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Friday, February 15, 2013

Travels in Colorado

Last weekend was a busy one for us. On Saturday we drove to Living Way Foursquare Church in Highlands Ranch, a suburb of Denver, where we attended a regional training event for the Gateway District of Foursquare Churches. The training was attended by over 100 district pastors and leaders. We enjoyed our time together renewing relationships and making some new friends.

 

 In the late afternoon we began a drive from Highlands Ranch, through Denver, and then northeast towards North Platte, Nebraska. Throughout the drive we drove through intense snow squalls and as darkness fell the road began to be icy. In many places the center of the driving lane had pieces of ice and chunks of frozen snow, which we assumed had fallen off the numerous tractor trailers which travel interstate 80 in Nebraska. Late in the evening as we were about 12 miles outside of North Platte, and following a truck we hit a large chunk of ice. Because of the snow, and icy rain we decided to drive on into North Platte and assess any damage there. Once we arrived in the city, we pulled over, checked the car (a rental) and saw that a large portion of the front bumper was broken. What to do? We choose to drive on to our final destination, but as we were driving though the city the car began to make noises and we smelled smoke and saw smoke coming from under the car! We called our friend, Pastor Dave Holland, with whom we would be staying and then called roadside service with the rental agency. They asked us to drive the car to our final destination and they would then make arrangements to provide us with a new car. When we finally got to the home of Dave and Jonie Holland we were tired and stressed.



 The next morning we were the guest speakers at The Lighthouse Foursquare Church. We had a wonderful morning sharing about our ministry in Russia and Michael preached a message about “The Man with the Withered Hand.” The Lighthouse Church has been partnering with us in our work in Russia for 4 years. We always enjoy visiting this congregation. 

We spent the rest of the day and all morning on Monday sharing the things that the Lord had done in our lives, with Pastor Dave and Jonie.

In the early afternoon we began our drive back to Lakewood, CO arriving without any problems in the early evening. We will be in the Denver area for the next nine days. Most of our time in the area is family time with our oldest daughter Jessica and her family. As I write this we are preparing to have lunch with Karen's older brother John and his wife Susan. On Saturday evening we will be speaking at The Gathering Place, a Foursquare church in Commerce City, CO. This church is pastor by Brian and Denise Coleman. The following day we will have a dinner with Leonie Kent and Lorrie Drennen, both of whom are missions advocates in the Gateway district.