Patty and I had a nice day today celebrating our 32nd anniversary.  Obviously there were limits to what we could do being out on the road so Patty asked if we could go to Pizza Hut for lunch.  That was where we went for our first date.  So….that’s what we did.  Nice day!

A wild time tonight as The Debt was paid off.  The debt went something like this.  Every VBS  has an offering as you know.  It was a unique offering of canned goods.  The church wanted to take up canned goods for the county’s Crisis Center so they set a goal of 250 cans of food.  The deal was, if the kids made their goal the preacher would have to “run the gauntlet” on Thursday night.  The gauntlet consisted of kids on both sides making a lane and loaded with buckets of water, water balloons, and the like.  Well, tonight’s total was 388 cans.  Awesome!!  The preacher AND his wife ran though.  The kids had a blast and the two were super sports!

Tomorrow night we will have family night and a commencement of sorts.  We will have our program, let some of the kids share, and of course I’ll have a friend make an appearance.  Afterwards we’ll eat something!

We sure appreciate your prayers as we continue the work.  Probably won’t be blogging tomorrow night.  It will be late by the time we load out at the church.

I’ll check back in when we get to TX on Saturday evening!

Blessings,
John

It’s getting a bit late now but I wanted to thank you for your prayers as we saw 3 children receive Christ in a public profession of their faith.  We are excited about these and thank the Lord for them.

It was another good night with just a bit smaller crowd compared to the past few days.  We had approximately 50 kids tonight and the energy was still good throughout as they participated in all the songs and responded to Vern the Bird and listened intently to Judah the Lion tell the Bible story of the resurrection.

Tomorrow we’ll take it a bit easy during the day.  Patty agreed to marry me 32 years ago on the 21st so we are going to go grab a bite to each at a local establishment for lunch then when we get off the road and have a little more time we’ll do something a bit more special.  It is what it is.

Thanks for the prayers!
John

Sorry I didn’t get my post out last night. It seems difficult to do once we get in with us staying a ways from the church and things not wrapping up until after 8:30.

We didn’t have any professions of faith last night although there was a lot of spiritual seed planted. We are praying that tonight with some follow up, there will be.

We appreciate your continued prayers, specifically for the kids attending tonight. Pray for vocal strength as well. Things are going well but my voice is tired. Lots of singing and ventriloquism.

Blessings,
John

Yes, we doubled in attendance tonight. We had 60 kids and the energy was really up so it was a fun night. Sparky made an appearance along with Judah the lion telling the story of Daniel.

Tomorrow will be decision night so our prayer is simple. Pray for hearts of all the children to be open to His voice.

Blessings,
John

We made it to the church yesterday (Sunday)a little after 3 to begin setting up for the opening night of VBS at Mt. Oliver Baptist Church outside of Forest, MS.

Everything went well. There were about 30 kids and the leadership said that typically on Mondays, at least in the past, they will double in attendance due to the other churches. Because they begin on Sunday night, the other churches, of course, do their own services.

Following our opening night, the church had what they call a Tailgate party. All the church joined in bringing their pickups and dropping the tailgates, offering various foods from pulled pork to cupcakes, chips, fruits, and home made ice-cream. There was even a contest for decorating your tailgate in the theme of the week. Lots of fun.

Keep up the prayers for strong attendance and I’ll let you know how Day 2 comes out!

Blessings,
John

Thanks, friends, for checking in so faithfully.  You bless us and I don’t want to consider where we would be or ineffective, perhaps, if we didn’t have your prayer coverage.

We had  a great time with my little brother Jeff, and his wife Suzy.   We went out to eat several times and grabbed a movie.  They pulled out this afternoon for Destin and we got busy.  Patty ran errands as well as laundry and I got on the yard and equipment checks that needed doing.  We will pack and load most things tonight so we can get a 9 a.m. departure.  The plan is to arrive at the church at 3 p.m. in Forest, MS, where we will set up and kick off VBS at 5 p.m.

We will go through Thursday night with the curriculum then have Family Night on Friday.  I’ve been to this church for a Sunday only event and am not sure how many children we are to be working with so we appreciate your prayers that many will respond to the church’s invitation and advertising.

I will try and keep you posted throughout the week, as I usually do, but, again, I’m not really sure what will be available!

Blessings,
John

The first part of this week was busy preparing for the latter part of the week.  I wanted to get a little rest and some yard work done.  So, I did so then decided I would get a head start of the July events I have scheduled.  I got a pretty good start on that end of things and now am ready for a visit.  Yeah, the “latter part of the week” thing I mentioned.

My youngest brother and his wife drove to Yazoo City this past Sunday to see mom.  They live in San Antonio where he is a band director and she, a first grade teacher.  Obviously they don’t get this far east except in summer or Thanksgiving/Christmas time.  The drove down here today where we’ll get to spend a few days together before they head on to Destin and we get back on the road.

So, not much else going on.  We appreciate, as always, you checking in on us and praying for us!

Blessings,
John

Well, the day began a bit earlier than “ideal” since I had orchestra rehearsal at 8 a.m.  I’m usually up early anyway but have to say the alarm actually woke me up from a sound sleep.  Trying to recover from last week and the travel will have to happen over the next several days or at least before we head out again.

Tonight the kids of Hillcrest kicked off VBS with the VBS Musical.  Although I’m not working the VBS here they are certain to have around 600 kids bright and early in the morning.  We pray the weather holds out.  There were severe storms and heavy, heavy rain and a 90% chance tomorrow.

Patty will be working toward our guests that are coming in Wednesday.  My little brother and his wife are driving in for a few days.  They live in San Antonio and we see each other around the holidays at best so this will be nice.  She will be putting her menus and shopping plans together.  I’m going to take some time to continue my work on the VBS material for next week these next few days.  Of course I have a very busy July schedule that I need to begin working on as well.

Sure appreciate your continued prayers.  It was a great week last week and we are looking for the Lord to do a great work in the upcoming weeks.

Blessings,
John

We wrapped things up in grand fashion as the two summer interns got creamed. Literally! A celebration of collecting a nice sum of money for missions!

It’s been a nice visit with mom this week and Patty has enjoyed her visit with her dad. We will head home in the morning to handle things there for a week before heading out again.

As you pray for our safe travel, please pray that our time a home this next week will be a time of rest and recuperation as we ready ourselves for 2 more weeks of VBS.

Blessings,
John

The kids have kept up the enthusiasm although the teachers were dragging a bit today. We continue to do follow up counseling and although we haven’t had any professions of faith, God is certainly working on a number of little hearts. We would appreciate your prayers that the seed that’s being planted with come to fruition.

This past Tuesday Patty’s dad asked me to go fishing with him at a farm pond of a relative in the middle of nowhere. Gang, I’m here to tell you I have never had a bass fishing experience like that. I think the smallest fish was a little more than a pound but I caught, as did he, many, many fish in the 3-5 lbs range. Unbelievable experience. He, at 90 yrs of age, pulled in a whopper. Had to go close to 10 lbs. Monster fish!

We kept just enough for supper and fried them up last night. Mom joined us so it was a night night.

He wants to go back out this afternoon and I don’t blame him so we are heading back out around 4. It takes about 35-40 mins to drive it but extremely worth it.

We’ll wrap things up tomorrow, load up at noon then take it easy for the evening, leaving Saturday morning.

Blessings,
John