Dogwoods and Music in Missouri and Tennessee

It has been a long time since I've seen so many blooming dogwoods--and all along the long but fast trip to Missouri and Tennessee there they were!

These were on the grounds of the church and school where Crystal had been contacted about teaching this fall. After meeting with the board, Crystal 's application has just this week been accepted for this coming school year.

This is also where our family stayed overnight Saturday night and where we woke up to violets, blooming dogwoods, horses, cows, birds, and friendly people.

Our friends the Goodwins have been after us for years to come and speak at their church in Missouri about our Mission Helps ministry. So this year we were finally able to make it happen--on our way to the Interchurch Holiness Convention that moved from Dayton, OH, to Gatlinburg, TN,  this year. 

The Goodwins' church had these beautiful tulips and violets near the door.

Sunday school was taught by a man who had been converted out of a life of sin about 9 years ago.

 Our service was definitely not boring due to us  stumbling over chords, a microphone stand with a long arm falling over onto the music stand, and the computer falling on the floor! Some of the pictures Carrie had put on to show on our projector about Slovakia were accidentally and dreadfully mixed up. However the people seemed to enjoy it despite our flubs.

It was very nice to have a bunch of my family in for the service, including Fain and Regina's family, Joella's family, Elon, and Jed and Rosalie's family. We had a great time of fellowship at the dining hall with way more than enough food.

In the evening, more flubs awaited us. Nobody stumbled over chords, no microphone stand fell, and the computer stayed intact. Nevertheless, after transferring our photos onto a flash drive to show with the church system on the church's own screen, as had been requested, all the vertical photos ended up sideways! Thankfully that evening the live stream at the church was not working so at least that disaster did not spread around the world! I was embarrassed, worried, humiliated, amused, and horrified by turns at all the sideways pictures and one was even upside down, the one where Jonathan was working on live electric wires on the metal pole in Guatemala.

 We aren't used to this! Here is Timmy sharing about our trip to Grand Bahamas to replace the damaged roof on the church we worked on in January, just before the big shutdown.

    Thankfully most of the pictures were horizontal, so those were correct.

 Of all things, Keith Lavery, new President of Society of Indian Missions, was staying there in the dorm over the weekend on his way to IHC, too, and Jonathan asked him to share briefly about what Mission Helps teams had meant to him in his ministry to native Americans in South Dakota. He had some very kind and positive words to say.

 The children did a great job of playing "Are You Washed in the Blood" for an offertory.

Timmy on the guitar, Carrie on the bass guitar (she and Timmy take turns on the bass), Hannah on the ukulele, and Rose on the mandolin (she sometimes plays banjo, too). Others in the church played so pretty together for the prelude and hymns, on baritone horn, trumpet, clarinet, and two accordions! Even the pastor played an accordion up front!

So nice that mustaches and God-given, manly beards are permitted!

 Monday morning we spent some time with my parents, playing the children's music for them.

Carrie is playing the bass here, but on "As the Deer Panteth for the Water," she played her violin.

 The Tennessee governor himself welcomed the convention to come to Gatlinburg. 

Here I am with my table of books. 

 

The beautiful flowers out front.

A couple quick photos inside the cabin we rented for three days near Cosby.

 This cabin looked like it belonged in Colorado! I liked the old fashioned phone hanging on the cupboard.