Weekend in Idaho

As I write this we are driving through Washington's desolate sagebrush near Pasco, home of truck stops and sad, lonely houses out in the middle of nowhere. We're a little over halfway home from our weekend in Idaho.

A record number of young people turned up for the youth retreat--100, I heard, an astonishing number for such an out of the way place. They came from Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Arizona, Alberta, and some even flew in from Pennsylvania and Ohio, invited by Bible school friends. Most of them were some sort of conservative Mennonite, with subtle variations in shade and tone.

Overall I was very impressed with the caliber of kids. Of course there were the few who slouched in late for sessions or texted each other during the sermon, but mostly they were mature and friendly and fun. A number of them thanked us for coming, of course an indicator of quality and character. A few girls hugged me before they left; I liked that.

The church there at Bonners Ferry put an astonishing amount of work into the weekend, with organizing everything, feeding everybody, and all the other work behind the scenes. Everyone I met was warm and welcoming, and at the end they gave me a big basket of beautiful new cream-colored towels and a big cinnamon-scented candle. Wow. I guess they didn't figure Paul would be interested in candles and towels, so they gave him a check. We are grateful.

A new thing for us was doing this with our older children. When Paul and I used to travel with the A Capella Harmony quartet doing PR work for Mexico missions, the children were seldom along, and I don't often take someone along when I speak locally. So it was very interesting to experience this as a family and to see them blend into the larger group.

One woman told me that my girls looked comfortable in their own skin, like they didn't have to prove anything, a compliment that made me very happy.

Paul had never preached this many sermons in such a short time in his entire life. From Friday evening to Sunday evening he preached five sermons, had a talk with just the guys, and had two question-and-answer sessions. He talked about "walking worthy of our calling" and it was all good in my opinion but by the end of it all of his little quirks were jumping out at me, like the way he stretches out and emphasizes the word "If" when he's thinking of a hypothetical situation. "IIIIIIIFFFFFFF your parents don't understand you......and IIIFFFFFF they think you're being disrespectful. . . "

I had never done something like this before, so I was more nervous about my one talk to the girls than Paul was with his whole basket of sermons, but it went remarkably well. I had asked the Oregon girls to please make sure they looked at me with rapt attention, so they sat front-and-center and made lots of eye contact, bless them.

However, I shouldn't have worried, because I didn't see any of the 55 girls whispering or yawning or writing notes. And many of them thanked me afterwards. And they applauded, which made Paul a bit jealous. Nobody applauded for him, he said. (Hee hee)

Good times. Thanks for your prayers.

Quote of the Day:
"Fine."
--Ben, who stayed home to feed the animals, whenever I called and asked how he, the goldfish, the lambs, the dog, Grandma, the days with his friends, and the Gospel Echoes banquet were going