Back from Vacation

We just returned from a great two week family vacation. After a very busy summer of Mission Adventures teams, we were truly excited for some vacation time....especially before baby # 6 arrives!  The first part of our trip was with Grandpa and Grandma Beckstrom in Glacier National Park.  We had a wonderful time there, and as you see in the picture, we even saw a Grizzly bear in the wild!  Kids had a great time with grandpa and grandma, and I think thoroughly tired them out.We then spent two nights at the YWAM base in Montana, followed by a few nights at the camp YWAM Idaho has in the beautiful mountains of Idaho.  As you can see from the picture, the camp was miraculously preserved from a huge forest fire a few years ago.  The fire burnt everything around the camp, but never touched the camp itself!  We then spent one night in the city of Baker City, OR, and walked through the Oregon Trail interpretive center, which was amazing. One of the pictures below is actually of still existing wagon ruts from the trail!  All in all, we had a blessed vacation, and it is back to work Monday!

Above picture of the kids in a beautiful valley where the Blackfeet Indians used to camp.

Above picture of the Grizzly Bear we saw in the wild! Picture was from about 150 yards away.

Above picture taken from the top of a mountain Anders and I hiked up of the YWAM camp in Idaho.  Notice all the destroyed forest around it from the fire....the prayers of many were answered as God literally saved the camp!

Above picture taken of existing wagon ruts from the Oregon Trail.  Simply amazing and inspiring.

Above picture of kids having some fun in a covered wagon.

Above picture of Annie explains how I think both Sarah and I felt the entire trip!

A Name on the Streets of Salem

This is our second week doing "The Gospel Guy', and it is going fantastic.   I cannot explain in a short update how many amazing opportunities we have had to plant seeds and share the Gospel.  One highlight of this past week was one of the city police officers downtown came up to me and said he was a Christian, and every time he walks by us he prays for our ministry.  He said that because of his work, he cannot share the Gospel at all, and he challenged us to take every opportunity we can to do so.  Another man, named Isaac said that he has seen us every day he has gone to work.  He asked for prayer for a troubled marriage he is in.  I am so excited to see "The Gospel Guy" becoming a familiar face downtown in our city.  Please continue to pray for this ministry.

Coffee Hour and Conversation

This past Wednesday we hosted our Youth Pastors Coffee hour.  We had a great time.  It is amazing to see the diversity this meeting brings.  our youngest youth pastor present was 22....all the way up to one guy in his late 40's. I love this once a month meeting.  We question we discussed was "what is the most challenging thing in youth ministry?"  It is always so cool to see youth pastors and their different perspectives and answers.  We also spoke about our Youth Pastor Olympics coming up in September.  This is something I am really looking forward to.

Debriefing...a powerful time.

The above picture was taken with our most recent MA group after an outreach.  In this picture, the students are debriefing their outreach.  Debrief time is always an amazing time of hearing how the Lord worked in the lives of the students, and the people they encountered.  We hold out debrief times in the Salem House of Prayer which is an amazing place.  SHOP is located in what used to be a strip club where sex trafficking was going on.  Now, today, it is a place where the Lord is being worshiped 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!   I love being able to partner with ministries like SHOP to make our Mission Adventures trips all the more powerful for our students.

The "Gospel Guy" hits the streets of Salem!

This past week with one of our Mission Adventures groups, I hit the streets with the "Gospel Guy". I was real curious to see how it would go, and it went awesome!  I was on the corner of the busiest street in our city.  I've never done anything like this before, so I did not know what to expect.  I had reactions of all sorts.  One guy walked up to me, asked what I was doing, and we had a 30 minute conversation about the Gospel. One homeless man who has been clean from drugs for 2 years hung out with me and shared of Christ changed his life.  He had tried every recovery program known to man...none worked....until the power of Christ changed Him.  A lady spoke to me, and shared how she had been praying for a long time that our city would have a "street evangelist".  One guy yelled at me and said he was the devil!  I am so excited to continue to do the Gospel Guy each week.  Our city streets are filled with things of the world, why not stand out for the light of Christ?  Generally, people were very open and curious.  Pray for the Gospel Guy as we aim to become a center point and familiar face in our city.

Keeping cool with the "bob style" haircut and cold drinks!

Abby and Autumn are super excited for their new "bob style" haircuts they recently got.  They both say it keeps them cool in the hot sun! The below picture is of the kids at the cafe on our YWAM Salem campus.  This is one tall order for Lindy to take on!!  The kids love to get some cool drinks in the hot summer!

Anders turns 11 and celebrates in the clouds!

Anders turned 11 on the 26th.  It is crazy how time flies bye.  He still has a dream to be a pilot, and he was blessed to be able to fly in a Cesna plane!  A local farmer on whose land i duck hunt offered to take him up in the air for an hour, and boy did he love it!  What a special birthday present for AndersNoah!