Monday Evening...

On Monday Andy and his parents loaded all of his stuff from Andy's storage unit and packed it into their van and a U-Haul trailer hooked behind Andy's truck. The night before we planned to get together again for dinner and another game in the evening. Andy placed his order for Yvonne's Lasagna for dinner and to play Attack Uno afterward. He liked the game the first time he played it here a few weeks before. Mike and Ruth had never played it before.


This is Mike and Ruth Davis



I don't like all these cards in my hand...yuck!


Mike won four rounds out of five to win the game!

Then on Tuesday morning the Davis's pulled out to drive back to Illinois. The worst winter ice storm of the season was moving east and they were going to try to outrun it up north. everything to the north of the ice band was supposed to be snow. Mike felt that would be all right as long as it wasn't ice. andy will spen the next three years as an instructor at Great Lakes Naval Traiing Center teaching recruits how to use small arms.

Sunday with Ruth, Mike, and Andy...

Sunday afternoon about 3:00 o'clock Andy came in with his mom (Ruth) and dad (Mike). Yvonne was preparing lunch for us all but found out they had just eaten lunch, so Yvonne slowed the process down and we visited and got to know each other. We decided to eat later and make it an evening meal instead of noon (Yvonne is so flexible!) For those of you interested in the menu, she made terriaki chicken and rice for dinner, and apple crisp for dessert.


This is the mouse eye view of us at dinner

After we ate we played Settlers of Catan. Andy, Ruth, and Mike had never played it before. But, they caught on really quick!

We had a lot of fun together!


Yvonne won

Saturday Night RISK Battle!

Saturday evening Nichole Thomas came over and Andy Davis joined us. We had pizza for dinner and played RISK! Nic and Andy took Yvonne and me out of the game (I've never seen anyone roll as many six's as Nic did!). Then at 9:00pm they decided they had had enough and split up the world and called it a draw. Andy controlled North, South, and Central America, and Nic had the rest of the world. We closed the evening praying together.

Azalea Garden Church of God 2009 Missions Banquet

Sunday evening Yvonne and I attended the annual missions banquet at Azalea Garden Church of God. What a fun night that was! We went to the church at 5:00pm to the Prayer Center and had a time of prayer with the missionaries. There were missionaries to Honduras, Nicaragua, The Native American Tribes in New Mexico, India, Benelux, Fiji, Columbia, Spain, to the Seafarers, and a whole bunch of other places. All week they had been sharing stories about their ministries around the world. The banquet was the high point, or culmination, of the week.


The food was really great! I was told that the fried chicken was Church of God chicken. I wondered if that meant that the chickens got saved and filled with the Spirit before they were cooked??? Anyway, the cooks did a terrific job!

Terri Goodin - Missionary to the Native American Tribes in New Mexico

After just a few minutes with Terri, Yvonne and I felt like we'd known her for years!

Dr. Charles Dewing and John

Dr. Dewing and his wife Joan minister to the crews of the international cruise ships.

Kuulei - missionary in Fiji

Kuulei is from Hawaii. That created an instant connection since we spent six years minsitering in Hawaii. We had to compare some notes and places we knew. Yvonne is showing her a picture of someone we thought we both knew (it wasn't the same person).

Some of our local folk:

Steve and Bonnie (Children's pastor)

Ralph and Jim

Gene and Linda

Kathy - she and the mission board were responsibile for putting this all together. They did a great job too!

Rodney and Angela Vickers (Rodney's the executive pastor of the church)

Larry and Joan

Hamburgers, Chips and Settlers of Catan

Saturday evening Todd Williams and Andy Davis joined us for hamburgers and chips.

Then Todd, Yvonne and I played played Settlers of Catan (Andy just watched because he wasn't feeling well). We played two games.

Can you tell who won the first game?

So, guess who might have won the second game?

Finally, guess who I had to coax to give me a big, friendly, smile...?

Todd the Sunday Baker

On Sunday Yvonne made Lasagna, salad, and Italian bread for dinner.

Todd Williams made the dessert - a Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake. It was really good too!!

Evan and Brandon had to drive down from Petersburg so we ate late - about 3:00pm. So it gave Todd plenty of time to make it. You all should have seen his concentration. Actually, you can see his concentration - just look at the pictures. :)

No sooner had we sat down to eat than Evan and Brandon showed up. Evan opened the door, stepped in, and let out this high pitched, spine chilling scream that caught Yvonne totally by surprise. She almost came three inches up out of her chair! (We all had a good chuckle out of that).

The lasagna got polished off in a hurry! Everyone liked it.

After dinner Todd's dessert was a huge success too!



Finally, Evan led us in a really awesome "hymn sing" led in his own unique style. We had a good time worshipping the Lord together!

Pizza and a Movie for Saturday Night

This week we ordered Pizza from the Pizza Hut and watched a movie for our activity. YN2 Todd Williams and GM2 Andy Davis started the evening with us and then SPC Evan Bunch called and said he was coming over too! He was in town from Ft. Lee in Petersburg and joined us. He brought a friend with him who he went to high school with and who is stationed at Oceana Naval Air Station - AT3 Brandon Justice. Yea!!

The movie we watched was called "The Perfect Stranger." it is based on the book Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory. In the film a skeptical lawyer (Pamela Brumley) has a conversation with a stranger (Jefferson Moore) who claims to be Jesus of Nazareth. In the discussion that followed, they touched on a variety of thought-provoking topics, including the meaning of life, the accuracy of the Bible and the divinity of Jesus Christ.

The film really gets you thinking, both about how Jesus would present Himself if He were alive today, and about the issues that they discussed. I highly recommend it!

As always when Evan comes over, we closed the evening singing a couple of Christian songs and then prayed together. :)

Sharing a Christmas Tradition

There's one tradition Yvonne and I enjoy sharing with others at Christmas. We have real candles on our Christmas tree instead of electric lights. The visual effect and the ambiance in the room is totally different with real candles.

Friday evening pastor Aubrey Maye and his wife Marian came over for dinner. We had dessert and coffee in the living room and lit the Christmas tree candles. Pastor Maye said it was the first time he had ever seen real candles on a Christmas tree, a comment I like to hear because it means we're sharing something new and unusual with someone.


All of us enjoyed it even though it was after Christmas. Although in Germany the Christmas season doesn't end until January 6th. We left the tree up just to share this tradition with the Mayes and now it will go the way of all Christmas trees...

NAB Little Creek Coffee House Ministry

Sunday evening Yvonne and I went to the Coffee House at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. Stephanie Parker, the Religious Education Director at the chapel invited us to come and share about our ministry and give a short devotional.

After a time of eating together, and praise and worship, Stephanie introduced me. Yvonne passed out our ministry flyers and I shared my testimony about how I came to know Jesus Christ at a servicemen's center in California called the Port O' Call where Yvonne was a hostess. I explained how Yvonne wouldn't date me because I wasn't a Christian. But over time, realizing that the kids at the Port had something I didn't, and together with Yvonne's and the center director's explanations, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.

Then I shared four passages of Scripture that we base our ministry on. The first was Matthew 25:35-36, and 40

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in...'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" NIV

Yvonne and I feel that what we do for the servicemen and women who come into our home we are doing for Jesus Christ.

Then I talked about 1 Thessalonians 2:7, and 11-12

"we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children...For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory." NIV

I explained that our ministry is like a home away from home for servicemen and women and Yvonne and I feel toward those we minister to like a mother and father.

Finally, the last passage I talked about was 1 Thessalonians 2:8 that says:

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." NIV

Love is the motive for what we do. As a result, what we do isn't just about sharing the Gospel with young military men and women, but about sharing our lives with them as well.

Attack Uno!

This weekend Andy, Todd, Yvonne and I played Attack Uno. Andy had never played it before and decided it was more fun than the old style Uno. At first the Attack Uno machine was only spitting out a few cards once in a while. We thought it was the batteries, so Andy volunteered to go to the store and get some new ones.


It didn't help. So we cleaned the rubber rollers that grip the cards to spit them out, using rubbing alcohol. That didn't help either. Then cleaned the rollers again using a damp towel. Wow! Did that make a huge difference! It started spitting out all kinds of cards after that. Way more fun!