Well, it is definitely high time we put up some more pictures! The colors are starting to show up here, but it is hard to capture them and do them any justice with our little camera.  But hopefully we will get some really good shots in the next few weeks.  It seems like "peak week" for the colors will be in the first two weeks of October.  VisitNH.com had some great information on when to visit if anyone is interested! (Wink, wink!)

Keeley is now 32 weeks pregnant and doing her best to show it, haha! Her last doctors appointment was on September 15th, and the doctor said everything is looking good. She will be contacting the hospital in Concord this week to look at their delivery facility and have her next appointment.  Now that we know we will be living in Salisbury, she will be switching to a doctor in Concord because it is much closer than Laconia, where her last two appointments have been.  We are still trying to get her on Medicaid, but it has been challenging without having certain information to give them (such as a physical address).  That will be the other errand to run while we are in Concord.

These pictures were taken at Weeks' State Park near Lancaster, NH - there is a very nice paved road on which people can walk up them mountain to a reserve.  The nice building is a visitor's center, and on top of the hill there is a tower from where we could enjoy the view.  It is a beautiful walk (although very steep - good for the preggo lady who needs exercise!) and we have hiked around up there three times already.  I think it's our favorite spot so far.

The visitor's center - home to some killer wasps...

Miss you all - Lots of Love from NH!!!!

May God bless your efforts to share His love and His light - there is much to be thankful for, and the Gospel of His Son Jesus is certainly at the top of the list.  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ~Matthew 28:19-20

Hi everyone! David is back, and summer is crazy - and boy are we excited about it! So far we have started saving up to purchase a trailer to haul behind our pickup for the move to New Hampshire, and we have begun making plans for exact move dates. As of right now, the plan is to leave Denver with Keeley's parents on August 15th and arrive in New Hampshire on the 18th. The trip will include a stop at a museum in Chicago and a peek at Niagra Falls. On Thursday, Keeley's parents will split off and head toward Boston for the dealer's market put on by their supplier (they own a hardware store) and we will stay in Tilton and see what we can find in the way of rentals. We keep checking realty websites to stay on top of what is available, but this summer didn't look nearly as promising as the spring time did. We will see what opens up in the fall. Thanks to God and to our church family in Tilton, there have been three offers from families in the area to let us stay with them while we find a place. This is very comforting to us and takes a lot of the stress out of the situation.

Please continue praying for us as we prepare for this next step in our lives and our ministry. We will find out July 15th if we are having a boy or girl, and after that... well, the summer is only going to get busier! :)

Two full weeks in the country, and one more to go! I have had a great time here in Malawi, but I am definitely looking forward to coming home to my wife! We have had another great week of teaching, with all of the classes going up in attendance. In all we had almost 500 students in 5 villages! One village in particular had almost 140 students in one day! The crowd was so big that we had to move outside! It has been truly an uplifting experience. On the days that I do not go with Wayne to teach, I stay at the Crookshank’s house and help print books. We have completed all the books for Wayne's class, in fact he is starting to hand them out today, and we have started on books for Ed's upcoming classes. This was not supposed to take too long, but Ed found out that the locals are expecting close to 500 people at one of the classes, and it happens that the book for this class is the biggest we will have to print this week. So we are busy enough that I probably will not go to the villages this week.

Malawi is also going through fuel crises, so that has added another level of excitement to our lives. All the filling stations ran out of fuel last Wednesday or Thursday, which is apparently rather common here. So when fuel came into a few stations on Friday the lines were crazy! The line for the filling station closest to the Crookshank's went down one block, around the roundabout, and on about two blocks further. When Ed and I tried to go get fuel after dinner, all stations were out again. Saturday morning Ed sent me out to get into a diesel line and wait. I did finally find a station that had a line, and what a line it was! Semi-trucks were going down one direction of the road for the equivalent of two city blocks, the area around the pumps was completely full of small trucks and vans, and going the other way was a line of small trucks that was the equivalent of one city block. This is the line that I got in. After not moving for ten or so minutes I concluded that they were not actually filling anyone, so I called Ed. He confirmed that the workers probably called their friends to come because they were expecting fuel in that day, and everyone else had just followed suit. So I sat in the line for another 30 minutes hoping that they would get some fuel in soon, but to no avail, and Ed instructed me to head on home since they did not have any. When Wayne left after lunch to teach at "area 36," he called and let us know that there seemed to be fuel at some places now. So Ed had his wife go sit in line while I continued to print and bind books. That was around noon, and everyone finally got back home around 5:30. Ed succeeded in getting petrol in one truck, but his wife had spent all that time sitting in line, and the station ran out of diesel before she got to the pump. It turnes out that rather than sit in line, most people would park across the street and run back and forth to the pumps with fuel cans. So the vehicles in line were usurped by people with cans! Ed was not happy, but we at least had enough petrol to go to church in the morning.

The village where we went to worship on Sunday was two hours drive away on pavement. Apparently this was a great example of an African church service, because we got there at 9 am (the scheduled time), and no one showed up until 10:30, and we got started at 11. But by the end of service there were 400 people there, of whom only 125 were from that congregation. The others were from other congregations who had heard that the American missionaries were coming. Sunday I also got my first taste of local food! Their staple food is corn meal which is made into patties. They call it inseema (but I do not know the correct spelling). They also fed us cooked greens (I do not know what kind), and very tasty (but tough) chicken. It was quite good, but I discovered a phobia that I did not know I had. They provided a basin of water for us to wash our hands in, and I was reminded of all the warnings about drinking the water. While we had bottles of water with us for drinking, all of the food had been cooked in local water. Now, the rational side of me knew that if the water had boiled for a while it was probably fine, but I was still a bit put off. However, I manned up and ate the food, because I know that I was being silly. And - sure enough - the food was good and I am still alive and feeling fine!

Well I should get back to printing, but once again I ask that you all pray for the brethren here in Malawi!

Malawi, Africa - Week 1

This is a journal entry from David after his first week in Africa - Enjoy!

I have now been in the country of Malawi for just over one week. We have worshiped with two different congregations of the Lord's church, and met numerous Christians as we have taught in five different villages over the week. It has been very exciting to watch the African people learn; they love the word of God and are soaking up the knowledge like dry sponges!

We arrived in Malawi last Friday, and took it easy for the rest of Friday and Saturday. We mostly slept off the jet lag. Sunday we worshiped at a relatively new congregation in a village about 20 minutes outside of Lilongwe. This congregation was planted about a year ago, thus most of the Christians are less than a year old. But despite that, they are growing and learning by leaps and bounds. In fact, the day that we were there a woman was baptized who had been studying with Isaac (the Crookshank’s translator).

As the week progressed we went to a different village each day and Wayne Burger taught Hermeneutics (the science of studying the Bible). The people loved what they were learning because of how practical it is to their lives. They often asked great questions, and by their responses to Wayne’s questions you could tell that they were paying close attention. These villages have all participated in the 4-year school that the Crookshanks have conducted, so the people are more versed in the Bible than the average African villager. Each day we took attendance, and by the end of the week we had 455 students! It is unknown how many congregations were represented. The largest number that we had at one time was 119, and they were all packed into a building that was probably 20 ft by 30 ft in size. There were people packed five per bench, while other people were sitting on the floor and around the pulpit. They were crammed in like sardines, and they all looked happy to be there! No one seemed to be bothered by the lack of space.

Wayne has not been feeling good so Ed assigned me to do the driving. He wanted Wayne to conserve his strength for teaching. It has been very interesting driving on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the truck, and with the gearshift on the wrong side of my body! It really makes you think about each and every thing that you do! The roads are also a new experience. In the city the roads are well maintained, but they are packed! There are people literally everywhere, on bikes and on foot, not just on the edge of the road, but in the middle as well! And the other cars drive in a crazy fashion (which means a lot coming from me). Because of all these things you have to drive very defensively, which I have enjoyed. The roads out to the villages are interesting as well. A couple are well-maintained, but most are little more than 4x4 tracks. In fact I think that I have been on some 4x4 tracks in the states that were smoother than some of these roads. On top of the quality of the dirt roads, there are still people everywhere, except the bikes do not always move out of the way like they do in the city. They find the one smooth spot on the road, and they are not going to move off of it! We also have to dodge people carrying large loads on their heads and ox carts that are much less maneuverable than the truck.. I have had a real good time driving out here - it is great fun and there is never a dull moment.

As we prepare for the next week of teaching, I would like to ask for prayers for the brethren here from all of you back home. They are facing a lot of pressure from false religions, denominations, and all the worldly struggles that all humans face. They are also facing a distinct lack of trained teachers of God's word. In short they need our prayers and our willingness to come to teach them. So please pray for the strength of the Christians, and for God to raise up willing workers to come train the people so that they can train each other.

May God be with you all!

With a Busy Quarter Comes Good News

Wow - March and April have been crazy! We finished the previous quarter with finals (March 9-11), and departed for our campaign to New Hampshire on Friday, March 11, at 8:00 am. Well, that's when we left for the airport anyway. Our flight was delayed and we actually left DIA around 1:00 pm. We were in Tilton, NH for the following week, returning home late on Thursday, March 17. We were home on Friday, making a trip out to my parents' house to get their car which we drove to Oklahoma City on Saturday. That was a fun trip! We spent the weekend with Michelle Cecil, my mom's best friend from high school. My parents met us there Sunday night, and Monday we took the car to OCU so my brother could use it until Summer break, then prepared to ride back to Denver with my parents. But we had a surprise that morning... we found out we are expecting!!

Needless to say, we had a lot of fun on the 10-hour drive back to CO with my parents, watching movies and talking about the grandbaby-to-be. The next day, David and I drove up to Steamboat Springs to look at a pickup my grandparents had offered to give us. It is a 1991 Ford F150 (brown), it's in great condition, and we are very grateful to them - this is going to make the move to NH much easier! Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

We had been considering the possibility of staying in Colorado until the baby is born, then moving, but it seems wiser to go in August as originally planned. There are lots of logistics to consider, so we are still uncertain as to how exactly we will get there. We are trying to raise support so that David will be able to devote as much time as possible to the ministry, and we are projecting a budget of $4,000/month to make sure we have what we will need for the baby.

As for the pregnancy, I'm only about 10 weeks along. I haven't had any morning sickness (although lots of fatigue), but there is a long way to go. Please pray for our little family as it begins to grow, and for our future as we continue to prepare for working in the New England area. Thanks be to God - there is a lot of work to do and great people to work with, and we can't wait to get started!

-Keeley

The Heart of a Child: Parenting 101

What a great quarter! David has been plugging away at classes on Ethics, John's gospel, Preacher and His Work, Advanced Homiletics, and Old Testament 6. As for me, I've been enjoying sitting in on Gospel of John, as well as our womens' classes on the Life of Christ and Parenting. The Parenting class has been extremely intriguing to me, not having children of my own yet, and it's been giving me a lot to think about!

On the first day of class, we saw this image entitled "Bad Parenting" on the screen captioned with the words, "BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND." How hilarious! This mother duck had no idea that her directions would end up leading her ducklings down the gutter! This perfectly captures the concept of this class - parents are entrusted with something very special: the heart of their child. It is their God-given task to mold and shape that heart to follow God, which - it's true - is done partly by example. But, as this picture so adequately explains, there is more to it than simply going along with a destination in mind and hoping they make it to there, too.

It is vital that children be trained with the end in mind, allowing the example they see in their parents to be the proof of what their parents teach and not something ambiguous for them to somehow impliment on their own. They need to see Mom and Dad applying Biblical principles in their own lives, but they need to be trained how to do so for themselves as well.

Sometimes, it is difficult to look beyond the frustrations of the moment to the rewards brought about through persistence. While I do not yet have children of my own, I remember the challenges that came with my younger siblings in their early years (no offense, guys)! Toddlers test patience and demand such an abundance of energy and attention – it often is all a mother can do to keep her cool. And on top of meeting all of their physical needs, parents are charged with the task of instilling godly principles in their little hearts so they grow to be people who love God. There is not a day that goes by that I don't wonder how my parents managed to do so much - and while I look forward to the joys of being a mother, the challenges that come along with it are certainly daunting.

People say it all the time: "kids don't come with instruction manuals." While there is certainly not a play-by-play 3-step plan for successful parenting, the Perfect Parent did provide His formula for getting the job done right. In all of my naive dreaming, I read about Joseph’s 17-year-old conscience that drove him to flee from sin and think, "Wow! I want my teenagers to possess such character!" I read about Esther's courage in the face of intimidation and pray my daughters will also have enough faith to stand up for themselves and for others. I see young men who have grown up to be preachers of the gospel, loving husbands and fathers, and I want that for my sons.

Beginning with the end in mind means defining your child’s path and walking them through it one step at a time. It means taking them from a self-centered infant to a self-less worker in God’s kingdom by looking not only at the behavior, but at the heart that needs training. It means training them both to know God’s Word and how to apply it from an early age so that when they stop growing physically, they continue to grow spiritually.

It’s been a wonderful class and we have only two weeks of it left. I’m grateful for the time Lee Hanstein has taken to share her experience and the fruit of her study to prepare us for the blessing and responsibility of parenthood. There is a lot to look forward to!

The Hunt is On…

David and I are currently in our 7th quarter at Bear Valley, which means we are very quickly approaching the finish-line! It has been WELL worth the effort and time. It gets harder to focus on what’s going on here and now, however, especially as plans for working in New Hampshire get more specific. We have begun the hunt for housing, looking at websites and making phone calls. It still doesn’t feel “real” yet!

In March we will be there for about a week, which will give us a little bit of time to look at what’s available. The campaign will go Saturday to Wednesday or Thursday, but we may be able to stay an extra day or two to look around. As David put it, “Best to have our homework done in advance.”

We are very excited to be working with Shane and Paula Belanger and their beautiful kiddos. It’s been very cool to get to know them better, to see David and Shane working together, and to dream about the possibilities. How much will the church expand while we are there? How many souls lost in confusion will have their eyes opened by the Light of the world? Lord-willing, many – we will continue to dream big, praying for every opportunity to come to successful fruition, because we know He can make it happen. For every new convert, the kingdom grows. For every “no” we receive, the seed is planted, nonetheless. God be with us.

If your congregation is seeking mission work to support, we ask you to consider sharing our information with the leadership. Shane or David would be happy to come present in more detail our plans for the work and the necessary support we will need to get it underway. To receive more information, send an email to DavidAndKeeley@Live.com with “NEW HAMPSHIRE” in the subject line, and we will send an attached .PDF containing our Biographies and our Evangelism Plan. Thank you for your interest in this work!

Anniversary!

Well, we have officially celebrated our second wedding anniversary – yay! We had an absolute blast in Estes Park, CO, where we got a great deal on a room at the Fawn Valley Inn. I highly recommend it! We had borrowed several books/movies from the library that we got to enjoy in our warm room – the weather wasn’t terrible, but cold without snow, which is no fun. David thoroughly enjoys walking in the snow, but when it’s just cold it isn’t the same.

The shops were fun to walk through, and we had breakfast at the Egg and I, a fun little brunch nook. That was delicious! We spent Monday and Tuesday up there, and came back to town on Wednesday. All things considered, it was absolutely wonderful. Although we had car trouble the week before, we were able to just relax and enjoy ourselves – I had booked the room back in October and had some money put away on a gift card so we didn’t have to worry. Boy I was glad I did, because the clutch going out on the Subaru pretty much used up our emergency fund plus some.

Now we are enjoying a few more somewhat-quiet days until school starts up again on January 10th. Love to all, and hope you had a great New Year!