A Northwoods Winter

David Waller and I

David Waller and I enjoyed spending the month of January at the beautiful Northwoods Conference Center in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Jensen family was very hospitable during our stay. With Mrs. Jensen’s fine cooking and Mr. Jensen’s entertaining stories, we spent many enjoyable evenings together.

David was a patient instructorCross-country skiing! Our fun adventures included the opportunity to go cross country skiing, a first for me. David, having practically grown up on skis in the great state of Wisconsin, was a very patient instructor.

Another new experience was a snowmobile ride with Mr. Jensen. Zipping through miles of untouched snow along forest trails, across frozen lakes, and through hills and valleys at high speeds was an experience to be remembered!

Bundled up for a chilly ride Off we go!

Mr. Jensen, David and I on snowmobiles

Depart from iniquity

Our family recently read the short book of 2 John and I began to see how important this book is for every Christian to understand. “And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. …He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” I have recently seen how ”new age” teaching is a monster of lust and hatred wearing a mask of love and peace. What would the enemy of our souls like more than to re-define Jesus Christ, deny the fact of sin, and mock at God’s salvation? By doing so he could do what he likes best: unleash the passions of sin to destroy life and property and hinder us from entering into eternal life. Why would we call on the name of Christ if Acts 4:10-12 is a lie? Furthermore, sin cannot be dealt with while I pretend it does not exist. Notice Psalm 45:6-7 “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of Thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” Think of the joy and the freedom that comes from knowing God and hating sin and overcoming the temptations that Satan sends to destroy our lives. Remember Psalm 97, especially verse 10: “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of His saints…”, and again Hebrews 12: 28-29: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.” Finally, “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

“It would be a miracle”

O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.

So what has Jehovah been doing in our family? He took away our computer! We suppose that a windows update we downloaded was incompatible. Anyway, the best we could get was the blue screen of death. I surrendered it to the Lord and asked Him to help us recover all our data. Robert, our family computer expert who designed our family web site hoped that it was only our central processing system and that our files were still in tact. However, he didn’t think we would be able to recover our email messages. Since he was not here, we hired an expert to come and give us a hand with it. Our expert had been the head of the computer department at Salem University and is close to getting his PhD in computer technology. He verified that our files were not harmed and helped us to reinstall windows on a new drive. We hoped to hook up the old drive externally and copy the files over to the new drive. Still he said it would be a miracle if we were able to recover the emails in our messaging system.

Well, miracles are Jehovah’s specialty. I continued to ask Him to help us recover everything, including our emails. The process of reinstalling our computer programs and copying over our files was a bit scary at times, and a couple times we came close to ruining everything again. Finally it was just about back to normal, and all we needed to do was set up our email account again. Although it didn’t work exactly as expected, we imported our address book and relocated the message storage… and now not a single message is lost; even our address book is complete!

It makes sense to me now that I think about it. Our email is very much a part of our ministry, and there is nothing in it that is displeasing to the Lord. The whole problem has worked out for good because we love God and pursue His calling for us. We have learned much and have lost nothing. It was like a very tiny glimpse of Psalm 106:1-8: Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all His praise? Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people: O visit me with Thy salvation; that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory in Thine inheritance. We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. …Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known.

Picture time

“A picture is worth a thousand words”! It’s been great to add pictures to the most recent reports from Taiwan. You can click here to see them or go to Home:Archives by Author:Donald.

And here are some more! The first six were taken during the two weeks of camp: Courtesy of our faithful translator and assistant Douglas Chen! The last three are miscellaneous pictures from earlier in the year that bring back special memories.

Each team had a special presentation for the last largeDoctor, I got bitten by a snake!

Rebekah and Lauren-Reinforcements from KinmenIt was also good to see Eric from Summer Camp

Our authorities are like a lighthouse in lifeA card trick after lunch

The enthusiasm of the children

Street scene in Hualien county

Aboriginee in festive attire

The Valentines Banquet

Fresh roses were used in most of the decorations My responsibilities for this very special Valentines Banquet were categorized into three major sections: I was to first help in the studio, then take pictures of the how the food was prepared and lastly take more pictures of what all transpired during the actual banquet.

For the studio, Rob was the photographer but I was supposed to make sure things went smoothly. We also worked quickly to give them a framed picture by the end of the evening.

The entrywayThe framed portraits

Taking pictures of everyone preparing food was really fun. Clayton did an excellent job of making each course of the meal very special.

The main courseDiligently putting together one of many dessertsHome-made, grapefruit water ice

David energizes the team!Working quickly and efficiently

Scrumptious!

The essence of the candle-light banquet is impossible to capture with a camera. But it was fun taking pictures of the dining room and servers:

Judah making sure he is ready :)

BobThe table set and ready for the special guests
Marty passing out dessertLooking down from the balconyBritton's professional service
“Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Philippians 2:2-3

A Few Good Links:

Time Changer Movie
Our family really enjoys this fun video, which effectively communicates a powerful message that the Church today needs to hear.
The League of Grateful Sons
This inspirational video from Vision Forum instills a new appreciation for the sacrifices our fathers made for the preservation of our freedoms.

Site Credits:

Photography by James Staddon unless otherwise specified. Photographed with with a Canon 20D digital SLR.

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