3ABN and the Philippines

It seems like the only time I have to write is when I am sitting in an airport. Well, I am sitting in an airport in Washington DC. I"m on my way to Africa to visit my wife for one month. Usually, at this time my wife is with me in Colorado, but this time she couldn't come. So, I am going to her, but one month in exchange for four is not a good deal.

What follows is a rundown of my trip to 3ABN: 

 As far as I can tell, the Lord blessed the sermons I preached at 3ABN. I only preached 4 instead of 5 sermons, plus an hour and one half interview. I was supposed to be met at the St. Louis airport on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, somebody forgot. I had the number of one person at 3ABN and I called her. She put me in touch with Dee Hildebrandt who was mortified for having forgotten to send someone to pick me up. No problem. Dee got me a rental car and I arrived at 10:45 PM Tuesday evening. 

On Wednesday, I preached my first sermon at 7PM--"Thou Knowest Not".  Everyonel knew that a winter storm was blowing in and they were nervous about it. I knew it might jeopardize something. The next day, Jim Gilley called me and said that because of the storm people would not be able to come to work, so we should tape all the meetings that day and we should start in 30 minutes. Ya right--four sermons and an interview. I have to admit I was stressed to death. I really didn't know how I was suppose to wrap my brain around four sermons in a row. Have you ever prayed with a sense of terrible despair. Well, long story short, the Lord didn't let me down. I didn't preach 4 sermons, but I did preach 3 and they carried well. The interview caused the phone to ring off the hook at our EVI office. Dr. Clark was with me and a lady who had four weeks to live one year ago. 

I decided to leave the next morning at 7AM. I had a flight at 1:15 PM. The ride from the airport to 3ABN took two hours, the ride back took four hours. It took me half an hour to get out of my driveway. There was six inches of snow on top of wet ice. The Nissan I had was outfitted with summer tires only. It wasn't good in the snow, but I decided to try anyway. On the way, I helped a lady with a big SUV to get unstuck. There were cars and trucks and semis in the ditch everywhere, but praise God I made it all the way without incident. 

Now, on to the Philippines.  

I got to spend 23 hours on the Waikiki beach in Honolulu. That was fun in spite of being alone. I ran on the beach for four miles and got soaked in sweat. It was good. Running in Colorado is more difficult for the elevation. 

I arrived in Manila at 9 PM. A group picked me up and we drove all night to a jungle, OCI-L.I.G.H.T school. I had a wonderful time with super dedicated young students and 170 camp meeting attendees. I was scheduled to preach three times. I ended up preaching six times. 

When it was all over, we drove all night to Manila. Actually, I was up three nights in a row before arriving in Denver. 

 It is so-o-o hot here. Yuk! On the other hand, it reminds me of Madagascar.

Now, I have to make my way home to trouble. Someone dumped a crazy woman on EVI a few weeks earlier and she was giving everyone fits. The police couldn't do anything except to advise us to go to court and to give her an eviction notice. I helped Leasa and Leonard pack her stuffed and load it into the Pastor's car. We called the police. They probably wouldn't have come except they found that they had a warrant for her arrest. She left in handcuffs. Wish we could have helped her, but she was altogether defiant.

Now, I'm on my way to Africa. Till next time.

LIfe Moves On

Life moves on, sometimes very busy, sometimes not as busy. I am impressed that however harried I might be. God sees me through it intact and on time. I often wish I could slow things down a bit. (After all, I am pretty ripe.) But no, I will work while the day lasts. I will be happy to lie down when I’m too old to move.

At home, I’ve been teaching the students and the Lifestyle guests. I don’t know If I will ever reach John Wesley’s record number of sermons, but I am quite sure I preach quite a bit more than most people.

I preach at the Franktown Church two Sabbaths ago. Tom and Michelle Walters with their teens came with me. We had very good day. Larry and Cheryl Romrell invited us to have lunch with them and the Bond family. It was great.

Half of our campus has the flu. So far, the Lord is sparing me that experience.  

We are offering a 30% discount on the Lifestyle sessions for the winter months. Trying to keep our numbers up.

I did a series of meetings at 3ABN. When Dee Hildebrandt first asked me to come preach at 3ABN, she promised to send someone to pick me up at the airport in St. Louis. She forgot. I was stranded for a while then I managed to find a phone number of someone I know there. She contacted Dee, and mortified, Dee called me. She rented me a car and I got to my destination at 10:45 PM. All was well. It actually was a good thing they didn't pick me up that the airport. This way, I had a rental car for the week. It's a blessing because I had only one invite to eat and being on foot might have been a big matata. There isn’t anything near food-wise.

Deb Hogfeldt was in a car accident. She broadsided a car that ran a red light. She is ok with a sprained thumb. (No kids with her.)

As usual, I'm sitting in the Denver airport on my way to somewhere. This time, I’m on my way to Honolulu, Hawaii. I'll be in Hawaii for 23 hours, then on thru' Guam to Manila, Philippines.  

It's been an extra cold week in Loveland, below zero every day since Wednesday. Should warm up by next Wed.

As far as I can tell, the Lord blessed the sermons I preached at 3ABN. I preached 4 instead of 5 sermons, plus an hour-and-one- half interview. On Wednesday, I preached my first sermon at 7PM--Thou Knowest Not.  The folks at 3ABN all knew that a winter storm was blowing in and they were nervous about it. I knew it might jeopardize something. The next day, Jim Gilley called me and said that because of the storm people would not be able to come to work, so we should tape all the meetings that day and we should start in 30 minutes. Ya right--four sermons and an interview. I was stressed to death. I really didn't know how I was supposed to wrap my brain around four sermons in a row. Have you ever prayed with a sense of terrible despair? Well, long story short, the Lord didn't let me down. I didn't preach 4 sermons, but I did preach 3 and they carried well. The interview caused the phone to ring off the hook at the office. Dr. Clark was with me and so was a lady who had four weeks to live one year ago. I believe she made a great impact on anyone who heard the interview.  

I decided to leave the next morning at 7AM. I had a flight at 1:15 PM. The ride from the airport to 3ABN had taken two hours; the ride back took four hours. It took me half an hour just to get out of the driveway. There was six inches of snow on top of wet ice. The Nissan I had was outfitted with summer tires only. It wasn't good in the snow, but I decided to try anyway. On the way, I helped a lady with a big SUV to get unstuck. There were cars and trucks and semis in the ditch everywhere, but praise God I made it all the way without incident.

Now, on to the next adventure.

Snow everywhere and cold, but Honolulu promises to be 82 degrees and Philippines really hot and muggy.

Wish you all could come with me.

So says the Preacher to his Tribe.

European Adventure

Since I last wrote, I've been to Norway for a board meeting and to Czech Republic to preach four times at an Czech ASI Convention.
I expected a pretty rough board meeting in Norway. Decisions had to be made in relation to dividing money. Before even getting to Norway I knew there was a difference of opinion. In the end, however, the brethren were Christian in there approach and the matter was settled amicably. The money was not divided exactly like I thought it should be, but better not to fight over such things. 

On Sabbath, Steve, Craig and I had lunch at Joy Horner Weum's place. Joy wasn't there, she was working as a nurse. Three of her children fed us and the whole Matteson school. I was amazed to see them put out so much food. Joy's kids are exceptionally good looking and seem to be strong as far as the church is concerned. The eldest, Esther, preached that Sabbath.

There was snow on the ground all the time we were there. I wasn't as cold as usual. These European places tend to underheat their houses, but it wasn't so this time.

I was in Czech a couple of days earlier than I needed to be. So, I got a couple of days rest. Ty Gibson and his wife, Sue, got there on the same day. We toured Radim Passer's buildings, ate at restaurants, had massages, worked on sermons and just hung out to chill. 
After that, Rene took me to see Radim's house and his Great Controversy Park. I make such a poor tourist. For some reason I am not so interested in seeing things, but I endure. Then  we had supper with Radim at 8:30 pm to 11 pm.  The food was amazing and very expensive. (Don't ask.) Ty had a devotion for kids in an Adventist elementary school. I told two stories--crocodiles and chickadees.  

We drove to the convention city, three hours away in a Porsche--110-140 mph. It was like driving 80 mph in a regular car, quite fun. I enjoyed preaching at the convention, but the food??? Much to be desired. The people who cooked for us were not familiar with vegetarianism. Everything was oily and cheesy. Those are the sacrifices we must make if we will serve the uninitiated. 

Ignacio, Leasa, Haylee, Chad, Tony, one of our girl students, and Nancy all went  to Dominican Republic for a mission trip. They arrive home the day after I come back for Czech. Leasa and Hayley came home full of bug bites, swollen and itchy. Apparently, they accomplished much and were very happy for the experience. Oak Haven  also sent a big group. 

By the way, Mavis Dull Nusser got  married last week. She is now, Mavis Dull Nusser Cancler. It's never too late to be honeymooning. 

While I was away, Tim Riesenberger did a series of meetings at Eden Valley for the public. I'm told he did a wonderful job. 

Since Mavis is moved to Missouri, we repaired her house and gave it to our new doctor, John Clark. I am planning to have Dr. Clark do a week of prayer for EVI on the topic of health reform in January. I find his material inspiring and the whole gang needs to hear it. Sometimes we become lax and need to be reminded of God's high standard for us.

David and Candi Katsma have all their paper work completed to join Jason in Kibidula. It is a question as to whether they will be accepted by the Tanzanian authorities. I suppose if the Lord wants them there, He'll get them in. David is my head maintenance man, and Candi cooks in the Lifestyle Center. We'll miss them if they go. 

I'm going to skip GYC and go to Africa to spend Xmas with my wife and Jason. Antionette and the girls will be in South Africa, bummer. I'll probably get a couple of days with them . . . I hope. 

Caleb, Julie's eldest son, is the winner of the Yukon Amateur Athlete of the Year Award. He will receive the award at some ceremony soon. We are very proud of this persistent young man. We trust his love for Jesus will keep him from being too proud. 

That's it for this week. 

Have Voice Will Travel

I'm leaving again. This time I will be chairing a board meeting in Norway--the European Bible School. I will go straight from there to the Czech Republic for an ASI meeting. I come back on the 17th of Nov.

As usual, I am exceedingly busy. I can't seem to ever catch up. We've got so many things going, and it seems I am to participate in all of it. 
Many of our staff and one student are in  Dominican Republic for a mission trip. Just two years ago I was sure the our DR project was done, dead. Some people had a burden to try again and they proved me wrong. However, it is still in ICU as far as I am concerned, but now there is hope. Oak Haven are also sending a group to work on the property. Fred Flint will be going from Harbert Hills, TN. 

 I preached at Copper Mountain last Sabbath. Barb gave me another sweater (beautiful) and promises to donate to EVI every time I preach at Copper next year. I appreciate that, but I hope I don't disappoint her too much. I can already predict that Jan/Feb are a bust. 

One of our staff had surgery for colon cancer this week. She is already walking around the campus. As far as I know, they took part of her bowels near the stomach and they took part of her large bowel nearer the other end. She is doing well, very well indeed.

I rec'd a text from my wife last week. She says she cannot come home this year. Her situation is impossible. She cannot leave because of her responsibilities. Well, if there is anything I  understand it is duty. I always lean toward duty. It isn't always appreciated, but it is always right. "The voice of duty is the voice of God." I may go to Africa for a month this winter. 

Our new doctor is working out really well. I believe things will actually be easier, simpler and more effective in the LSC. We worried for a while because of mold in the house we had reserved for them. I didn't think we'd find a house without mold, but we did. Our Mavis got married this week (she is honeymooning as I write) and left an open home to move our Doctor and his family into. And, voila, no mold. Isn't God on top of everything.

I did a Skype interview for the ASI Southern Fall Conference two days ago. The interview was 20 minutes long and I also introduced Ted Wilson the GC President to the congregation. Somethings make me nervous, and that was one of them. I was drenched with cold sweat by the time I was done. I hate it. Some people are as cool as cucumbers, and I stress over a stupid interview.

Blessings to you all.

Day by Day

It’s Friday. Praise God. As usual, I’ve had a full week. With lifestyle guests and students, and my usual preaching to the staff on Wednesday and Sabbath, plus a talk at a cooking school, I think I preached 14 times in the past week. That, of course, is not the end of the world, but it sure cuts into work time. Throw into the mix the conference calls and everyday e-mails and phone calls, and you can see that there isn’t much time left. Nevertheless, life is good.

Our new doctor showed up last night. We are extremely grateful, but now we face a dilemma. Mrs. Clark is allergic to mold and the house set aside for the doctor has mold in it. I doubt we’ll find a house on campus without mold. What to do? All I know to do is claim a very specific promise found in DA 330 “In every (notice that word ‘every’) difficulty, He has His way prepared to bring relief.” So, if my faith serves me right, there is a solution to this problem. DA 667 says, “In every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer.” That’s the first part of the solution. Let’s see now what God will do.

What follows is what I’ve written to my wife over the past week.

I woke up to a couple of inches of snow this morning. When the sun came up it was altogether glorious bright, beautiful.

Jack Long died this week. His memorial service is tomorrow in Fort Collins. (Jack is the man who introduced us to Self-supporting work. He’s lived near us the last ten years, in Loveland. We maintained a close friendship.)

One of our ladies at EVI is not feeling well. It turns out she has colon cancer. She's had cancer before and has always beaten it. Will she beat it this time? God knows. (Name withheld for her sake.)

Our United Prayer sessions are still well attended, but along with answered prayers we are detecting an increase in trouble. We have a wonderful group of Lifestyle Guest, but some are not easy. About once per year, we have a difficult bunch. This session almost qualifies. Most of the people are darlings, but a couple of them are demanding, critical and complaining. Things have settled down for now.

I didn't have any heat in my house for four nights. The furnace wasn't working right. David will fix it. He found a leak of hot water in the basement also. The guest in my house is nice about it, but wrote me a long letter asking I raise the temperature. He isn't use to being that cold indoors. (58 degrees)

And lastly, Stephanie Thorn, the little girl I baptized years ago, just got married? She looks super happy by Facebook standards, anyhow.

It's Sunday night, I'm alone, and the house is cold. The cold doesn't bother me. I guess it is 59 degrees or so. Today, I spoke at a cooking school that our students did. (Twelve people.) Besides that I bought some trace minerals like you use. I don't know if I need any, but I've decided to give it a go. I also bought more vitamin D3 liquid. I got a haircut in town. I forgot to tell the girl about my cowlick. I'm afraid I'm in trouble. (I am. A week later, I still can’t tame that corner of my head.)

I preached yesterday with plenty of power. It was good, but ugh, I've lost confidence in my preaching and every time I have to preach I cringe. (I have to preach daily. I'm such a mess. Yet, the Lord keeps blessing . . . I guess.)

We went to Jack's funeral service yesterday. I wanted to say something, but they never gave anyone a chance. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I preach three times tomorrow. I must go get ready as best I can.

Julie is losing weight. She is almost back to normal. She promised to send me a picture by Facebook. She ran 8.6 km today. That is 8.6 km more than I can run these days.

It's Wednesday, I preached three times this morning. My voice doesn't like me preaching too many sermons in a row. I have a minor sore throat afterwards. Nothing that gives me a cold, but I guess I am wearing down, vocal cords first.

The other day, a wild turkey flew thru' one of Matt's windows and landed dead on his dining room flour. These are the new, double pane glass windows. Glass everywhere. Good thing Lori and the baby were not home. It happened when the family might have been having breakfast.

I Hit a Wall

 Life is full. The last couple of weeks were a whirlwind of activity. We prepared and enjoyed our convention weekend. James Rafferty was our guest speaker. He spoke on Revelation 12:1 in relation to righteousness by faith—it was very good.

Because we have students, I get to preach or teach a lot. Fortunately, I didn’t have to preach for the convention. Nevertheless, it seems I was up front all the time. It’s become my lot in life.

I also received a call from 3ABN. They want me to preach five one-hour sermons live on Dec. 4-7 at the 3ABN church. With that, they want two other hours live on the topic of health, featuring Eden Valley. Both programs will be broadcasted worldwide. The last sermon will be the evening of the 7^th of Dec. The trouble with that is that I leave for the Philippines the next morning from Denver at 11: 30 AM. Somehow, I need to get to Denver overnight after the last sermon. They want me to preach on the 3 Angel's Messages in relation to Righteousness by Faith. This is one assignment that will stress me out. What do I know about that? I believe I will ask Dr. Clark to come with me. If I can find a healed former lifestyle guest, I should ask him/her also.

The Eden Valley Queen is getting married soon. I met her future husband at convention. He’s a keeper. Everyone will approve, I'm sure. Who is the EVI Queen? Well, it’s a secret.

Our United Prayer Group still meets every morning at 5:30 am. The first week, the Lord answered our prayers for a doctor and filled our lifestyle center. Dr. John Clark with his wife Julie and their son, Connor will be coming on Oct. 25. Dr. Emerson is here for the October session.

Some people did not come to the convention because of the weather. There was snow all around us, from Denver to Wyoming. It was a cool weekend, but interestingly, there were a good number of people. I heard there was as many as 250. Don Johnson's twin grand daughters were baptized on convention Sabbath at EVI. They were born sixteen years ago at EVI during the convention. Sixteen years later, Don baptized them at EVI during convention.

The EVI board was the shortest board ever experienced on this property. Everything went very smooth, so smooth, as a matter of fact that, I have nothing to report.

Leasa, Leonard, Craig Harding and I drove to DayStar for their board. The board was good. DayStar is doing better and better all the time. They ended the year in the black, as we did at EVI. The Lord is blessing us.

David Katsma was lifting one of the big doors in the mechanic shop when one of the windows in the door broke. The falling glass split his head. Larry cleaned him up and sent him to the hospital for three staples.

My oldest granddaughter, Vanessa, is 20 years old.

Finally, the ASI Fall Retreat happened at EVI this last weekend. This is my last hurrah until November. (Well, it isn’t my last opportunity to preach. With the student’s classes, the lifestyle devotions and the Wednesday prayer meeting, and Sabbaths, I still have lots to do.) In November I go to Norway for a board meeting. Then I go to Czech Republic as the guest speaker for an ASI meeting.

I was the speaker at the Friday evening vespers for the Fall Retreat. In the morning of that fateful day, I took a very hot bath and drank two and one half quarts of water. I’ve found out that it takes three quarts to replace the water I lose in a hot bath. During the day, I had a little extra time so I took another hot bath. (I do my best thinking in a hot bath.) The problem came as a result of only drank one quart of water. I drank a lot of water the next day, and barely needed to go to the restroom. Obviously, I dehydrated myself big time.

Now, I’ve shared all that to say that at vespers I made a mess of the sermon I tried to preach. I slurred my words. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t deliver properly. Needless to say, I was devastated and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. There I had my ASI Executive team, and I preached like I was drunk or had a stroke, or something. I didn’t know whether to conclude that the Spirit of God had left me, or all of a sudden I had a major case of dementia. I went home dumbstruck, embarrassed and broken. I told the Lord, if I ever delivered another sermon like that I’d quit preaching.

By that experience, I found out that I care way too much what people think. (Confession.) I preached twice more during the weekend and the Lord gave me the usual umph. The ASI Executive Committee went well and I feel better.