Spearfish

Pastor Jim & Cindy Roberts

 We enjoyed a wonderful time with Pastors Jim and Cindy Roberts and the folks at Solid Rock Church in Spearfish, SD last night.  Jim and Mike were classmates at Central High School in Rapid City and spent much of our meal time together reminiscing about their school days.  During the conversation, they discovered they also were classmates in fifth and sixth grades!

At the church, we shared about Hungary and INSTE and answered lots of questions about the country and our ministry there. Following our presentation, we were treated to delicious desserts and treats. This was our first time to visit this church and we received a tour of the building and learned a little bit of the history of the congregation.  We love hearing testimonies of how God works!

The Sanctuary

Solid Rock Church

Working Missionary

Pastor Rick Brennan (left) and Mike working on foundation improvements. George, a church member also working on the project, is in the background.

Rick and Diane Brennan, pastors of Summit Fellowship Open Bible Church in Belle Fource, South Dakota, have graciously housed us in their home for the past ten days to save us having to pay for hotel rooms and to allow us to remain in one place while visiting churches in the Black Hills area.  May the Lord bless them for it.

Pastor Rick mentioned that he had planned on working around the foundation of the parsonage this week.  Earlier this year they had water seepage into the basement, so they needed to build up the ground around the foundation and lay some special material to help keep the water out.  Mike volunteered to help.  He sure got a good workout!

Belle Fourche, South Dakota

Sunday we spoke at the Summit Fellowship in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.  We enjoyed the refreshing presence of the Holy Spirit during the entire service.  After the service, we filled up on delicious food at a potluck meal. 

We met some awesome people in Belle Fourche--a Level Two INSTE Bible College student who is studying online, the sister of one of our classmates from Open Bible College, and a man who was in Mike's youth group when he was youth pastor many years ago in Austin, MN. 

Mike took time in the service to honor a special lady, Fern Johnson.  Sister Johnson and her late husband Earl were pastors at the Open Bible Church in Rapid City when Mike was a teenager.  They powerfully influenced his life for Christ. Without them, Mike would not be where he is today in his ministry and relationship with Jesus Christ.  Thank you, Sister Johnson!

Mike with Fern Johnson

Sturgis Ice Cream and Belle Fourche Youth

Enjoying some ice cream sundaes in Sturgis, SD

 Wednesday evening we met the lovely folks at the Open Bible Church in Sturgis, South Dakota.  After we told them about our ministry in Hungary, we were invited to join them for ice cream sundaes.  That was a delicious treat made even better by getting to know more of the people.  An added plus was that their newly-elected pastors, Mike and Leslie Smith, whom we've known for years, were at the service.

Nancy speaking to the youth in Belle Fourche, SD

Thursday evening we spoke to the youth group at the Summit Open Bible Church in Belle Fourche.  The evening began with nachos and cookies for everyone (yum!), after which we spoke for a few minutes and showed some pictures of Hungary and its customs.  This was followed with a find-the-safety-pins-in-the-bowl-of-rice game.  Mike and I were given the chance to play and Mike won.

Mike and Nancy even got to play

The youth trying to find safety pins in rice

Friday we took a day to be tourists and toured the Black Hills.  Everywhere we went, we marveled at God's awesome handiwork.

South Dakota East to West

Yesterday we traveled from eastern South Dakota to western South Dakota.  We have always enjoyed the changes in landscape from one border to the other.

At first we drove through farmland including lots of sunflower fields.

Soon the fields of crops gave way to rolling hills more suitable to livestock grazing.

The road was almost empty of traffic and the only trees we saw were along streams and in valleys.

When in the distance we saw Bear Butte, we knew we were close to our destination, the beautiful Black Hills.

Pictures of the Black Hills to come.

Huron, SD

Saturday we traveled through some beautiful farmland on our way to Huron, South Dakota.  Once we left the Interstate, the traffic was sparse and the driving easy.  Huron is a town of about 12,000 people and the Church of the Open Bible provides spiritual and physical food to many of them.

Sunday morning we were welcomed by the congregation and enjoyed worship led by Pastor Dean Lindstad. Then Sunday evening we cooked Hungarian Paprika Potato Soup for the youth and spoke to them about Hungary and the call of God.  What a great time we had with everyone.

Preparing the potatoes

Youth enjoying the Hungarian meal

Paprikás krumpli

Pastor Dean and Nancy had planned to have us stay with them in their home, but just a few d

ays before we arrived, they discovered a leak in their kitchen that had been hidden for some time, causing damage to the kitchen and basement.  They kindly put us up in a motel to spare us the inconvenience of their torn-up kitchen (poor folks), but showed us wonderful hospitality nonetheless.

Thank you, Huron, for letting us visit you!  

Sioux Falls Visit

Oh, my! It's been 10 days since we updated the blog.  A lot has happened in those 10 days, too.

We finally finished our last medical test and all the tests showed we are healthy.  Praise God!  As I've said before, the older we get, the more tests we have to take when we have our required physicals.  However, it is good for everyone to keep up on health screenings, even if you don't plan to live overseas.

Over the weekend, we went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and visited Faith Temple.  We were welcomed warmly and the response to our message was very good.  Thanks, Faith Temple!

The Faith Temple pastors, Jeff and Rhonda Hayes, went to Open Bible College with us.  We enjoyed a wonderful time together on Monday morning catching up and laughing about stories from our college days.  It's a wonder we weren't kicked out of Cracker Barrel for laughing too loud and long!

We were able to spend Sunday afternoon with Mike's extended family.  We shared lunch together and enjoyed meeting new family members and listening to the stories told by the older generation.  Vernon and Tom, were all those stories really true and not exaggerated?

Since Sioux Falls is not too far from Austin, Minnesota, where our son and his family live, we took the opportunity to spend a few days with them between church visits.  There's nothing like hugs from a grandchild!

Our next service will be at the Church of the Open Bible in Huron, South Dakota, Sunday morning at 10:30.  If you are in the area, come see us.

Sunshine and Relatives

Mike and I went our separate ways this past weekend.  Mike remained in Des Moines and ministered at Sunshine Open Bible Church on Sunday morning.  From what I hear, it was a great service. 

Randall Bach, President of Open Bible Churches attended the service with his wife Barbara and reported that Mike gave an excellent presentation of the ministry in Hungary.  I am so sorry I missed it and also missed out on giving hugs to many long-time friends in the church I grew up in.

But, I thought it was important to travel to Dallas with my sister Neola to celebrate our Aunt Ida Mae's 100th birthday.  Over 100 friends and relatives attended this important occasion including five of our cousins from our dad's side of the family.  We enjoyed visiting with them and with some family friends.  One of them, 86-year-old Paul Allen, was introduced to the crowd as the baby Aunt Ida Mae took care of when she was 14!

On the way to Dallas, we spent the night with our 93-year-old Uncle John, our mother's only surviving sibling. What a pleasure it is to honor our elders!

Along the way, we met other relatives including our cousin Sue and our sisters Abbey and Leota.  It was an exhausting trip, accomplished in just four days, but well worth the time and effort.  Thank you, Neola, for letting your little sister tag along!