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 7th 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!
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