Hello from Ponce de Leon, FL...we made it...Praise God!!

back to Our Walk of Faith

Well we spent last week hanging out with Guy and Hailie Adams...Guy wanted to show us Panama City Beach, so we went down for a visit. The sand is just as white as I remember, and the sunset was beautiful! Hailie made friends with a little boy who was playing and the rest of us looked for seashells. Thanksgiving was really great as well! Guy's brother, Alex, and sister-in-law, Robin, and all of their family were really welcoming. The food was excellent...I even got a few recipes to add to my collection. Thursday night we were able to talk to a lot of our family members and to some of our friends that we've made along the way...thanks for remembering us!! My parents and I had an amazing time of prayer together...just crying out to the Lord. It awes me to know that the presence of the Holy Spirit can be felt even over the telephone!!! After I got off the phone, Chris and I were able to share some verses from the Bible with Guy. He seems to know the way of salvation, so we are praying that he will walk out his faith daily. Please continue to lift them up in your prayers. We felt the Lord's leading to move on to another city on Friday morning, so Guy gave us a ride to another Tom Thumb...this time in Chipley, FL (where I lived for 1 year about 20 years ago). He dropped us off and we began wandering...I couldn't wait to show Chris our church, our house, where I went to school, and where some of my old friends lived!! First, we went by the house, but the people living there wouldn't come to the door. (I guess the huge packs and walking sticks look intimidating!! It turns out that it's not the parsonage anymore anyway.) Next we walked the neighborhood where some old family friends lived. On our way to their house, a man started yelling from his yard. We thought he was talking to someone in the yard, so we kept walking. Before we knew it, they were following us in their car. He wanted to give us a small gift because his daughter, Jessica heard us speak at Chipley High School last Monday. Pretty amazing! So we kept walking towards where the Clarks used to live hoping they were still there. The Clark family had really taken my family in as part of their own when we lived in Chipley. So much so, that almost every Sunday after church, we ate lunch with them. The grandparents and several children who were all married with kids lived in about 7 houses really close to our house. They had a huge family, & I loved playing with all of the grandkids. I rang the doorbell on the house that I thought was Mrs. Donna's house. (She was my Sunday School teacher.) She wasn't home, and it didn't look like anyone around in the other houses where home either. So we decided to walk to the church. It was a lot like I remembered. Even though the doors were locked, I showed Chris where my class met and told him stories that I remembered. Since we hadn't found anyone there, I decided to call Mrs. Vining whose daughter I remembered playing with...actually she probably babysat me. She told me that she had moved to the country, but that I should check by Mrs. Donna Kay's house or Mrs. Gayle's house. We decided to check one more time. Mrs. Donna still wasn't home, but I saw that Mrs. Gayle was. I don't know why but I was a little nervous as I walked up to the door. I explained who I was and what we were doing, and she invited us in. Before long, she was calling the family over. Her daughter, Lori, came in with Addison, followed by Olivia, and later Farrah (all of Lori's kids). Next Mr. Howard (Mrs. Gayle's husband) walked in, followed by Mrs. Evelyn (Mr. Howard's sister). On her way home, Mrs. Donna stopped by as well. We all chatted for awhile and caught up on what has been going on in each others' lives. Mrs. Donna (pictured with Parker) invited us to stay with her as long as we were in Chipley. We visited a little more over supper, and she told us what had been going on with Jennifer & Keith (her children). Keith & Katy and their kids live in Mississippi, but I was excited to learn that Jennifer & Tracey and their little boy, Parker, still live near Chipley. Pastor Paul Smith (pictured with his wife, Gail) called on Saturday & invited us to speak to the youth during Sunday school and to the church for a few moments during the service. I couldn't wait to see the inside of the church and what had changed. We actually ended up speaking to the youth and one of the adult classes. I recognized quite a few people. It was great sharing with them and being able to introduce everyone to Chris. The service was really good...God connected things throughout!! The song that the congregation sang right before we spoke was so appropriate...it spoke of being cleansed in Jesus' blood, gaining joy by serving Him, and being strengthened when you are tired. It tied in perfectly with what we wanted to share with the congregation. Then Lori & her husband, AD, sang a song of being thankful for all that the Lord has done and a song about God's faithfulness over and over again!!!! (They are pictured with their whole family.) After that the pastor preached about thanksgiving...the Hebrew means a public proclaimation...we as Christians should be proclaiming the amazing things of our Lord to everyone we come in contact with. That's just what we want to do every day!! To top off a great morning, the youth invited us to eat pizza with them for lunch and then watch their Christmas play practice. They are presenting a really cute story called It Happened in the Country.
Sunday night, Jennifer, Tracey, & Parker came over for supper and Lori, Farrah, Olivia, and & Addison came over to chat. It was so fun being around all of them!! We hated to say goodbye! But after lunch today, we knew that it was time to move on. We started walking on HWY 90 again, this time towards Bonifay. We had walked about 5-6 miles when Karla & her daughter, Angel, pulled up beside us. They asked if they could give us a ride to Bonifay. Can you guess where they dropped us off? Yep, at Tom Thumb! We walked to the library from there, but it was closed. We started to walk around a little more when we saw Mrs. Mattie. She lead us into her church...she hasn't been able to attend lately because of illness. She wanted some literature to read at her house since she couldn't be at church. After talking with her, we learned that she's in a lot of pain because of her foot and diabetes and several other ailments. She kept saying that she knew that God can heal her, so we prayed with her right there. Please continue to lift her up. From the church we stopped by the Salvation Army's correction department. I never even knew those two things went together, but they supervise the probation of minor offenses. They are doing that in several different counties in FL. We spoke with the probation counselor, Lisa Tate. We were pretty amazed at the job she is doing and her desire for Christ to shine through her to minister to others. Since we were unsure of what to do next, we sat on a bench on the main street. Not 3 minutes after we sat down, Tracey walked out the door of H & R Block. We couldn't believe it!! He offered to show us some places to eat. He probably didn't realize the chain of events he was helping the Lord start for us. It's pretty amazing to see God's hand moving...people who don't know God's power would say that it's coincidence, but we know better!!! Right after Tracey dropped us out at McDonald's, several of the employees started asking us questions and sharing with us. One guy, Keith, feels that he's been called into youth ministry. Once we finally sat down, we met another couple Jim O'Brian & Cathy Wolfgang who shared with us. His faith in the Lord just radiated from him. Then a lady named Danielle who lives with Cathy started talking to us about her life and her love for the Lord. It was amazing...so here we are...hoping to get a good night's sleep because it looks like we are going to have our longest haul yet tomorrow...17 miles. We'll see what happens!!
We woke up early and started hiking on Tuesday morning because right before we went to sleep on Monday night (after I typed the above paragraph), Laurie Tinsley called us from Ponce de Leon High School. She is hoping to start FCA at their school and was interested in our coming to the school. The JV Boys, Varsity Girls, & Varsity Boys were all playing home basketball games, and she wanted us to speak to them. We weren’t sure if we could physically make it that far, but we put that in the Lord’s hands. If he wanted us there, then he would give us strength to endure the approximately 20 mile hike. After walking 13-15 miles, I didn’t think I could go any further…I had to stop every mile or so for water…I was in a daze. Chris kept encouraging me to keep moving, and the Lord kept giving me a little more energy. A few minutes after his last pep talk, Mrs. Polly, Dexter, and Angela turned around in the road and asked if they could give us a ride. Mrs. Polly said, “I love my Lord. When I saw your packs, I said to myself, ‘Oh, no, that is not going to happen. I am going to give them a ride.’” Well, I just praised the Lord for her obedience. We still had 5-7 miles left before we would reach the school. Please pray for continued strength for that family! They have 9 kids ranging from age 29 to age 16. (When we arrived at the school today, they were there waiting on us. Mrs. Polly said that she was thinking about us and wanted to check on us. She also wanted to meet her youngest son, Eric, who is planning to go into the Air Force as soon as they can get all the paperwork taken care of.)
Well, back to Ponce de Leon High School on Tuesday…Laurie pulled up at almost the same time as us. Shortly there after, she came in and started introducing us to the JV cheerleaders (left to right back row: Laura, Madalyn, Alexis, Samantha, RE, Cindy; left to right front row Kaycee, Delila, Allysa, & Amanda). We chatted with them for a bit, and met the Assistant Principal, Mr. Davis. He is the disciplinarian at the school, so his paddle was lying on the desk when we walked in…they don’t have ISS…it’s not an issue for them. Wow!! He shared with us that he pastors a church and that God had called him from management in the private business sector to public school administration. It’s wonderful how God calls people to minister in all areas. Around 4:30 we went to the gym to see the games. We sat with a really sweet group of students who answered tons of our questions about their school and the community. Of course, they had a few questions for us, but we enjoyed our time with them!! The boys played really well together and won their game! The Varsity Girls put on a clinic! They work together really well trapping the ball! The mercy rule had to be used by the end of the 3rd quarter because they were up by more than 35 points without the starters in the game. We were able to go to the locker room after the game and share a little with them from our walk and talk to them about fulfilling their role not only on their team but also in the body of Christ. Before the Boys’ Varsity game, we were able to go to their locker room as well. We prayed with them and encouraged them to give God the glory for whatever happened in the game and to work together as a unit. They trailed until the 3rd quarter, but their coach must have really motivated them during halftime because with 3:33 seconds to go in the 3rd quarter, they tied it up and ended up winning the game!! While talking with Laurie during the games, we learned that Tim Alford, the Varsity Girls’ head coach, is a Christian along with his wife, Pam, who never misses a game. AND Stacy Stafford the boys’ JV & Varsity head coach is not only a Christian, but also a preacher at a local church. His wife, Ann, brought us supper and chatted with us a bit. She shared that when they came to their church there were 14 members counting the 4 in their family. Since then, they’ve had to rebuild twice because of out growing the building. Amazing!! We can’t wait to hear how God did that! Coach Stafford also has a great assistant coach, Kevin, who’s been at the school about 5 years. We learned from Coach Alford that Laurie and the group of girls that she played with in high school were responsible for his and his wife's coming to the Lord. Their 10th grade year, they kept “bothering him” about going to church…even going so far as to tell him that they would pick him up on Sunday morning. Well, it ended up that through their witness Coach Alford & Pam both came to the Lord. We’ve been sharing that all along the way with students…they are missionaries where God has planted them in their school, so it’s going to be awesome sharing this story as we continue on our journey! Laurie also shared that God had done some amazing things in her life. Her junior year, their team won the state championship! Her senior year, they were undefeated until she tore her ACL in a local tournament over Christmas. She told us that she always asked God to help her keep Him number 1 in her life and if basketball ever got in the way that He would take it away from her. That’s what He did. He allowed her to sign with Troy University before the injury, so she was still able to continue playing basketball. But He redirected her to focus more on Him. She praises God because during her freshman year, she became involved with a campus ministry and her faith became her own. She’s been serving Him ever since! She’s in her first year of teaching and coaching (head JV Girls, Assistant Varsity Girls, & Girls Track & Field). We’ve been amazed by the kindness of this community and their love for the Lord. We've just seen example after example. Even today as we've been working in the library, faculty and students have stopped by to talk to us and share about their school. Everyone has been so helpful especially Christy English (with me at the computer), the librarian! We even met the director of the after-school program, Donna Hicks. The school has a grant to help low-performing students reach grade level and to help academically gifted kids learn to socialize more with their peers. She is very involved with the school and shared testimony of God's healing power in her son's life (Matthew). She was pregant with twins when the doctor found 2 cysts on Matthew's brain. They expected him to have Down's Syndrome. Four weeks later after the church had prayed over her husband (and he felt the healing power of the Holy Spirit coursing through his body), they couldn't find anything wrong with either baby! She said that when she went into the room for the ultrasound, she saw a poster on the wall of a fetus and a verse from Psalm 139 that spoke of God's knowing us even before we were born. She knew that Matthew was healed before the ultrasound! (By the way that's the same verse that we always share in our talks!) We are looking forward to speaking at Coach Stafford's church tonight--Leonia Baptist Church. We’ll see what happens from there…Come see us if you'd like...we'll be on HWY 90 till we get to San Antonio, Texas unless God directs us otherwise!! God bless you! We love you!

This is one of the many baskets that the Varsity Girls scored on Tuesday night!