Colfax

Colfax, Illinois is a small farming town in central/northern Illinois. In this quaint little town full of corn fields and farms is a church called Emmanuel Lutheran Church. A few years ago their youth group took a leap of faith and took the church’s first ever mission trip….it landed them in Cairo, Illinois and began a wonderful partnership between our ministry and their congregation. We have been blessed to receive a few groups from this church over the year, and they have served our community and opened amazing doors for us to do ministry in the housing projects here.

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity, for the first time, to visit their church and share more about our ministry, pray for their church, and lead a little worship. It was such a blessing to be with this family of faith. They showered us with kindness in hospitality and friendship. It was amazing to see how God is using this church for His Kingdom – truly to plant seeds of faith to transform the nations. What an honor to be part of the fields where they have sowed!

Gary shares about the Cairo House of Prayer

Amanda prays for Emmanuel Lutheran

Joy for Harlan and Gary

Us ladies and Harlan

Dancing and Praising the Lord! Yay Lutherans, you’re precious!!

Leading Worship

Camping…well, sort of…

Actually it was more like very nice cabin-ing. Our team ventured off this weekend for a little R&R and fellowship at Camp Ondesonk, a Catholic retreat camp here in southern illinois. We stayed in carpeted dorm rooms, ours even had a fireplace, so not bad at all ;o). Many thanks to Heather C. for putting this trip together, it was a real blessing! The camp was wonderful. We enjoyed horseback riding, hiking, and a great campfire cookout. We were joined by some of the Harrisburg house of prayer folks who are doing a similar ministry north of us. We love them dearly, and it was a blessing to spend time with them again this weekend. We’re hoping to make it a somewhat regular occurrence. It was great to be outdoors and see some of the beauty of this area, much of which, I confess I haven’t taken the time to enjoy in my going-on five years here. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a new trend of discovering the undiscovered around me. I very much appreciated this trip as we approach April – our weekends are packed this month with ministry trips to other churches, hosting mission groups here in Cairo, and to finish off the month running a half marathon in Nashville. It will be action packed, but He will strengthen us and help us find rest in the midst, I know!

Ferne Cliffe

Ferne Cliffe is one of the local parks in Southern Illinois. This area is actually full of beautiful hidden things, despite it’s reputation for being in the middle of nowhere. Shawnee National Forest is quite lovely along with the other forest reserves and such. Last week was spring break here in Cairo and we had the opportunity to take a group of kids to Ferne Cliffe. We hiked, fished, played games and had a yummy PB&J lunch. It was a great time to get out doors and enjoy some fresh air. Not to mention is was also a joy to watch the kids have a great time doing many things for the FIRST time ever, like hiking or fishing. I was pretty enamoured watching some of the boys just sit and fish. So quiet, so peaceful, so patient. So engaged in it, though no one caught a thing. I’m used to seeing this same group of boys playing crazy games in the computer lab, so this was refreshing to see them enjoy something three-dimensional ;o).