Watch Newport Harbor High School History Teacher, Bob Lear, share how “God on the Move” during his summer break.
Along with our “Summer Road Trip: Stories of God on the Move” sermon series this summer we want to head about YOUR stores of God on the move in your lives. If you would like to share a video testimony, contact Malia, maliag@sapres.org.
Please keep the Kenya Team in the prayers as they depart St. Andrew’s for a long trip over to Kenya, Africa. May God use them in miraculous ways.
Our Summer Road Trip took us to Kansas to attend Bill’s 55th high school reunion. His extraordinary class of 40 people had 15 attend. We also took the opportunity to see the family farm (purchased 80 years ago by Bill’s grandfather) while wheat harvest was underway. Annie was able to “ride the combine” and was totally impressed with it’s size and complexity. We were reminded of Ruth having to glean the field for grain fallen on the ground. Today’s harvest is by computerized equipment capable of harvesting the field in just a few days. The Lord has truly blessed us with an “abundant harvest”.
Annie and Bill Lightcap
Kay and Paula’s Road Trip 2010! We planned to attend Mom’s (Annie “Kay” Zeller’s) family reunion which covers her brothers and sisters and their families this summer. The reunion occurs every two years because many families live away from Kansas and making the journey can be financially difficult for the younger cousins and those travelling with older/younger family members.
We flew into Kansas City, MO, on Tuesday, June 22, rented a car and drove to Des Moines, IA. On the way, we stopped at a rest area just past the Missouri/Iowa border. Here is a photo of Kay at the rest area; behind her is a sign about the Mormon Trail.
The nice thing about the rest stop is the chance for Mom to reminisce about one of her sisters who passed away. Aunt Jean came along to many of the family reunions; once when we drove her from Iowa to Kansas, she pointed out the automatic flushing toilets at one rest stop and stated “My Iowa Tax Dollars at work.” This is a regular remark and a family inside joke.
When we arrived in Des Moines, we stayed at a Comfort Suites near the Living Farms and ate dinner at the Machine Shop with a friend Kay has known since before I was born. Lois worked with Kay at a school on an Air Force Base near Chartres in France and they often did road rallies together in an old Volkswagen. Lois was the navigator and even when they got lost, they had lots of fun together. While we were eating dinner, Kay remarked about when they tried to find a pan to fit into the oven for a meal they were trying to make. Lois gave us a “care package” for our road trip down to Kansas. It had apples, soda, peanut-chocolate bars, trail mix, cookies and carrots.
Outside the Machine Shop Restaurant, I took a picture of Kay by one of the tractors. She learned how to drive on a tractor from her father growing up in Iowa. She will comment when I pull up too close to a ditch just like her father would during her training. I won’t tell you what he said when she inadvertently buried him with bales of hay they were collecting.
After we left Des Moines, we drove through part of the Iowan countryside heading toward Winterset, the birthplace of John Wayne. On the way, we saw groves of Christmas trees. When we arrived in Winterset, we followed the signs to the house, a small 3-room corner lot. We checked in at the gift shop next door and got the $6 tour (inflationary prices). One guy remarked that it may be his most expensive tour, since he left his wife down at the quilt store. Another couple was from Placentia, CA and we had a few laughs about the boat John Wayne had (life jacket from one of his movies on display prompted that discussion.)
Driving on from Winterset, we cut through part of Nebraska and drove straight into Topeka, KS. There we stayed at a Sleep Inn not too far from her older sister’s residence, and after checking in, we found out that some relatives were meeting at my cousin’s oldest daughter’s home just out of town. When we got there, we sat and visited with different relatives as they came into the driveway. Mom had me take a picture of the group at the picnic table with the Highlights. Mom was proud of the layout about me in the Connections so she brought extra copies of that to share as well. Some family members were inside and some kids got to play with the pug (dog) puppies.
Saturday, June 26, we all gathered together at the Hoyt Community Center, just located north of Topeka. The photo is everyone who attended and not all family members could be there, due to some passing away and others who were unable to get away from other commitments. Everyone laughed when I said we needed to get the picture with the Highlights.
The reunion festivities included a Potluck meal, kids playing with each others’ toys, some folks playing cards, others telling stories and then we had a little “presentation.” One of my cousins had a run-in with a raccoon stealing his koi fish, so some other family members put together a little storybook about the episode and they shared the story with the rest of the family. Also, since my Aunt Joan passed and she was present with my Mom when I was born as well as beloved by many other family members, we had a little memorial service in her honor. It helps to have a retired pastor, a young pastor and a pastor’s wife who also became a pastor, in order to get the whole family involved in a service to comfort my Uncle Dick, his daughter and her children, as well as my Mom and me.
After the reunion, the rest of the time we spent visiting certain groups of relatives before some had to leave to return home (Texas, Alabama, Iowa, Oregon and California.) Mom’s sister was going to move to a new residence, so we were able with the help of some cousins to go check out the place. It was agreed that she would be in good care and the conditions were acceptable to the relatives present.
I also took Mom out to Keene cemetery where her folks and her mother’s parents are buried. The grounds continue to be taken care of even though the church next door is no longer used. The photo with the names of Anne and George Zeller are my grandparents and the photo with the name of Gleason is my mother’s grandparents. All in all, it was a wonderful trip involving young and older family members, past friends and reminiscing about past events.
Day 8
Our last full day in Kishanje, the group went to Morning Glory and it was wonderful as always. Many of the group members worked again in the school and read to children in the primary school. The knitting crew did more crafts in the vocational school and watched the girls make some crafts. Hilary and Roz went to the Secondary School’s soccer game and cheered them on. The fellowship with the secondary students is really wonderful and it is amazing to see how God is working through our team. God is real and He is evident in Uganda. Sally, Jacqueline, Shannon, and Laura drove with a team from Illinois to the Kigali Airport located in Rwanda. We had fellowship with the team and visited the Genocide Memorial Center. It was incredibly graphic and sad but a good reminder of what humans are capable of without the love of God.
Day 9
Travel Day. Our team left Kishanje and headed out to a local beautiful lake. We hiked down the rest of the mountain and traveled by boat to our vehicles. We then journeyed to Mbarara where we visited an all boys secondary boarding school and helped lead their chapel. The worship service was not mandatory and the boys present were hungry for God’s word. We were extremely encouraged by their faith.
Day 10
After a 3:50 a.m. wake up call, our team headed out to Queen Elizabeth National Forest. In our first part, we drove through the beautiful African plains and saw all of God’s untouched and amazing creation. Elephants, Water Bucks, Warthogs, Ugandan Cobbs, and Bison were spotted. The team was so excited! Then we were fortunate enough to take a boat ride on the channel between Lake George and Lake Edward. There we saw more elephants, hippos, and monitor lizards. We were blessed by another team onboard the boat that came from the U.K. that are here in Uganda for a month. There are working with a local Christian Ministry that works to provide sanitary water. It was wonderful to meet people from other places that love the Lord and are doing Kingdom work. At the end of the day, we went to an all girls secondary school and shared testimonies and worship. The Lord’s presence was evident in the air and our team, although tired, gained strength from God. Many people shared testimonies, and Godfrey, a Juna Amagara staff member wrapped things up. An alter call ended the service and almost half the room surrendered their lives to Christ! This was a trip highlight for most.
Day 11
Cathedral Visit! Dennis preached at the 7am service, Laura preached at the 9am, and Godfrey preached at the 11am service. Testimonies were shared and new felt very welcomed by the people there. We then traveled to a Christian school and shared God’s word and testimonies. This school had a very different feel but God was glorified nonetheless. Our team is now well practiced at chapel services and they run a lot more smoothly now! We are still amazed at the ability of teachers and students to learn and worship God without all the things we think we need to make a service happen.
Day 12
We traveled from Fort Portal to Kyemjojo. We are four hours west of Kampala. We talked at six different schools yesterday!! We went to two primary schools as a team in the morning, and were incredibly blessed by the patience and love for God by students and faculty. One headmistress in particular radiated God’s joy and she was an inspiration for us all. Once we reached Kyemjojo, we split into three smaller teams and each did testimonies and alter calls at two schools per group. It was wonderful, many students and even a teacher accepted the Lord into their hearts. These kind of experiences are what makes the long travel worth it! God is present and lives are being won for the Kingdom.
Day 13
Our team is headed to the airport today. Please pray for us as we travel to Brussels, New York, and then home! We cannot wait to share more in depth testimonies of what God did here in Uganda, and also what God has shown our team. We all come home changed, with different perspectives and sure that the love of Christ preceded us.
We spent a long weekend over the 4th of July in Austin, Texas, where Chris played volleyball in the Junior National Championships (formerly known as the Junior Olympics). His team, the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club 16 Quicksilver, was ranked #1 going into the tournament in the Open Class of 36 teams. They cruised through pool play before losing their first games of a match in the semi-finals, losing 2-1 to the West Allis Lightning team from Milwaukee, WI. West Allis went on to win the championship and BBVC beat another So Cal team for 3rd place.
In photo: Linda Sheppard, Chris Sheppard
On this “Summer Road Trip” we traveled to Woodinville, Washington for the wedding of our granddaughter, Kristin Rech on July 16. She was a beautiful bride, and it was a lovely event, held at the Woodmark Hotel and Yacht Club on Carillon Point in Kirkland. The ceremony was unique in that this devout Christian couple received communion immediately after saying their vows, acknowledging God’s presence at their wedding. The proud grandparents are Stewart and Betty Berkshire, members of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.
Our whole team is now home, except one with an extended stay in Europe. We flew from Entebbe to Brussels to New York. We had a glitch in New York with a very short layover and did not have enough time for all of us to make is to our gate. We held the plane as long as possible and then made later arrangements for half the team to fly into LAX a bit later. At 10:15am this morning, our remaining two will be back. Travel can be hard with a large group but for two weeks our team did a wonderful job of going from place to place all over Uganda. The team rallied well over and over again despite 10 to 12 hour car rides, an earthquake, and bombings. We are so grateful as to what God did in each of our lives and for bringing us all home safe!
God blessed me with a precious sister and brother-in-law who invited me to join them for a trip to Glacier National Park, Montana. From the majestic, glacial mountains to the delicate and intricate wildflower, we reveled in God’s creative power. (Romans 1:20a)
Member Virginia Kurrle
Pictured: Virginia Kurrle and Dee Jackson
Photographer: Bob Jackson
The Uganda Team is home…check out these great pics! We will have an update on their trip soon, so stay tuned.
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