Weekend in Scotts Valley

I have just arrived back in El Dorado, at my mom and dad's house, and will fly out to Nashville Tennessee tomorrow for the TRACS conference. I had been in Scotts Valley meeting with our friends at Gateway Bible Church and staying with my brother Doug and his family. I had a great visit with them as Doug and Diane took care of us Veeeery well.

On Friday and Monday I met with Jim Bartell and John McCabe to plan a Gateway project to help us renovate a house in Yap into a new PIBC Yap classroom, library, computer lab and office. Jim and John had a lot of good ideas about the project and brought a lot of enthusiasm into it. They are hoping to bring a small group of contractors out to Yap to work with local workers to get the job done in January-February. When we complete the project it will be a great benefit to PIBC and to the Yap church.

The main purpose of the trip was to speak at Gateway's service on Sunday. It was the first Sunday of "Missions Month" and I was honored to kick it off. They did a great job of raising awareness of the importance of each person in the church participating in missions, decorating the church and I was very encouraged by their obvious focus on the kingdom of God and extending it to the "ends of the earth." It was also fun to see so many old friends. Gateway has been supporting our mission work since we began in 1984 and we are very thankful for their faithfulness to us and to the mission. I was also encouraged by the enthusiasm of the Missionary Action Comittee (pictured left) as we discussed mission strategy over a delicious pizza after the service. Thank you pastors Dan and Fred for a great day. I am excited about what God is doing at Gateway!

I also had a chance to visit with old friends Jeff and Christy McKim. Jeff has been helping PIBC out with some grant writing and research so this was a good opportunity to touch base with Jeff on some fund raising opportunities. I spent Halloween with them at their house comparing grandchildren pictures and enjoying Christy's killer enchiladas.

If it wasn't so cold, it would have been a perfect weekend. I know the area needs rain, but why did it have to be so rainy (pouring) and cold when I was there? ;)