September 21-28

September 21, 2017 continued

After doing laundry, at 10pm we went back to Valtiroty Shiloh’s Tabernacle and ate dinner with the gentleman.  He is quite the character!  He is from Romania and came to US as a young man and went to Loma Linda and Andrews to become a pastor.  Although he says he didn’t learn anything there on how to become an evangelist but learned it all in Romania as a child where they educate from a young age to all the children how to be evangelists no matter what their profession in life.  He then was sent to Israel to pastor.  When he arrived in Israel there were 40 Adventists, and his church had 15.  He was there for a little over a decade and in that time the SDA membership grew to 1500 with his being over half of them.  He spoke 7 languages and church was in multiple languages.  He would have a different language group meet in his home each day of the week for Bible study.  His main method of growing the church was to tell everyone to let him know whenever someone new moved into their community.  So each day he visited the new people, befriended them, spoke to them about the straight up word of God, studied the Bible, and his church grew by the grace of God. 

While traveling through Mitchell,SD with his family, they stopped at the Corn Palace.  Across the street they noticed a doll museum and felt impressed to purchase it.  They thought it ridiculous, but inquired as to the price.  The owner said she had just dropped it from $400,000 to $250,000.  They had no money.  They returned to their home near Loma Linda, CA and continued to feel impressed they were to purchase it.  He decided to put out a fleece.  If the lady would sell it to him for less than half, he would buy it.  He called her and she said she would sell it for $120,000, so he went to all of his family members and friends, collected money, and purchased it.  He still didn’t know why.  A few months later God revealed His plan – to turn it into a center of evangelism.  He constructed his replica tabernacle – although he is not an artist he painted beautiful scenes on walls and built these structures – truly an act of God.  He told miraculous stories late into the night.  One was of a Pastor of a non-denomination church who visited and told this man all the biblical truth and said, “It is so hard for me to pastor a church where I cannot teach biblical truth.  Please pray for me.”  He does Bible studies with many local people and people traveling through who live all across America. He reaches 3,000-4,000 people per year.  Pray for this self-supporting Pastor living by faith!  He is a modern-day Paul!  We hated to leave his company – but finally headed to bed shortly before midnight.  But it is one more friend we have made for eternity!  And we will have time that will not run out then for him to tell us more stories!

September 22, 2017

                We drove out to Ingalls Homestead near De Smet, SD.  This is where most of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books were based from such as On the Shores of Silver Lake, and The Long Winter.  This is where she met her husband and married.  We saw how they lived.  The wind was blowing fierce.  It reminded me of the picture on the front of one of her books – I just wanted to put up my skirt and go running through the tall prairie grass with my pigtails flying.  It really caused us all to see the beauty of simplicity.  As we saw how hard they had to work to eat and how little they ate, it made us realize how blessed we truly are.

                One story I found very interesting that showed how much religion has changed in a short amount of time.  There was a sign that showed ma’s new sewing machine that Pa brought home Saturday afternoon.  Ma was so excited to try it out, but she patiently waited until Sunday was past and joyously put it to work on Monday.  Back then even the Sunday keepers kept the day holy from personal hobbies and work!

                We then spent a long day driving: through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and arriving in Michigan, Wyoming.

September 23, 2017

                In Michigan, WY is a Jeff Young (a gentleman we met on our mission trip to Panama and then again Mexico the last two years).  He is a leader of a very active youth group who he brings about 10-20 each year on the Mexico Mission trip.  Their church had the church service first.  Benjamin had been asked to play the piano for the service; what a treat as we all miss having a piano on board!  Following church we had Sabbath School (and very full classes since church was first!) and then a youth potluck.  After youth potluck we headed to a nearby SDA church that is comprised of Haitian refugees.  The youth sang together and did special music for each other.  Afterward we headed to downtown Detroit and handed out water bottles and glo tracks and spoke, sang, and prayed to the homeless.  It was a joyous blessing!  Finally, we headed to the local Spanish church where the youth put on a vespers of special music.  Benjamin and his very good friend Dante played a piano/organ duet.  The organ there sounded amazing!  They played several piano duets together before and afterward.  They are two brothers linked by their love for piano.  On the piano they are like speakers who finish each other’s sentences; they do not practice but just sit down and play together in the same spirit.  Oh, we wish we could enjoy their music longer!  Our family also sang “Little Talk with Jesus” for the program.  Afterward we hung out with our closest friends till after midnight talking and singing hymns acapella.  We hated to see each other go – not knowing when we will see each other again – but we have the hope of heaven and companionship for eternity!

September 24, 2017

                Sunday we headed to the Adventist Historical Museum in Battle Creek, Michigan.  All of us except Serenity were there in April, but Serenity wanted to go and we were happy to go again.  We still learned more!  It was inspiring to hear the stories of great sacrifice made for the cause of Christ and the great miracles wrought.  It was inspiring to sit in the church where Ellen White had her vision of the civil war.  She prophesied there would be war and people in that very room would lose their sons.  Two men who were very into politics at the time walked out thinking this lady was crazy.  3 months to the day civil war broke out, and this gentleman lost his sons.  Dave’s favorite part is the room where EGW wrote the Great Controversy – one of his favorite books.  We drove by the gigantic and architectural beauty of the Sanitarium that is now used as a federal building.  In April we went to the cemetery and saw the gravestone for the White family and Sojourner Truth among many others – but Serenity is wise – she said she doesn’t care about gravestones!  Lol  So we drove into Detroit and parked at and SDA church – after accidentally turning into the Muslim church.  We saw the men all lined up and bowing toward the eastern wall.

September 25, 2017

Monday we went to the Henry Ford Museum (Dave was here in 1985 at the age of 15).  Entrance fees are expensive everywhere we are learning – to do all the stuff there it was $72 per person as a package deal.  Fortunately, they had a family membership and for $260 total we had two full days. The kids might need to start playing their fiddles and put out a hat….  lol  We began with Greenfield Village.  We saw the Firestone family farm – they run it as a working farm 24 hours a day with everything being operated in that era just as they did.  We saw pottery, glass, blacksmithing, and weaving.  We saw many buildings from that age including Edison’s workshops.  In the Henry Ford Museum we saw the agriculture equipment, old furniture collection, the history of power in America, and how time has changed our society.  We then watched some Imax films on National Parks, Aircraft Carriers, and Dreaming Big.  It was a hot day in the 90’s – a sweatbox in the motorhome!  We drove to Walmart and bought groceries and ate supper but were told we couldn’t park there for the night – so we headed across the street to Target to park for the night.

We received word that our very dear friend Mike Ludwig had died suddenly of a heart attack.  Mike came down with Parkinson’s several years ago and has fallen a helpless victim to this disease.  He was tired of fighting the disease.  He was such a godly friend and an inspiration to us.  We had a great time flying remote controlled airplanes two weeks ago at our church parking lot in Startup.  He will be missed as an amazing friend and knowledgeable biblical resource, but we know God knows best and that he mercifully laid him to rest but that we will see him soon when Jesus comes again!  And his body will be strong again – and we will sing hymns together with loud voice, have lots of time to sit and talk, and travel the world together without the need of an airplane.  His testimony was always inspiring.

September 26, 2017

                Tuesday we chose to be in the A/C.  We toured the Henry Ford Rough factory where they make Ford F150 trucks.  WOW! That was amazing to see such a gigantic assembly line at work!  The kids were not impressed with how slowly each worker worked.  They thought the assembly line could be sped up!  Watching the robots put in windshields was cool.  It made Dave want a new Ford truck – thankfully our Dodge still works!  In the afternoon we finished the Henry Ford Museum: mathematics, liberty and justice for all, heroes of the sky, driving America, presidential vehicles, and railroads. Dave is shocked at how much it has changed.  A lot of the things they had before or no longer here.  It also presents a very purposeful socialized agenda.  We had lots of educational discussion in the motorhome that night with our kids.  We are truly living in the last days when history has been rewritten and individuality promoted.

Everyday Life

                ORGANIZATION: There are many differences of life in a motorhome – some of which we foresaw and others we did not.  Of course there is the issue of space.  We all live simply with little.  We have organized our cabinets and everything has fit well – in fact we have space left over!  We are learning to keep our items in their storage places so we can walk through our small space.  We have learned to shut the doors/drawers all the way after having one closet door break and come tumbling down.  Backing up involves a running boy to the back to act a back-up camera.

EATING: For breakfast we either eat pancakes or oatmeal.  The trial is that if it is hot outside, turning on the stove or oven within minutes heats our motorhome to over 100 degrees.  For lunch we eat salad or sandwiches, and for supper we eat salad again.  Part of this is to keep the heat down, the other part is to eat healthy! (2 out of the 6 people have discovered that sitting in a motorhome on vacation caters to unwanted weight gain – not good since we are only 2 weeks into the trip…)  Of course there is also the challenge of sometimes preparing food while driving.  I had just finished cutting a gigantic bowl of fresh pears when Dave hit the brakes and it went flying through the motorhome… Benjamin said it was extra protein!  Dishes involve very little water, soap, and a calculated wash, rinse, and air dry process.

SCHEDULE:  We all wake up in the morning, make up beds, get dressed, read our Bibles, eat breakfast, have family worship, and then hit the road for our next destination.  We eat lunch in our motorhome whether on the road, or we come back to it.  Supper is again in the motorhome either on the go or parked in a parking lot.  Because we all have a small space we must all go to bed at the same time – and hold still.  If the kids roll too much, I get seasick in the back!  Showers are twice a week, although if someone gets desperate there are baby wipes or very quick showers.  Our hot water heater does heat up enough for 6 continuous showers – PRAISE THE LORD!!!  But we just don’t have enough water for showers every day.

WHERE WE PARK:  Parking at night can be tricky – SDA church parking lots are a joy!  Rest stops  are great too!  Wal-Mart parking lots or anything else we can find are ok, but we fear being woken up and asked to move in the middle of the night.  By finding parking lots though we will save a lot of money.  However, all of these accommodations mean bright lights, lots of road and other noise, and no privacy.  Driving down the road is also a noisy process as windows jiggle, bumps are hit, and the engine winds up to pull us up hills. I am longing for a nice quiet camping spot somewhere up in some woods!  Or a place along the beach where the sound of the waves will drown out all the other noises.   I had complained about our new home in Newport, WA being too quiet – but I take back my words; I am ready for the silence!  J

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED SO FAR ON OUR TRIP

                INDUSTRIALIZATION – While the industrialization of our nation brought all these added perks, we realize it has brought even into our world faster than none other.  Two bank robbers actually wrote Henry Ford a letter thanking him for producing such a fast and reliable getaway car.  We may laugh, but do we realize the tendency to evil all these luxurious in life bring us?  One luxury is not enough, it must constantly be evolving to find some newer and better gadget so we can be even more lazy.  The say that shortly 90% of the earth’s population will live in the city.  That sounds scientifically and socially great – one question – where is the food going to come from?  You can’t have 90% of the population living off welfare or working at a computer as a college educated individual if there is no food.  The city will die in a week.  Think about that scientists…  The farms are dying across America.  The farmer can’t afford to keep paying all the expenses.  Nobody can get into farming anymore because you can’t afford the farmland.  When this generation of farmer’s die, where will our food come from?

                THE FAMILY – When we were at the working farm the weaver mentioned that in those days the father’s job was to financially support the family, and the mother’s job was to produce large and upright families in the community and society.  That hit me hard.  It shows why our nation is falling apart – the family foundation has fallen.  This is a goal that needs to become preeminent in my mind.  The next day we entered the section on women’s liberty.  Do we not realize that all the “liberty” we gained was enslavement to now bear the responsibility of both father and mother?  And so we have sacrificed the mother’s duties, to pursue just the financial duties.  The women’s liberty movement caused us to lose our personal freedom to raise prosperous families, and in the end will cost our liberty when our society falls apart from not having upright citizens.

                THE LAND OF AMERICA – We have a huge land – we have driven 3400 miles and this land still goes on!  (Dave says it is time to change the oil!)  Everywhere we look there is beautiful land and prosperous land.  Even South Dakota was beautiful and lush.  Every place we go has its own beauty and its own natural resources.  God has truly blessed our land!  There is so much potential.  It makes me want to become a farmer.

                SPIRITUALITY – Our Nation has lost its focus on God.  Our goal has become money, personal prosperity, building up of a mighty kingdom – self-indulgence in food, sports, hobbies, and all around self-pleasure.  We are trained to have pity for each individual’s cause, rather than pointing each individual to Christ – who is the ONLY answer to all of our individual causes.  We don’t know what sacrifice, hard work, or denying oneself for something higher is. 

                HISTORY – We have forgotten where we came from.   We forget the many people who sacrificed their lives – dying in war for freedom – dying from starvation to try and get to the west coast – dying from starvation while trying to farm enough and to feed their families.  This nation was built on self-denial, and yet I walk around thinking I have a “right” to all of my luxuries because “everybody else” has them.  Have I stopped to realize how blessed I am just simply to be alive and breathing?  How blessed I am to be able to travel across this nation and buy food, be safe, and learn all this stuff?  Have I stopped to see how blessed I am to not have my husband and children off at war or dying of starvation before my eyes?

                THE FUTURE – There are only two set things in the future:  Society to crumble, and Jesus to come.  So where do I stand in this?  First of all I need to prepare to see Jesus.  I need to get ready for that great event.  I want Jesus to be my very best friend and for everything I do to be for His honor and glory.  I want to sacrifice myself for a greater purpose as those before me in history have.  Second of all I want my family to be ready.  I only have 4 kids – nothing like the 20 kid families from those days in history – but I need to be purposefully planning and educating my children to be best friends with Jesus and productive members in society.  I need to teach them to be humble servants and to be ready to nobly die for the cause of Christ and for the benefit of their fellow mankind.  I think this can only happen as we go back in some areas of simplicity.  Maybe we need to wash clothes by hand again and see the sheets blowing in the wind; maybe we need to put our hands in that warm soapy water again and wash dishes by hand as a family; maybe we need to learn how to garden again and enjoy the fresh produce – to make up new recipes depending on the ripe vegetables for the day.  We have become creatures of robotic habit – we need to let our creativity flow and get back to the simple basics of life that bring true joy.

September 27, 2017

                Wednesday we got up and headed North and drove into Canada headed to Niagara Falls.  It was beautiful land – although we are discovering America has beautiful land everywhere!  Different, but beautiful.  We finally arrived at Niagara falls and it was HUGE!!!!  And beautiful!  We walked all around – until we were exhausted.  The funny thing is the part I enjoyed the most I think the was view of the river North of the falls – it was gorgeous and so spontaneous with tons of little falls everywhere.

                After the falls we headed back into America and headed North.  We stopped at a huge whirlpool just south of the falls at a huge bend in the river.  We then traveled North up to a fort from a war in 1812.  We then drove East along the coastline. We all fell in love with the beauty of Northern New York!  Dave said it was a good thing we had already bought a new house in Newport, or we would have stopped in upstate New York and become farmers.  The old houses are gorgeous and filled with so much character – the scenery is beautiful!  It like deciduous trees of all kinds I have not seen before and green like Western Washington.  It is rolling hills with farm fields and natural forest interspersed with views of lakes and rivers.  (Although the great lakes look like oceans!)  We stopped at sundown at a farmer’s market.  We bought a ton of fresh yummy produce.  Afterward Dave went to the house nearby and knocked.  A guy came to the door and knocked back with the same tempo as Dave’s knock and opened the door smiling.  He was an African man and said he owned the farm and that yes we could park in his parking lot.  It was a breezy, dark, and quiet night – perfect!  We slept like babies…  Dave said tonight he would try to find me a nice place to sleep.  I doubted because of history over the past two weeks, but he succeeded! 

September 28, 2017

                I awoke to the sounds of Zulu people working.  I felt like I had woken up in the movie “Faith Like Potatoes.”  I wanted to walk out into it.  But instead I enjoyed the sounds of this unique group of people – their dichotomous talk that sounds so harsh and yelling, and yet they laugh and smile so often.  We then drove to Edson Hiram’s house – a founder of the SDA movement.  It was such a neat experience to stand there on his farm – with cornfields all around – and imagine what they lived through.  It was inspiring to be reminded of his story – how his family came to the hopeful message of Christ’s return, the great disappointment, and he said everyone wept like nobody had ever wept before as the clock struck midnight.  The guys went out to the barn (must be equivalent to today’s man cave) and prayed.  They felt that God would reveal to them in time and so they left.  The next day, not thinking of themselves, they decided to go visit others and encourage them – but on the way, as he was walking through the cornfield, it hit him – he realized the sanctuary was up in heaven, not on earth.  He ran back home.  He had never done this before, but he prayed, randomly opened his Bible, and it fell open to Hebrews 8 and Paul discussing the sanctuary in heaven.  It all matched together.  He then sold his farm and the family silver to pay himself to publish a tract for other’s to know.  The tracts traveled – one all the way to the east coast where Joseph Bates got it, and traveled back to Hiram Edson.  Hiram shared with Joseph the truth of the sanctuary, and Joseph shared with Hiram the truth of the Sabbath.  And here we are today…

                We headed to Albany, NY.  On the way we stopped and saw some really cool Erie Canal History.  And finally we are at a laundromat doing laundry and boiling up some fresh sweet corn on the cob and fixing a cabbage salad for supper.  More history tomorrow….

10 year old Benjamin Neuharth with friend Dante Ureńa

Sabbath afternoon local youth visiting Haitian refugee youth

The first 10 days of our journey...

Every Journey Has a Beginning

Our journey began September 11, 2017.  Kind of seemed fitting – September 11 is a date that remains fixed in our minds that changed our nation forever.  It was also a date that I know will change our family forever.  One huge chapter closed in a book we never thought would close, and a whole new unknown segment of a book to be written. What will be written on the pages?  Only God knows…  The odometer of our 2002 ’33 Fleetwood Flair reads 50,745 miles.

We hoped to leave town by 10am, but like any huge transition, they don’t always go as smoothly as hoped.  First, we took all our belongings our family would need for the next four months and laid them on the asphalt in front of the motorhome.  In some ways it seemed like we had so much stuff it would never fit in, and in other ways it seemed like we didn’t have nearly enough things to survive 4 months.  We knew this would be a lesson in simplicity for us all.  But we have no idea what all we will face and need.  In traveling across the United States so much lies uncharted in our lives.  And then we also have a mission trip to Mexico where we will build churches and need supplies to sleep on the floor and sling mud onto bricks.  I hope we don’t forget something important!  As we loaded it all in, we soon found that we had lots of extra storage space available!  We had at least passed with flying colors the first lesson of simplicity.  You wonder what we packed?  7 days worth of clothes, bedding, toiletries, the food from our cupboards, 100 biography books, math books, a few tables of paper, Bibles, maps, cameras, and cell phones. 

                After saying our dearest goodbyes to family, signing some final paperwork for the sale of our home, dropping off the last few books at the library, and purchasing a few essentials, we drove out of town at 3pm.  We drove to Weiser, ID where we stayed with the Chism’s (Dave and Lisa’s friends) for two nights who we hadn’t seen in 2 years.  It was the typical “I can’t believe how much you have grown!” for all the kids.  We enjoyed the first day of no responsibility, the beauty of Southern Idaho, picking fresh delicious grapes from their grapevine, and most of all the friendship.

                Wednesday we drove to the McCarver’s home (Dave’s friend from Walla Walla College) in Nampa, Idaho.  While driving there – God was very good to us.  Planning a vacation while selling two homes yourself, packing, and moving, just doesn’t really happen in a timely manner.  So on the drive I thought to myself I should find out what I need to do to tour the historical SDA locations in the Northeast.  I googled (don’t know how we went on vacations before smart phones) and found that Southern Adventist University offered a college class that visits the historical locations and tells the stories.  I emailed the professor and asked how I could get the information and they said there was a book that had all the information.  I thought “I will never be able to find a place that has that book” – but I googled the Adventist Book Center in Boise and called them – they had one on the shelf on clearance.  Praise the Lord!  So Debbie McCarver took us to the Pacific Press and to the ABC to get our book. 

               

Pathfinder Camporee:

Thursday we got up, said our goodbyes, and headed to Twin Falls, ID for the Union Pathfinder Camporee – 1,500 people in Pathfinder uniforms!  We spent Thursday through Sunday morning there.  The kids did some sightseeing and completed honors such as blacksmithing and orienteering (using a compass to find a course).  Sabbath afternoon we went to Hagerman Fossil Beds and saw with our own eyes evidence from a global flood and the Oregon trail.  In the evenings our speaker brought alive the stories from Daniel.  In Daniel 1 as we read about Daniel and his friends standing up to follow God’s diet even in the midst of severe persecution and trial, we saw how God rewarded them by making them 10 times as smart.  It inspired us to let our lights shine for Jesus wherever we are.  As we read in Daniel 2 about Jesus coming again soon it caused 1,500 of us to shout “Hallelujah!” and prepare for His soon coming.  As we read in Daniel 3 about the fiery furnace we were inspired with their faith and trust in God.  They boldly said that God was capable of delivering them, but even if he chose not to, they would remain faithful to God.  It reminded us that God’s eye is on the sparrow – and I know He watches me.  I can sing because I’m happy; I can sing because I am free!  (No cage on earth can keep me from freedom in Christ!) In Daniel 6 as he was thrown into the Lion’s den we realized that persecution comes when we are faithful to God, but in the end our salvation is secure when we are with Him.

               

Plan for 160 Acres

When we tell people we purchased 160 acres usually the first question is “What are you going to do with 160 acres?”  I don’t know!  But I figured out one thing we can do.  Orienteering was a blast.  Somebody sets a course and then gives you measurements such as “450 yards  at 240 degrees.”  You go to that point and then you have another direction.  I realized this was a lot of fun and involved great skills.  1. Don’t Follow the Herd – I won’t say who, but somebody didn’t have their compass calibrated correctly and they headed out.  Everyone followed them.  There so happened to be a white ribbon near where they ended and so they thought they had found the first location.  But none of the other locations worked.  How silly we all felt for following the one person in the whole group  who had the wrong reading.  2. Pay attention to Detail- when following directions the tiniest little thing will get you off – if your steps aren’t the correct size, or your degree is off a few, or your compass isn’t perfectly lined up to your body, or you forget your count, etc.  3. Math- so many times my kids ask me why they have to learn math – and a lot of math is used in orienteering.  And it is a fun way to use math!  So our newest and craziest idea is to set up orienteering courses on our property and invite the families of the nation to start a new sport!

               

Amazing Testimony of Best Blacksmith in the world:

Dorothy Stiegler, a 72- year old lady taught blacksmithihng.  She is considered by many people the best blacksmith in the world charging $1000 an hour.  (You can google her and see her work and her testimonies.)  One night she gave her testimony of finding God and God leading her to blacksmithing.  One day the military called her husband up and said “If you don’t use your GI bill now, it will expire.  So her husband checked out the local community college and the only course they offered was horseshoeing.  So he excitedly told his wife they could become horseshoers and he signed up for the class.  But when he would come home at night he couldn’t explain it to his wife so he told her the following quarter she would have to sign up and learn it for herself.  She signed up and immediately realized she had a gift from God – it is like it just was in her and everything she touched turned out well.  Through the years God worked miracles and she learned from the best.  One of the instructors she called said he had a 3 year waiting list.  She told him she and her husband could only come in 3 weeks to his fall class.  He said he would put her on the wait list but had never had a cancelation in his lifetime.  She found someone to watch her son and sold a bunch of stuff to earn the money to go. A couple days before the class started the instructor called and said “You won’t believe this, but I just had two cancelations today.”

 In the meantime, she was on a spiritual journey.  Her husband was agnostic but she was searching for “the God who answers prayers.”  One day she was pushing a wheelbarrow and it tipped and severely injured her back; she could only crawl.  She started reading all the religious books in the house, but avoided the Bible.  After 3 months, she had read them all without answers and finally decided to read the Bible.  As she began in Genesis she was shocked at this incredible book that had been on her shelves all these years and she had never read.  She read it front to back in 6 months and thought to herself, “Nobody in the world is following the Bible!  I can’t believe what I have read and it is so straight and clear, and yet nobody knows it.”  She prayed to God that He would send someone to her who she could study the Bible with.  As people came to her doors she would ask them a couple of questions, but when they answered contrary to the Bible she would say “no thanks!”  She was looking for someone who believed in the 7^th day Sabbath, the dead knowing nothing while awaiting the resurrection of Christ, and not eating unclean meat. 

One day she was outside working in her little blacksmith shop and she said to God “I have been waiting for so long.  Are you ever going to send me someone?”  A few hours later she saw an avocado colored Mercedes coming up her driveway.  She lived out in the middle of nowhere at this time and her driveway had such huge potholes nobody ever came down it.  The car drove up and out stepped a man in a suit and two ladies.  They said, “God has sent us here to study the Bible with you.”  She asked them all of her questions as to their beliefs;  their jaws dropped and they looked at each other and said “Yes.”  They then told her she was a Seventh Day Adventist.  She said “I don’t know what you are talking about – I am not anything.  I just read the Bible a couple years ago straight through and this is what I read from the Bible.  As it turned out, this Pastor had woken up one morning and felt impressed he was to go study the Bible with someone.  He called up a lady in the church who would go on visits with him and she said, “Yes, I was already impressed this morning we are to study with someone and I have called another lady to go with us.  We will be ready to be picked up in 5 minutes.”  At each intersection they would pray and then proceed at God’s direction.  They drove for over 2 hours before miraculously arriving at her house.

As we heard this testimony all of us were inspired.  We were each reminded of the simple power the Holy Scriptures have.  We were each reminded why we are SDA’s.  I also thought about how the Holy Spirit led these three people to her doorstep.  I am sure there are still people reading their Bibles today and searching for the truth.  I want to be walking with the Lord so closely that I can hear His voice and He can use me as His servant. 

Sunday, September 17, 2017 – the 3am scare

We said goodbye to our dear Pathfinders.  Another chapter ended.  Pathfinders has definitely changed our lives.  We have cherished the memories and the people it has brought into our lives.  As the 1,500 Pathfinders headed out we cleaned our motorhome and took showers.  This is definitely a new adventure for us – not having the privilege of a shower anytime we feel like it.  Refreshed, we drove through Idaho to Yellowstone Bear World where we rode in the back of a dump truck and fed elk and bears.  In the petting farm we touched goats, a pig, a baby elk, and baby deer.  It was definitely a highlight!  That night we drove into Jackson Hole, WY.  After a week of dirty clothes it was time to find a laundry mat.  We saw a gigantic washer and dryer we wanted to purchase and haul home.  It did our entire family’s laundry in 1 load in 1.5 hours!  Meantime Dave looked for a place to park the motorhome for the night. (We can save about $4000 in camping fees by parking the motorhome at night instead of at campgrounds over 4 months.)  As I googled it appeared Jackson doesn’t allow motorhomes parked for the night.  Dave was not looking forward to being woken up in the middle of the night, but I assured him I grew up this way with my dad and that worse case scenario, a police knocks on your door in the night, and you just get up and drive a few miles and park again.  Dave found a back ally/parking lot that was dark and we kept the slides in so as to not arouse suspicion.  We fell fast asleep.  At 3 am the back part of the motorhome suddenly dropped and made a terrible noise.  Dave and I woke up in a panic thinking we had either just been hit or hooked up to a tow truck (kids still slept.)  I jumped up and ran to the front of the motorhome and looked all around.  There was no tow-truck, and no police car.   As I crawled back into bed it hit me – it must be a burgler!  Dave at the same time whispered “Do you think we will still have a generator in the morning?  We didn’t lock any of our bins.”  My first thought was “I shouldn’t have sold my gun!  I should have brought it!”  But then God quickly reminded me I had sold my gun because I knew He was the “Big Gun” and with Him I have no need to fear.  I quickly began to recite in my head “I will keep thee in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me,” “When I am afraid I will trust in You,” “The Lord encamps about those who fear Him.”  I immediately calmed down and thought – “oh well, God is in control,” and went back to sleep.  A couple hours later we awoke to the same thing again!  Then Dave said “It must be the springs on the hydraulic jacks settling.”  That gave us a good laugh!  But we decided dark allies probably weren’t the best idea in the future…

September 18, 2017 – Teton National Park and Yellowstone

                We awoke, ate pancakes and fruit sauce, read our Bibles, and hit the road.  The weather was cold, but the Teton mountains were beautiful!  We drove north entering Yellowstone and went to Old Faithful.  We walked 3 miles out to our favorite geyser “Morning Glory.”  As we came back it was predicted Old Faithful would blow at 2:45pm.  We stopped at a good viewpoint and waited.  The steam just flowed but no water.  Pretty soon a little bit of water began to blow, but then just steam.  This happened again and again.  Someone said “Maybe that’s it.”  Another said “Maybe Old Faithful isn’t going to be faithful this time.”  Serenity said “God is teaching us patience.”  I was ready to say “Come on, let’s go – it looks like that was all this time.”  After what seemed way to long, all of a sudden Old Faithful began to blow her hundred feet up into the air.  As I contemplated this I thought about God’s soon return.  We know the sign in the Bible says He is coming soon.  But as we see the little signs happening we sometimes think the big event isn’t really going to happen anytime soon.  Maybe we think we have misread and God isn’t really going to be faithful this time.  And yet God is faithful!  No matter how it might seem to be delayed – and how many little signs we see over and over again – JESUS IS COMING AGAIN SOON FOR US!  We must watch and be ready!

                As we walked along the boardwalk my friend Isabel called.  (I have known her for 14 years from Bremerton.)  She said, “Hello Lisa, we are in Yellowstone and I remember you said there is a hot spring we have to go to.  Can you tell me where it is?”  Excitedly I said “Isabel, we are in Yellowstone too!  We are headed to Boiling River right now!  We will be there in a few hours.”  She said, “I need to see you – otherwise I won’t believe you.”  We drove to one of our favorite and best kept secrets on earth – Boiling River – and there they were soaking in the warm water!  What a grand and surprise reunion it was! We stayed until dusk and headed back to the motorhome.  Just like last time there were elk all around.  Levi has a habit of mimicking animal sounds.  He mimicked an elk bugling.  Immediately the large male elk ran right up to the other side of the river and ushered his females into the woods away from Levi.  What an experience walking right among all these elk on a beautiful evening in Yellowstone.  What a day in heaven that will be when I can walk right up to the elk.  The forecast predicted snow that night and continuing the next week, so we drove out of the park and parked at a Rest Stop along Highway 89.

September 19, 2017 – a Beautiful Snowy Morning

                It rained hard all night.  But I figured rain was a good sound – it meant it wasn’t snowing.  We awoke to the soggy sound of Ben stepping on the carpet and saying “Dad, the carpet is sopping wet.”  What’s new in a motorhome?  I guess we have a leak….  We took 5 large towels and soaked up the water, and began our investigation on the cause of the leak – still don’t know…  We stepped outside to a crisp beautiful morning.  The river was running by, valley was green, mountains all around covered in snow.  God is so good!  As our morning habit is we ate pancakes with fruit sauce and read our Bibles before heading to Livingstone, MT where we visited an old train station from 1902 and the museum.  We felt like we were stepping into a history book.

                Life without a job is crazy.  This morning we didn’t get up until 9:30, then didn’t eat until 10:30, and didn’t get on the road until noon.  We are going to work on changing that…  Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise! 

                If you haven’t heard it, google it – “The Mom song by Anita Renfroe.”  As we were on our long drive today to Mt. Rushmore Dave was trying to talk to me while I typed this all up.  I appealed to the kids, “Can someone please come talk to dad so he doesn’t fall asleep!”  Serenity said “I will!   I just wrote my song for our trip and I want to sing it to you.”  She wrote it to the tune/style of “The Mom Song” and it is hilarious.  I was having to wipe tears from my eyes.  Dad said, “I can tell you have been listening well to what we have been saying!”  Hopefully I can get it on video somehow and upload it at some point…

September 20, 21017 – Mammoth site, Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore

                We began our morning with a beautiful but windy drive through SD.  We arrived at Mammoth site – a location that has over 60 mammoth fossils.  It is an active digging site and so much fun to see!  We then drove to Crazy Horse.  Dave and I were both there around 1996 – a ton of rock has been moved, but not many features have been completed.  They have a beautiful new facility with lots of Indian artifacts to see.  Mt. Rushmore is still there – and still spectacular as ever.  They now have a nice museum there also to learn about the history of Mt. Rushmore.  We spent the night parked in a rest stop.  We have gotten used to being lulled to sleep by the big truckers parked around.

September 21, 2017 – Minuteman Missile Site, 1880 town, Corn Palace, Valtiroty Shiloh’s Tabernacle

                We began our morning learning about the missiles scattered throughout SD during the Cold War.  We learned so much my brain felt it was going to explode!  The kids are definitely getting way more education than they would from any books this year. 

                Afterwards we visited a town where buildings from the 1800’s have been brought in.  It was like an antique show!  We spent hours there and you could find anything you could imagine from the olden days.  We couldn’t believe how much stuff they had collected!

                We arrived late at night to see the outside of the corn palace – amazing!  A beautiful outside of a building, decorated as a palace, all from corn.  Across the street was Valtiroty Shiloh’s Tabernacle.  It is an SDA man from Loma Linda, CA who is doing this for evangelism.  Because so many people come to the corn palace, he has a replica of the tabernacle, artifacts from Israel, a play area for kids, misc. shop, etc.  It attracts people’s attention, and then when they come in he has a whole plan to begin discussing religious this with them.  He is successfully giving Bible studies in person and via internet and evangelizing.  We had a lovely time with him.

                   And now we are at a laundromat, doing laundry, and sending this off.  We love and miss you all!

Who are we? What is this all about?

We are the Neuharth Family David, a 47yo mechanic/dad/fix-all/do-all, 37yo homeschool mom/nurse 17yo Serenity, 14yo Lucas, 13yo Levi, and 10yo Benjamin.  We sold our house, and while unemployed decided to take some time to bind closer together as a family, learn to live simply, have a true education, and travel the East Coast for a once-in-a-lifetime-experience.  

How it all Began - Living By Faith

                I think many of us desire to live by faith because we think it would be cool to be led by God.  But do we want to live by faith in that we are willing to step out of our comfort zone?  That’s the crux.

                My husband was born and grew up on Old Owen Rd. in Monroe WA with his dad, mom, and 5 siblings next to his grandparents.  In his 30’s be purchased his aunt’s 10 acres and 2 homes and his 2 brothers lived right beside him also.  Dave grew up haying for his family, later managed a liquidation business for his parents, and then worked as a small engine mechanic for his big brother alongside his little brother.  Dave had attended Startup SDA church for his entire life.  Dave was a solid rock.

                I was born in Omak, WA and grew up in Wenatchee, WA.  My family would purchase a home every 8 years, fix it up, and sell it.  I was married young, gave birth to Lucas and Levi, and God became real as I drew near to Him as I went through a divorce from an abusive marriage.  Dave and I married when I was 25, he 35, and I gave birth to Benjamin.  For many years we did fostering parenting, and this last summer we adopted Serenity a day before her 17^th birthday.  Over the 12 years we have lived in Monroe we have fixed our home into our dream home, enjoyed our beautiful heaven on earth, built up a lucrative tractor mowing business, and become close to so many near and dear family and friends.  God has been EXTREMELY good to us, blessed us, and we have become very comfortable.

                This year has been most unusual.  When I first married Dave I desperately wanted to move to Eastern Washington but Dave said he would not move.  I kept bugging him for years.  Finally, I realized it wasn’t going to happen, and I began to settle in and love life in Monroe.  About this time, Dave someday we would move to get away from the way of life in Western Washington.  In February while we were driving down our driveway from going skiing, a herd of elk was grazing in our field, and I turned to Dave and said, “When do you think we will move?”  He said, “No sooner than 5-10 years.” 

A couple weeks later I woke up with a distinct impression it was time to move.  I said “But God, I like it here!  I don’t want to move!”  My husband and I are both pretty stubborn – so I knew if I said something it would result in an argument.  I thought “I can be quiet – keep peace, and not have to move!”  But later that day Dave said “Lisa, it is time to move.”  WHAT!?!?!?!  Well, God had spoken to Dave too…  I asked Dave for his criteria for where we were moving: Able to buy debt free, within 6 hour drive of our parents, over 100 acres, it’s own water source, some hay field, some forest, flat land that was all usable, not rocky soil, within 15 minutes of SDA church and town with the basics including community college classes, within 45 minutes of a Lowes or Home Depot, within an hour of a major airport, 2 homes, a shop…  I said “We aren’t moving then!”  But later that day I got on realtor.com and put in the criteria.  Only one place showed up in Newport, WA.  We drove there that Sunday and felt it was it – It met all the requirements plus had a lot of bonuses: 2 fenced orchards, a fenced garden, greenhouse, beautiful views, and it felt like home.

We headed home and quickly began to get our property and two homes ready for sale.  We had to get a boundary line adjustment which were told could be a challenge.  It was done in less time than predicted.  We found out one of our homes never had a permit and were told it would take a long time; 18 days later we had the permit and final inspection signed off.  We decided to try and sell our property without a realtor and save $50,000; our home had a full-price buyer within 2 hours of listing it.  God moved in unmistakable and mighty ways.  Too many to list here.

When Dave was a kid his family filled a motorhome and toured the Northeast for a month.  It was one of his favorite memories.  He said he wanted to someday.  But how would that happen when we both had jobs?  This seemed like a perfect opportunity.  And with having the typical mixed American family of mine, ours, and adopted – we needed some time to bond deeply as a family and have a new start.  What better recipe?  6 people – 4 months – 33foot RV. 

It all seems overwhelming and scary at times; my heart begins to pound.  But I want to learn to live by faith.  I want to be ready when Jesus comes.  I want to teach my children to live by faith.  I want my children to be ready when Jesus comes.  Ready or not – it is time to live by faith. To wake up everyday with no plan, and go where Jesus leads.   To get rid of all the junk and distractions in my life.  To find out what really matters: God and family.