Spring In The Air
Mile Post 3350
We drove 3350 miles in the month of March! We went to services, pastors meetings and missions celebration events. Though 2024 ended slowly and 2025 started slow, March came in like a lion! Now that's usually a reference the weather around here, but God blessed us with lots of safe miles, and no heavy weather driving. Most of these miles Mike drove solo back and forth to Eastern Washington. 3350, that's a lot of miles!
Eastern Washington is beautiful in the Spring
Though We tried to schedule our Eastern Washington tour to avoid snow in the mountian passes, Mike did have the privilege of driving through the first snow storm of the year back in November and a few light flurries in the passes this March. In November, he was returning home from the Okanogan Area Meeting. We're pleased to be beyond winter.
We've always thought Eastern Washington is beautiful, especially in the Spring. Mike had the privilege of watching Spring come on through the month of March with travel to Riverside , Hartline , Moses Lake , Spokane and Chewelah . We've included the map links in case you've not heard of some of these places. Most of these are not big places, some are out of the way if you're not going there, but in each of these communities God's church is full of faithful people praying for and supporting missions worldwide. These cities and towns may be small, remote or hard to pronounce but they have opportunity to impact lives the world over as they partner with us and many others in the global mission of the church.
Looking North Northeast over Riverside, toward Tonasket, Oroville and to Canada in the distance. Taken from the Riverside Lighthouse Church back parking lot, overlooking Riverside.
With so many solo miles, Mike didn't take as many pictures, but we were blessed everywhere we went. Like Crosspoint Assembly of God, with Pastor Randy Base, in Union Gap, where one of Mike's great uncles or distant cousins may have pastored, long, long ago, possibly before any of the current church members were alive.
Special thanks to Hartline Assembly and Pastor Michael Mele who put Mike up on a Sunday night so he could attend the area pastors meeting in Moses Lake the following morning. What a pleasure to join the church for a worship and prayer service that Sunday evening and wake up to the beautiful sunrise seen at the top of the page. This church has had a heart for missions for year. We're looking forward to being in Hartline again for a Sunday service this Summer, but it was great to meet these wonderful people and share a wonderful worship and prayer night with them.
After a month like March, our proverbial hat is off to Cedar Park Assembly in Bothell for their missionary car ministry and many thanks to Jerry, the ministry leader. We and many other missionaries are blessed to access their vehicles while we're home and traveling about. In October, when our first car died an early and unexpected death at the top of Blewett Pass, they quickly found a replacement that has carried us all this way. In a few months we'll get the old car back. It's now running well with a new manufacturer replaced engine. What a blessing to have all of that resolved without our effort or intervention.
Services in Skagit county churches, the past two weeks, have been a welcome short drive and given the opportunity to visit Mom in Ferndale. Spending time with family along the way is on pleasure we love to take advantage of while itinerating. This week We had a nice visit and games with Auntie Charlotte in Bellingham.
On our Skagit tour, our first stop was Citipoint Church in Mt. Vernon. Citipoint is a thriving church with young and not so young alike participating together in vibrant church life. Pastor Brent and Jessie Kimble and their Missions Director Dani Needham were great hosts. Mike was on Brent's board when Brent was at Sedro Woolley. Brent & Jessie did a great job bringing the Sedro Wooley church back to life after some big struggles and a period as a home missions church. They are doing well again in Mt. Vernon. It's so good to see this church growing with a clear vision for the future.
Our last stop this past weekend was in Anacortes with Pastor Brent Osburn. Here is another church starting to grow after some struggles. Mike first met Brent when he was about 5 years old in Sumner Assembly where Mike interned and was Children's pastor. It was just a short time prior to going to Jakarta, but Brent was not a kid that a kids pastor would easily forget. It's good to see Family Life Church of Anacortes moving forward and exciting to see Pastor Brent leading well. We met friends, or parents of friends from Neighborhood church, Ron & June West. They've been retired in Anacortes for over 30 years. We had lunch with Leland & Dora Rilea. We first met them in Bangkok not long after we were married. We ministered together at a missionary confrence with MRAP and connected with Leland and Dora a few other times over the years in ministry.
God is good! He has provided and protected through all this travel. We have had the opportunity to develop new partnerships and prepare to minister in churches where we previously had not connection. We have seen the good outcomes of persistence in ministry with God restoring churches and renewing lives. We've prayed with many who felt God was speaking to them while they were seeking His direction. We've prayed with and for Pastors. It's great to see the church alive. It is one of the blessings of this itineration tour and we're thanking God all the way.