Kelly and Connie's Place

Pumpkins on door stoops, fall colors of red and orange and willy-worms slowly crawling across the country roads, yes it was Indiana in October. And, I hardly noticed the low 40 and 50 degree temperatures. Well that may not be totally true, but it did feel like “home”. That’s because our Bicknell friends at Word of Life Church always treat us like family.

Kelly with our hostess Aunt Rita. We ate at the Kerusso Coffee Shop, an outreach ministry of the church.

The missions conference was great, and we’re definitely a good 6 lbs heavier from all the down home cooking of Aunt Rita and the other great cooks from the church.

The theme for their conference was “Show Them Jesus” and the youth did an outstanding job with several dramas.

Here are some of the Youth Drama Team called, "Impact"!

Getting to know our friends better

Even though it was a short trip we got to spend a little bit of time with Kelly’s mom and some friends of the family. Kelly’s brother and sisters will appreciate these photos since they didn’t get to join us.

Best Friends (Kelly's Mom and the Birthday Girl in Blue)

It's the Birthday Girl and her Daughter, "Ice Cream Cake for Everyone"

All in all, it was a great trip. Of course, Kelly says the one thing that really topped it off was our flight home by way of Chicago O’Hare Airport. Why? Because he got to eat his Chicago Style Hot Dog, and he loved enjoyed every bite.

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Grrrrrrrr. That’s what I heard all day Friday as Kelly prepared for Saturday and what he knew was going to be a bear of a day. As a matter of fact he turned into a Polar Bear on Saturday. Not just any Polar Bear, but he became #173 Polar Bear—as part of his radio buddies’ “Polar Bear QRP” Day.

Polar Bear Day happens only during months that end in “bear” as in Octo’bear’ and Novem’bear’, at least that’s the way it was explained to me. Anyway, I haven’t mentioned much about his ham radio hobby so I thought I’d share a couple of photos with you.

He set up his antenna and radio in our neighborhood lakeside park. He talked to a few “bears” from other states and even heard some Europe stations, a few German and Scandanavians also.

This is his portable radio set up.

And here you can see Kelly tuning in to get a clear transmission. He had a great Polar Bear day and can ‘bearly’ wait for the next one.  For more details you can visit his radio blog at:    K4UPG.com

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Two weeks back, our church service at Pine Castle United Methodist Church (PCUMC) started as it normally does, with praise and worship, followed by the offering. But ‘normal’ stopped there. An outsider might have been shocked by what happened next. We all got up and left the sanctuary, some 400 of us. We walked out the front door.

Let me back up and explain a few things. The situation with our economy is affecting everyone in one way or another. Our church is among those to be counted as struggling to stand our ground. So much of what has happened in this past year and a half would discourage most, and yet we continue to see the Lord at work in many different ways.

In February 2008 I showed this picture of our church in one of my first blogs.

New Worship Center (on the right) featuring a 1,250 seat sanctuary is nearing completion. Our original sanctuary is on left side of road.

And then in an April blog, I announced that on Easter Sunday we had moved into our new sanctuary.

As you can imagine, this beautiful building has become a bit of a financial challenge for us during these hard times.

A lot of hope had been placed on selling the old sanctuary, but we all know what has happened to Florida’s real-estate business. A deal that had been in the works in early 2008; crumpled by the end of that summer. Everything seemed to dry up after that and looked hopeless.

And then all at once in June of this year, we had an offer from a group to “lease with an option to buy”. In July our church membership, through our Charge Conference, voted unanimously to accept the offer. By August the members of Greater Trinity Baptist Fellowship Church of Orlando were moved in and starting services. We are thrilled with our new neighbors. They have joined us in many of our activities, like our Pot Luck Night and our ladies functions.

So, when we walked out of our Sanctuary two Sundays ago, all 400 of us marched across the street and joined our brothers and sisters in their Celebration Service. It was a grand time.  A Baptist Church and a Methodist Church, one African American and one not so much, rejoiced in what the Lord had done. Hallelujah.

I forgot to take our camera but Kelly came to the rescue with his cell phone. He was able to capture this shot of the two Pastor’s wives standing in front of their husbands who are giving each other a brotherly hug.

Our two pastors are becoming good friends and we all look forward to getting to know each other better. Both churches hope to find shared projects that will allow us to work together for the good of our community.

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How does the phrase; ‘swaying coconut palms, sweeping white-sand beaches and spectacular sunsets,’ grab you? Well, that’s what we found on our recent trip to Naples, Florida.  We were attending a regional event held by the ministerial association that ordained Kelly.

It was a much needed and timely weekend get-a-way for us. The meetings were refreshing, the food delicious and our accommodations great. As you can see by the first photo, Kelly was able to set up his ham radio from the balcony of our hotel room. From this balcony, I got some sun, he got some radio time…and we both enjoyed the view!

Hotel Room Balcony

The highlight of the trip had to be the sunset dinner cruise they arranged for all of us to take on the Naples Princess Yacht. This is one of those things we never would have done on our own, so it was a real treat.

Naples Princess Cruise Yacht

We sailed out of Naples bay and cruised into the Gulf of Mexico. From the bow of the deck we could see the dolphins playing and the multimillion-dollar homes of Port Royal lining the shore. Unbelievable!

Mansions in the Bay

We were served a great dinner inside where it was nicely air-conditioned, and then went back out on the deck to watch the beautiful sunset and enjoy the fresh air.

Dining Area - Table Next to Our Table

After dinner we went out on the deck for a better view of the water and sunset.

It Was A Beautiful Sunset!

Mansions Along The Shoreline at Sunset

What was striking was to watch the sunset change as the sun got closer and closer to the horizon.

Sunset as we enter the Mouth of the Gulf

Sunset in the Gulf of Mexico

Our regional director hosted the event at his church and his staff definitely took care of all of us with excellence.

Our Host Church Put Out the Spread

As you can imagine, we can’t wait to find out what the next regional event will be like. They set the bar pretty high so it will be hard to top this one.

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From the frying pan…immediately following having “all those Edgers” invade our campus (see previous post on Aug. 9 for that story)…

…we jumped into the fire…with a campus full of new missionary candidates who were going through their first round of training and orientation called, “Candidate Orientation Program” or “COP” for short.  One event following so closely on the heels of a previous event keeps all of us on our toes, but it’s always worth it.

August 2009 Candidate Orientation Program

We had 44 attending our COP, which means we had to “pack them in,” to make room for everyone. It’s a great problem to have. In this group, the youngest was 18 years old. She’s going to the field for one year and then back to the US to attend college. After getting her degree, she plans to go back to the field full time. The oldest was a couple who said, “retirement is not in our vocabulary”. The husband is 78 and the wife is 68. What an inspiration for all of us to see their desire to “finish well” in their golden years.

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“My life is changed forever and I will never be the same.” Her eyes filled with tears as she choked back the emotions that were building. “My expectations didn’t even come close to preparing me for this.” I handed her a tissue and waited for her to continue. I knew what was coming…I never tire of hearing their stories about how God showed up, usually in some unusual and unexpected way.

This is not Patricia, but an Edge worker from another team.

Patricia had just returned from living 6 weeks in another culture as part of our “Edge” program. Her experience had been a positive one, which she felt might be one more confirmation of her call to go long term. My role was to debrief her, which means I helped her process her summer experience.

She was just one of some 126 young college age adults giving up their summer break to work and learn alongside our career church-planters working with the least reached people around the world.

Our hope is that the participants in this program will grow in their passion for God, view of the world, and understanding of themselves as they learn and serve.

• The first 4 days of their trip involves cross-cultural training and team building just before leaving the states.

  (Around 8 of the participants received their orientation in England with our British mobilization base located there.)

• Once overseas, they live with a missionary family or possibly in the home of a national for 4, 6 or 8 weeks depending on their destination.

• And finally they return to the US via Orlando, to go through the debriefing process.

What does 112 young college kids look like when you get them all together for orientation? Here’s a photo that says it all.

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I mentioned in my previous blog that we were in for a treat. That treat arrived on schedule as planned, a week ago last Tuesday. And as you will see from our photos, we have been enjoying ourselves. I’ll just give you the highlights and you’ll see for yourself.

Our visitor is Kelly’s mom, Jean. The first week was especially enjoyable because she got to join us at the office for our Pre-Field Banquet. This was our closing banquet in celebration of the 44 new missionaries on our campus, who were completing their last week of training before going to the field. As you can see from the picture, this was a large group.

44 new missionaries prepared for field departure

Worship time during the Pre-Field Banquet program.

This particular group was special for Kelly and I because it included some friends of ours who are ready to depart for the field. They are from one of our supporting churches back in Indiana and we are very excited to see what God has in store for them.

Kelly & Connie have lunch with their friends.

The following weekend we took Jean to the golf coast for a little R & R at the beach.

Jean is ready to test the water temperature

We had a lovely suite for one night at a beach resort in St. Pete. (Kelly got a great deal on Priceline). He set up his radio equipment right on the beach and participated in the ARRL Field Day. You can read more about his adventures on his blog at: www.k4upg.com

Kelly with his portable radio setup on the beach

I think he found the greatest spot when he located this special spot on the beach:

Kelly, a hammock, his radio & a cool ocean breeze!

Jean and I enjoyed the sun and beach by relaxing in our beach cabana with a good book. Our only regret was not being able to stay an extra day!

Hey Jean, pass the suntan lotion, would you please?

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We just finished 3 successful ministry events and are looking forward to a little slow down in the action for the month of July. So what have we been up to? One of our favorite events is seeing just who God is calling to the mission field. The first week of June brought 25 new missionary candidates to Orlando for a week of orientation.

Candidate Orientation Program June 2009

The two young single girls I interviewed mirrored the other 23 candidates with their passion for God and for missions. These two have known they would go into missions since they were 5 years old. One was from Oregon and the other was from Oklahoma. Both of them have already been to “difficult” fields, on more than one short term trip, that lasted up to 2 months long, and loved it. They are sold out to missions and can’t wait to go long term. They were amazing and inspiring.

Our second week found us flying to Colorado to spend a few days with our staff in Denver. We hadn’t been there since last September so it was good to see them all again. The highlight of that trip was the office family picnic, but the weather was wacko and cold. We had rain and hail which forced all of us under the only covered area in the whole park. We enjoyed ourselves in spite of it all.

This past week we had our ACMC team fly into Orlando for their bi-annual team meeting. Now this is a group of mission specialists with diverse giftings that touch on just about every area of missions one could imagine. What a team.

ACMC (Advancing Church Missions Commitment)

Next week we are in for a real treat, but that’s a story for another time.

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Fifteen years ago today, Kelly and I were celebrating our 25^th silver wedding address with about 100+ Indonesians. We had purchased 100+ individual slices of cake to give to our fellow Indonesian church members at the end of the service. You see, we were following their custom, where the person having a birthday or anniversary throws a celebration party for all their friends. If you go out to dinner with your friends for your birthday, YOU pick up the tab for everyone. We had only been there for 6 months and could barely speak the language, but honoring customs transcends any language. It was one of those memorable moments for us.

So, if that was our 25^th anniversary 15 years ago, that makes today our “40^th anniversary”. How great is that! The two of us thinks it’s pretty great. If you look at us 40 years ago, you can see that we were “just kids”, and we don’t feel a year over 39 today.

June 7, 1969

Today after church, we went to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate. We ignored our diet for one day and ordered Ossobuco…it is so delicious that it melts in your mouth, and is well worth the splurge.

Ossobuco

Have you ever had this meal? It’s a meat, potato and gravy person’s delight. Here is their description:

OSSOBUCO: Marinated Pork Shank Slow Cooked Until Fabulously Tender. Served with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy and Vegetable of the Day

We enjoyed our meal and reminisced over our previous anniversary memories, like the one mentioned above. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll be blessed to share another 40 years together…if we live to be 100.

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Yes that’s right, our 2 weeks in Tulsa and Arkansas were chocked full of family, friends, fun and more. The more was: attending a mission’s conference and Kelly preaching at a couple of churches. I got this great shot of our little munchkin, Ava, and I’d like to introduce her to you.

Ava is our youngest granddaughter and she is 15 months old. Of course she captured our hearts.

Little Ava went to Grandpa right away, so I had to wait my turn. This is Kelly with Ava and Katie. Katie is our talented soccer player.

I was patient and finally got my chance with Ava.

This is Ava’s dad and mom (Gale & Tamecca).

Here is Katie again with her dad.

Emily is granddaughter number three. She is becoming quite the young lady. Grandma got to help her with her homework.

Gale and Tamecca have a blended family and it never gets boring around their house. Emily is helping Kira color “inside the lines” and Katie is helping Kira’s brother, Aden.

Here’s a great shot of Tamecca’s 2 boys; Gavin and Aden, and Gale’s 2 girls, Emily and Katie.

If we weren’t spending time at Gale & Tamecca’s, we were at Erin & Lisa’s house. Here are 3 generations of McClelland’s; Erin, Kelly and Killian. When I said “Smile please.” this was the response I got.

This photo opportunity was too good to ignore. Erin & Lisa are animal lovers and I think their animals…love Kelly. Jack, the Labrador, is patiently waiting his turn.

Did I mention “Friends” in my subject line? This is our friend Pat. She made our whole trip possible by inviting us stay in her home while we were in Tulsa. We enjoyed catching up on each others family news and had a great time.

We also met up with Steve and Margie who are friends we’ve known since Bible school. Was that really 20 some years ago?

I did mention that Kelly preached at a couple of churches. Here he is looking up a Bible verse at our sending church, Word of Life, in Sand Springs, OK. Pastor Emigh was in Poland and Romania on a missions trip, so Kelly filled in for him for this Wednesday night service.

This was a special treat for us, Erin and Lisa came to hear Kelly preach and willingly sat on the front row with me.

When Kelly finished preaching, Erin, Lisa and our friend Pat went with us for a dessert treat at a local restaurant. It was a great way to end the evening.

Our other preaching opportunity was at another one of our supporting churches in Russellville, Arkansas. Before Kelly began his sermon, the two of us shared about our ministry work with PIONEERS.

After sharing, I sat down and Kelly shared from the Word of God.

We always have a good time of fellowship at Russellville Christian Center and they’ve been a great encouragement to us over the years.

After the service, we had dinner with Pastor Tom and his wife Bonnie, and then headed back to Fort Smith to finish off at the missions conference we were attending.

That pretty much covers the way our trip went (including the stay in Branson with our grandson mentioned in an earlier post). So, I thought I’d end this post with this last great shot of Ava…what a munchkin.

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