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!

Christmas SNOW!!!

One of the things I am learning during these winter months is that sometimes you just have to sit back and wait for the weather to break. This morning we were supposed to have our church service at Barron, but we canceled because of the snowy roads. The snow from yesterday had quit and the sky was clear, but the windchill was below zero and the roads were very slippery. Instead of traveling 42 miles south to church, we traveled about 1 mile to Trego Community and joined them today. Linda went to their Christmas program tonight. Linda's mom called tonight and told us that Linda's nephew and his wife and child were in a 30 car pile up on Highway 94 this afternoon. Their car was totalled as it was hit from behind and in the front. Scott lost 3 teeth and his face was cut up and they are keeping him overnight to check for a concussion. Lornell and the baby are all right.
I thought this picture of the bush in our yard was quite interesting with the red berries showing in the snow covered bush. The Lord was reminding me that even in the midst of snow storms there is life and blessing.

Olivia'a Birthday

A couple of weeks ago, Linda and I went over to the Twin Cities to help celebrate our grand daughter's 4th birthday. Jennifer made Olivia a beautiful "Little Mermaid" birthday cake. After we had lunch, it was time for her to open her presents. Olivia had it planned out to the letter, just what we were suppose to do. She would go into her room, wait a little bit and then come out. As she did we would yell out "Surprise" and "Happy Birthday". Of course, she wasn't really surprised, but she still loved the attention. It is always a delight to help celebrate their birthdays. I think we are just as excited as they are sometimes.

An Aamzing Week!

This past week has been one of those weeks where there was something happening every day. It was definitely a busy week, but a very good week. It actually stated last week when I traveled to south east Wisconsin to be a part of 2 different mission conferences and make a couple of visits. The first conference was Wednesday night in the small town of Fulton, Wisconsin. It is a small town, but Fulton Church is a good size church with a very active membership. On Thursday I traveled to Union Grove to stay at Shepherd's Home, where they minister to Cognitive Impaired adults. They not only provide housing and work, but a great source of spiritual leadership. I came away with a great appreciation for how they work with C.I. adults and respond to their needs. Friday I was involved in a 3 day mission's conference in William's Bay at Calvary Community Church. It was amazing to see missionaries from all over the world and here in the USA.

That was last week. This week involved 3 adult Bible Studies (Linda has a Ladies Bible Study on Monday, I have one at an assisted living facility in Hayward on Wednesday and we both took part of the Bible Study at Hanson's Group Home in Barron.) We also had a Bible Study tonight with our adult group in Shell Lake.

Thursday after school, we hold a Bible Club in Haugen Elementary School. This was our first week of club for the year and we had no idea how many kids would be coming. In the past we were able to send notes home to all the kids at that school. But this year we had to send out personal notes to the kids that attended last year. Praise the Lord, we had 11 kids come and had a great time with them. God really answered prayer!

Friday night was the night of our Teen Youth Night in Barron at the Barron Area Community Center. Instead of going all night, like we have done in the past, we went from 7 - midnight, which was a lot easier for us "old people" to handle. There were 29 teens and 11 adults. Paul Frey handled the games and devotional for the night. One of the games he played was "Chariot Race", where each team had a blanket for a chariot which they placed someone on and pulled them around the gym and raced chariot style. The kids had a blast!

Today was our annual "Praise Celebration" at the Barron Church. The music group "Reachin' Out" sand and played several songs and we celebrated God's bleesing during the year. Our attendance was nearly doubled with 41 people attending and enjoying the potluck dinner after church.

This past Saturday we had a work day at the church in Barron. Dave and Randy came up from Portage, Wisconsin with their wives to help us install 5 new windows. Wayne Nutt also help with the windows. I went over the day before and removed the brick molding and inside trim and they basically did the rest. I am glad that they installed the windows and not myself. It took most of the day to get the job done, but it really looks nice now and a whole lot quieter. It should be more economic this winter for our renter. I played "gofer" and ran after parts as we needed them and Linda fixed dinner for the crew.

Aunt Ruth

The other day my brother Bob called to tell me that our Aunt Ruth had passed away in her house. My dad and all his brothers and sisters are now gone. My Aunt Lil lives in Moose Lake, Mn. She was married to my dad's brother, Clayton, who passed away a few years ago. Ruth was always the quiet one with a very dry sense of humor. I still remember when she and my Aunt Blanch came to our wedding in Jackson, Michigan back in 1971. They stayed with Linda's folks for a couple of days. Linda's dad was trying to get them to crack a smile, which they did after a while. I don't have a lot of memories of Aunt Ruth, except going with my dad to visit her and her husband Arnie at their house in Rochester.
The picture is that of Dad's family. Grandma Distad is the one in the middle and Ruth is on the right with Blanch on the left side. Left to right in the back is Clayton, Dad and George. We miss them all.