The month of July... it flew right by!

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that July slipped away so fast! It's been a busy month for all of us!

One thing that kept us busy was packing and moving. As of August 1, we are officially moved to Green Gambrels! After all the driving we've been doing recently, it's a relief to stay put in one place finally.

July 16-19 was the Follow-Me conference, held in New Hampshire. It was a great time of fellowship and challenges to follow Christ and be obedient to Him, no matter what the cost. There were three main speakers who spoke during the sessions. Jesse G. did a series on Spiritual Gifts, Jeremiah M. spoke on different New Testament principles, and Roy W. spoke on the role of works in the lives of believers, and how truth and love go together.
In between times we enjoyed talking, singing, and playing Pass the Story. The last evening several of us went door to door, inviting the neighbors to a gospel meeting on Sunday afternoon.

Two days of the conference, during the lunch break (which was about 2 hours!) a bunch of people from the conference took a walk up the road. When I say up, I mean literally! The house the conference was at was located on a road that was pretty much a hill from beginning to end. However, the view the top was well worth the walk!


We brought a friend with us from Follow-Me, and she spent a few days in Maine with us. It was so much fun having her here. She jumped right in and helped with chores - mowing a considerable part of the lawn the first day she was here! It was a fun but short visit - you'll have to come again soon, Sarah!

Then Mom took Julia, Sarah and I to the K's house, where we spent the remainder of the week. Mrs. K kept us busy with gardening and cooking. We weeded almost all of their large garden - it took all day, but we felt quite a sense of accomplishment when we finished!

The week after that we joined a bunch of friends from the New England area and traveled to Maryland in a 15-passenger van to attend BUCKIT week. BUCKIT stands for Bible University Christian Knowledge Intensive Training, and is a week-long classroom style conference that lives up to its name. This is its third year; I've been to all three BUCKIT weeks, and this was Julia's first.

The teaching was excellent. Craig S. took us through John 11-21 (we covered the previous chapters last year), shared some tips for better speaking, gave us a few illustrations to use when sharing the gospel, and numerous other things.
Jabe N. spoke on a variety of things. He gave us a tour of the continents during which we learned a lot about the countries in them, and the gospel work going on and the needs in each country. We also learned what Jesus thinks of our $tuff, and what He says about forgiveness. We were challenged to take the Lord at His word, and decide whether we'll follow Him whole-heartedly or not.

There was plenty of time for fellowship during the breaks and meal times. We met new friends, and got to see people we haven't seen in a while. One afternoon several of us BUCKITeers went to a park and played Ultimate Frisbee! That was a lot of fun.

The week seemed to go by too fast! The last day of BUCKIT week was Friday the 31st. We had our last session, had a late lunch as a group for the last time and then left.

Since then we've been slowly unpacking in Maine. Finding places to put things in our limited living space is a challenge, but Mom is doing a great job. Of course we're helping too, but Mom has a special talent with that.

Dad has been working on clearing out a spot in our backyard where he hopes to plant apple trees. He's been using his Kubota to pull out stumps and roots. We had quite a pile of them, so Mom got a 3 day burn permit from the town so we could get rid of it all.

Before:

During:

After:

The flowers are looking very nice! Mom and Mrs. H have painstakingly watered, weeded, pruned (and picked!) all the flowers in the garden.

Also, there has been a new arrival in the barnyard! The Japanese bantam, Poquito, and the brown bantam, Brownie, have a chick! The chick doesn't have a name yet, since we don't know its gender yet. But right now its unofficial name is "Chickie".

It's been getting bigger and bigger every day! Chickie follows Brownie everywhere she goes, and Poquito can often be found nearby, keeping an eye on his family.


Well, that's all from Green Gambrels for now!

The Kentucky Surge, Part 2

Where to begin?! Our two weeks in Kentucky were very busy, but it was a great time. Julia wrote about about our first couple days already. She was hoping to post as things happened, but time and energy did not allow for that! Here's an overview of what went on during the outreach. More pictures will come in future posts!

Believers came from around the country (and other countries!) to help the saints at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship in Richmond, Kentucky. The Good News on the Move (GNOM) team was there also. The team had been on the road for about 9 months traveling to different assemblies around the US helping with more localized gospel outreaches.

Well, it was a great blessing being able to go to this outreach. Working together with other believers, especially sharing the gospel, is a great thing. I'm sure you're dying to know what happened, so I'll leave off the sentiments and begin reminiscing...

This outreach was divided into three weeks. During the first week, the materials were prepared and packets were hung on the doors of homes throughout Richmond.

Over 100 people traveled to Kentucky for Week 2 of the outreach. This week's activities included going back to the houses that had packets hung on the doors last week, and seeing if the residents had a chance to look through them and find out what they thought of them. Many times this led into an opportunity to talk with them further about the gospel, and many people wanted some of the believers from Bluegrass Bible Fellowship to come back and have a Bible study or talk with them more.

There were a series of gospel meetings held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night on the topic of "Peace in the Eye of the Storm". Several unbelievers came, including two young ladies who were spiritually awakened during the last few days, and recognized that God was trying to get their attention. They both were very interested and took some literature with them. They proved to be very good contacts, and are excited about starting a Bible study with some of the local believers.

There were also four kids clubs going on every day in different locations. During a couple days, two of the clubs didn't get any kids, and some days only two or three came. I helped at one kids club for a couple days. The gospel was clearly presented in a memorable way through paintboards, Bible stories, verses, and songs, and the kids listened very well. One girl seems like she is saved, and one of the boys was asking questions about salvation and eternal security. Please pray that all the kids would remember what they heard and not just forget about it, that they would understand salvation, and that they would be able to keep in contact with the local believers. They plan on having once-a-week kids clubs as a follow-up.

About 50 people, including folks from Bluegrass Bible Chapel, remained for the third week of the
the outreach. This week we mostly followed up with contacts from the previous two weeks, going back to their houses and seeing if they really were interested in someone coming back. Some wanted more visits, others wanted a Bible study, and some were not interested in further contact. We also did a little more door to door, as we didn't finish it all last week, and we had one kids club on Thursday morning. The two afternoon kids clubs got rained out.

We really enjoyed spending time with all the people there. We played lots of volleyball, had impromptu Bible studies, sang, talked, played games, laughed a lot... it was fun. You really get to know people when you work (and play!) with them for two weeks!

Well, it's kind of hard to sum up everything that went on during those two weeks, but I think that about covers the main events. Christ was proclaimed, people were reached, lessons were learned, friendships were made, and fellowship was enjoyed. All in all, a great and profitable time. Please remember to keep the saints at Bluegrass Bible Fellowship and the others still working with them in your prayers, as well as the people they are still reaching with the gospel. It's exciting to see how the Lord has been working in Richmond!

Good News for the Valley (The Surge)

We went to CT on Saturday the 31^st of May for a week-long Gospel outreach! The Waterbury Christian Fellowship, Good News on the Move Team III, and a few local assemblies teamed up with people from across the U.S. to help evangelize the Naugatuck Valley region.

Saturday several people were at a local park for a family fun day, and had many good conversations. One young girl professed to put her trust in Christ!

Sunday afternoon we hit the Naugatuck Green for Duck Day and an Earth Day event. We handed out lots of CD's entitled "Hope in the Storms of Life", and some people were able to have good conversations.

Jabe Nicholson thought of these signs to use during Duck Day.
(Click on the picture for a better view.)

The signs in action.

(Above two photos taken by John Nicholson.)

On Monday morning after breakfast, which was always at 7:00, we had a meeting and discussed the contacts we had made on Saturday and Sunday. Every morning except Sunday morning there were meetings from 8:00-10:00. After that, door-to-door teams were arranged and the dtd groups went out. There was also a 2-hour planning meeting for the kids’ clubs that would be going on in different parks for the people that would be involved with them. We all were in on the planning meeting. At 1:00, everyone met up at the Green in Naugatuck for lunch. The kids’ club at Salem Park (across the street from the Green) wasn’t going to start until 3:30, so we visited and stuffed some packets. Some people played a game of ultimate frisbee until it was time for them to leave for door-to-door.

The first kids’ club at Salem Park went pretty well. About 12 kids came and stayed for the whole time.

There was also another kids’ club going on over at Baummer Park in Naugatuck, so after the Salem club was over, we headed over to Baummer’s for supper. After we had supper, we all went back to the hotel.

Monday night was the evangelism training, so various members of the GNOM team did some door-to-door scenarios, and described some of the literature that is helpful to have when doing various methods of evangelism and follow-up. Daniel taught some of us how to do a three-rope trick to use in sharing the Gospel.

On Tuesday morning, the majority of the people went out dtd. After lunch, kids’ clubbers went off to the different parks, and dtd teams went out again. On Tuesday evening, Mr. Rob Sullivan gave an evangelistic talk called “Can we trust the Bible?”. It was very interesting! He gave different examples about how the Bible is accurate, from different methods of how to stay healthy to different prophecies. After that ended and all of the guests left, a group of us did some singing in the hotel lobby. We were told we had to move out of the lobby, so we went to the ballroom, which was the room the talk had been in. We stayed up pretty late, but we had a lot of fun.

On Wednesday morning, we did pretty much the same thing that we did on Tuesday morning. Most people did dtd in the morning, and then some did kids’ clubs in the afternoon. After the kids’ club at the Naugatuck Green (they had to relocate to the Green instead of the Park), the group there went to Baummer’s for supper. The kids’ club there was finishing up. Wednesday evening, there was another evangelistic meeting with Mr. Sullivan as the speaker again. The topic that night was “You can know your Future”. It was about Bible prophecy and how we can trust it when it talks about our own personal destiny. After that meeting was over, we did some singing and then played a game of Mafia. It’s a game where everyone sits in a circle and is given a card. The Aces and the Jokers were the “Mafia”, the Kings were the sheriffs, and the Jacks were doctors. The Mafia would try to “kill”, or eliminate all of the other players, the Kings would try to eliminate the Mafia, and the doctors would try to save whoever the Mafia was trying to kill. It’s pretty hard to explain, but if you play it you’ll get the hang of it (no pun intended!).

On Thursday morning, we pretty much did the same thing that we did on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. We didn’t have supper at Baummer’s, but we went back to the hotel instead. We got back a little bit earlier than usual, so we had time to do some singing.

Jessica and I went out to eat with a few other people. That evening Jabe Nicholson gave a talk called “Does God care when I Suffer?”. It was very good. After the meeting was over, we did more singing.

On Friday morning it was raining, so we didn’t go door-to-door. Instead, we had a pretty relaxed morning after the meeting. We had lunch at Cheshire Bible Chapel around 12:15. After lunch, some of us went back to the hotel, and some people stayed at the Chapel until the kids’ clubs were going to start. The rain had stopped, so we went door-to-door in the afternoon.

That evening Jessica and I had bagels with ham, and then ice cream for dessert! There was no evening meeting on Friday, so we mainly had visiting time on Friday night. We did some singing, played Mafia, and got a lot of group shots, among other things. Many people were leaving early the next morning, so we said our goodbyes to them.

On Saturday morning, we said goodbye to some of the GNOMers that had not yet left. We got several more group shots between bites of breakfast. A couple of us girls ran out to get a quick picture of the bus before it was driven away.

After we’d packed up all of our stuff, we said goodbye and left. It was an amazing week!

So, there’s a much-abridged version of what we did at the Surge!

The Jamestown Quadricentennial - Part 4

Here's the next blog post you've all been waiting for! Sorry it's been so long since our last post. The Jamestown installments are coming to a close, with only two more days to write about. I hope you've been enjoying them so far!

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Thursday, June 14

It sure felt good to sleep in this morning! After a leisurely hotel breakfast (and meeting a few more families attending the celebration!), we packed our day bags and drove over to the Jamestown Settlement. As we neared it, we drove along the James River.

The first thing we saw when we arrived was... a building! Yes, we did see a building, but there was also something I'd never seen before. Just outside the museum, the flags of all 50 states, lined up in two rows, waved in the breeze. At the base of each flagpole there was a plaque that gave a few facts about the state its flag represented.

We went inside, purchased tickets, and began our tour with a short, informative video about Jamestown's history. Then we looked around in the exhibit hall (we saw a few sleuths dashing around, solving clues!) and then headed to the outdoor exhibits.

A short walk brought us to the Indian village. There were several wigwams, each containing lots of furs, a few weapons, pots, and other things. One of the beds looked so comfortable that Mom wanted to try it out.

We checked out the different activities you could do, talked with an employee who was making arrowheads, and then we continued down the path towards the docks and the fort.

We caught sight of the fort before we reached the docks. As we rounded the bend, a large ship loomed into view. It was the Susan Constant, the largest of the three ships that brought the Englishmen who founded Jamestown. The other two are the Godspeed and the Discovery.

The Susan Constant was very crowded, so we decided to wait and see the other boats first. The Godspeed was out for a sail,
so the only other boat we could see was the Discovery. It wasn't too crowded, so we climed aboard and poked around. We worked the bilge pump and the rudder, and listened to a sailor tell us about the boat. As I recall, it held 21 people - 9 were the captain and crew, and 12 were passengers.

We we finished exploring the Discovery, we walked back to the Susan Constant to see if it was less crowded. It was, so we went aboard.
We explored up on the main deck first. The stairs leading to the hold were in the very middle of the deck. To the left side were the cook's and captain's cabins. The cook's cabin was tiny! It had a cooking fireplace in it, and it must have been boiling hot in there when the fire was going!

Beyond these cabins was the upper deck. There were lots of different ropes, and we wondered how the sailors remembered what each rope was for!

Below deck there were chests, cannons, ammunition, eating utensils, beds, and supplies. The beds were small, as the Englishmen back then weren't much taller than 5 feet, but they were pretty comfortable!
We discovered a shirt, vest, and pants hanging on some rope, and found a pair of shoes in one of the chests.


When we finished looking around the Susan Constant, we made our way to the fort. Just outside, we saw a canoe. Three girls were posing in it for a picture. When they were done, Julia and I hopped in and pretended to canoe!

Once inside the fort, we saw several houses. To our right was the large church, to our left was a large house (beyond it was the blacksmith's shop), and in front of us was a large open area that all the buildings were clustered around. We came to a bench that had some armor to try on. Nearby, you could try building a fence by weaving boards between poles.

We made our way around, looking in all the houses and shops.

The lumberyard

We passed the well, where several people were taking turns carrying buckets of water on a yoke. Each house had similar furnishings, but the smaller items varied. All houses had a garden, a few had writing desks, and one had a very ornately carved cabinet.

One house we came to had a couple of brooms in it. I immediately picked one up and started sweeping the floor - it felt great to be doing something! (Even if I was only stirring up dust!)

The church was quite large, with one long row of benches on either side of the aisle, a pulpit, and an area at the back in which the Apostles' Creed, The 10 Commandments, and the Our Father prayer were hung. This area also had a fancy chair in it. I'm not sure what this spot was used for.
We spent quite a while at the fort, but finally made our way back to the museum. We looked around in the gift shops for a bit, and then left.

The Jamestown Quadricentennial - Part 3

Wednesday, June 13

Early in the morning we received a text message similar to yesterday's: we were to be at the Marriott between 6:30 and 7:15. We didn't eat breakfast before leaving, because we knew we'd have plenty of time after the meeting.

This time we were fairly early, so there were still empty parking spaces. Several families had already arrived, and were waiting in line. This line began at the closed double doors leading to the entrance of the auditorium, and extended through the hotel doors out onto the sidewalk.

We chatted with a couple families while we waited to go in. Soon the door opened, and the line began to move forward. One by one, the families entered the auditorium. As people found their seats, the announcement rang out:

"Sleuths sit up front! You will find your name on your seat. Everyone else, please sit behind the designated seats. Again, we request that you be silent. When the moderator comes, there will be no talking and no questions. Thank you."

When the moderator came on stage, everyone held their breath. What was he going to say? Well, he said something like this:

"Jack is disappointed."

When this had sunk in, he went on.

"You were given the chance to prove that you could work on your own, but you showed that you could not. Many of you simply gave up. That is not what Jack wants in the fifth trustee."

But after that, he was a little more encouraging. He said that Jack was proud of those who persevered. I felt a little better. :o) Then it was time to separate those who were eliminated from those who would continue.

"When I call your name, please stand and remain standing."

Not hearing my name called, I figured that these were the ones who would continue. Good for them! However, I soon discovered I was wrong when I heard my name called. Bummer!

After a few final words, we were dismissed. As each family exited the room, their sleuth was given a Jamestown 400 T-shirt for being in the 100.
We chatted in the lobby, and met more sleuths and their families. Before long, the remaining sleuths filed out of the auditorium and headed out the door to begin another assignment. We congratulated them and cheered them on. They followed the rules, and said nothing about their assignment.

We left soon afterwards and went back to our hotel to eat breakfast. When we finished, we decided to go back to Duke of Gloucester street. We didn't get to enjoy it very well the day before, and we were also prohibited from taking pictures during the hunt. So, now we could explore DOG street at our leisure and take plenty of pictures! The pressure was off!

We did not purchase a ticket, so we couldn't go in any of the buildings except the stores. However, there was still quite a bit to see! We met a few more families from the Quadricentennial, and some of them were curious about this hunt, so we told them what it was about.

We saw a muster and watched a fife and drum corp parade down the green. We explored the stores (one was a replica of an actual general store from Colonial Williamsburg), and walked up and down the street. To our delight we found a Scottish store, and spent some time looking around there.

The wall decorations were neat!

We spent most of the day touring DOG street. Then we had supper and lounged in our hotel room until bedtime.

The Jamestown Quadricentennial - Part 2

Tuesday, June 12

Bright and early Tuesday morning, we received a text message instructing us to be at the Marriot no later than 7:15. Since it was only about 5:00, we stayed in bed and tried to get a little more sleep. We got up around 6:00 and prepared to leave. We had a quick breakfast, put on our nametags, grabbed our bags, and hurried out the door.

We were one of the last families to get there. The parking lot was nearly full, so Dad dropped us off at the entrance, and went to find a parking spot. Mom, Julia and I joined the long line of families waiting to enter the auditorium. Everyone was armed with books, papers, and other material for the hunt.

The line gradually moved forward, and we soon came to the auditorium door. As each family went in, a man made sure the main sleuth was there, and then admitted them into the auditorium.

In the auditorium, the lights were dimmed. People talked in hushed voices as they tried to find seats. I didn't know if there was designated seating for the sleuths, so I wasn't sure where to sit.
Shortly, the man up on stage began giving instructions.

"Sleuths sit up at the front. Families, please find seats elsewhere. Silence in the room, please!"

"If you are sitting in the front and are not a sleuth, please find another seat. There will be no talking and no questions. Silence in the room! Thank you."

I silently made my way to the front of the room, and found my seat. I picked up the folder laying there, which was marked 'Confidential'. I opened it, and saw a message from Jack! I read it, and then prepared to decode the clues at the end of the message, feeling the familiar excitement of a new clue to solve.

The moderator came out, and spoke to the audience. I don't remember exactly what he said, but he gave a brief overview of the previous phases, and then talked a little about Phase 3. Then he gave a roll call of the sleuths. I stood up when my name was called, and then sat down and continued trying to decode the clues. They were all Caesar Ciphers, but each clue was solved with a different letter. The first clue was easy enough, but I began to panic on the second one. "I hope we don't have to solve these by the end of this meeting!" Thankfully, I realized we had all day to work on it. Whew!

We were given strict instructions not to speak to any other families participating in the hunt, and then told to quietly exit the room. Everyone went out into the parking lot, many families heading to their cars. Some sleuths decoded the clues rather quickly and were heading out. I finally finished decoding them! We weren't sure where we should go after that, but soon we decided to try the visitor's center. Many other families were there, too!

We split up in the bookstore. Each of us took a clue to work on, and began looking at books we thought might help us. We were there for several hours, and then decided to hit a local library. We were there for a while, and finally we had to break for lunch. When we got outside the building and were heading to the van, I heard a sound from my pocket. "Oh! Maybe we got a text-message." Sure enough, we did!

The text message said that Eccleston Peabody was alive! "I knew it, I knew it!" I was so happy! I know most of you don't know who he is. He's a main character in the story of the Jamestown 400 treasure hunt, and near the end of the hunt he apparently was killed by the bad guys. Many of us treasure hunters were skeptical. Now we KNEW that he was alive!
The message also said that he was at DOG street, and if we saw him there we were to identify ourselves to him (by saying, "New history for a better tomorrow", the answer to one of the clues from Phase 2) and then he would give us a hint that would help us solve one of the current clues.

"DOG street? Where's that?" I asked. "That's Duke of Gloucester street! It's not very far from here." Dad said. I was so excited! We ate a quick lunch and went to find DOG street.
We found it, and Dad dropped us off at one end of it. We kept our eyes peeled for anyone who might look like Peabody. However, we did not know what he looked like. I was fairly sure that he would be dressed in a dark suit and maybe be wearing glasses or carrying a briefcase, but we had nothing definite to go on.

We walked all the way down DOG street, not seeing anyone who looked like Peabody. Dad joined us at the other end, and we walked back up the street. We did this several times. After a while, we decided to approach men who were sitting or walking by themselves and who looked like they could be Peabody, and say, "New history for a better tomorrow." (not the thing you'd want to say to a complete stranger!) Needless to say, we got very interesting reactions! Some people smiled, shook their heads and said, "No, but good luck!" Others looked very confused. Several said, "I've had lots of people say that to me today. What is this all about?" We gave a brief explanation, an apology, and moved on.

We never found Peabody, much to my disappointment. But we did meet several families from the Quad celebration! Many of them were involved in the hunt. After a few more hours on DOG street, we decided to go back to the library and do some more searching.

Hour after hour passed by. We didn't make much headway. The library closed, so we headed back to the visitor's center which was open a little longer. When that closed, we went to another library that was nearby. We saw a few other sleuths and their families there, too!
That library closed, and we still didn't have the answers we needed. We found a large bookstore, and spent a couple hours there. I received a text message, saying that the deadline was 10:05 pm. We were finally making headway on one of the clues (we were very excited!), and then I looked at my watch. "Well, we can stop now - it's after 10:05 p.m."

We packed up and went back to our hotel room. I was a little disappointed that we didn't make it, but I wasn't too surprised. I expected the clues to be hard, and they were!
Even though we wouldn't get to search for the treasure, I was still thankful that we made it into the first 100 and could come to Jamestown.

Scenes from Colonial Williamsburg

Hello again! Sorry we haven't posted in a while... we've been rather busy. The next post about Jamestown will be coming soon! Here are some pictures of the different places we went in Virginia. Enjoy!

Duke of Gloucester (DOG) Street, Williamsburg

This is the Capitol Building, when Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia.

Some of the merchant shops on DOG street. Scotland House was one of our favorites!

This looks like Thomas Jefferson, deep in thought!

Tending the garden.

One of the many carriages on DOG street. The horses were beautiful!

Looking down DOG street.

Some houses had beautiful gardens!

These men are on their way to recruit some tourists for the militia.

The fife and drum corps waiting to march.

The Governor's house. Later in the day, the fife and drum corps marched down the green. The clear fife music was so pretty, and the drums were almost as loud as thunder!