GOC and other things

Okay, the service on Wednesday, was wonderful! Jeff picked many of my favorite worship songs for us to sing. Mikaija looked great in her costume, and the Chinese Dragon was very cool! We had 50 missionaries from around the world at our church. Lots of lives were changed over the course of the conference. After the service, we went to the fellowship hall to view the displays and of course to partake in the chocolate fountains and strawberries along with other 'dipping' items. While upstairs, I was blessed to run into a friend that was here on a 24 hour turn around to renew her driver's license. It was good to send hugs back to her family with her, as they leave training for overseas in a few weeks.

Friday was the International Banquet. I was at church at 9 a.m. to help my friends from my Sunday School class put the finishing touches on the tables and sanctuary. This banquet turns our sanctuary into a dining hall, which is very cool, IMHO. After we got things squared away at the church, my friends and I took the wife of our missionary to lunch at a beautiful outside Mexican Restarant in an old mission not far from here. We sat outside and had a great lunch. After lunch, I came home, put my feet up for a little bit, then was back at church at 5 p.m. to help with any last minute details. Mikaija had to be there at 5 p.m., as she was helping with the International Kids Banquet. The Banquet was wonderful. We sat at a table with a missionary from CEE, and he always has great stories to tell. This particular missionary has been in/with our class for several years for GOC, or when he's stateside, so there is a relationship there. Anyway, AFTER the banquet, we all went back upstairs to talk with the missionaries more, AND have MORE chocolate fountain munchies.

Saturday morning I get a call from Gina at 6:45 a.m. to let us know that Upward had been cancelled due to rain. All I could say was, "Praise God!" and go back to sleep! LOL Tom did meet the men in our class and two missionaries at the little coffee place for their Saturday study. The rest of us stayed home and recooped. Saturday evening we met at our teachers home for a briefing with our missionary and his wife. They updated us on the people group they shared with us last year, and the amazing things God has been doing there. They shared with us about another people group, which are dear to their hearts. They also challenged us to stay involved in missions, in whatever way we can. There is talk of our guys that are cyclists doing a prayer ride in the country the missionaries serve. That's right up Tom's alley, so we will see what happens there.

Sunday, our missionary was in our class and he did a great lesson, and once again challenged us to heed God's call. Service was great as usual, and God definitely answered some prayers we had during the service. Sunday evening, Mikaija and I were in our GEMS group and we had a missionary from Mexico come talk with the girls for a few minutes. This missionary is from our church, and has family that is in our class, and it's always a pleasure to see her. She blessed us with what she shared, and the rest of the evening we spent working on our missions badge. The girls wrote notes for a precious little boy, whose family is returning to the mission field, and he's going through a tough adjustment period. Soon he will be smiling when he gets notes in the mail from our girls letting him know that our GEMS are praying for him and his parents. We were able to say goodbye to the missionaries one last time after GEMS, and we are praying for safety for all those who participated in this years GOC.
OH, and we of course, had MORE chocolate fountain munchies.

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We had a bit of excitement when we returned from lunch yesterday. Due to the high winds, one of the power lines in our back yard came down and landed IN the pool! Thankfully, the dogs didn't try to drink the pool water and no one was injured. It took Edison 6 hours to get here to make the yard safe, and this morning they finally showed up to fix the line. Our neighbors south of us have has partial power since the line fell.

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Please continue to pray for us, as we need wisdom regarding a situation.