Sunny greetings from sunny Florida
to all our friends! If you are
experiencing the blowing wind, blinding snow, ice or blizzards our hearts go
out to you and I wish I could send you a little of this 82 degree temperature
to warm you up a bit. This unusual
weather pattern has been no respecter of persons or of states; I think it was
last week that Hawaii was the
only state that didn't have freezing temps.
Our office staff back in South Dakota
informed us it was nearly 50 below windchill on Tuesday night. In fact our office staff has been snowed in
their
homes for the past couple days unable to even get into the office, so
they are working from home or any computer they are able to get to. Seriously, our hearts go out to all of you
who are experiencing all of this.
This has been an unusual month also, but for different reasons. For us it's been with cancellations of services...not due to bad weather...but bad economy. It is really putting a financial drain and strain on the churches and many of them are struggling financially as the old saying goes, "Just to keep the lights on and the doors open." Many churches have had to cut staff, special guests (which is us) and special outreach events. It truly is sad for the churches and...unfortunate for us too, as we were in the canceled category. But, we have taken our lemons and have made sweet lemonade using our time to pray and read, regroup and meet with hurting friends, partners, discouraged pastors and former missionaries. It has truly been a special time of ministering one on one, or "two to two" (Larry and I), giving hope and encouragement to those that are going through difficult times. Larry and I have been reading through Psalms and Proverbs again and day by day His word tells us in Psalms that He is our strength, our tower to run to in a time of trouble, He is our place of refuge, our friend, our song, our light, and He guides our footsteps to keep our hearts strong as we trust in Him. In other words, He is our all in all - and He is all we need! The world is in turmoil and with all the events in the middle East, we know that Revelation is winding up. We all know that the only answer to inner peace is to know Jesus Christ and to hold on.
Among the many we visits within the last couple weeks, was a delightful drive over to Tampa to visit our dear friends Carl and Betty Malz, ages 88 and 83. Many years ago we ministered with Carl and Betty when they and we were employed by Lowell Lundstrom Ministries and shared in crusades, family life seminars, etc. Both of them are truly giants of the faith. Betty, an accomplished writer, speaker and author of several books including, "My Glimpse of Eternity", and Carl, a great preacher, mentor, Bible scholar, former missionary, have had a great impact on our lives and have been a great example of "flourishing in older years...rather than fading". They've impacted thousands of lives all over the world.
Another quick visit led us to see and chat with our friend, Duane Pankratz, who is originally from Keystone, SD and is in Florida right now. We also met Scott, who gave us the wonderful treat of fresh lettuce and onions out of the garden. It will be a long time before we can get that in South Dakota, so we were very thankful!
We also had the joy and opportunity to see my cousins Frank
and Fran Burleson from California. Their family lived only 12 miles from us in Browns
Valley Minnesota when we were
kids. We spent a lot of time together as
families growing up. Frank's mother and
father would always call and invite us to go to church. They were a catalyst in getting us to church
and getting us plugged in. My cousin
Frank was a pilot in the military for many years, then retired and he and his
sweet wife Fran went to China
for 5 years as teachers with the main mission to witness and lead people to
Christ. And that...they did.
With the ongoing turmoil in the world and the minute by minute impacting events happening in the middle East we need to pray harder than we ever have as these events will in fact effect America and the whole world. Pray for Israel, God's chosen people, for protection. Pray for our leaders that they will turn to God for wisdom, rather than trusting their own judgment or politics. I love the scripture 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." We can pray and pray and pray sometimes and we're tempted to get discouraged and we are tempted to say "well we prayed and nothing changed", but what is supposed to happen is that our lives change because of getting into prayer and spending more time in the throne room of God.
We appreciate your prayers and being partners with us On the Road, and on Facebook and we pray God's blessing of protection, wisdom, knowledge and strength for you. God bless you!
The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible. ~Judith Regan
Ole and Lena were at the kitchen table for the usual morning cup of coffee and listening to a weather report coming from the radio.
"There will be 3 to 5 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. All vehicles should be parked on the odd-numbered side of the streets today to facilitate snowplows," the radio voice declared.
"Oh, gosh, OK," said Ole, getting up, bundling up and heading outside to dutifully put his car on the odd-numbered side of the street.
Two days later, Ole and Lena were at morning coffee when the radio voice said:
"There will be 2 to 4 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your vehicles on the even-numbered side of the streets."
Ole got up from his coffee as before. He bundled up, shuffled off, and put his car on the even-numbered side of the street.
A few days later, the couple was at the table when the radio voice declared:
"There will be 6 to 8 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the ..." Just then, the power went out.
"Park it where?" Ole asked in the dark, "What should I do?"
"Aw, to heck with them, Ole," Lena said, "Don't worry about it today. Just leave the car in the garage."
Curry Chicken with Croissant
2 ½ c. cooked chicken, cut up 2 T. sour cream
½ c. chopped walnuts, optional ½ tsp. curry powder
1/3 c. chopped celery ½ tsp. Cajun seasoning
2 T. grated onion ½ c. mayonnnaise
sliced seedless red grapes, optional
Mix all together and serve with Ritz crackers or on croissants.
A lot of recipes call for 1 or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. To ensure you can use the whole can, measure out tablespoons of the leftovers on wax paper and freeze them, then take the frozen tablespoons and wrap them in plastic wrap. Keep them in a zipper top plastic bag and put back in the freezer for future use. Simply thaw, or microwave selected portions when needed.
Greetings
from Florida! It's a beautiful sunshine day...now reaching 77
degrees...needless to say, a welcome change from the blizzards, blowing
snow and negative 20 degree temperatures we've encountered in South
Dakota for the past 6 weeks. Larry used the snow blower to get the
driveway cleaned out so we could get out of town. We drove into
Minneapolis last Thursday night just ahead of another impending
blizzard. We spent the day with our daughter, LaDawn and the grandkids
before boarding a flight on Saturday afternoon. After a beautiful flight
we landed about 6:50 pm at the Orlando airport, disembarked the plane
and made our way to the terminal. As I looked out the window, the runway
lights shed a light on the palm trees that surrounded the terminal.
Needless to say, it was great to see palm trees rather than blowing
snow. My eyes met Larry's...he smiled, I smiled back and he said, "Yes, I
like this - I was tired of shoveling through 3-5 foot snowbanks nearly
everyday." The day we left there were 12-14 foot snowbanks on the South
side of our home. Ooooh, the thought that there is still a lot of winter
to come. Yes, our thoughts are with all of you who have several weeks
left of that to battle.
It's kind of funny...we left Orlando, Florida two weeks ago and it was 86 degrees. For over a year we had planned our tour and rallies to go all the way out to Florida with the intent of leaving our motor home where it is warm and toasty. We wanted to leave it somewhere that we didn't have to worry about it until we get back to it in mid-January. So far, this all makes sense, right? Our friend David Kjosa, formally of our hometown of Sisseton, was so kind to let us nestle our motor home on his acreage just outside of Orlando. We had the trauma and experience once, and only once, of not getting our motor home out of South Dakota early enough in the fall - and an early snow blizzard pounded the Midwest and the snow impounded our motor coach in a snow bank in our driveway...frozen pipes - the whole nightmare. We vowed to never let that happen again; "We are moving it sooner to a sure warm climate!" 
to be at the service. When I saw them I gasped, "Don't tell me you drove 350 miles just to be here tonight." At which Tamara chuckled, "That's what you get for advertising your schedule in your newsletter." Over lunch the next day Don and Tamara commented, "We've never personally been in one of your services - but as soon as the two of you began to sing and share I felt everyone in the sanctuary relax. We could tell by watching you that you enjoy ministry and love each other. It really came across - and we felt the anointing on the altar call, which was evident when the invitation to come to Christ was presented. I'm glad we came."
To my mother, Julie Brooks, on November 16th! She is and has been my inspiration, role model and definitely the wind beneath my wings. We had a family reunion celebration for her in July and this coming Sunday the 21st, there is a friends and family open house in Sisseton, SD. (For those who know my mom, you can send an email to our office and we will get it to her: Julie Brooks, in care of 
he proceeded to share with me, "Oh how I needed this and enjoyed it. I wouldn't have missed this for anything. After Ivan passed away, I was experiencing some real tough lonely days. One day in particular I was so hurting and I picked up your book, For This Moment, which tells about your tears, trials and triumphs. It just encouraged me so much! Thank you!" I love these older saints who pour forth into my life. What gems!
corn fields, pastures of cattle and sheep, lazy rivers and creeks and billions of leaves that proudly display their fall colors. As I write...huge reddish gold maple leaves are falling like snowflakes...ugh, let's not mention that word! The Weather Channel says here in Clarion, PA, which is just a skip and hop from Pittsburgh, may get its first flurries tomorrow. With that in mind, Larry is urgently working along with a couple of partner friends getting some maintenance done on the motor home. We need that done before we head out tomorrow to Salisbury, PA, which is not far from Cumberland, Maryland.
On October 10th, we were back in Hillsdale, MI with our pastor friends Dennis and Joyce Haarer. We've been with them several times through the years. Their sweet loving spirits along with their sweet congregation always make us feel like we're coming home. When Pastor Dennis introduced us he said, "If I were to describe Larry and Gloria's ministry...I would say it is an 'altar call on wheels' with singing, preaching and a few of Larry's crazy jokes." I thought, "Wow! We've never been described like that before." Then the pastor added, "People always come to Christ in their services...and I know it will happen again this morning." 
Thursday afternoon, Walt Clutter, our host, pounded on the motor home door and commanded, "Get out of that office - it's the last nice, warm day of the season - we're taking you and Larry on a ride through the back hills, up on the mountain on a mule!" I thought, "Dear God... the last thing I want to do is ride a mule." Then Walt grinned, "That's my four-wheeler - common let's go!" They threw a bale of hay on the back where Joan and I rode. Larry, the dog Buddy and Walt climbed in the front. 
"Your ministry enriched our lives individually and corporately as the Body of Christ. Thank you for your quality of presentation. We could see the activity of Christ and the unfolding work of the Holy Spirit in the service, especially in the times of encouragement to the Lost and hurting. We are most grateful for those who made first time commitments or recommitments at the altar call. Again, thank you for challenging our people with the heart of God...reaching out to the Lost and prodigals."
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