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| When we arrived in Lodi on Saturday, Pastor Williams saw
our fishing poles in the storage compartment under the RV. We
got to talking about fishing and he was very eager to have us try our
hand at a local private pond he knew of. Yesterday evening we
had the opportunity to do just that and had a wonderful time.
The pond is owned by Bro. Floyd, one of the members at Victory Baptist
Church. It's about 5 acres and is very well stocked, as you will
tell from the photos below. We had a great time and continue to
be humbled by the hospitality being demonstrated here. Today we
are planning a trip to the local fair with Pastor Williams and his
wife sometime after lunch, and are looking forward to that as
well.
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| An
early shot of one side of the pond. |
Another
shot of the pond. The fish didn't seem to mind all the algae...they'd
strike right through it. |
Bro.
Floyd threw some food to the catfish and they went into a feeding frenzy. |
More
of the catfish. There were up to 20 or more at one point. |
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| Someone
trying to catch the catfish with a net. He spent a *long* time
trying. |
He
finally got one! |
Braden
fly fishes through the muck..... |
.....and
he catches the first fish! |
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| And
another fish for Braden. |
And
yet another. |
August
desperately wants to catch one of those catfish! I caught one with
Addie's little pole and it immediately snapped the line. Good luck
kid! |
August
tries some fly fishing as well. |
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| Addie
"catches" a fish (Pastor Williams actually caught it, but Addie
got to reel it in) |
Addies
on the prowl for a fish of her own. |
Addie
reels in another one. |
Yet
another fish for Addie. |
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| I
agree with August....I want one of those catfish. |
Yay!
I got him. Now just to get him into the shore. |
I'm
glad this net was here, otherwise I would have had trouble getting him out
of the water. |
It's
a beauty....HEY, there was a fish in my hand just a second ago! |
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| There
he is....now let's get him back in the water before he bites me again
(these guys hurt when they bite). |
I
guess I'll try a little fly fishing as well. |
Back
to trying to land a catfish and I finally got another one....and all on
free stinky bait we found by the river in Kentucky. You can't beat
that. |
Yucky....my
line got all caught up in the net. Someone hand me a knife please. |
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| He's
almost free. |
Yep,
he's free, now someone please catch him! |
Okay,
I've got him again. |
There's
my trophy for the day. |
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| We moved over to Lodi, Ohio on Saturday and are having a
great time here. We are parked on the grounds at Victory Baptist
Church and they are being extremely gracious hosts! Yesterday we
stopped in for a visit with West Hill Baptist Church in Wooster,
Ohio. They were celebrating their 41-year anniversary with a
special service and dinner on the grounds, so we didn't get to meet
with the individual that I've been speaking with, but we still
appreciated the opportunity to stop by. Yesterday evening we
presented the ministry at First Baptist Church in Spencer, Ohio.
This is the church that hosts the Missionary Training School which we
attended just after surrendering to the mission field. They are
also the church that was instrumental in the formation of Victory
Baptist Church where we are currently staying. So, they are
already an instrumental partner in our ministry! We will be
going fishing with Pastor Williams from Victory Baptist Church
probably tomorrow evening, and are greatly looking forward to that, as
we have not found a good fishing spot so far this year. He has
also offered to take us up to a very hands-on science museum in
Cleveland during our next visit with him towards the end of
August. In addition, their church is providing all of our food
this week, having bought us groceries for breakfast and lunch, and
having prepared dinners brought in every night. It is truly
humbling to see the extent they desire to go to in order to be a
blessing to us during our stay. Wednesday night we look forward
to visiting with Columbia Road Baptist Church and then we will head
out again on Saturday for our next destination.
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| Street
sign for Victory Baptist Church. |
The
church building is to the right and their playground is to the left.
We are parked next to the playground, which offers a full 50-amp
electrical connection, as well as water. Plans are being considered
to add sewer hookups in the future. |
First
Baptist Church in Spencer, Ohio - sign on side of building. |
View
of the sanctuary from the main entrance. |
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| Main
sanctuary at FBC. |
Braden,
August and Addie singing a special during the service. |
They
had a fellowship after the service for a family that was moving away from
the area. |
Pastor
Mullet with his wife seated to his right. |
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| Just
some of the delicious food that was brought in for this special occassion. |
A
large number of members showed up to say their "goodbyes" to
this family that will be missed. |
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| Today is our final day in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
We arrived here on Monday, traveling up from Burnside, Kentucky.
We've managed to stay busy since our last posting. This past
Sunday we had a walk-in meeting in the morning at Saline Baptist
Church in Somerset, Kentucky. They were having a "camp
meeting", so it was a very lively service. In the evening
we were scheduled to present at Central Baptist Church in Mount
Vernon, Kentucky. We had a great service with them and look
forward to working together with them in this ministry. Though
we have not received "official" notice yet, I was told on
Sunday that they would vote on Wednesday concerning taking us on for
support, and 3 different people (including Pastor Eaton) were
confident that they would, so we thank God for that special
blessing. On Wednesday we had another walk-in meeting at Lincoln
Trails Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The people
were very friendly and seemed to be genuinely interested in our
ministry. Yesterday we found ourselves homeless for a few
hours. Our RV sprung a leak in one of the holding tanks last
week, so we've been scrambling to try and find a place to have it
fixed. Unfortunately, most RV service centers are backed up a
month or more, and this does not work well when you live in the unit
full-time. However, our God does answer prayer and we were able
to find a shop that was willing to try and get us in-and-out in a
day. So, yesterday morning we moved the house over to their
facilities, and they took it in the moment we arrived. We left
it there for the day while we went to visit Mammoth Caves. They
are the longest explored caves in the world, and they are still
exploring new areas, which they don't know how far they go!
We've been to Luray Caverns before, and this is totally
different. Although not quite as "pretty" as Luray, it
is more of a natural caving experience with many tight passageways and
less modern conveniences. It was very interesting. After
caving we went back to the RV service center, which had called to say
they had fixed the house and it was ready to go! Basically, we
have a cracked holding tank, but they were able to patch it and said
it definitely will not leak unless the tank is 100% full, and should
not leak even then. They also fixed a small leak in the roof
that allowed for an annoying water drip in our bedroom during heavy
rainstorms. Tomorrow we move again, heading north to Lodi,
Ohio. We have two meetings on Sunday, and if all goes well we
will drop-in for a quick visit with Columbia Road Baptist Church (home
of our mission agency) on Wednesday. All told, we have 12 more
meetings in Ohio before we head south to Virginia towards the end of
August.
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| Braden,
August and Addie play Uno at Burnside State Park while Missy fixes lunch. |
Missy
is frying up some Brats, green pepper and onion for a tasty lunch.
We haven't had access to a grill for a while, so she's been really looking
forward to this! |
More
cooking on the grill. |
Our
house site at General Burnside State Park, with Missy cooking in the
foreground and the kids playing cards in the background. |
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| Sanctuary
at Central Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, Kentucky. |
Some
of the missionaries currently supported by CBC. |
Outside
of the building at CBC. |
Pastor
Eaton wanted to teach me a couple things about my truck....one of which
was where the fuel filter was. This was helpful, since I had just
spoken with Melissa a day or two earlier about needing to find it so I
could change it! |
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| August
and Addie talk with Pastor Eaton's boys. |
Our
house in the shop. |
The
place that fixed our house. |
Entrance
sign to the park. We opted not to take the camera in the caves,
which was probably a good decision! |
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| A
special area at the park memorializing a famous cave explorer who died
exploring a new section of the caves. |
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| We arrived a couple of days ago in Burnside,
Kentucky. We are staying at General Burnside Island State Park
while we visit several churches in the area. This past Wednesday
we dropped-in at Maranatha Baptist Church in Somerset, Kentucky.
It was a great opportunity to meet with Pastor Keene and his church
family, and we were glad to have that opportunity. On Sunday we
look forward to dropping-in with Pastor Broughton and his church
family at Saline Baptist Church, also in Somerset, Kentucky.
Sunday night we are scheduled to be with Pastor Eaton and his church
in Mount Vernon, Kentucky (more on him in a minute). We will be
leaving Burnside on Monday and heading north to be near Lincoln Trails
Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Kentucky for another drop-in meeting
on Wednesday. A side-note before I mention the pictures
below. Yesterday I received a phone call from my mother in
Virginia, letting us know that some strong storms had come through the
area. She had good news and bad news. The bad news was
that a tree had fallen in their yard and landed on the enclosed
trailer which stores all of our remaining household possessions.
The good news was that it was a glancing blow and only left a 6"
or so dent on one side of the trailer, which will not leak
water. That's a blessing! Later that evening strong storms
came through our area in Kentucky. Around midnight a tree fell
just a short distance from our trailer here and took out a power line,
so we were without power for about 9 hours. That's enough tree
falling for us for the year. Today we enjoyed a few hours of
fellowship with Pastor Eaton and some of his church members at
Levi-Jackson State Park, about an hour from where we are
staying. It was a special activity for their church children,
ages 12 and below, which fit perfectly with our children. Most
of the children present are actually bus-ministry children that they
bring in every single week. It was a great time of food, fun and
fellowship, with "free-time" on the playground, "corn
hole" playing, a large lunch and winding up with an 18-hole round
of putt-putt golf.
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| Our
current home in General Burnside State Park in Burnside, Kentucky.
It shows our large "yard" to one side of our home. |
Of
course, our neighbors are rather close on the other side of the house! |
Addie
chose to play at the playground, rather than going fishing with the boys. |
Addie
playing. |
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| Addie
playing. |
Pavilion
at Levi-Jackson State Park. |
Central
Baptist Church bus arriving with many of the bus ministry children. |
Addie
and August on the playground with the bus ministry children. |
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| Aaron
"supervises" Pastor Eaton starting the charcoal. |
Children
at the basketball court. |
Addie
Grace chases the Tigger ball. |
Two
cowboys relaxing. |
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| Newest
church member at Central Baptist Church, born 26 June 2007: Isabella
Grace. |
Isabella
Grace woke up! |
Braden
blowing bubbles for Addie to burst. |
Youth
pastor quiets the crowd for prayer. |
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| Pastor
and Youth Pastor play "corn hole". |
More
"corn hole" playing. |
Closer
shot of the "corn hole" target. |
Pastor
Eaton grills for everyone. |
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| Time
to eat! |
Lining
up for putt-putt. |
Putt-putt
golf course. |
An
impossible hole in the course. |
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| Addie
Grace takes a shot. |
August's
turn. |
Braden
is serious about this. |
Aaron
makes it with 2 strokes. |
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| All
the Freeman guys. |
Pastor
Eaton with his son Isaac. |
Youth
pastor with his wife and daughters, Maddie Jane and Isabella Grace. |
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| Today we reclaimed our eldest son! I drove down from
Cincinnati, Ohio to Beckley, West Virginia to meet my sister and
picked him up from his week-and-a-half summer camp adventure. We
are now back in Cincinnati with the family. Tomorrow morning we
will be leaving here, heading down to General Burnside State Park in
Kentucky. Yesterday we enjoyed two wonderful meetings with
churches here in this area. The morning meeting was with Salem
Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Pastor Blackwell and his
congregation welcomed us warmly and we thoroughly enjoyed our time
together. The evening meeting was here at Loveland Park Baptist
Church with Pastor Carpenter. It was another excellent meeting,
and the people seemed to have a true heart for missions and a genuine
interest in our ministry. We believe that both of these meetings
were God-ordained, and look forward to many years of service together
with these saints.
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| Aaron
and August setup the display. |
Sanctuary
at Salem Baptist Church. |
Church
pianist. |
Missions
prayer letters. |
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| Bus
kids lined up with Mrs. Blackwell, ready to board the bus. |
Sarah
Blackwell, pastor's daughter. |
Church
sign. |
Church
building. |
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| Addie
Grace with Sarah Blackwell. |
Pastor
Phillip Blackwell at Salem Baptist Church. |
Missionary
map at Loveland Park Baptist Church. |
Sanctuary
at LPBC. |
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| Missionary
prayer letters at LPBC. |
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| We left Loudonville this morning and are now in Loveland,
Ohio, just outside of Cincinnati. We are staying at Loveland
Park Baptist Church and will be presenting the ministry here tomorrow
evening. We have another meeting in Salem, Ohio in the
morning. We heard from Braden a few minutes ago and they are
back safely from camp. He is in Powhatan, Virginia with a family
from our sending church. My sister will drive him up to Beckley,
West Virginia on Monday where I will meet her to bring him back to
Ohio to rejoin us. Below are some photos from our "field
trip" yesterday to visit the Amish country in Berlin, Ohio, home
of the largest Amish community in the world. There are not a lot
of photos because the Amish don't like to be photographed (and
specifically request that you refrain from doing so). Also shown are some
pictures from here at Loveland Park Baptist Church.
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| Welcome
sign at the Amish Flea Market in Berlin, Ohio. |
One
of many picturesque hillsides in the area. |
View
of the back of the Amish Flea Market. They do have a lot of
interesting stuff there. We also walked through town to view many of
the other stores. |
August
and Addie enjoying a "warm" Ohio summer day. |
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| Church
bus and van at Loveland Park Baptist Church. |
Church
sign. |
The
main sanctuary, with our house beside it. |
Another
shot of the facilities, showing Loveland Baptist School. |
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| Just a brief update. Today was a
"maintenance" day, trying to keep things running
smoothly. I spent most of the morning/afternoon working on
travel arrangements through the beginning of September. We now
have confirmed places to "live" for the next 60 or so
days. That's certainly a relief. We also filled in gaps of
open dates with some "walk-in" meetings, which we pray will
be a blessing. Many churches have opened their facilities to us
for hooking up the RV, and that is saving a lot of money. In
fact, during July/August we will only spend an average of $275 a month
for RV connections, which is certainly lower than any hotel room or
rental house we could find! We also extended our stay in
Kentucky. We had a meeting scheduled for the 22nd of July and
are now planning to arrive on July 17th and leave on the 28th, which
will allow us to have two walk-in meetings on the Wednesdays
surrounding our scheduled meeting. The other part of maintenance
for the day involved the truck. Bro. Keith, a member at
Loudonville Baptist Temple, felt that the Lord wanted him to change
the oil in our truck. Amazingly, we tried to get it done last
week but couldn't get a phone call back, so it did need to be done
(Bro. Keith didn't know that when he approached me). We have
been very blessed as the Lord uses His faithful servants to meet every
need that we have.
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| We are still in Loudonville and will be through the end of
this week. Yesterday morning we visited with Mansfield Baptist
Temple in Mansfield, Ohio and in the evening we had the opportunity to
present the ministry here at Loudonville Baptist Temple. The
people are extremely friendly and outgoing, and we are having a
wonderful time with them. At 1:00p today August and I are going
to meet the pastor and a few other men from the church to go target
shooting for a little while. This evening another gentleman from
the church invited me to bring the truck over to his home to have the
oil changed (it is now due and this typically costs me around
$100). I am also looking at going out on visitation with the
church on Thursday. Although this church is seemingly in the
middle of nowhere (as you can tell from the pictures below) that has
not stopped God from using them mightily and growing a wonderful
church here for His glory.
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| Sanctuary
in Loudonville |
Sign
above the entrance to the sanctuary. |
Missions
wall in the main hallway. |
Addie
and August chatting with some of the members before service. |
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| We are now in Loudonville, Ohio, We have spent the
past few days in Springfield, Ohio visiting with family and enjoying a
few days off. We are now parked beside Loudonville Baptist
Temple and will be here for about a week. We are scheduled to
present our ministry here tomorrow night and will visit some other
churches within an area of about 25 miles on Sunday morning and again
on Wednesday. Unfortunately we never did get any photos from our
last location, but we did get some here in Loudonville. The area
is extremely beautiful, with slightly rolling hills and lots of corn
fields. We are also in Amish country and look forward to seeing
some of those sites over the next week as well.
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| Church
sign with old church building. |
Old
church building. |
Second
church sign designating facilities. |
New
church building. |
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| New
church building. |
Church
van and bus with silos in the background. |
Cornfield
behind the church. |
The
start of a bike race. |
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| The
end of a bike race. |
August
and Addie riding bikes in the driveway. |
Riding
bikes in the church front yard. |
Riding
bikes in the church front yard. |
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| August
takes a swing. |
Looks
like a foul ball. |
Addie
gives a try. |
August
pitches to Addie Grace. |
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| August
is ready for the pitch. |
Here's
the swing. |
August
gets ready to bat. |
Still
getting ready. |
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| Ready
to knock it out into the cornfield. |
Giggling
too much for baseball. |
Addie's
burn is looking better. |
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| Today is our last day in Williamsburg. Tomorrow
morning we will travel up to Springfield, Ohio. We're going to
stop on the way in Powhatan at our sending church to pick up mail and
drop off Braden for summer camp. We expect to reach Springfield
sometime late tomorrow evening. This past Sunday we had two
great visits. The first was a walk-in meeting with Maranatha
Baptist Church in Yorktown, Virginia. We didn't have anything
scheduled and so took the opportunity to visit with them. They
were having special services in honor of the 4th of July and
recognized all of the military personnel that were in
attendance. By my rough count at least 80 people in their
service were member of one branch or another of the armed
forces. They even had a busload of troops from Fort Eustis which
they had bused in for the day. It was a great blessing. In
the evening we had the opportunity to present the ministry at Faith
Baptist Church in Colonial Heights, Virginia. We had a very warm
reception there as well and are thankful for this most recent
opportunity that has been provided to raise support for this
ministry. Below are several pictures from the evening meeting,
as well as one of Addie Grace showing (another) recent injury. A
long story short, some poor quality cups at a Flying-J caused hot
coffee to be spilled on her face resulting in some burns from her eye
down and across her cheek. Since then she has also choked on a
piece of hard candy (absolutely no airflow), but we were able to knock
it out. It sure is interesting having her around, and I hope the
Lord sees fit to let her stay here a lot longer!
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| Fellowship
hall at Faith Baptist Church in Colonial Heights. |
One
of the buses at Faith Baptist Church. |
View
of the sanctuary. |
Their
other bus and their church van. The Lord has certainly blessed them
with some excellent equipment. |
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| Addie
and August talking to Trey and Elena following the evening service. |
It's
hard to see in these photos, but the burn starts right at the corner of
her eye and runs down along her nose and out across her cheek. |
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