The Lebanon FMC

These are pictures of the Free Methodist Church in Lebanon, Oregon. The one with my pickup in it is actually the back entrance but the larger parking lot is on this side. Also a nicer entry door. That door is to the right in the interior view of the lobby area. The church office is straight ahead with the pastors office down the hallway.

The view with telephone pole on the corner is looking at what probably would be considered the "main" entrance. The church sign is on this side but the parking lot is small and entry door not as inviting. This side faces west and needs some paint. The wing closest to the street corner is the fellowship room. The worship area is the portion farthest away. Of course this other view is the interior of the worship center.

Trevor and I met with the high school principal last week. No! We weren't in trouble. The high school is next door to the church -- actually we are next to the back corner of the school property. Traditionally (I mean going back many years), the church property -- or the sidewalk in front of the church -- has been a hangout for kids who want to smoke, meet with friends who have dropped out of school, or just generally be a nuisance. So Trevor and I wanted to be sure we are on the same page with the principal in trying to cut down on this activity. He is new this year and has some good ideas on policing this area. Stay tuned on how this works. School starts tomorrow.

It seems we are getting into the routine of being constantly busy. Kind of like of pastoring a church again. I finished my two part sermon on getting out of our comfort zone. I am trying to prepare the people for thinking in new ways to reach our community. They seem very open to new ideas.

Well, take care and have a great week.

We Made It!

Wow! We made it through the week. Did I doubt? Well, maybe a time or two. We are finally getting organized in the church office. Each of us are taking one full day to be the "church secretary" -- answer phones, be there to greet visitors, do whatever needs done in the office, etc. My turn is Monday, Joyce has Tuesday. Friday is supposed to be our day off. Of course we are there (or at least I am) more than just Monday.

I preached today. I used a sermon I had preached before but reworked it and made it applicable to this church. When I finished, it was waaaaaay too long. I could have cut it down but all that stuff in there was soooo good (after all, it was MY sermon). I finally decided to cut it in two and preach the next part next week. However, this meant I had to add a little to this Sunday's sermon. So I did, but it took time

Then, I needed to attend a meeting in Salem Thursday evening regarding a problem in one of our churches. It was not a fun meeting. That took time. Friday, we went to Aldersgate Conference Center to get in on one meeting of our Conference Family Camp. We stopped at Joann's on the way to pick up some stuff we are borrowing for our house, stopped at a store to buy me some shirts, and ate dinner at Aldersgate. All this took time.

By Saturday, I was wondering if I would get everything done in preparation for Sunday. And there was still one thing still to do. Soooo, late afternoon Joyce and I were off to do something I had never done before. I attended the 50th Reunion of my high school graduating class. There sure were a lot of old people there! We had a great time and I connected with some people whom I especially remembered. And -- believe it or not -- we were back home by 9:30. But it still took time. Ginger came to spend the night with us and she was there when we arrived.

Some people ask me how Trevor is doing. The short answer... he is doing well. We visited some people of the "older generation" this week. He had never done anything like that before. The next day, Joyce and Shanette did the same thing. What fun!

The week coming will have some challenges but should be a lot easier. Maybe. But please enjoy your week. You will never have it again.

Our Lebanon Home

Some explanation is needed. The picture above is not really our house. Okay, now I have confessed. Our house is just like it but to the right, one building. There is too much brush to stand across the canal from our house to get a good picture. These are duplexes and ours is just like the far one (to the right). If I hadn't told you, you would never know. In the picture below, we are standing on our deck with the canal behind us.

I'm not sure what the canal is for, what is does, or where it goes. I'm sure it comes from the Santiam River but I don't know (yet) why. In the row of buildings along the left side, ours is the forth one -- too far away to see. We are in a complex of duplexes and town houses. They are old but nice. I've been told that 20 years ago this was THE place to live in Lebanon.


The garage is the building to the right. Joyce is standing by the side door but the light kind of fades her out. Our front door is tucked back in behind the garage. The window to the left is our bedroom. We have a rather roomy two-bedroom unit. The living room and dining room face the canal. My pickup just barely fits in the garage. All the yard work is done by others -- not me!!!


The first part of last week we were in Grants Pass getting ready to pack up for Lebanon. It took awhile to decide what to take and then pack. Tuesday (in the heat of the late afternoon) we loaded the pickup and left at 7:15 Wednesday morning. We kind of looked like the Beverly Hillbillies -- except with a white truck instead of a black one. We unloaded late morning and I went to a committee meeting in the afternoon. The cable guy got here right after we did so we had TV -- and high speed internet (yea!!!) -- before we were even moved in. We borrowed a recliner, a couch, a table for the TV, some lamps and a few other small tables. We're set!

It has been a good week. Trevor preached again because he wanted to finish a thought he started the week before. And also to clean up a little gaffe he made the week before. Not serious. He is doing a good job. Joyce and I met with the new Sweet Home pastor on Friday. His name is Matt. He and I will meet together often over the next many months.

The week ahead will be busy. We have Family Camp, my Fiftieth High School Reunion, and I preach the next two Sundays. So to start the week my laptop charging cord went on the fritz. I finally drove to Corvallis and bought a new "universal" cord at Radio Shack. We do get kinda dependent on our computers don't we?

And that's my week. How was yours?

Pictures From Waaaaay Back

We finally got high speed internet -- at our house in Lebanon. So I decided to upload a few pictures. We were able to see cactus in bloom. Beautiful! These prickly pear cactus were across the road from our RV. The blooms do not last very long -- one to three days.

The Rio Grande Gorge in northern New Mexico near Taos. That little strip of water is 650 feet down there. The Rio Grande begins in SW Colorado a couple hundreds miles north of here. By the way, most of the people in this area pronounce the "e" in "Grande."

The entrance to Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico. This picture shows the walkway zigzagging back and forth from ground level down to the actual entrance and then on down into the cave (notice the people walking down). This cave is awesome. I walked down and met Joyce at the bottom. She went down the elevator.

White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. These sands make it look like you are at the beach. They go on and on and on -- but no ocean.

Logs in the Petrified Forest National Park in NE Arizona. These are spread all over the park.

Friends we met in Albuquerque: L to R: Dennis and Sandy, Joyce and me, Vern and Pam. We enjoyed Easter with them and then again a few days later at Vern and Pam's house for pizza.

This Was A Really Great Week

Last Sunday I was just arriving at Fir Point Bible Camp. Korak was just barely home from the hospital. Jana, Ginger, and kids were on their way to L.A. A short summary of the week is simply, it all went well.

Fir Point Camp was great. We had about 44 kids in the younger group. Many of them made decisions to follow Jesus. Joyce and I taught the Bible lesson which was based on the events surrounding Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Jana did most of the planning and was set to be a large part of the presentations. Because she wasn't there, we made some last minute adjustments and recruited Connie be be our helper. Connie has been coming to Fir Point Camp for lots and lots of years. She is the treasurer and in charge of crafts so she was free during the time we did our Bible story. During the first part of the week it was hot -- maybe low 90s. Wednesday evening it rained -- thunderstorm, big rain drops, lots of them. It came after dinner while we were painting ceramics for craft --outdoors. All the kids picked up their craft and headed for the lodge building. The rain didn't hamper activities very much. After that, it was cooler. The camp leaders changed the schedule this year so our last Bible presentation was Thursday morning. Because of the rain they changed the schedule even more. Instead of presenting the lesson three times with the kids coming on a rotating basis, we did it only once Thursday morning to the entire group (this was crossing the Red Sea so it worked really well for a large group). This meant Joyce and I could clean up our teaching space before we left for Grants Pass and her doctor's appointment. Anyway, it was a good week.

As I said in my last blog, Jana got home okay. Korak is doing fine. Ginger flew home Wednesday. Debbie met her at the Portland airport and drove her to Lebanon to pick up her car. She had left it in our "new" garage. By the time she got home, she was tired but everything worked out okay.

We are in Grants Pass to do a few things on the house, get packed, and load the pickup to "move" to Lebanon. This morning we attended church at Allen Creek. It is different. 'Nough said. Trevor and Shanette handled Lebanon on their own. I talked to him a little while ago and he said it went okay. Did I mention we have music? At least for awhile. A lady named Linda is back to play the piano and another Linda is singing.

We go back to Lebanon on Wednesday. I'm kind of anxious to get back and get into a routine.

All's Well

Just a quick update. Korak is home from the hospital. He sounded like his normal self when I talked to him this afternoon. Jana, Ginger and the kids arrived in LA safely. I don't know a lot of details but I do know that he will be taking it real easy for at least a week.

I made to Fir Point Camp about 4:30 Sunday. After church I packed up the RV and made a stop at Trevor and Shanette's for a hamburger -- they were having an open house so people could see the new carpet. We did a little set up last night for our Bible presentation and finished it up this morning. This afternoon the kids arrived and we presented Day 1 to three different groups. It featured Moses and the burning bush. It is hot -- somewhere in the 90s. Good thing the burning bush didn't produce any heat!!!

God is good.

Lebanon, Oregon

Today is Saturday, the first day of August. My, how the summer has gone by so fast. My calendar says Mars is supposed to be really close to the earth this month. I read that it will look as big as the moon. I don't believe it! But I am blogging today because I probably won't have internet connection for a week.

About Lebanon? I can say it is hot!!! Although not any hotter than it has been all over the northwest. Records fell all over the place last week. We had about 4 days of 100* plus -- I think the high was 103*. In Grants Pass it hit 108*. Fortunately the RV is air conditioned. I was at the church most of each day; the main office and the pastor's office are air conditioned. I have set up "camp" in the room connected to the main office. It is sort of a work room with storage for all the paper and similar supplies, plus the copier is in there. There is also a nice desk. I let Trevor have the pastor's office. Some of the cool air filtered over to my side so it wasn't too bad. Joyce, Jana and the kids spent a lot of time down by the river. Tuesday evening, it was so hot we drove to Corvallis to see a movie. It worked out that we got to see "G Force" in 3-D. Kind of expensive but it was really good, especially with things flying out of the screen at you. The kids really loved it.


Joyce left me Wednesday. So did Jana and the kids. I get them back tomorrow. They went home to make the final preparations for Fir Point Camp. We are teaching the Bible story again this year. This meant the RV was quiet and cool (with the air going), so I came back here each afternoon when it got really hot and worked on my sermon in a little more comfortable style. I'm preaching tomorrow.

I started to tell you about Lebanon. It is a small town -- about 15,000 population. Corvallis (home of Oregon State University) is about 15 miles west and Albany (larger) is about 15 miles NW. We have a Super Wal-Mart, a nice Safeway, lots of fast food places, and a few nice sit-down restaurants. Plus lots of churches. I'm anxious to post some pictures. We are going to get high-speed internet at the church so I can use that -- maybe a month away. Lebanon is about 170 miles north of Grants Pass -- straight up the freeway and 8 miles east. It is about 30-35 miles south of Salem -- right in the heart of the Willamette Valley. A lot of grass seed is grown in this area.

We had a little scare this week. Jana's husband, Korak, is back in LA working. He had been feeling a little chest pain so finally went to the doctor. They ran him through the treadmill test which he passed easily. Then did an MRI. It showed some occlusion in one the blood vessels around the heart. So yesterday they did an angiogram and found it was 95% blocked. They put in a stint and will run some more tests on another blood vessel they couldn't see very well. He spent the night in the hospital and goes home today. Jana felt bad that she couldn't be there but Korak's mother is in LA to give him lots of TLC. We considered flying her back for the weekend but that presented it's own set of problems so they elected to let Jana comfort him long distance. He is supposed to fly up to join us next Friday and we're hoping that will still be possible.


Oops. Just got word that changes the above paragraph. Jana really wants to be with Korak -- and she should be. He is spending another night in the hospital. Roy and Twyla came to visit just before Ginger got here. After lots of phone calls and a little encouragement from dad, Jana is driving home tomorrow. Ginger was going to have dinner with me tonight and attend church tomorrow. But now... a change. Roy is taking her to Grants Pass and she will help Jana drive back to LA. Then help her sister with the kids for a few days. She'll fly back to Portland in the middle of the week and bum a ride down to Lebanon to get her car. This means we won't have Jana to help at Fir Point but we'll manage -- probably get someone to take her place. It also means I don't get to hug Jana, Josiah, and Lilly again before they go back.

Trevor and Shanette moved into the parsonage last week so they are having an open house after church with hamburgers and hot dogs. I'll preach, grab a quick bite, hook up the RV, and head south. It is about 150 miles down the freeway to Glendale where the camp is. Joyce will get a friend to take her to Fir Point.

And speaking of houses -- we got one. Well, one to rent, that is. It is a duplex in a really nice complex of townhouses and duplexes. Our back deck (very tiny) looks out over a small canal. They do all the yard work!!!!!!! We take possession today so we are now looking for furniture to put in it. Getting it now means I don't have to pull the RV back up to Lebanon to live in while we continue to house hunt. Our neighbor on the other side of the duplex is an elderly lady so she probably doesn't throw any late night parties. I hope. We are keeping our Grants Pass house so will have to go back occasionally to check on things.

Probably this blog sounds a little disjointed because I typed it at various points throughout the day. And plans kept changing throughout the day. But you get the idea. And you know what to pray for.