Final Post for 2007 Seattle Mission Trip

We are going to have an early morning tomorrow to start our trip back home so this will end our reports from Suquamish, WA. So what have we taken away from this trip? We have understood that the relationships that have been built and the ones that are continuing to be cultivated between us and the Suquamish people are very special and make a difference in the lives of everyone involved. Suquamish is a beautiful place and are a beautiful people who appreciate the work that we do and the love that we offer to them. We must remember that what we do here is making a difference for the next generation here on Suquamish. We must remember that the lives that have been touched over the last 10 years are going to pass on what they have experienced on to the younger ones for a better future for Suquamish. What we do here is not of our own power, will or might but by the grace and love of Jesus Christ. He is the reason we do this kind of work. He is the reason we live and exist. The work that is done out here must continue to exist. The people here look forward to this group coming out every year and sharing Christ with everyone. This group, affectionately known as "the Alabama group" has gained a reputation as people who care genuinely about the Suquamish. We are excited that a little taste of Virginia has been able to be a part of this ministry and we hope that we can continue to be a part of this group. Hopefully the next time we write this post we will have just arrived on a plane into Seattle, unloaded of the Bainbridge Island Ferry and just checked into the Island Country Inn planning to start another amazing week of ministry to the Suquamish people. So long!

Chief Seattle Days

Our morning started off a bit on the slow side. We were told to be in a particular parking lot by 10:00 am for the start of the parade and when we arrived there was no one there. Eventually others began to arrive and finally at 11:00 am we began to move. We were a little unsure as to what we were supposed to do in this parade. We did not have any candy to hand out, nothing to ride on and nothing fantastic to do. So we began walking down the road following behind a bunch of old restored cars still unsure as to what was going on. As we approached the area where everyone was standing we began to wave which is what you are supposed to do in a parade. When we got to the main part of the road where the majority of everyone was standing, all of a sudden a large group of people started cheering when they saw us. The cheering continued as we kept walking. It was totally unexpected and very humbling. It really shows how much of an impact we have had on this community not just this week but but even the last 10 years.

Chief Seattle Days was a lot of fun and very interesting. One of Erica's favorite things was the all the regalia of the dancers. One of Michael's favorite things was the salmon...oh and the Indian Tacos...oh and the fry bread. Mmmmm!! The canoe races were really neat to watch. They went on all day long and had 25 different categories of competitions. All ages competed from little 9 and 10 year olds all the way up to adults.

One of Caitlin's favorite things at Chief Seattle Days was the shopping at the booths and of course the food. There were about 30 - 40 booths set up selling all kids of hand carved and hand made crafts and jewelry. You did have to be careful though because a few people were not selling authentic crafts. Regardless, the handmade stuff was beautiful. There were Native Americans from the Southwest all the way up to the Alaskan shoreline. This was truly an incredible event to be a part of and to witness.

Downtown Seattle and Group Dinner

Once we left Kiana we were off to the ferry for Seattle! Some older teenage Suquamish girls joined us for the venture to Seattle and it was great to have them along. Once we got there our first place was Pike Place Market. This is a fun and hopping place. At the Fish Market the workers there are famous for the fun way the entertain the guests by their hollering and repeating of orders that are made as well as tossing fish to a worker our in the crowd from behind the counter. Some of our girls had first hand experience in this. These guys are professionals, they know how to pick the right people out of the crowd. Brittany was teased by one of the guys with a small little minnow of a fish when he dangled it in her face and chased her a few steps with it. We all were laughing as well as the crowd. She was a good sport about it, for the most part. The same guy dropped the same fish into Alison's purse and she was so bothered by this that she threw away some of the items that touched it and smelled like the fish. The guy did get his bubble burst when after all that he thought he would get Erica by having her hold a huge craw fish. She held it with no real reaction but just interest in the little exoskeleton critter.

From there most of us split up into different groups to venture into different places. Some stayed in the Market and shopped and looked around. Others visited the shops on the near by streets whereas others rode the monorail and traveled to the top of the Space Needle.

Everyone made it back to the ferry in time and then we were off to Suquamish to see the ceremonial canoes arrive to the shoreline with the reigning Chief Seattle Days Princess. We were there for just a short bit to do this and to peruse the many booths selling authentic Indian items. The major part of Chief Seattle Days begins tomorrow with the traditional parade by all the dancers and other tribal people who have traveled to participate in the pow-wow. Our group has had the distinguished honor of being invited to be a part of the parade due to all of our hard work and constant dedication to the Suquamish people. They are very appreciative of all of the work we have done here this week.

After we left Suquamish, we went back to the hotel to get "prettied" up for a nice group dinner in Poulsbo out on the water. This was a nice affair and it was great to actually eat a meal with our whole group together. So tomorrow we will be off to Chief Seattle Days for all of the festivities and all of the scrumptious Salmon the Suquamish people will prepare.

Off to Kiana

In the last three years the Suquamish people have acquired land and have reestablished a beautiful event facility called Kiana Lodge. They have over 100 weddings a year at Kiana as well as other large events. This place is a beautiful retreat for not just special occasions but a perfect place to come and roam around to see some amazing scenery. There are all kids of flowers and trees planted along bricked pathways and rich green manicured lawns. All of this over looks the water of the sound to add to its beauty. This was a great place for many photo opps and a time to just rest in God's beauty. The word Kiana means, "Garden of the Gods."

One interesting fact about Kiana is that within the last year they purchased a house adjacent to the property that was owned by Rebecca Wells, the author of the Ya Ya Sisterhood books. Another interesting tidbit is that Kiana is the place where the TV show Twin Peaks filmed numerous scenes or used certain places/buildings for various settings such as Pete's house and the interior of the Great Northern. There is also a massive log on the shoreline which is where the famous scene of Laura's body was found under.

Please look at the pictures from this beautiful place.

Worship With Calvary Church

Tonight, Calvary Church in Poulsbo, served us dinner and invited us to join in on their Thursday night worship/Bible study time. They have a heart for the Suquamish people and were really excited about the work that we have done this week. The food, worship, and discussion was excellent. It is great to be in communion with people who live in another part of our country who worships the same God we do and desires to share the same message of Jesus Christ to the sweet special people of Suquamish.

VBS has come to a close.

Our morning started off in an incredible way. A bald eagle flew around by the church and landed on the pier we were literally just feet away from this wild majestic animal. It was incredible. This was the third eagle we have seen this week! We saw a golden eagle earlier flying over the church. Yesterday Joe spotted a bald eagle sitting at the top of a tree and then today we saw the other bald eagle. The Native Americans have a belief that when an eagle flies over a place where a group is meeting, it means that the Creator is showing favor upon you and your group! So what a great way to start the day!

Today's Bible Point was God is in Charge. WAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!! And the Bible verse for today was, "If You love me, obey my commandments." John 14:15

Caitlin and Elizabeth left their crew bag at the hotel so Michael had to go back and get it for them once VBS started. While Michael was gone, Caitlin and the other music leaders led the kids in the songs and they did a great job. The kids were totally excited about singing the songs and sang their hearts out since it was the last time for them.

It was Sybil's turn to teach the lesson today and her lesson was about Naaman. Naaman had leprosy and Elisha told him to bathe in the Jordan River to rid himself of the leprosy. He did as Elisha told him and he was healed. Sybil had the crew leaders take an onion and rub the onion on the back of the kids' hands. This is representative of the leprosy on Naaman. Then the crew leaders took the child's hand and stuck it under water and began to rub the back of a spoon over the spot where the onion was rubbed. The amazing thing is that the onion smell disappears! This is representative of Naanam washing himself in the river and being cleansed of the leprosy. This kids were amazed!!

For crafts Alison had the kids make magnet mazes. The kids were able to draw their own maze on a piece of paper and then placed a raised plastic cover over the maze so as to allow metal pieces in the maze to be guided by a magnet from the underside. This represented how we need to let God be our guide and take us through the maze of life because God is in Charge. WAAAAAAHOOOOO!!!

The day closed with giving the kids all of the decorations and other unused projects and small items from Bible school. They were excited to get these but they were sad to go. The fun thing is that we will get to see the kids again at Chief Seattle Days.

The Round Up Rally

Eleven 24"x 18" pizzas, 15 gallons of lemonade, 100-125 people and tons of fun!! That's what the Round Up Rally consisted of. Not to mention we had around 20 give aways filled with books, Cd's, DVDs and devotionals. The kids did a superb job on their songs and Bible verses. Cindy worked with a couple of the local girls and they did an interpretive dance which included sign language. The worship team from Calvary Chapel came and helped lead in worship. They were a full band consisting of multiple instruments, numerous singers and a harmonica. Michael also shared the Gospel with the crowd. Afterwards, a few people responded by asking some of our group to pray with them. All in all it was a great evening that ended with an impromptu worship time with our group in the little church. It was a special time for all of us.

The Wood Shop

Duane Pasco is married to Betty Pasco who is the sister of Deloris Mills, our "host" to the reservation. He is an incredible wood carver and travels all over the Northwest restoring Native pieces of art and building pieces of art for other people. He has an incredible talent and does a phenomenal job. Duane has been carving since the 60's. He is not Native American so this causes a bit of a frustration with the local Suquamish people but also other Native Americans. There is a feeling among Indians that only Native people should work in the craft and art of their ancestry. Regardless of the fact that his wife is Suquamish, there is still a air of unacceptance.

I encourage you to check out the gallery of pictures that are posted under his name. The artwork is unreal and beautiful. He was commissioned to sculpt major pieces of art that were incorporated into the architecture of the National Museum of the American Indian.

VBS is Awesome...errr...God Is Awesome - WAAAAAHOOOOO!!!

This morning was off to a good start. We left the hotel for Coyote Coffee to see Jillian and to grab a cup of joe. She was there and she served us with a smile and two cute dimples. A few of us bought some bags of coffee that is grown right down the road from Coyote Coffee and we are so excited to take a little piece of this place back with us.

The vans were off on the road to round up the kids by 9:00 while everyone else stayed back at the church and got ready for the day. Today was an exciting day because we were going to share the Gospel with the kids which is the whole reason why we do these kids of trips.

Today's Bible Point was God is Awesome. WAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!! And our verse for the day was, "For the Lord Most High is awesome." Psalm 47:2 Obviously, since our story was about Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, there was really no other way to say it but that God is Awesome. WAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!

During our music time today we went over the songs that the kids were going to sing at the Round Up Rally which were: Wild Ride, The Great Adventure, Awesome God, You Are My All in All. The kids did a great job and I think that they were really excited about singing them at the rally.

Cindy taught our lesson today, and she had a really neat way of showing the kids how Jesus washes away our sins. She had a bucket of mud which represented sin. Doug and Erica volunteered to help her with this demonstration, so Cindy had them stand in front of the kids while the kids wiped mud on them. You would think they could just wash off the mud themselves but they couldn't because Cindy had them tie their hands behind their backs to show that we can't get rid of sin on our own. Before each of the kids wiped the mud on Doug and Erica they had to think of a sin, so the idea was that sin makes us dirty just like the mud and the only way to wash it off is through Jesus Christ.

At craft time the kids didn't make a peep...but they made birdhouses. (Get it?) Alison had these adorable boot birdhouses for the kids to paint and decorate. They had a great time making them but we couldn't send them home with the kids because the paint needed to dry. Hopefully most of them will come back tomorrow so they can take them home.

Today for crafts we deviated from our regular routine and served the kids cookies but these were just regular old cookies from the grocery store. A lady here in the area, who owns a bakery, heard what we were doing and donated 30 cookies that were about 4-5 inches wide and about an inch thick. WOW!! They were incredible.

Ladies Night and Guys Night

There have been numerous girls who have been a part of the VBS over the last many years who have grown up and are now in their late teens or early twenties. They struggle sometimes with life on the reservation because of the many pressures so we thought it would be a great opportunity for our ladies to hang out with these ladies for the night. So it was a Ladies' Night Out!!

Since all 10 of the ladies went and did the girl thing that left the 5 guys with a Guys Night Out which consisted of going to Wal-Mart and purchasing lemonade, cups, plates, napkins and picking out two "man" gifts to be handed out at the Round Up Rally. This seemed like a project where there was no way for us to mess it up. We think we did a great job! We will see tomorrow night, Sybil will let us know if we did or did not.

The plan was for us to go to Wal-Mart and then meet up with the girls for ice cream but we did not make it back in time to go to Checkers, a local ice cream shop. So we made due and bought a box of Drumsticks and ate our ice cream in the van on the way back from Wal-Mart to get the girls. The ladies did their thing, ate ice cream and had a blast. There are plenty of pictures to prove it. The guys did their thing, ate ice cream and had a nice quiet ride in the van. We were all able to focus on one conversation if there was even a need for conversation. We had a good time but there are no pictures to prove it.

Once we picked up the girls from Checkers and started to take Suquamish girls back home the van was once again filled with the uproarious sounds of chatting, an occasional out burst of laughter, numerous requests to turn the radio on (for whatever reason I don't know), loud half sung choruses from country songs and a couple of flashes from cameras.

Bible School "marches" on!

Our morning started off with at quick little stop at Coyote Coffee. Coyote Coffee is a small wood siding coffee shack parked in the middle of a gravel lot just of the side of the road. Jillian, who is a kid who grew up going to VBS over the last 10 years, works there and we thought we would pay her a visit. Unfortunately she was not working this morning but we were able to fill our coffee mugs with some local java that was absolutely amazing. It is true, people in Seattle, drink coffee all the time and we joined right in with them. We plan to stop by tomorrow morning to see Jillian and to get us a little pick-me-up in the form of a hot black liquid. I can't wait!!

Bible School got off to a little bit of a late start which is fairly typical but it didn't phase us at all. We had 34 kids this morning and they all showed up ready to have some fun on Avalanche Ranch. Our Bible Point for the day was God is Strong. WAAAAAAAHOOOOOO!!! And our verse for the day was, "The Lord is my strength."

Songs were great today!! Brittany taught the kids the song All in All and Caitlin taught the kids Awesome God. Since we were talking about God's strength, it gave us a perfect opportunity to sing My God is So Big. If you have never done this song with 34 kids crammed into a small space then you are missing out.

Today's story was about the battle of Jericho. Doug taught the lesson along with Sara's help and they did a phenomenal job!! Doug and Sara took the kids outside, lined them up into two lines and marched them around the little church just as if they were the Israelites. Doug and Sara were dressed up in Biblical costumes and were playing the roles of leaders in the Joshua's army. They played each part perfectly and the kids laughed and learned a lot.

For crafts Alison had the kids make prayer bears. They made one for them and one to give away to a friend or family member. It is so neat to see the kids get into making these craft projects. We were much better organized in the last half of the day than we were yesterday. It helped cut down on the chaos in the room. I really think this craft project helped calm the kids a bit as well.

Another great day of VBS has come and gone. We have just two more days with the kids but we have our Round Up Rally tomorrow night. We have invited the kids and their families to show up at the "slab" tomorrow night for pizza, music, and lots of fun. The kids are going to share some of the songs they have learned as well as the Bible Points and verses for the week. A local church Calvary Chapel is helping us put on the event. They are not a big church but they have been a great help to us this week. They really have a heart for ministering to the Native people and want to be around as much as possible. Some of their kids have come to VBS and it has been a great experience for everyone.

Big Foot

We had a very special treat today! David Mills paid us a visit and showed us some of his own personal encounters with Sasquatch, otherwise known as Big Foot. David works in the Forestry and Parks Service so he spends a lot of time deep in the woods. He has personally had over 20 encounters with Sasquatch over the years he has spent in the forest. We had the opportunity to see his plaster imprint of Sasquatch's foot. It is quite a sight to see. We will post some pictures of David and his foot impression. It is quite an amazing thing to listen to him share his stories.

Uncle Oley's House

Uncle Oley is the oldest elder in the tribe. He is 86 years old, unstable in his walk, has failing eyesight, yet is an absolute joy to be around. Some of us had the opportunity to go over to his house to clean up his yard, do some small cleaning in his house and just hang out and talk with him. His house could be a museum because he has so many items related to his people. He has a basket that his family made that is 150 years old! Hand-carved canoe paddles, small totem poles and other beautiful wood carvings. It is hard for him to do much of this these days due to his pour eyesight but he is fun to talk to and learn from.

Click on the link to the left marked "Uncle Oley's" where you will find pictures of Uncle Oley and some of our crew working in his yard and spending time with him. Uncle Oley shared with us that today had been one of the best days he had in a long time because he had people to visit with and to be around. We are so thankful that we were able to be used in such a simple but mighty way. We will be back to his house tomorrow to finish up the yard work.

Day two of VBS!

The morning started off great! Some kids showed up 30 minutes early. Dan and Michael went off to round up kids and while they were out more kids showed up at the church with their parents. By the time we got started there were 32 kids total that God had trusted in our hands. (Pictured below)

Our Bible Point for the day was God is with us. WAAAAHOOOOO!!! And our verse was found in Joshua 9:1 - The Lord your God is always with you wherever you go. The kids did a great job learning the verse and the hand motions that Sybil puts to the verses really helps too!

Caitlin and Brittany each got to teach the kids a new song this morning. Caitlin taught the kids, The Great Adventure and Brittany taught them This Is the Day. Some of the new kids were a bit hesitant to get involved in the hand motions of the songs but by the end they had relaxed and were having fun.

Jessica taught our story today which was about the Israelites crossing the Jordan River as they entered into the Promise Land. The kids even got to "cross" the river with a very creative idea utilizing two sheets. They also got to pick up stones from the "river" and build a monument to remind them of how God helped them cross the river just like the Israelites did. The kids had a great time with this story. (Pictured below)

Allison's project for the kids in crafts today was to make a frame with a foil impression of some starts and the phrase God is with us. WAAAAAHOOOOOO!!! This is to remind the kids that though we may not be able to see the star, we can see the light from the star in the sky. We cannot "see" God but we know that God is with us (WAAAAAHOOOOO!!!) because of God's light in our life.

Doug had the kids running around crazy during recreation today. Each day in Bible school we have a Bible Buddy that helps the kids learn the Bible Point and the Bible verse for the day. Our Bible Buddy today was Shadow a herding dog on Avalanche Ranch. In the game today the kids played Elbow Tag where the kids are split into pairs, linked at the elbow and spread out across the field. One person is "it" and chases another person around the field. Once the link up with a pair on the field the person they did not link with in the pair now has to run around and not get tagged by the "it" person. "It" today was Shadow and Shadow was trying to herd up the cattle by chasing the loose person. The kids caught on quick and had a great time. (Pictures below)

Erica's snack time was a hit as the kids made their own smores. Yummmm! The kids responded well, especially to all the sugar we pumped into them so it was a good thing this was the last thing for the day for us.

The kids went home already looking forward to the next day. Who knows how many we will have tomorrow? We may go over 4o but regardless we are committed to ministering to whoever God directs our way.

Update!

Check out the photo gallery!! Once you are there click on the picture for caption and description to appear.

Joe and Doug finally get here!

Joe and Doug Savarie came late because of a family wedding in Detroit, MI on Saturday. It was going to be simple: Hop on a plane in Detroit, fly to Dallas, hop on a plane to Seattle, then ride the ferry to our hotel. Well it didn't happen that way. The got up at 5:00 am and caught their flight out of Detroit to Dallas, no problem. Once in Dallas things went south quickly. American forgot to get the plane out of the hanger which was to take them to Seattle. No plane, no flight. So the flight was canceled. They were then put on another plane to fly out much later in the day. That flight got scratched so they were then booked on Alaskan Airways from Dallas to Denver. One perk was that they were placed in first class. Then they waited for the flight to Seattle which was right on time. As they arrived in Seattle, somehow their luggage made it to Seattle before them but at least they had their luggage. They caught a taxi to the ferry and rode across where we arrived to rescue them at 9:00pm after a long 19 hour day. Hey their here and it is good to have our team complete now.

Our two special treats!

Treat #1

Luther and Deloris Mills are two of the sweetest people you will ever meet. They are, what you can call, our hosts on the reservation. They are the ones who invite the group back year after year to do VBS and other ministry opportunites, and have continued to do this for the last 10 years. Deloris offered to cook our team lunch so she served up an Indian Goulash served over white rice which was just scrumptious. It filled our bellies and satisfied our hunger we developed while doing Bible school. Wow it was so good! We also got to eat some traditional Fry Bread. Again this is just another example of the Suquamish people's generous and giving nature.

Treat #2

Leonard, who is head of the Tribal Council, took us on a specail tour of Suquamish and gave us a great history lesson of their people from the early years and especially of the last 300 years. It is sad to hear how Christians and the Government have done terrible damage to thier history and thier culture over the last 300 years in the name of "civilizing the native people." We were able to stand on the shoreline of the place where the Suquamish originally settled, see their famous Chief Seattle's grave (who the city of Seattle was named after), and look at two 11 man sea baring canoes which were hand carved out of one cedar tree (the tree was cut in half down the middle and the two pieces were then carved into the canoes, that's one big tree).

The first day of VBS.

At 8:00 this morning we loaded up in the vans to head to Suquamish for our first day of VBS. It was a bit cloudy with the temperature around 57 degrees, a normal start to the day in Seattle this time of year. We arrived at the "church" and started to get everything ready for the kids to arrive. One van went around in Suquamish to pick kids up while the other van drove into Indianola, another area of the reservation, to pick up kids there. Once we all got back we had a round 16 kids to start the week off, which is normal on the first day. Many of the kids were out of town or not at home for whatever reason. Tomorrow we should double the amount of kids we had today.

So Avalanche Ranch got started and first up was Sybil to introduce the workers, the Bible Point and the Bible verse for the day. God is Real (WAAAA HOOO!!!) and "The Lord is the only true God." Jeremiah 10:10. Every time we say the Bible Point for the day the kids are to respond by hollering WAAAAHOOOOO!!! Its fun stuff!

Then the some of the Tomahawk group led everyone in our songs for the day. Sara did a great job teaching the kids two of the Avalanche Ranch songs, Wild Ride and God is Good. The kids had a great time doing this. It really relaxed them a bit and allowed them to get loose and have some fun.

After this Elizabeth taught the lesson for the day which was about Rahab hiding the Israelite spies. She too did a great job with the help of Caitlin and Brittany. Oh yeah, and Michael did an incredible job knocking on the door for the part of the story when the Jericho soldiers came to Rahab's house looking for the spies.

Allison, from the Alabama group, is leading crafts everyday and today the kids made their name badges that they will use all week. Allison has done an excellent job preparing for this and being very organized. This went without a hitch.

Snack time was a blast as Erica led everyone in this part of the day. Now you might think, hey its just snack time, but at Avalanche Ranch everything has a meaning and a point. The kids' snack was a fun trail mix that allowed the kids to add each portion of the mix into their own bag. As they added each portion of the mix, Erica explained what that part symbolized from the Bible story for the day.

The first day of VBS finally came to an end and we had to say goodbye to our friends but we will see them back tomorrow along with many more.

We finally arrived!!!

After an early morning start we made it into Dallas about two and a half hours later with no problems where we met up with the group from Birmingham. After a quick lunch in the airport we boarded the plane for a three and a half hour plane ride to our final destination, Seattle. As we approached Seattle, the pilot directed our attention to the left side of the plane where we flew right beside Mt. Rainier. What an incredible sight it was!

We made it into Seattle ahead of schedule where we met up with Michael's dad who decided to go on the trip two weeks ago. He is a bit of a traveling missionary man leading numerous trips of his own throughout the year and always looking for a chance to serve. We got delayed a bit getting our rental van but once we got it we loaded the van and were off to the ferry in downtown Seattle. This ride took us right beside Safeco Field and Qwest Field where the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks play respectively.

It was a long wait onto the ferry yet once again as we finally got aboard the sights were beautiful evidence of God's handy work around us.

We made it to the hotel where the Virginia group finally got to meet Sybil, our adorable little southern leader. We are going to meet and have a little orientation and then we are off to the reservation to start decorating the church for VBS which starts tomorrow.

Please know that due to the fact that we are on Pacific Time we may not get an update for the day by the time you go to bed. Please check back in the morning and you will have the latest info we can give.

Last minute stuff and Sybil's location

Well we realized we needed one more item for VBS this week which were the wristbands that has a daily challenge for the kids. We scrambled to find what we needed but none of the stores had them in stock so we tracked down a number of churches and May Memorial Baptist Church in Powhatan, VA had what we needed. Thank you Lord!! I think we are pretty much ready to go.

Now Sybil sent me a text message today saying they were going to stay the night in Rock Springs, WY. Now for those of you who have never been that far west, Wyoming is a beautiful state. Below is a picture of Rock Springs, WY. Sybil and Dan should make it close to Seattle tomorrow and then will arrive at Bainbridge, Island where our hotel is on Saturday. More will come so keep coming back and thanks for checking in on us.

Sybil is on the road!

Sybil and Dan left from Birmingham at 5:50 this morning with a 15 passenger van filled to the top with Vacation Bible School supplies. They made it through Birmingham and Nashville with out getting caught in traffic so they are making good time. When I spoke to Sybil at 3:00 Eastern Time they were crossing the Mississippi River entering into St. Louis, MO. Their plan is to make it to Topeka, Kansas by this evening. So far their travel has been smoothe with just beautiful sights to pass the time.

Getting Ready to Go!

Well we leave in 4 days and I think that everyone is ready for the trip. All of our college students have prepared their respective parts for VBS and I think all that is left is to pack up and go. All that we can hope for right now is safe travel and that we do not have any flight issues. Sybil, who is the leader of the Alabama Team, leaves tomorrow the 8th to begin her drive up to Seattle from Birmingham. She will be traveling with her husband, Dan, and taking a lot of our supplies we will be using for VBS.

Please check back each day as we will post pictures and information from each day's events. Also feel free to send us messages as well. Thanks and we will talk to you all soon!