The past two days have been spent settling back into life at home and working at catching up on things.

There is always a lot of mail to sort through, and the below picture doesn’t show all that we had (not to mention what we had sent to us on the road - thanks G&G ).

Sunday night, below, you’ll see some of the family happily chatting with Grandad and Grandma (and some were happily chatting with Nathan and Melanie over at their house!).

Honey was glad to have us home. Grandad and Grandma took good care of her. Mary was organizing book table tubs Monday, and Honey laid down amidst the mess.

It was quite a major task to unload the bus: and thank you to John, Anna, Jesse, and Mary who spent time unloading it!

Lawns to be mowed…

Green grass and beautiful flowers were almost surreal after seeing brown so long!

A VERY big thank you to Anna for taking most of these photos! Plus, she is our “behind the scenes” girl who picks out pictures for each blog post, works on them to make them the correct size and resolution. She is a blessing: thanks, Annie!

Sarah for the rest

We just finished up the last conference of this month-long trip. Set up for the MACHE conference began Thursday afternoon, so we drove a short distance to the convention center to begin our final set up for the trip. Jesse didn’t have to hand-truck in as many items, since we had shipped books ahead.

Set up was uneventful, and then we had a nice family evening. At one point, several of us needed to go back to the convention center, and the rest went on a walk along the lake and get pictures.

(Jesse with Lake Superior in the background.)

(Anna and Mary.)

(A drawbridge near the hotel and convention center.)

Friday and Saturday. Dad and Mom’s sessions went very well. At least one or two of the boys went with Dad and Mom to each session to help them set up and then stayed in the session. There wasn’t always all nine of us at the book tables, sometimes several of the family would wander around, chatting with other exhibitors and conference attendees. During the weekend, people often came to the booth and asked questions of Dad and Mom, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our interactions with so many different families.

(Dad talking to several fathers.)

(Dad and Mom giving Keeping Our Children’s Hearts.)

We saw more babies at this conference then we ever remember seeing at others. Since we know Baby Max may come early, we were especially interested in several preemie babies that had been born early, realizing Baby Max might be that tiny!

 
As we reflect back over the last month, we are so grateful for all the blessings the Lord has given us. From our travel safety, to many hearts that were touched, to having so much time together each day, to even Baby Max staying put .

Joyfully His,
Sarah for the rest of the family

One of the joys for us of our traveling is seeing “old” friends. Two years ago, when we spoke at the Washington state convention, we met Andy Bradrick, who had come from Minnesota to help his family with the convention. Last night, there was a familiar face in the group, and it was Andy. We also had the privilege of meeting his wife and children, whom we hadn’t met previously.

(Andy Bradrick Family)

At the end of our evening conferences, we almost always sing two songs accompanied by our instruments. Last night we had a first-time occurrence with that. The group wanted an encore. Steve questioned them because we were already a few minutes over our 9:30 dismissal time, but they indicated they wanted another song.

The group that invited us to speak in Fargo, provided us with a wonderful dinner before the conference. After the sessions, when we were packed up and loading the bus, the organizers invited us to join them at a nearby Dairy Queen. We were treated to ice cream sundaes and a time of fellowship with two families.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

Uriah definitely needed to be washed. So, we took him to a Blue Beacon truck wash.

You know it’s windy when…

(Update: We are now safely in Fargo, North Dakota.) 

Mountains we saw after we left Red Deer.

We are always grateful when we have a smooth, quick border crossing. Coming back into the US, there was no line at all, but the traffic into Canada was really backed up. We had to briefly pull into the inspection area while an agent came on the bus and asked a couple of questions about anything we had purchased in Canada. Then we were on our way again.

We drove through an area of the US we had never seen before when we came through northern Montana. We were especially impressed with the headwaters of the Missouri River and thought about how we often cross that same river, hundreds of miles away, as we drive from Leavenworth to Kansas City.  The Interstate went through the Little Belt Mountains with the Missouri River flowing along a beautiful valley beside it.

(We saw this house on the rock edge above the Missouri River. Very scenic.)

We can tell spring is arriving even in the northern parts of the country, where it still isn’t green, but the front of the bus and windshield is now covered with splattered bugs. We not only enjoy the beauty of God’s creation as we travel but all the mama and baby animals this time of year.

(Uriah is quite bug-splattered, but he’ll get a wash very soon!)

Steve has felt a bit lonely in his driving now that he is back on US Interstates. In Canada, on the two lane highways, the truckers all waved to each other, and they waved to Steve as well. He quickly picked up the friendly greeting, not only returning waves but initiating them as well. Steve is missing those waves.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

We saw several semis, such as the one below, transporting wrecked train cars. We wondered if we would actually see where the wreck was, and about an hour or two down the road, we saw where it had happened.

Motoring down the Interstate in Uriah.

We had a great weekend with the AHEA Convention in Red Deer, Alberta. With six of our family having come down with colds, we were in much prayer about the music session Friday night. The Lord Jesus showed Himself strong on our behalf and allowed voices to hold up through the music session plus the speaking sessions. Most are now over their colds.

Friday and Saturday were full of sessions, which were well attended. That says to us that those at the convention were interested in our messages. People who talked to us through out the weekend were positive, saying they were encouraged and challenged.

(Mary was straightening up the book table. After a “rush” of people come through, the tables need a bit of organizing!)

(Sarah took this photo as I was talking to a lady at the convention Saturday.)

We had more opportunity to talk with members of the AHEA board than we often have at conventions because of being included in a dinner with them on Thursday night. On Saturday evening our hostess and her family took us to a quiet restaurant where we could eat and relax after the busy weekend. The AHEA board took very good care of us during our time with them. We were blessed.

On this trip, we are making the transition to life on the road with one bathroom in which to get nine people ready for the day. When we traveled with the van and trailer, we had to have two hotel rooms which provided us with two bathrooms. Now with the boys sleeping in the bus, we only need one hotel room and that means only one bathroom. As you can imagine, we have quite a structured morning-bathroom-use schedule!

We rejoice each day that goes by without a call from Nathan and Melanie saying that Baby Max has arrived. When we started this trip 3 ½ weeks ago, with the doctors having put Melanie on bed rest and indicating the birth of Baby Max was likely to be soon, we could hardly imagine returning home with no baby’s arrival. Now having only a week left of our trip, we are hopeful that we will get home and be able to be part of the bed rest support team rather than the baby-in-the-NICU support team. Thank you, Jesus. We are grateful for your prayers for Nathan, Melanie, and baby Max.

As you pray, we would love for you to pray for the hearts of those who come to our sessions in Fargo, ND, Tuesday night and then at the Minnesota state convention this weekend and what the Lord wants to do in their lives.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

(These baskets were dropped off at our hotel Thursday as a gift from the AHEA board!)

In order to remain in our host home in Cleardale and not have to move to a big-city hotel, we needed to locate high-speed Internet. With Melanie in the hospital on bed rest for her pregnancy, Sarah has to download orders and get them to Grandma at home to ship. The conference coordinator had secured permission from the local public school for Christopher and Sarah to use the library, but that didn’t work out. The coordinator then began searching for other alternatives and finally a business about twenty minutes away was located that would allow Christopher and Sarah to use their satellite Internet connection.

(We were able to get Internet Access!)

A truck garage near to our host home allowed Steve to bring the bus into one of their inside bays to do the necessary wheel rim work. The garage was just a few minutes from where we were staying, an amazing provision so far away from larger cities. Securing the additional parts that were needed to put the new rim on required a mornings’ worth of phone calls and a four-hour round trip drive. Tuesday two brothers-in-the-Lord replaced the studs (bolts that hold the wheels on) that were discovered to be broken when the rim had been replaced on Friday.

(Replacing the studs Tuesday morning.)

The time in Cleardale allowed me to get our laundry done, do some school work, and tour the farm. John loved time with the sons in the family helping with farm chores early in the morning and in the afternoons. We were able to spend an evening with the conference coordinator’s family, whom we had met when we were in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, two years ago.

As we left Cleardale on Wednesday morning, Steve thought it would be good to have the wheels torqued.  The place where we found the needed rim was on the road we were on as we headed toward Red Deer. When we pulled in the brother who had helped find the rim, was preparing to head out for his day’s work. His boss let him torque the bus wheels and wanted no payment.

(Getting the wheel torqued on our way out Wednesday morning.)

God’s continual provision in difficult situations gives us many opportunities to look to Him and rest in His solutions rather than our own ideas.

Trusting in Jesus,
Teri

We are now in the province of British Columbia. Our drive up through Washington was uneventful, except for some portions of heavy traffic. We arrived at the border at 2:45 p.m.

Uriah barely squeezed in between the cement barriers as we pulled up to the immigrations station. It didn’t take too long for our family to be cleared, but the next step was to take the paperwork in (for the Titus2.com products) and get it processed.

Dad and I went into a large building, where we worked through the paperwork. It was nice having the background of crossing the border twice before and knowing what paperwork we needed to have ready. The paperwork went smoothly, and we were grateful for a fellow importer who graciously helped us with several questions as I did a form on the computer, and he even checked up on us at the end. The crossing only took 45 minutes from the time we pulled up to the time we pulled away. We are very grateful to the Lord Jesus for a smooth crossing.

We’ve had such beautiful scenery today. The snow-capped mountains, lush green valleys, cascading waterfalls, jagged rock mountain edges, bright-yellow daffodils, flowering cherry trees, and snow-frosted pine trees have been such an incredible sampling of God’s Creation. We enjoyed our view of spring, but we’re now leaving that for a taste of winter.

There are some hazards to eating in Uriah. Today, after Mom had made lunch for everyone, she contentedly munched on her sandwich. Part way through, an exclamation was heard. Much to her amusement, she discovered that she had eaten half of the “cheese paper”. “Cheese paper” (a term I just created!) is the paper that separates each piece of cheese. She had thought her sandwich was a little chewier than usual, and it was only after she had eaten half, did she discover she was eating the cheese paper. Sorry, Mom!

Thank you for continuing to pray for our trip. We’ll be in Canada until April 13th. This weekend we’ll be doing a small weekend conference in northern Alberta. Then, the next weekend, we’ll be at the AHEA Convention in Red Deer.

Joyfully His,
Sarah for the rest

Often the last thirty days before a trip are very difficult but when challenge after challenge hit, the reality has settled in that the usual pre-trip barrage has begun, as Satan tries to hinder and thwart our family. We would covet your prayers over the next week: that we would keep our eyes on Jesus, gladly welcome the challenges, and experience God’s peace. Anna remarked to me today that this must mean it’ll be a great trip (because of all that is happening). Even Titus2 went down solid tonight, and Joseph and Dad had to make a trip into Kansas City to swap out a power supply in the server .

We are excited about the trip, and we will continue to press on amidst the down-pour .

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the rest

Show me the staircase, that I have to climb, Lord,
for my sake, teach me to take, one day at a time….

Last Thursday evening, our family plus Nathan and Melanie, attended the funeral of another dear sister, Maggie. It was a Christ-honoring time of reflection on her sweet life. The next morning, we prepared to head for Salina, but not without some challenges.

We had the incredible privilege of being asked to provide the funeral service for our dear sister in Christ, Mrs. Laferre who had lived 95 years on this earth, and is now with her Lord Jesus. I had decided to rent a vehicle so we can be all together, since Uriah is getting some work done. I was told that no vans were available, but the car rental reserved a large SUV that would hold all 9 of us. Friday morning arrived, and as we got ready, they called me to say they didn’t have the vehicle. The agent drove to the airport in an attempt to retrieve one that would work. The end result was a very nice seven seat vehicle with no luggage room for the children’s instruments. We almost drove two cars but I wanted us to be together for the six hours we would be driving roundtrip and so we were a little more “together” than we had planned on. 

(Teri took this from the front of the vehicle.)

Throughout the funeral, Jesus Christ was shared, as that would have been Mrs. Laferre’s greatest desire and with the family’s consent, the plan of salvation was clearly presented. The children sang two of her favorite songs, One Day at a Time, and Just a Closer Walk with Thee, and one of her great-granddaughters also sang. It was a true bittersweet time.

In Christ Jesus,
Steve

Thank You sweet Jesus, for all that You’ve done
I placed my faith, in Your shed blood on Calvary’s tree
Your mercy was there, my sins You did bare
Sweet Jesus You taught, me to take
One day at a time.

(A verse written by someone in our family for the song, One Day At a Time.)

The last week has held some challenges as we’ve settled back into normal life again. It’s not surprising because we always find before a ministry trip we experience challenges, and sometimes afterwards it can be the case as well. I’m sure each one of us experiences challenges throughout our week. What are we doing during those times—resting in Jesus or worrying? “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:33-34).

Saturday Mom spoke at a Ladies’ Retreat in Lenexa – only 40 minutes from our house. It’s a treat for Mom when speaking means she gets to sleep in her own bed the night before and not have to pack a travel bag!  When we arrived, we were blessed by several people who helped us carry our book table things in and set up. Many ladies attended this one-day retreat. They were extremely responsive to what Mom shared, and it is our  prayer that each mom was encouraged by her day away. We always love to see the little ones at these conferences. At this conference, though, the older children were home with Dad while it was the nursing babies who were with the moms – such cute babies, too!

(One such cute little one .)

Thank you to all those who are continuing to pray for Nathan and Melanie’s baby who is due June 25th. What an incredible gift from the Lord!

Joyfully His,
Sarah

We are so grateful to be home today. The front we caught up to (near Flagstaff) and then stayed ahead of yesterday has now reached Kansas, and we have cold temperatures, strong wind, and snow. If we hadn’t been able to get ahead of the storm, we would have been stuck somewhere for a day or two.

Thank you, Jesus, for bringing us home!

Sarah for the rest

The current plan is to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico, tonight, but we might even continue driving on. Depending on the weather and slow downs, we’ll likely arrive early in the morning. Thank you for your prayers. We are very grateful. We have been driving through strong winds, but Dad and Uriah are doing a good job .

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the Maxwells

Jesse practicing .

We continue to be grateful for the Lord’s blessing on this trip. It’s funny, because although we’ve been gone two and a half weeks, it feels like much longer . Eight conferences done and two left: Yuba City tonight and the East Bay area this weekend.  Our plan is to drive home in 3 days (beginning Sunday), via the southern route, instead of cold temperatures and snow going home I-80.

The last two conferences, San Luis Obispo area, and Fresno, went well. It’s amazing the little blessings: people who offer to help carry things out of the church after the conference, words of encouragement from those attending, a delicious dinner of beef stew and rolls in Fresno, etc. We had two weeks without colds, and then Saturday and Sunday, two of the family came down with colds. Yet, even in that, the Lord has shown Himself faithful. The two have felt miserable, but in no way has the trip been hindered, and the two are feeling better.

Except for our smoking descent the other night, Uriah has done very well this past week. We continue to be grateful for him, and the space he has provided. One concern we had at the beginning of the trip was the unknowns of being able to park him at each hotel (the guys camp out in the bus at night while we girls and Dad and Mom are in the hotel). Every night the Lord has provided a place to park Uriah at the hotel. What a blessing!

Joyfully His,
Sarah for the rest of the family

Keeping Hearts session in Fresno.

Mary, working on her school, during a session.

Christopher lets the young people pick up some tracts after the Evangelism session, and I thought this was a good picture !

Christopher talking with a young man after the sessions.

The second weekend conference is now over. Each conference has been such a blessing in its own way by the people we meet, the stories we hear, and the Lord Jesus working in lives. We arrived in the LA area with no traffic issues Thursday night. It was very picturesque to see the lights of the city as we drove out of the mountains.

Friday’s set up went well, and we had time to do a run through our songs. Our coordinators brought dinner for us. They also took us to a Vietnamese restaurant on Saturday evening after the conference for a cultural experience. None of us had eaten Vietnamese food before, so it was a treat.

(The LA church where the conference was held.)

There was a good group for the sessions Friday evening, and families continue to enjoy the music. Saturday was a busy day for everyone. Joseph, John, and Jesse help Dad, Mom, Christopher, and I get set up for our sessions, and then throughout the day, Joseph and John help Dad and Mom with any other speaking needs they may have.

Anna, Jesse, and Mary are a great book table team and run it very efficiently. At lunch, a sweet mom had provided a delicious meal for us, which was a special blessing. The message we shared throughout the weekend was extremely well received. We are grateful to each family who took the time to come to the conference this weekend. We pray you will experience fruit that will be eternal.

(Downtown LA as we went on the outskirts of it.)

We know many are praying and we are very grateful. As we were coming out of the mountains today on a very long steep grade, the boys said they smelled something burning. Dad took the next exit he could, and we pulled off. John hopped out, with Joseph close behind, and they said our front wheel was smoking! Most of us hurried out of the bus to see what was happening. After some examination, it was decided that the brakes had become very hot, and the buildup of oil on the rim from a leaking seal was smoking. Once Dad confirmed the other front wheel was also pretty hot, it meant that there was nothing seriously wrong with that wheel. Dad had slowed way down, used a lower gear, and pumped the brakes as we descended, but decided from then on, we would be going down even slower. We were grateful that we didn’t have a serious problem, and we started off again to help cool the wheels. Uriah continues to provide excitement to a trip that we’ve not experienced before!

Examining the smoking wheel!

Helpful tools??!!

Blowing dust as we drove toward San Luis Obispo area.

Practicing music in the bus tonight.

We look forward to Monday night’s conference in the San Luis Obispo area.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah for the rest of the family

We woke up early Wednesday morning so that we could get started on our way to the Grand Canyon. The night before, John had noticed a notch in one of Uriah’s tires, and Dad felt since it was quite deep, we should have it looked at somewhere to see if we needed a new one. As we were approaching Flagstaff, Dad was able to call a tire place, that had been referred to him by a mechanic. We found the tire shop, the man looked at the tire, and he recommended that we replace both tag tires due to the “injury” and that fact that both were eight years old. The guy told Dad he was lucky (we know otherwise ) because they were the only warehouse in northern Arizona that had those tires, and since it was a cold day, he had men that could do it right then. We had our family Bible time while the tires were being changed. We knew if the process took too long, we wouldn’t be able to go to the Grand Canyon. But, around noon, we were on our way, and arrived at the Grand Canyon around 1:30.

It was an exciting feeling to walk to the edge of the South Rim and gaze at God’s amazing creation. The brochure said the Grand Canyon took millions of years to form, and yet even Jesse (13) could wonder why all or most rivers aren’t in canyons that deep. Christopher mentioned as a side note, scientists were not able to study the actual forming of the Grand Canyon, but they have been able to study the Little Grand Canyon at Mt. St. Helens which is 1/40th the size of the Grand Canyon and was formed in one day.

We spent some time taking in the scene and admiring it, before we walked along the trail. There were icy spots on the trail, but it was not windy, so we had a pleasant time together as we walked. It seemed the more you looked at the Grand Canyon, the more you could see. We marveled at all the different trails that could be hiked way down in the Canyon.  We are very grateful that the Lord gave us those few hours; what a blessing.

We are now in Anaheim, California. Again, we felt the Lord’s hand driving here yesterday afternoon and evening. In spite of all the traffic, we didn’t “experience” even one slow down, which was wonderful. We are praying for this weekend’s conference and look forward to seeing some of you!

Serving Jesus,
Sarah for the rest of the family

The beautiful Grand Canyon!

Most of the family looking out over the GC.

Anna

Dad and Mom

Joseph taking a picture of Christopher.

We asked someone to take this family picture.

Thank you to the father who took these pictures last Friday evening!

Joyfully His,
Sarah for the rest of the family

We are grateful to each of our conference coordinators for all the work they put into the conference. After set up Friday afternoon, we had family devotions in the bus, and then the coordinator brought us dinner: a delicious taste of the southwest.

The music session went well, and our audience was the most interactive of all the groups we’ve sung for so far! In between sessions, a highlight for our family is being able to speak with families. Our prayer is that the Lord Jesus is glorified in everything shared during each session and in the other conversations.

After listening to our church service via cell phone to the nursing home yesterday morning, Dad, Joseph, John, and Jesse were out at the bus, when a car pulled up with a mom and son, who had attended the conference, They had been surprised to see our bus behind a hotel as they were returning from their morning church service, which is amazing since they didn’t know where we were staying and would have only had a second to see the bus between buildings.  They decided to go to Trader Joe’s and purchase John some birthday gifts since yesterday was his birthday. They brought a large bag of goodies and a huge several foot-long box of cookies! We were very touched by their thoughtfulness to John. Thank you !

Tonight we’ll be going to Fountain Hills (outside of Phoenix) for an evening conference.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah

John, with the goodies that a family blessed him with!

Christopher speaking to the young people Saturday.

Anna and I at the book tables (Mary and some of the others are on the other end of the tables.).

Joseph took this picture yesterday of a palm tree.

Just a quick note to say that we arrived safely here in Tucson this evening. We’ll write later about our “adventure” in downtown El Paso tonight…

We’re excited about the conference this weekend.

Serving Jesus,
Sarah

After several hours of working, a mechanic took the bearings Dad had purchased locally, to a machinist who machined a part, to make the bearings work. Then, he assembled it. We are very grateful for his help! We are bypassing touring Carlsbad Caverns, and we’re headed for El Paso. A bus place there has the part, and we will see if we can get it from them yet tonight. We’re so grateful that Uriah is back on the road.

Serving Jesus,
Sarah

The mechanic who kindly helped us and Dad.

Uriah’s belts are working again!! Praise the Lord.

We’re now in Carlsbad, New Mexico—a first for most of us, with the exception of Dad and Mom.

Last night’s conference in Waco was a blessing. We were delighted in seeing two families we have known through e-mail: one we’ve met before, and the other we hadn’t met in person. What a blessing to be able to see them.

Uriah continues to hang in there. We stopped at a truck repair place today, because Dad was concerned about some oil leaking from a wheel hub and wanted to check it out. A man was very helpful and even came out to look at it and give Dad a little informative lesson (tonight we saw we lost that hubcab—oops!). Mom is a pro at making lunch, and the bus makes it very easy to spread out a bit. We wrote postcards to our nursing home friends today; Mom even has a system for that.

We’re excited to be able to see Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow morning. We normally don’t have time to sight-see on these trips, but we are getting up early and will drive late to be able to see the Caverns. We’ll be sure to post pictures later.

Only for Jesus,
Sarah

The church in Houston (with Uriah ).

Dad and John finishing up at the truck repair stop.

Dad and Mom speaking last night in Waco.

Mary-with a New Mexico sunset in the background!

Jesse-working on school

Mary-writing a postcard.

Motoring down the road in Uriah.

Lunch time!

New Mexico Sunset

PS - Special thanks to Anna for picking out the pictures and working with them !

We arrived safely tonight in Ennis, Texas. The last few days have been very busy in preparing for this trip, so it was nice to just climb into Uriah and rest. It was a delight to start out with having church with our dear friends at the nursing home, and we left from there. Uriah handled very well today, and Christopher even took a turn driving so that Dad could take a nap. We will drive the rest of the way to the Houston area tomorrow, where we’ll be doing an evening conference.

Thank you for your prayers. Dad has said that this is a trip of many unknowns due to our new transportation. We’ll have lots of new opportunities to trust the Lord each day.

Looking forward to meeting many of you over the next few weeks!

Joyfully His,
Sarah

Praying before we set out this morning!

Life is in high gear here as we prepare to leave on a three week trip from church on Sunday. Everyone has something to do, and for this trip, we have called in the reserves – Grandad and Grandma. Grandma ironed thirty items for us earlier this week, and she came over to help Sarah yesterday. Both Grandad and Grandma helped today.

We are making curtains for the bus and doing some work inside to make it so that the boys can sleep on it for this trip. The bus just came back from the shop last night so there is much we couldn’t do until it was here. We are excited to take our first long trip on Uriah, and we are praising the Lord continually for His provision.

Trusting In Jesus,
Teri

Saturday in Leavenworth, Kansas brought about eight inches of snow throughout the day and evening. Steve was praying and looking to the Lord Jesus for direction concerning our trip to Gypsum, Kansas to play music for their Sunday evening Christmas service. This trip weighed heavy on his heart since he had no idea how well Uriah would handle in the snow. Steve was keenly aware that in the event of a problem, we wouldn’t all get out and give a push to get moving again. He also was concerned as to whether there would be sufficient heat to keep everyone comfortable.

Sunday morning Steve decided we would start out, and take it one step at a time, depending on the Lord, to enable us to take the next step. The first step was just getting Uriah out of the drive and loaded. To our joy, step-by-step, God gave grace.

Our plan was to take our instruments in to our nursing home church and play for them during our Sunday morning service and then head on to Gypsum, about four hours away. Grandad and Grandma and Nathan and Melanie were also joining us for the day with Nathan playing lead guitar for our music. Our hearts rejoiced as we watched the delight in our nursing home friends’ faces as they listened to the music – old hymns and Christmas carols.

Not only was it Uriah’s first ministry trip, but it was the first time we have been asked to come to a church to primarily sing. Until about a month ago, we didn’t have any Christmas hymns that we could play and sing, but the children had worked diligently at arranging and practicing Christmas music by themselves and then as a family. Both Nathan and Christopher shared between songs – giving an evangelistic message with personal examples that I thought was very powerful. After the music, Steve preached for about a half an hour encouraging those listening to evaluate their personal walks with the Lord Jesus and to hunger for the Word of God.

The church welcomed us, fed us a delicious dinner, and invited us to join them for their Christmas fellowship after the service.

The bus did well on our snow-packed city streets and the slushy Interstates. It was very comfortable to ride in, except for the driver’s seat, which we hope to replace soon. The boys had furnished Uriah with an old recliner chair for Mom, an old sofa and love seat we had in the garage, plus a few dinette seats that came out of another RV. In addition, they put in a set of bunk beds and a queen bed. When pregnant Melanie needed to stretch, she could stand up and walk around. When Grandad needed to rest his back, he could go lie down. The beds were all filled when we drove home from 9:40 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., allowing some to curl up on a sofa or bench seat to sleep, while others talked the whole way home!

Our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord Jesus for His provision for our transportation needs. There is a great deal of work that has to be done, but it is our desire that Uriah serves the Lord faithfully with us for many years to come.

Trusting In Jesus,
Teri

John carrying things out to Uriah Sunday morning.

Mary, Anna, and Nathan at the nursing home.

Nursing home service. (Thank you, Melanie, for taking the picture!)

The family at the evening service in Gypsum.

Many have asked why we named the bus Uriah. I love the name Uriah because of who Uriah was in Scripture. He was a valiant, obedient, and faithful man. His life deeply touches mine. 

The brief glimpse that we have of Uriah shows his heart’s desire was to serve his king, even in personal hardship and to the point of giving his life. In 2 Samuel 11, he is out with the army during the campaign. David recalls Uriah so that David could attempt to hide his sin with Bathsheba. Uriah forsook the comfort of his own home because his fellow soldiers were in the field at war. He is then sent back to battle and travels confidentially carrying a letter commanding his own death. As a skilled warrior, he would have known that the command, in the manner it was given to take the city, was foolish. Yet, he obeyed to the death. That is the way it is when we are committed to obeying someone. Praise God our Head is the Lord Jesus Who doesn’t fail. Sadly though, we may fail in hearing Him correctly at times.

Therefore, I felt Uriah was an appropriate title for our transportation. I do not picture Uriah as being handsome. This old bus is not very handsome either. Most newer buses are amazingly good looking, but Uriah can’t compare. Our desire is that once we get him mechanically into shape and converted, he will faithfully serve us. Uriah was a mighty man who lived to serve his king and died in his service. We just pray this Uriah will have a long life before he gives it up.

Sorry it took so long to get an answer.

God bless.

In Christ Jesus,
Steve

Dad and Christopher arrived safely home with Uriah this afternoon, a little after 1:30 p.m. Joseph, John, and Jesse were at the Mission with Nathan, but we girls were home and excitedly watched for the big white bus to drive on to South 15th Street .

(Mom waving as Uriah comes down the street.)

We are grateful for the Lord’s protection because Dad had to drive through very tough situations—mountain roads in the dark, fog, rain, freezing rain, and ice. There is much work to be done on the bus to convert it, but for now, we will do some cleaning and mechanical things.

Thank you for your prayers! Uriah is HOME!

Joyfully His,
Sarah
PS - Sorry for the somewhat duplicate post; I hadn’t realized Christopher had already posted .