Fall in Warrenton, Missouri

Work is progressing as we completed week #2 at Child Evangelism Fellowship. The cement window sills are done except a few more coats of cement (very thin) and the painting. The list of odd jobs they are wanting the men to do is getting shorter. One group of RVICS men installed the plaques that are pictured above on a prayer wall showing each state of the US. The women spent their entire week in the kitchen and dining room helping the regular staff with the large group of state leaders that were here last week. The women always work in the morning. However, this week we split the group and half worked in the mornings and half in the afternoons.

As a highlight for the week, we heard the key note speaker for this leadership conference speak one morning for devotions. He is Czestaw Bassara from Auschwitz, Poland, where he was born just after WWII. What a fantastic speaker! He has spent his life working for CEF in the eastern block European countries as well as Russia. Today, he has an international Bible teaching ministry in which he speaks 5 languages. We were extremely impressed!

Fall returned this past week!! Most of us had given up hope for warm, sunny weather. The trees turned out in all of their glory with lots of golds and yellows. Yesterday, we took a short trip close by and it was like driving in the Smoky Mountains this time of the year. It was complete with the hills and tight curves. Our last stop was in the town of Hermann, a “German” town on the Missouri River. Yes, we can now say we had had a beautiful fall. It is our belief that all of the leaves in Hartford City are now on the ground!

We are noticing that the activities here are slowing down as we are getting deep into October. Many of the volunteers are heading south. There is a ministry class (12 week course) that will be finishing up in 2-3 weeks. We are guessing that in the “winter” it is much slower than what we have been experiencing. Once again, we found that the Christian community is “small”. There was a couple of Oregon with their children attending the conference last week. In talking to her, I found that they had driven across the US visiting with their supporters. One of the stops they made was in Upland to visit a friend of ours!!

Tomorrow, we begin another week of work. We don’t know what that might be but are anxious to get started.