Let It Snow!

What a Christmas. we suppose to drive to the Twin Cities and spend Christmas with our sons, wives and grand children. Then we heard the weather forecast and changed our minds. So far we have about 9 - 10 inches of snow and are expecting quite a bit more before it is over. Recently I purchased a Nikon SLR camera, so I decided to take some pictures today outside. The picture here is of our back yard with all the snow on the trees. The elk just happened to be in the picture when I edited it. (Eat you heart out, Jim Van Voorst).
Actually I rather enjoy the snow. It covers up all the drab ground and and coats the trees with a layer of beauty that man can't create. I almost feel sorry for those who decide to winter in Florida or Arizona or Texas. They miss out on a lot of God's design.

October Youth Night

This past Friday night we had our annual youth night at the Barron Area Community Center in Barron, Wisconsin. There were 30 teens and about a dozen adults in attendance. The Trego Youth performed a drama using Casting Crowns song "Set Me Free" dealing with being set free from the chains of sin in our life through Christ. Paul Frey used that as his theme as he shared with the teens from God's Word. Paul also had a few action games for the teens to do. Attached is a video of one of the games. I guess you could call it "Paper Chase". What ever you call it the kids had a blast. Enjoy and let us know what you think.

Something Old and Something Borrowed

This past weekend I had the privilege of officiating at the wedding of Joanna Larson and Cory May in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. The wedding went very well and we had a great time. What made the day so special is having a wedding for a young lady that we have known since she was 6 or 7 years old. Joanna came to our VBS at Casey Town hall and also to the Bible Club held there. At that time there was a slew of kids in the area and we got to know them and their families over the years. Joanna later became one of our summer missionaries for 3 different years. In 2000 she also went with us to Iowa to help at camp with Bonnie Ellis, one of our AMF missionaries. Joanna has continued to help out at Winsome Bible Camp and that is where she met her now husband.
The other thing that made the day special is the people at the wedding. Many of the people from the Casey area attended and we had a chance to fellowship with them and to catch up on old times. We are amazed at how many of these people have been a part of our lives and our ministry over the years. many of our summer missionaries have come from that one Town Hall: Betsy, Molly, Sarah, and Joanna all came from Casey! Small world - Big God! (The picture was taken several years ago of some of the girls in Linda's teen Bible Study. Joanna, Betsy and Molly are in the picture)

Conversation Starters

Probably 3 or 4 years ago my son, Eric, gave me a t-shirt with 3 green circles on the front. I didn't think much of it until I started to wear the shirt around town. The shirt has been a great conversation starter with the video game crowd, especially teen boys or young men. I was in Mac Donald's one day wearing the shirt and a young man all dressed in black and very Gothic gave me a thumbs up and a hearty "I like your shirt". I have since learned that the logo is from a video game called "Splinter Cell". I have never played the game and have no desire to play it, but I have no problem wearing the shirt. This past week at our "Distad family reunion", my nephew noticed the shirt and we were instantly "friends". We had a good conversation about the game and how things are going in his life. I am not condoning the game, but I am glad that it has opened some conversations that I might not have other wise. God has a way of using unconventional things for His glory.

Camp praises

This past week we had camp in Lake Nebagamon, Wi. with 73 campers and 30 staff. It was a picture perfect weather week and we had the best of staff. God used this week to teach me some great lessons. In the middle of the week we had some tension at camp and even though it was uncomfortable, it was also a teaching moment. Right in the middle of it one of the cabin leaders handing me 3 small yellow decision cards. A couple were for salvation and one for commitment to the Lord. God so graciously showed us that we needed to re-focus our hearts on Him and the reason why we were there - to reach boys and girls for Christ.
The other amazing thing God showed us is that He is sovereign and totally in control. Two of the girls wanted to go home in the middle of the week. I called their mother to talk with her and she could not come because of a flat tire. God had a purpose in keeping those girls at camp. One of them committed their life to the Lord on Thursday. Praise God for "flat Tires" and His sovereignty.

VBS09

Years ago I had toyed with the idea of serving the Lord as a foreign missionary, where I would work with a single ethnic group over seas somewhere. My real heart was to be a pastor or missionary right here in the good old USA. I find it fascinating that over the years with AMF, we have not ministered to just one ethnic group but several. A few weeks ago we held a VBS in the Twin cities, at the church our son Kevin and family attend. One of the songs we sang was "Jesus loves the little children, red, brown, yellow, black white - all are precious in His sight." We have little "people cards" of different colors for the kids to hold up. Amazingly enough we had almost enough kids of different background to match the red, brown, yellow, black and white cards. This last week we held a VBS at the American Legion Hall in Spooner. One of our African American children was excited that he was able to hold up the black people card. Where else in the world can we reach more people groups that right here in our own country and even here in northern Wisconsin.

Goose Nest?

This past week Linda and I traveled to the Twin Cities to see the grand kids and to pick up a laptop that our son, Eric, helped us purchase. Eric also helped me transfer files over and get the laptop ready for use. I just kinda of watched as he did his magic. Before we left for home on Friday, Linda worked around Eric and Jen's house and I went to Mac Donald's to study. I had a little extra time, so I decided to pet the tools at Lowes home improvement store. (Anyone have a tool drool bib my size?). As I entered the far side of the parking lot, I saw some thing that I have never seen before. It was a goose nesting it self on top of a Ford SUV. I am not sure whether the goose was planning on building a home or just staking out it's territory. I took some pictures and the goose just stayed where it was. It would have been interesting to see what the owner of the car thought. He may not have seen the goose, but I am sure he found the evidence once he got home.

When we were at Kevin's house, it was fun watching the kids. Afton is in the dress up stage. She was "borrowing" her sister's Princess outfits and parading around the house all dressed up. Connor finally got his cast off and Gabe was building a house of cards on the floor. He did quite well stacking them up before they fell down. Of course with 4 brothers and sisters running around, they didn't stay stacked up for very long.

Over The Fence Ponderings

This morning, I traveled to Hayward to conduct our usual Wednesday morning Bible study at the assisted living center. The Bible study was a lot of fun and a blessing. When I can in I was greeted by the resident dog, who barked and barked and then licked and licked. We sang several songs and then I shared about "The Touch of the Master's Hand." When it was time to go, one of the ladies looked at me and said "Your a good looking man". I was flattered and the other residents gave her a hard time about how I was a married man. What a delight to be considered a "good looking man" by a lady that is 92 years young and has cataracts with very poor vision. Either way, I really enjoy ministering to them each week and getting to know them.

Nose Job

The last couple of days have been quite interesting and somewhat amazing. I was scheduled for nose surgery to remove polyps and if necessary a couple of other procedures. What was so amazing is to see how God put everything together. We didn't want to drive up early this morning, so we looked online for a motel in Superior, Wi. We stayed at the Superior Inn, just across the bridge and maybe 7 or 8 miles from the hospital and it only cost $39.00 for the night (with tax). They just happened to be running an internet special. Originally, we were scheduled to get to the hospital at 8:15 am, but on the way up to Superior, they called and said there was a cancellation and we needed to be their by 7:15 am, which was even better.
There has to be a joke here somewhere, but "how many hospital staff does it take to do one nose job?" There was the receptionist at the front desk, several nurses who did things like put the IV in, took my blood pressure (several times), ask the same questions over and over again, the nurses in the recovery room, etc... not to mention the anesthesiologist and his assistant, and of course the doctor who actually did the surgery. Actually the hospital was very efficient and ran like clock work. I really salute the doctors and staff at Miller-Dwan.
They not only took very good care of me, they also gave me these colorful bracelets, which only cost a few thousand dollars each.
The procedure went very well and I am doing fine, except being tired and a little weak yet. The hard part is not being able to blow my nose for a few days, which in my family is very big thing. We appreciate all those who prayed and continue to pray.

Hayward Bible Study

A couple of months ago I started doing a Bible Study at an assisted living home in Hayward, Wisconsin. There are 4 ladies and 2 men. It is interesting listening to them talk about life, family and experiences. The 2 men are both in their 90's and the older man is the "younger" man's uncle. Bets, the older man has a great voice and has played several musical instruments in his life. His daughter, Carol started the Bible Study and I am filling in until spring when she gets back from sunny Arizona We are doing a series on the 23rd Psalm and learning a lot about tending sheep and how it pertains to our life following the Good Shepherd. A couple of them have no family left at all, so they are all alone, except for the people at the home. If it wasn't for sharing with them the Good News of the Good Shepherd, this ministry could be very discouraging. It amazes me that my goal has been to teach them, but they always end up teaching me more than I teach them. That is the Joy of ministry!

Quiet Days

Today was one of those quiet winter days that I used to catch up on things in the office. I made a few phone calls that I have been putting off, worked on the computer for a while and even straightened up my file cabinet that has way too much junk in it (oops, I mean important files). This afternoon I spent some time re-organizing some files on the laptop. Quite a while ago I bought an external hard drive for the sole purpose of storing and saving needed files on.
As you may know, we have a new grandson, born a little more than a month ago. The picture is our grand daughter, Afton, mothering her new brother, Miles Mason Distad. I really think this is a great picture of them, taken either by Kevin or Jennifer recently. We discovered the world of Skype, where we can talk with and see Kevin's family using a web cam. It truly is amazing!