Missions Convention in South Dakota

Last week, our family traveled to Mitchell, SD, for the Arms Around the World Missions Convention and we had a WONDERFUL time meeting more of God's beautiful people.

I love this picture Jonathan took of us girls practicing one evening (most lights off to save electricity).

Cozy.

And then would you believe it? We forgot three pieces of our music! (And that was just ONE thing that went wrong on this trip!)

Another thing that went wrong was that I had printed a number of photos of our missions trips to make an all-new missions display, and those photos completely disappeared!

I couldn't find hide or hair of them no matter where or how long I looked! I finally had to order more photos. But that was okay, because this display board we'd bought last year for IHC (and then Jonathan got bitten by the dog and couldn't go) was much larger than our old display, so I needed larger photos. Plus, this display has felt-ish type background, and Jonathan bought some spray adhesive to try.

Here I am, after sticky-ing up my fingers dreadfully with the spray, trying to place the sticky photos on this display in just the right spot at just the right time before the adhesive dries too much. If it is too wet, the photo will never come off, and if it is too dry, the photo won't stick at all.
Next time, I think I will use glue dots!!

About the time I am finishing up the display and Jonathan has helped me print off the captions and get those on the display, an emergency is happening in the bathroom--namely, Danny cannot get out!

There the poor boy was, stuck in there with a door knob that refused to work.It has been giving us trouble for a long time, but always if you twisted and jiggled just right, it would always open. This time, he was stuck to stay!
This is the night just before we leave at 6 in the morning for the convention, and a kid can't get out of the bathroom!!! Jonathan and Timmy work and work on the knob, but no matter what they did, the latch gismo would not give way.

After about 30 minutes, Jonathan had taken off his side of the knob out and was having to yank and twist and pry and pull on the inside of the latch to try to pull the latch sideways, and STILL the latch would not move. Finally, Danny thought to get his knife out of his pocket and slide it in the crackof the doorway up by the correct side of the triangular latch,and FINALLY the latch gave, and he got out!
We can always expect strange things to happen before we do anything related to missions.
It's just a given.  In Mitchell, a friend we talked to said he and his wife call it "Devil dust."
He said they had to learn to not let the "devil dust," as distracting as it is, set them against each other or cause them to waver in what they needed to do.

I loved these "Sticky Statements" at a service station along the way.
"I'm not bossy...I just have better ideas!"
"Young at heart--Slightly older in other places!"

A huge pile of corn at North Platte, Nebraska. (That is where something else went wrong--I left my purse in the restroom of Burger King, and we didn't find out till we were 35 minutes down the road!)

Thankfully, my purse had been found and placed in the restaurant safe. But that set us back over an hour. We had very little time to change and get ready for service that evening! Crystal and Carrie were to play preludes and offertories.
Here are some of the displays from Haiti, where the speaker, former missionaries Tim and Darlene Young, had spent 23 years under Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Missions.

They had personally preserved these Haitian bugs in some kind of wax or gel.
Shiver!

We loved this replica of a Haitian house.

Can you see the Haitian lady sewing at a treadle machine?

Evening services were in Faith Missionary Church, with very good attendance, Sunday being probably well over 100. We met folk that I had known since I was a teenager, from South Dakota to Pennsylvania.
We appreciated Bro. Tim Young's speaking--a lot of personal stories and a radiant face without hype or high pressure.

 Friday and Saturday there were two missions workshops each morning, and the Bible School chapel was packed out. Jonathan was in charge of one workshop regarding Helping Hands to Missions.
Since our children have taken turns traveling with us, he would call different ones up to answer questions about the trips they were on.
Carrie and Hannah here are sharing about their time in Slovakia.

Crystal sharing about her Bible trips to Africa.

Our two youngest boys and James and Micah Albertson answering questions about their time in South Dakota native American missions last summer (mulberries, chiggers, and all).

We very  much enjoyed getting to know Pastor Tim Stafford, who has been pastoring there at Mitchell for about three years.  He has a radiant face and exudes joy and relaxation in his Christianity, and we were told that he is careful to preach the Bible rather than his own opinions.
Maybe that is one reason he can have a joyful Christianity rather than an agonized one.
Carrie on violin and Rose on mandolin playing "The Old Rugged Cross" before service one evening.

Tall Sam helping Steve Sturtevant take down the flags of different countries that had been represented in the meeting.

This was certainly a profitable and rewarding experience, despite the fact that we left some of our best music at home (I thought the girls got it and they thought I got it) and had to hastily practice different music since we didn't have the other memorized, plus enough for two songs per service instead of just one!
Thankfully I had taken my notebook of our family music we've done in the past, just in case.

On the way home, after having breakfast with the new friends I already posted about, we were able to stop briefly in Mission, SD, to see Keith and Tasbah Lavery, whose girls are friends with ours ever since last summer when we worked together on different missions projects.

The Laverys graciously had fixings for a taco salad, which was very delicious. The girls played a game while we adults talked and took a quick look at the church basement which they are struggling to finish. We wished so much we had time to help. Lord, please send willing workers!
The trip home seemed long this time, esp. when it began to pelt down snow!
It was hard to see for the last 1 1/2 hours, and the snow that packed in under our van was still melting off in chunks yesterday--four days later!
But praise God we arrived home safely.