Last weekend’s conference in Fayetteville went extremely well. Our music session hadn’t been scheduled, but after discussions with the church elders, it was decided to squeeze it in Saturday during the long lunch break. The family scrambled to set up the sound system, and tune instruments. We love to be able to play and sing at our conferences because it allows those attending to see our whole family together.

Heritage Bible Church, which invited us to speak and sponsored the conference, is a family church without programs. If you live in the area, you might want to look into it if you want a family integrated church.

We haven’t had time to tell about our first weekend conference in the Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania area. Grace Covenant Baptist Church hosted the conference. We ended up outgrowing their building, and the pastor’s family found another church in a nearby city where the conference could be held. Grace provided Friday evening dinner, Saturday breakfast and lunch for the entire conference at no cost. We loved seeing the servant attitude demonstrated by the church as they foresaw the needs to those attending the conference and then met those needs with the provision of meals. Grace Covenant Baptist Church, in the Wilkes-Barre, PA area, is another family church without programs.

Monday and Tuesday evenings we were in Rocky Mount. Again, we were pleased to see the response to the message God has allowed us to share in our conferences. The Rocky Mount and Wilson homeschool groups blessed us by giving us a surprise birthday cake for Jesse, who turned 12 on Monday.

We have been overwhelmed by the expressions of love shown us on this trip. Thank you to everyone.

Mom gave a ladies’ mini-conference in the Raleigh area this morning. We girls manned the book table, and the guys helped with getting more chairs when we ran out of room, opening doors, and helping with the tear down afterwards. We also squeezed in a few songs at the end of Mom’s last session.

We’re looking forward to this weekend’s Winston-Salem conference.

Joseph took this picture earlier this week; it always takes more than one trip with the cart!

Only for Jesus,
Sarah

Last night’s (Thursday) conference in Lynchburg went well. My joy is being able to share with young ladies in the girls’ workshop. I was thrilled when Dad told us on the way to the hotel last night that three fathers said they were going to give up their TVs. If only one father had a heart change for the direction of his family from each conference, this trip would be totally worth it! Praise Jesus for working in the hearts of those attending.

We’re working on our setup and tear down procedures of the book tables. The girls (Anna and Mary) do an incredible job with the book table set up. I used to do most of it myself, but they are now trained to set up the whole thing by themselves. The guys hand truck in the tubs and boxes that we need.

We’ll try for some tear down photos at a future conference.
Only for Jesus,
Sarah

We finished our two-evening conference in the Oneonta area (upstate New York). Jesus greatly blessed our time! Our first several days of traveling and conferences had been very intense, so we were grateful for two days to get extra rest and re-energize. We stayed in a small, cute town called Franklin.

Both evenings went smoothly. We were amazed by several families who had driven long distances to come. What a blessing!

A special highlight for me was the visit of a childhood friend of mine and her new husband. They were on their honeymoon, and it worked out for them to see us! The amazing part is they live in Alaska, and we live in Kansas; so it was a miracle to be in the same area at the same time. Lolly illustrated Autumn with the Moodys and Winter with the Moodys.

Sarah and Lolly

We’re looking forward to doing a one-evening conference in Lynchburg, Virginia. Then, we’ll be doing a conference in Fayetteville this weekend. We’ll work at getting some more pictures.

We’ve enjoyed meeting many families and are excited to see more of you as the trip continues!

Only for Jesus,
Sarah

We are blessed by the conferences so far. We drove from Wilkes-Barre, PA, to Oneonta, NY, last night. God blessed the drive, but we were very tired when we arrived. These next two days will be the first opportunity to rest and catch up during the day because we don’t have to drive.

On the way here, we stopped for fuel, and I had a chance to speak with the 21-year-old young man who was the station attendant. I asked him if he knew where he was going to spend eternity, and he told me "hell." I asked him if that concerned him, and he said, "no."

I told him he couldn’t be serious because no one can tolerate that kind of pain. He said he could because pain is something you get used to.

I looked around for one of the lighters that they always sell at check-out counters and said, "That isn’t true. A person could not hold his finger over the lighter flame because of the pain, and that is nothing compared to the pain of hell."

In defiance, he grabbed a lighter, lit it, and put his finger over the flame for a second or maybe two. I admit I was a bit horrified inside as I watched this demonstration of such hardness. He then put the lighter back in its place and said, "See, I told you."

I pleaded with him, "Come on. Be honest. It hurt so badly that you had to quit." To my amazement, he insisted, "It didn’t hurt, but I didn’t want to make a mess on the counter." As he told me this, I noticed how he was pressing the side of his finger against the top of the counter with great pressure in an attempt to stop the pain.

I asked if he had ever read the Bible, and he said he had read it completely. It was time to go, and I asked would he be willing to pray and tell God that if God would reveal Himself to him, He would believe.

He told me he had done that, too, some time ago. He then demonstrated what he had done previously. He turned his face up toward the ceiling and in an angry, hateful voice shouted at God in a vile, cursing way. I shuddered to hear anyone "talk" that way to my God, the Savior of my soul, Who is the most Precious in all the world. To my amazement, he then confessed that within a minute or so of his response to God, the plaster on his ceiling fell in on him.

With a sad heart and pity, I concluded with, "But don’t you see the hardness of your heart and how God did reveal Himself to you? Don’t you have any fear of God?" After he said, "No way!" it was time to go and leave him to his end.

If God should prompt you, please pray for this young man that as his finger continues to hurt, he will think about hell and eternity. We would also be grateful for you prayers as we continue to speak to hearts.

One dad came up after the conference in Pittsburg and asked for suggestions on how to tell a seven-year-old son, who loved TV, that as of that night it was gone from their home. I shared when I had difficult things to share with my children I would repent before them and tell them how wrong I had been and asked them if they would forgive me. I also inquired about personal and family devotions. He then shared with a humble spirit, that from that night on, they would never have a problem having family devotions. Whewwww. That brother did so much to bless and encourage me that night.

These trips can be exhausting, but just one dad, with that kind of courage, fills and strengthens me. I praise God. Please pray for families to forsake the world and seek Jesus with their hearts and time.

Steve

This morning came quickly (a little too quickly for several of us who stayed up late finishing trip preparations), and we were all excited about our trip. Grandad, Grandma, Nathan, and Melanie came over to say good-bye, and Grandad prayed a special prayer of blessing and protection for us as we travel. Grandad’s prayer is a highlight to the beginning of our trips. (Notice our sweet Golden in the middle? She’s always sad when we leave, but Nathan and Melanie take good care of her!)

After praying and saying good-bye, we headed out for our month-long trip. Dad could tell our trailer was feeling different than our other trips, so he phoned the place where we bought the trailer. Dad shared in a blog post last week about how right before we leave on a trip, the pressures and trials come. This trip was no exception. Dad had discovered an issue with the trailer last week, so he’d taken it in to be worked on. When the repairs were finished, everything appeared fine. (Dad after he had pulled the van into the trailer garage in preparation for the work we thought would need to be done. But, as it all worked out, we didn’t need it!)

As we hit the interstate and were up-to-speed, the trailer began swaying. Praise the Lord for His protection, and Dad kept control of the van and trailer. We drove to the nearby trailer place, and Dad, Joseph, and John worked at reloading the trailer. We knew that improper loading could cause it to sway, and that’s why we had bought a scale to verify the tongue weight. However, we had weighed it incorrectly. Instead of the 700 pounds of tongue weight we thought we had, we only had 200! So, after the guys had re-proportioned the weight to the correct amount, we were set. Dad praised the Lord over such an incredible answer to prayer.

We plan to drive to Dayton, Ohio tonight. Then, tomorrow, we’re on to our first conference stop, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We hope to meet many of you this trip!

Only for Jesus,
Sarah

I’m glad I don’t have the job of packing the inside of the trailer. Dad is the expert packer!

Dad and the boys had packed all the heavy books and other books last night. This morning they loaded all our personal bags and other things.