was not for me to go to my original destination for Sunday service.  After talking to my dad a while, he reminded me that his Uncle John and Aunt Floss (my great aunt & uncle) were living in Sharpsville, PA, right on the edge of the OH/PA line.  I called them and asked about coming to attend the church that Uncle John was preaching at (my Great Uncle John has pastored some very productive churches and is now interum pastor at a small Baptist church in the area).  They invited me to stay the night with them.

What a blessed time we had of catching up 

and of sharing all that the Lord has been doing in our lives.

I am just so blessed to have family who love God and are serving them with their whole heart.
In a later post I will share with you some of those blessings, but for now I just want to catch you up on my Sunday meeting.

Pastor & Mrs. Frey

SUNDAY: Today, I was given the Sunday School hour at my Great Uncle's church.  The people were so receptive as I showed my DVD and shared testimony about all that the Lord is doing.  I know there will be people who support prayerfully and financially from this church.

My Great Uncle is an excellent preacher 

and my Great Aunt is just a joy to be around.  

The Lord has given her a true love for people.  

She is like a breath of fresh air!

I will tell you more about them later and about who this Bible belongs to 

(look for it in my next post).

After a delicious lunch and Great Aunt Floss's Raspberry Pie - YUM!!!  I was off to another church for evening service.  My plan was to stop at a church in Bedford, PA on the way toward home.  My parents often go to Bedford to visit Antique shops and Flea Markets and are always telling me to visit some of the churches in that area.  Since it is almost a 4 hour drive I had not yet been able to do that, but this time had a chance since I was heading right through.  

I visited a friendly church, where the ladies just made me feel like I was part of their family.  The pastor asked me to stand and give a testimony and to tell who I am and where I am going.

I left feeling loved and blessed.  The Pastor's message was kind of a conclusion of this whole trip.  He preached about how one of the benefits of being saved is the believers around you.  God has certainly used His people to encourage, support, and bless me!

 Ps 68:19 

"Blessed be the Lord, 

who daily loadeth us with benefits, 

even the God of our salvation. Selah."

Travel Journal: March 15 & 16, 2012 - Sterling Heights, Michigan

On these days I will be atending a Missions Conference 

at Covenant Baptist Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan.  

THURSDAY:  Tonight, I had dinner with the pastor, my hostess, an other missionaries to the conference.
After Dinner, we went to the church for coffee, cookies, & fellowship with the church people.  
After fellowship, service started.  I gave my mission presentation with a great interest from the people.
The church ladies made each of the missionaries a sewing kit and gave us a bag full of goodies.  What a blessing!  They very carefully chose what to put in the bag.  It contained gift cards for gas, food, and supplies.  Other necessities were included like: bottled water, hand sanitizer, tissues, stationary, gum, mints, and- DUCT TAPE!  I know, if you are a true Red Neck, you are cheering!  Duct tape comes in handy for EVERYTHING!  How thoughtful!!!

Janice was a great host!

After service and my whole stay, I had some great times with the widow lady I was staying with.  She truly made me feel at home.  I was again reminded about how God cares for His people.  When I thanked her, she said to me, "I am just obeying God".  She was right.  God tells us in the Bible that it is our responsibility to care for God's people.  I was certainly well cared for.


FRIDAY: This morning, I worked more on some of my VISA paperwork, correspondence & of course walked around the neighborhood.  After lunch, the pastor's wife, Donna, invited me over to stamp.  If you know me, you know how much I love rubber stamping.  If you didn't know that, you can check out some of my stuff on my craft blog- http://willingworkinghands.blogspot.com/

Donna & I in her stamp room

As we stamped, she shared how the Lord has used this hobby to help her through the failing health and finally the death of her father.  She also uses stamping as a way to get to know her church ladies better.  They come over and help make cards for the missionaries (which is what we did while I was there).  I know that I am hoping to use stamping in my ministry among the young ladies in South Africa.  We had a wonderful time!

Service on Friday night was very good!  The messages I have been able to hear were very challenging and encouraging.  Tonight, I said goodbye & thank you to everyone.  
Tomorrow, I move on!

Travel Journal: March 14, 2012 - LaGrange, IN

WEDNESDAY:  Today, I did my morning walk around Fremont, OH (I have been needing to get more exersize, so it has been a blessing to stay in a place where I can walk around the community).  After another delicious breakfast with Ryk & Eve, I headed a few hours West to LaGrange, IN.
Two years ago, when I visited a church in Western PA, I met an older gentleman who really had a burden for missions.  He was so burdened for my ministry that he sent my prayer card to his brother in Indiana.  His brother, Pastor Farnum, called me and asked to have my prayer letter sent to him.  I have been corresponding with him for almost 2 years now.  The other month when he received my prayer letter, he saw that I was going to Indiana & Michigan.  Pastor Farnum called me to invite me to stop by his church if I was in the area.
On Wednesday, I finally had a chance to meet this pastor who I had been sending prayer letters to.
I arrived early to the church.  After setting up, I had some free time.  The church property had a beautiful wooded area around back.  Since I am trying to walk more, I took the opportunity to get some more exercise (pray for your missionaries to get more exersize, we sit in the car, sit fellowshiping with others, sit at the computer answering emails, sit talking to pastors, sit & eat, eat, eat,... everyone feeds us wonderful food.  It is a huge struggle with lack of exersize and extra weight gain).
During my walk, Mrs. Farnum joined me.  We had some great fellowship.  I just love her!!!  She has a heart for the Lord and a love for her husband, family, & ministry!  Truly a Proverbs 31 woman.
The service went well as I was able to show my DVD presentation and share testimony of my burden for South  Africa.  The most precious part of the night was prayer time.  The church all moves to the front and takes turn praying out loud as a group.  What a blessing to hear a small child ask God to help them understand salvation, to hear a woman who was just saved ask the Lord to help her talk to her friend, to hear them specifically pray for my needs, and to hear their burden for the souls of their community.
After sharing a meal and more fellowship with the pastor & his family, I was on the road again.
(Sorry, I forgot to take some pictures for you :((  )

Travel Journal: March 10-13, 2012

SATURDAY~ Today I drove out through Pennsylvania to Brooklyn, Ohio.  Thank you Lord for the beautiful sunny day, saftey, and less traffic than usual.

Driving through Fremont, OH

SUNDAY~ This morning I attended Cleveland Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio.  It was such a blessing to finally meet Pastor and Mrs. Folger.  Thier church is the sending church for my dear friend Karen Nolan.  Karen is a single missionary lady to Mexico.  She has stayed with me a number of times while attending my home church's Missions Conference.  Karen has been a blessing to have as a friend and was a huge help to me as I started deputation.  It was great to attend her home church and meet the people who were her prayer warriors.  


During the afrternoon, I drove a few hours to Clyde, OH.  
For evening service, I attended Harvest Baptist Temple.  This is the church that my pastor came from.  It is also the church where the Sharps are from.  The Sharps are missionaries who go all over the world helping churches with thier sound systems, audio/visual, setting up radio stations, and anything high-tech that needs to be done.  God has given them so many useful talents to help churches bring people to Christ.  I actually sat beside Mr. Sharp's mother!  Funny, the people you meet at church :)  The service was challenging and the fellowship was sweet.  After service, I drove about 40 minutes down the road to Fremont, Ohio.

Looking out over my balcony

MONDAY~ This morning I woke up and opened the door to my balcony.  From there I heard the sound of birds singing, church bells ringing, and a train whistle in the background.  Where was I?   Well, I already told you :)  I was in Fremont, Ohio.  The Lord provided a wonderful place for me to stay.  It was a little Bed & Breakfast called "Blessings".  One of the oldest houses in the historic part of town.  

Blessings B&B

It had lots of Victorian charm, but most of all I loved the inn keepers, Ryk & Eve.  As fellow Christians we were able to share with each other what the Lord has been doing in our lives.  If you would like to see more pictures from my stay at "Blessings" click here
Today, I worked on my application for my South African Health Insurance.  I have to have prook of insurance for South Africa in order to get my VISA approved.  So I had the paperwork emails, took it to be printed, filled it out and faxed it back (whew, it sounds alot easier than it was).  Also, forgot to say I found another Goodwill (I have "thrift store radar").


TUESDAY~ The weather has been so nice, so I have been walking through the historic area every morning before breakfast and every evening.  After enjoying a great breakfast, while visiting with Eve & Ryk, I did some paper work.  

Me with Ryk & Eve

Today, I spent some time on the phone again with my insurance man.  the Kilmers and I are also trying to track down some Zulu John/Romans for me to ship to South Africa.  I made a number of calls (with great help from Mr. Engles), but have still not found a place that prints Zulu John/Romans.  Please pray about this.  I was hoping to find a place in Ohio or Indian so that I could pick them up on my trip back home.  Tonight, as I was sitting on the couch updating my calendar and on the phone with a friend, Eve came out to tell me about the tornado warning.  She took me over to this closet and said that if the tornado siren goes off I should hide in there. 

The Tornado closet

 The closet was just right for one person to hide in.  Nonetheless, the tornado did not come through and we all got a good night sleep.  


Wednesday I will be at Lagrange Baptist Church in LaGrange, Indiana.
Thursday & Friday I will be at Covenant Baptist Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Saturday morning I will drive toward home visiting a new church on Sunday morning and evening.
Thank you for praying!

Who Do I Look Like?

The other day, I was out at the store dress shopping.  

As a Christian lady, it is very hard to find clothes at the store that are honoring to the Lord.  

As I perussed the clothing racks, I noticed a couple shopping in the same area. 

 They were so cute! 

 The husband was picking clothes off the racks and suggesting it to his wife. 

(I know, right now some of you ladies are horrified 

because you would never wear something your husband picked out for you because he may have the fashion sense of a Water Buffalo, but I thought it was cute!) 

 As I continued to shop the clearance racks 

           (where I get most of my clothes,

            although at this particular store, 

I don't think they knew what 

"CLEARANCE" really means)

 I heard something that made me laugh.  

A lady a few racks over said "Yuck, that is something my mother would wear!"  

Of course, I had to look at who said it

 (because the only people that I saw shopping nearby was that older couple

 (in thier late 60's early 70's).  

Yes, it was that lady.  

Maybe it is because I am young, but I thought it was funny to hear someone older say, 

"That is something my mother would wear".  

I look my my mom in my new sweater!

My shopping trip that day 

was a little productive.  

I found two sale items!!! 

 The light sweater I just love! 

 As I put it on and got ready to go out the next day, I marveled how much it made me look like my mother.  I don't really mind that because my mother is beautiful.  She used to wear a sweater similar to the one I bought when she was younger 

(only it was brown and orange). 

 Funny how styles come back around, huh!

I look alot like my mom & dad!

As I continued to ponder these two events,

 I thought about how as  Child of God,

 I should look more and more like my Father. 

 I have my earthly father's nose, knees, and stubborness.  

The Bible tells us that when we accept Christ as our personal Savior, we then begin to take on His image.

^{I Corinthians 15:49}

^"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." 

^{Colossians 3:10}

^"And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him:" 

When I go through my closet, do I say "this is something my Father would wear"

 (not that He would wear woman's clothes, because He is masculine in nature and has a heavenly body) meaning- "is this pleasing to the Lord?"  

When I look in the Mirror of His Word, do I look like Him? 

 What features are the same and what is differant? 

 When people around me hear me talk, do I sound like my Father?  

Does the way I act bring honor to the Family name? 

 How am I growing to become more like my Father?  

What can I do to get rid of the things in my life that do not reflect Him?

Who do I look like?

New, New, and 90 Days

New Passport 

This is how I will get to South Africa

New Computer 

This is how I will communicate with each of you.

Only 90 Days till Departure!!!

Lord willing, I will leave on June 12, 2012 for South Africa!

Please continue to pray that the remaining 6% of my monthly support will come in so that I can turn this tentative date for departure into a reality!