Celebrating 25 Years in Turlock

La Familia De Dios, the Spanish speaking congregation of Turlock Covenant Church, celebrated it's 25th anniversary on Sunday, March 5.  We made the one hour, 40 minute trip to arrive in time for the 11:00 a.m. service.  William, Gilma and Amy Flores were there for the celebration, as well.  Her brother, Samuel, is the pastor.  

The service had everything--contemporary worship songs, at least one hymn (How Great Thou Art with William on the guitar and Stephen on the piano), singing and dancing children, recognizing one of the "founders" of the church, video memories and a guest pastor.  If that sounds like a lot, it was--the service was nearly three hours long!  

After the service we had lunch with William, Gilma and Amy and then returned to the church to help with the celebration dinner.  Former staff members and others were recognized at the dinner.  It was a great way to end the celebration.  We left about 9:30 p.m. and made it back to Sunnyvale before midnight.   

Dinner with Friends

We flew to California on Tuesday, September 13, and Daniel picked us up at SFO about 4:00 p.m.  We had a quick dinner with the family before Daniel left for Bible Study Fellowship.  Afterward we had some time to play with the grandkids.

Wednesday morning after breakfast we drove 3.5 hours to spend some time with William, Gilma and Amy Flores.  We started by having lunch with William and Gilma at In-n-Out!  

After lunch we followed them to Porterville and checked into our hotel.  Once Amy was out of school, they picked us up and we went to Gilma's sister's restaurant for a Salvadoran snack--first time we've eaten "real" Salvadoran pupusas in the states and they were really tasty.

William and Stephen went to church early to set up for the Wednesday evening service.  Gilma, Amy and I joined them just before the service started.  It was a special praise/worship service with Stephen singing (in Spanish), William singing some of his original songs and then Stephen playing along with William for some congregational songs.  It was like a little slice of Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva!  We ended the night with ice cream.

Thursday morning we had breakfast at Black Bear Diner.  They had biscuits (the size of hamburger buns) and gravy which was a pleasant surprise for Stephen.  After lunch we began our 4+ hour drive to Santa Cruz to spend the day/night with our son, Jon.

Ending November in Nicaragua

We finished packing last Monday and the movers came on Tuesday.  Of course, we spent Wednesday and Thursday unpacking (except for the great Thanksgiving meal we shared with friends at the Kern home.)

Friday at lunch time, Gilma took us to the King Quality bus station to catch our ride to Managua, Nicaragua.  This time we decided not to ride the big, yellow school bus and, instead, go with the regular bus service.  The drive is still 12 hours, but it's much more comfortable with air conditioning, bathroom on board, wi-fi and snacks provided.  We pulled into the bus station in Managua at 12:30 a.m. and then took a taxi to the hotel.  Still a long day, but so much better than the 17 hours it took for the yellow bus to arrive.

Only four gringos arrived in time to go out with us on Saturday evening; everyone else came in about 8:30 p.m.  Still it was a successful evening with more than 30 professions of faith.  I had the opportunity to counsel Naomi after she prayed to receive Christ during the gospel message.  She had such a sweet spirit and a huge smile!  She and her 6-year old daughter live with her mom and she asked if she could have an extra copy of the Bible to share with her mom.

Sunday morning worship is always a highlight of the week.  There's just nothing better than singing in Spanish/English. Bro. Perry Safron preached from Hebrews 11--it's always great to hear a message in English.

Last night's campaign with the whole team was equally successful with more than 40 professions of faith.