Endings are bittersweet

The project is complete. The Howrey family is excited to move in! We are all sad that we will part company. We have had a blast being here and working together. While we look forward to being home and seeing those we love and have missed, we are sad to be leaving behind new good friends.

Please pray for the journey home. See you all soon.

Better, yet Busy week

Where has the last week gone? It has flown by, yet at the same time was exhausting. First, an update on Russ. He was released from the hospital on last Sunday after spending 2 nights there. He was up and around on Monday. He and Judy spent a couple of days sanding and painting (he could do that left handed). He helped measure and cut sheetrock. So, pretty much he is acting back to normal. The last couple of days he has been experiencing dizziness which makes him nauseous. Please pray that the dizziness goes away.

Since Jim returned, we have been flying. We finished up the outside of the second story on Monday. Tuesday we finished the wiring. Wednesday we did insulation. Thursday and Friday we hung sheetrock. Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and Today we did taping and mudding, sanding and more mudding. We hope to texture tomorrow. We have spent many long days trying to finish and get home. We anticipate leaving here the end of next week. We will see if the schedule holds.

We miss all of you in Oregon and look forward to seeing you soon. God bless you all in each of your endeavors. We pray for all of you as we know you pray for us. Till next time.

A Week I Do Not Want to Repeat

Where to start. Things on the project are progressing, but we are currently behind schedule. God has been with us this week, but Satan has been on the attack. We signed all the offer paperwork on the sale of our home. The home inspection was scheduled for Friday the 24th(yesterday). Our son, Spenser, moved home on Monday evening. We asked him to double check a few areas for us in preparation for the home inspection. He called Jim on Tuesday morning and said he found mold on the roof sheeting in the attic. So, we get checking into flights and Jim flew home on Tuesday evening. Lin went to drop him off in their truck. 10 miles from the airport, we lost the right front bearing on the truck (yes, the same thing happened on the way to Prince George, but it was the left front. Both were new spring 2009). We were already hurrying so as not to miss the scheduled flight. Lin was madly praying that God would get us to the airport. The hub locked up and we could not move. God provided a gentleman named Al, who watched it happen and volunteered to take us to the airport. He had to stop on the way to get his girls off the bus. We are used to PDX, so were panicked that there was only 45 min. left till takeoff. We arrived at the airport at 3:35, checked in and got boarding passes, and Jim made it thru the security check and was boarding by 3:50. Praise the Lord! Our host family had a pickup and flat bed trailer, so they came to rescue Lin and the truck. I got very acquainted with the Rapid City Regional Airport. I was there for 1 1/2 hours. Jim will fix it when he returns from Oregon.

Our friends, the Loewens, arrived on Wednesday to help us finish up. Things were going along quite nicely until Friday afternoon. We had built scaffolding around the second story. Yesterday, a portion gave way under too much weight, and 3 fell about 10 feet. Judy and Nathan landed standing upright, and no injuries. Russ hit his head and was lifeflighted to Rapid City. Praise the Lord, I am glad to report, his injuries were not life threatening. We are really in the middle of nowhere, so they lifeflighted as a precautionary measure. He suffered a bruise on his brain (which I think is a concussion), some stitches, and a broken wrist. He has spent the last day in the hospital for observation. He has an MRI scheduled for Sunday AM, if doctors like what they see, then he will be released.

Please pray for Russ, and all the teenagers who witnessed the fall. The images are pretty haunting.

Jim was able to remediate all the mold before inspection, and all other requested repairs were minor. The sale is for the most part a done deal. We close Nov. 18. Please pray that we can complete the project by October 12th, and be home by Oct 15th. Jim has a big bus that he committed to complete. It will need to be done before we leave the property. Also, please pray that God will show us the next step as to where we are to go from here.

To all who received the message to pray, Thank you! I could feel God beside me several times this week. You all are a blessing to us. Hopefully the next report will be less adventurous! Till next time.

Weeks 2 + 3

Things are progressing nicely. As of today, the roof is complete. Tomorrow, we should have the outside pretty much buttoned up. Since I last posted, we have gotten the 2nd floor walls up, built and installed roof trusses, put roof sheeting on, and gotten the roof on. Trying to match up new walls with old existing ones took some time, same with new roof and existing roof. Things should start to take off now.

We are enjoying our time with our host family, the Howrey's. Our kids are having a blast with their children. This has been our best volunteer project yet. There is camaraderie while we work together, and fellowship after. We are all having Bible Study 3 nights a week together. We are all blessed to learn from each other.

The weather here has been crazy. Last Thursday, it was 87, Friday it was 47. Cold most of the weekend, and this morning. The sun came out around noon and it warmed up to about 70. Only one day of real rain so far, now that the roof is on it can rain anytime, except when we need to paint!

We do have one big praise: we accepted an offer on our house last week. The paperwork was all finalized this morning! Now we need the Lord to show us the next step, so please pray with us for that. Miss you all.

Extreme Makeover Neifert Edition - South Dakota

Well, we made it to Vale, South Dakota. We have finished out our first week on the project. We dug footings, poured the foundation and a new front sidewalk and patio, basement walls framed in, 2nd floor joists are in, and the subflooring is in progress. Not bad for a first week!

We are enjoying getting to know our host family, the Howreys. What a neat family. The kids are always pitching in to help. Of course, we are working on their new bedrooms, maybe that is the incentive. We have experienced great food and great fellowship with them.

They have only one computer with internet access and we are all sharing, so do not expect posts to be very frequent. I will try to post something once a week.

The weather has been good, some thunder showers, but the lightning here is awesome! Mostly sunny, some very windy days.

We miss you all and thank you for your prayers. Till next time.

Getting ready for our next adventure

We are preparing for our next big service project. We will be heading to South Dakota to help a family we met while there last year. They are in desperate need of more bedrooms. They have 4 children with the 5th on the way, and they only have 2 bedrooms. We are going to help them build an addition that expands the master, adds 2 bedrooms and an office. We anticipate being there for 5 weeks. We leave next week. Stay tuned for all the details, miracles, and fun stories. Please pray for us as we are going to be extremely busy in the next few days trying to finish projects locally that we have committed to do. Looking forward to "blogging" again.

End of May

Well, we have finished out another month. Some days go by fast, others go by slow. I apologize that I have not posted anything in almost 2 weeks. Our internet is not very reliable, and when I have had time to post, the internet has not been cooperative. Hopefully, I will get this published tonight before it decides not to work again.



The 50th anniversary celebration weekend was wonderful. It was a very full 2 days. On Saturday, we spent about 6.5 hours at the church trying to meet the visitors who attended the open house. We helped serve and clean up at the chili feed. On Sunday, we arrived at church around 9 am. We had regular worship, a lunch, a special afternoon service commemorating 50 years, and then a barbeque following that. We got back to the trailer at 9:30 pm. Monday, we all slept in. We did a home visit that day. Tuesday we helped a widow in her yard. Wednesday, youth group and Prayer meeting. Pastor Lyle let Jim know Wed. evening that he had been asked to do a funeral in Stewart, AK on Sunday, so could Jim fill the pulpit. He put a sermon together in 3 days. It was good, and it was well received.



We took a couple of fun days as a family in the past week. We visited a place called Huble Homestead last Friday. It is right on the Fraser river. It was a trading post. Very well done and maintained. As we were walking around, we came upon 2 small black bears. After figuring out that they were not the least interested in us, we ventured a little closer for some pictures. Seeing them in the wild and up close was awesome! Today, we went to an old mining town up in the mountains called Barkerville. Lots of 100+ year old buildings that we got to look inside of. They had actors in period costumes that did a nice job of creating the "old west" atmosphere. There was one skit in particular that we all enjoyed. We also saw 7 bears along side the road on the drive there. Alicia and I just need to see a live moose now.



Jim is preaching again this Sunday. His Dad and wife are going to be here, they arrive tomorrow and are staying for 5 days. It will be nice to experience a little bit of "home" and visit with them. They are bringing their trailer, and will be staying right next door. We all doubt we will see them too much, for they have many friends to catch up with here.



Prayer requests are for a man named Lyle (not the current pastor). He lost his mother recently and is struggling. He also needs to know Jesus. We also all 4 would like a new "lightning bolt" from the Lord regarding whether we are to stay on past June. Pray for the spirituality of the church. We were missing the SEC prayer service, so have started doing the same kind of thing as a family here on Sunday nites. We did not have permission from the leadership to do it. We told the congregation that we missed it and would be at the church if anyone else wanted to join us. We had 20 people last night! Jim said he would keep doing it until they took his church key away!



Thanks for your nice comments. We miss, love, and appreciate you all. Happy June!

crazy weather

Just a taste of what weather is like here. Monday, we had thunder showers with a rainstorm that was unlike any I have ever experienced. It was like someone had a hose on full blast everywhere. There were rivers running down both sides of the trailer. It only rained for about 15 minutes. Then the rest of the week was sunny and warm, until this morning. We woke up to snow. It continues as we speak. Not sticking to the roads, but sticking to vehicles and grass. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, then warm and sunny again. I thought Oregon weather was hard to predict!

Another week in Prince George

Where has the last week gone? It was a busy one. Jim finished his class!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is still awaiting his final grade. He now has more time on his hands; but as all who know him know, he will find ways to fill it quickly. Last Thursday and Friday we helped a man in the church put a new roof on a house they would like to sell. For all of those who know Lin, please be amazed that I actually went up on the roof! I usually like to keep my feet on the ground. The roof had a shallow pitch, so was not too scary! The worst part was getting on and off the ladder. It was bright and sunny, but seemed hot on the roof. Yes, I know we have been telling you how cold it is up here, but we were all roasting. It was actually only around 70 degreees.

On Saturday, it was church workday, the annual cleanup. In the afternoon we had our first group get together with the age group the church asked us to work with. We had 25 people come! It was a nice time together. We decided to do a free carwash as an outreach/service project. We will not accept any donations and will give out coffee and cookies while people wait. It should be fun, and will continue to bond the group. We do not have a specific date set up at this point. Sunday was regular morning worship time, and in the evening was the once a month prayer service. Monday, we were back to finish the roof.

Today, I finally got to do some laundry. We were running out of clothes. Tomorrow, the kids are helping a couple from church do some projects around their home. Thursday we will go to a home for dinner. Friday, we are hoping to have a family fun day. This coming weekend is the church's 50th anniversary celebration. Saturday and Sunday will be very full with the scheduled activities. Please pray that not only will the church reflect on the past, but will also get a vision for the future.

Other prayer requests: Ralph, Jim has not heard from him for a couple of weeks. Pray he will come around again. Prayer that God will give us clear direction regarding His plan for us here. Also, continue to pray for the sale of our home. We did receive an offer, but it is contingent on the party selling their current home. So, God still needs to work out the timing.

I always wonder who actually reads this, so please feel free to post a short comment when you do. That way I can track if this is actually worth my time and effort. We love and miss you all. Have a great week.

Week 5

I know it has been over a week since I last published anything, sorry! We had guests, and I made them my priority. We enjoyed 3, way too short, days with my folks and Jamie. It was so great to see them and hug on them! What a special Mother's Day treat! We got to show my folks Ness Lake Bible Camp and some of the sights around Prince George. We did not do anything spectacular, but spending time together was what counted. It was hard to let Jamie go back to Oregon, but she convinced me she did not bring enough clothes to stay long term!!! There are many of you who have taken her under your wing. From my heart, THANK YOU! You make it easier for me to stay, even if I am jealous of the time you get to spend with her.

I am sure many of you heard the news that Jamie was involved in a car accident on her way to Portland last week. PTL she was not hurt in any way; her car, however, is a different story. She will be without transportation of her own for a little while. It is hard for Jim and I to do things long distance for her, but we are trying to maintain a positive attitude and do what we can. Pray that God will give Jim discernment as he makes calls regarding cars for sale, that God will give him a very clear signal as to which to have her and one of our friends go look at. At which one will be the "one" she is to have.

As far as ministry, Jim preached on Sunday. He preached about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how we can apply her willing, obedient attitude to our lives. We led the youth last week, as the youth pastor, Tim, was gone for one week for schooling. We had 34 teens. It seemed to go well, the Gospel was presented. Pray that God will continue to water the seeds that were planted. We also led a Bible study last week.

This week, Jim has the monthly church leadership meeting to attend, he is in charge of the prayer meeting on Wed. (which has just started), we will help a church member with a roofing project, we have church workday and a picnic on Sat. The picnic will be the first whole group get together with the age group we have been asked to work with. It is a fun, social event; however, we will discuss what kinds of things the group would like to do as a group. Whether it be social events, work projects, or Bible Study.

Our big prayer request this week is the sale of our home in Oregon. We have a very interested party, so we want God's will and timing. Thank you for all the support you all give us. We could not function without the prayers you send up on our behalf. We are grateful for the team we have behind our ministry. Please keep in touch, we miss you all.

Have a super week.

Week 3

Another busy week! We have attended Bible Studies, church events, and gone to 2 more homes this week. Today, Jim is taking another test for school and the kids are helping at a Youth car wash. Tonight we are attending a concert. Some folks in the church participate in a gospel choir, and they invited us to go. Tomorrow is a full day of church activities. Monday evening, we have another church special event to attend.

School is wrapping up for the year, for Nathan and Alicia. This week should be our last. Tests and a paper to finish. Jim, however, still has 2 more weeks. His big week is next week. His big project is due and he is preaching next Sunday. And he has to fit in time with visitors, Jamie and my parents!

We are beginning to get a little vision of what can happen here. We have been asked to work with families within our age group, and so that is what we will concentrate on for now. We are planning a social event in the next 2 weeks. A BBQ and game time at a local park, still working on a specific date. We also want to do some kind of service project together to bond us as a team. We are praying for a couple of dates where most can make it. Kind of hard to build a team when only a few show up.

Our "nephew-in-law", Jeff, continues to improve. His latest complications are hallucinations, and movement in his arm is limited to below his elbow. They are x-raying his shoulder today to see if they can locate the problem. They are trying different pain medications to see if they can eliminate the hallucinations.

Have a super weekend and week ahead. God Bless you for your support and encouragement.

Update on Lin's niece's husband

Some of you have heard, and some have not, that my niece's husband, Jeff, was in a serious accident last Friday. He and 3 of his coworkers (all in 1 vehicle on their way home from work) had stopped to help a stalled semi, who was blocking all lanes of traffic. Another semi came upon them and was unable to stop. The impact threw one of the other guys in the air and he came down on his head on the pavement, killing him. Jeff was hit by the front of the semi, wedged underneath, and dragged approx. 80 feet. He suffered some broken ribs, a broken arm, a broken femur, and some facial injuries. There may be more that I do not know of. There was no internal damage or injuries found! PTL! As of today, he is out of ICU, off the ventilator and various tubes, is alert, and can remember all of the details of the accident. I asked many of you to pray for him, and for financial provision. God has answered those prayers. A woman who heard of the accident came to the hospital and found my niece, Alex. She told her she had been praying for her all day and gave her an envelope. It contained $100. Their church took an offering for them and raised $500. Their landlord said the rent for next month is covered and not to worry about it! His job is as an independent contractor, so no workers comp coverage, etc. Please keep on praying for them and for God to continue to provide for them. We serve an awesome God who sometimes allows things to come into our lives that do not make sense to us! But, He is always there right beside us through those times. We simply need to trust and obey. I know it is easier said than done. Bless you all for your prayers. I know they appreciate them. They are the first to praise and glorify God, knowing it is all Him.

3rd week

We are getting more names with the right faces! Jim preached last Sunday. It went well, he received several positive comments. His topic was prayer. His time was cut short due to a special presentation. He had to rush through things and leave others out to finish on time.

This week has been full of long days and evening activities. The kids and I do not have much to occupy our time after school is done each day. Many evenings this week have been filled with church activities, bible studies, and home visits. We are getting to know more of people's hearts. There are so many possibilities for God to work in this church!

Jim had another meeting with Ralph. He even discovered some other Christians know Ralph, and are sharing Christ with him also. With more people sharing and praying, we are even more excited to see how God works in Ralph's life. He mentioned Jim to his other friends, he pays attention to what he hears, too.

Seminary continues to occupy much of Jim's time. It is tough! He only has 3 more weeks for his current class. Please pray for him to have the time management necessary, clarity of recall for tests, and wisdom in writing his paper.

Nathan and Alicia continue to assimilate. They have been heading up some small group discussions in the youth group. Nathan continues to amaze us with how he is learning to put himself out there more and speak up. Alicia sang with some other youth in a church music program last evening. They still need to find someone to hang out with.

The weather is crazy this week. Tuesday there was record setting temperatures, a high of 74 degrees. We loved it, spent the afternoon at the park. Today we woke up to it snowing and sticking! It has melted in the hours since. We have had warm sun, cloudy skies, rain, snow, hail, and wind this week! And we thought Oregon had mixed up weather!

Many of you have checked in this week, thanks for that, we appreciate it. Knowing you guys are behind us and supporting us in prayer means the world to us. We continue to pray for you, and invite you to share your requests with us. We miss you and love you. Have a wonderful week!

Week 2

Thanks for praying for Jim's meeting with Ralph. It went well. Jim got to share Christ with him. He thinks he will make it to heaven by being good. He doesn't go to church because they are full of hypocrites. They are meeting again next week, so keep praying!

On Monday, we met with a couple who are part owners with their son of a T-shirt printing business. We went out to lunch with them, then got a tour of the business. It was fascinating. They do embroidery and screen printing. We got to see both in progress. It takes quite a bit of time and man hours to do screen printing. The embroidery is all automated except for loading the machines, snipping extra threads, and trimming off extra "stiffening" fabric from the back.

Last night, we had our first home visit. We had a great time getting to know this family. They have property with a fantastic view of the city. It is the first of many such visits. This afternoon we are meeting with a man who worked with us on our house building project here last fall. Tonight, Jim and I will be helping with a youth event. It is the culmination of the "30 hour Famine", to promote awareness of world hunger. We are all participating and fasting today. Tomorrow, Jim has Association training in the morning, then we get to go tour the house we helped work on last fall at Ness Lake Bible Camp in the afternoon. Sunday, Jim is preaching and would appreciate your prayers for him. Monday evening, we have another home visit scheduled.

As you can tell, our schedule is picking up. Jim spends most of his days at church. Between church work and studying, he has more than enough to keep him busy. We are finding out lots about what kinds of things and events have been tried to get more young families involved at church. They have tried many creative things, but none have been successful. Please continue to pray that God will work in hearts and lives, and lead us to the ideas He is working on to bring more people to Himself and to Fort George.

We miss you all! You have been awesome about keeping in touch! Thanks for the prayers, support, and encouragement.

Ralph

Jim has made contact with Ralph. He is taking him out for coffee Thursday at 10 am. Please pray during this time for the Holy Spirit to soften Ralph's heart and for Him to lead Jim's speech.

First full week

This has been a week of learning. Too much information has been passed on! We only hope to remember the important stuff. Jim spent many hours at church, some on church work , the rest on studies. He had lots of "meetings". We did pretty well on names at church this morning! We are thinking of doing a board like they have at Salem E, taking pictures and labeling them with names to help us learn faster. We feel we have settled in, and are now scheduling visits. This week we will step it up, so to speak. We are scheduled to visit several couples/families this week. It will be good to get out of the trailer more. The walls are closing in fast! We did lots of walking to get out this week.

Jim had to get his SS equivalent here this week. They call it Social Insurance here, so you guessed it, he can his SIN card this week! He claims it is legal for him to "sin" in Canada (smile). We got lots of business paperwork completed this week to make it legal for Jim to work and get paid here. We even got "an offshore" bank account, (an account outside of the US). Now we can go back to using "the card" instead of cash. I did not like carrying around too much cash all the time.

On a more serious note, Jim met a man named Ralph while waiting in line at the Social Insurance office. He and his wife used to attend Fort George. She left him many years ago, because he was a "bad sinner". Jim invited him to come to church, but he declined saying he was too bad to attend church. Jim did get his phone number so he could contact him again. Please pray for Ralph, that Jim could show him the truth that we are all "bad sinners" yet God loves us anyway. We would love to show Ralph the way to Jesus.

Due to the walls closing in, I have been melancholy this week. Please pray for joy and excitement to build as we begin to minister. Also, please pray for Nathan and Alicia to find friends their age. They have both been involved at church, but they need people to hang out with. Nathan was asked last week if he would be willing to train on running the sound system. He did that last Sunday, and then was asked 2 times this week to run it. He did it for a funeral last week, and then for the service today. Alicia helped in Sunday School last week, and then helped lead worship today.

We all feel very prayed over. Keep them coming. Love to you all.

God is Good, All the Time!

God is so good! He is faithful to us in so many ways. We enjoyed a warm welcome, and a great Resurrection worship time yesterday. The people here are overjoyed to have us here. We are working on learning their names. We knew most of the core group previously. Now, to get to know the rest. We are working on how to go about visiting and making contact with the families we have been requested to visit. We are also establishing relationships with our landlords and neighboring RVers.

One more miracle happened to us yesterday. A couple from church pulled me aside after the service. They explained that they felt God leading them to pay the space rent on our RV spot for the months we are here. If that was not amazing enough, the check was for exactly to the dollar the space rent PLUS the cost of the part we needed to repair our truck on the way up!!!!! Should we be surprised? No! But we were blown away. We keep seeing God's hand in all that happens, and are confident that He is up to great things. We can't hardly wait each day to see how He continues to work. Thanks for all your prayers, we can definitely feel them.

God's amazing Provision

It is totally a God thing, but we have arrived in Prince George! Getting across the border was the first hurdle. We had to wait for an hour for paperwork to process, but they were helpful in giving documentation that will make it easier to cross in the future. We stopped for dinner about 6pm Tues. in a little town called Cache Creek. We pulled out of town, headed for our stopping point for the night. It was only 4o more miles or so. All of the sudden, the truck jerked to the left. Jim thought he had a flat tire. After some inspection, he thought maybe a brake was sticking. We tried to move again. We made it 1/4 mile. There was better place to stop. Nathan and Jim took off the tire. That is when he knew he lost the 4x4 hub on the left. We had no choice but to camp out right where we were. We assumed he would have to go into Kamloops to get a part, it was 50 miles away. But, God had other plans. After a cold night, with our furnace running all night it was still only 53 degrees in the trailer, Jim drove into Cache creek in the van. There was a part in stock at the local auto parts store!!!!! The name of the store was Lordco. Does anyone else think that is amazing?!? We took off yesterday morning, only 1 hour and a few miles behind schedule. We arrived and got all hooked up. We are at the church this morning figuring out where to start. Thanks for all you prayers! Only God got us here, we were told here without a Pastor's license, we should have been turned away at the border. God is good, and He must have something amazing in store.

We were blessed by our Salem E family last night. What a wonderful time of prayer we shared together! We will miss you all, but feel confident that your prayers on our behalf will continue. We were touched by the love we felt surrounded by all of you. We are excited to see what God has in store!

Today is the big day. We take off in the wonderful weather we are experiencing today. We will be delayed a little, because we have some yard cleanup to do after the high winds last night. Thanks again for your encouragement and support.

Saying Goodbye to Family

Thanks Neifert family for the awesome send off. It was great to spend time with all of you. We will miss the family gatherings in the next few months. You all are the best, and we will miss you. We know you will be praying for us and that is the most we can ask.

Cutting the apron strings

Yesterday, we moved Jamie into Salem. It was a sad day for both Mom and daughter. Even though she was coming back to the house today to clean her room, it was still hard to leave her in her new domain. It was even harder to watch her leave today. Her empty room is a sad reminder to me that she is all grown up now. It will be exciting to see where God leads her in the coming months regarding college, missions, and her career/major choice. Our son, Spenser, has a new girlfriend and it is fun to watch the two of them together. Leaving the Salem area next week will be hard for me, but I am looking forward to seeing what God is planning in Prince George. So many things are lining up and falling into place, that something big must be in store! I still have way too many things to do in preparation to leave. God will need to give me physical strength to make it through the next few days. They will be full of packing, cleaning, and saying good-bye. Next post will probably be from Prince George.

Kids off on Mission Trip

We left the house at 5:30 am to send off Nathan and Alicia with our Salem Evangelical Youth. They are on their way to San Francisco to work with the homeless in the tenderloin district. Please pray for the group of 27 as they travel today, and serve the Lord this week. Jim and I will be packing and getting ready to head out to Prince George the following week. Our family shared a wonderful visit with Jim's brother and his family last night. Catching up with laughter is a good way to spend the evening.

Bible Study

Had a great send off with my ladies' Bible Study last night. The food was fantastic! Thanks to all who contributed. It ended with the sweetest time of prayer. I always enjoy the learning and the laughter. You ladies rock!

Starting Up

Hi! We are just starting to figure out how to do this. Will post more as events occur.