STEP 2007: Summer Fun Day

Summer Team Evangelism Partnership

We ended the ten-day outreach efforts with a day off for the team. We went down to Laguna Beach early Monday morning hoping to find breakfast and then spend the day swimming and snorkeling in the ocean. We had a hard time finding a breakfast spot we could all agree on, when the smell of bacon lured us to this delightful little restaurant overlooking the beach. I think everyone was happy in the end!

Then we met up with Paul K. and had a great time swimming, boogie boarding, snorkeling & tide pool exploring. There were several sunburnt bodies at the end of the day!

One of the men in the Spanish church has a brother who drives a Hummer Limo, so he arranged a free ride in the evening for all... a fun way to end a busy, challenging but rewarding outreach effort.

STEP 2007: Outreach

Summer Team Evangelism Partnership

We were trained by Tom to use the Open Air Sketchboards to present the gospel to the children:

We were trained in personal evangelism and how to reach out to children with God's love and truth:

We went out into two hispanic neighborhoods and held children's clubs that included games, songs, memory verses and a Bible story. Parents were also reached on a one-to-one basis as well as with a gospel message in Spanish at the end of each club:

Newport Mudflats Hike

Last Sunday after Jon, Sonja, Bill & I went for a hike in the Newport Bay area. It was interesting... you never really got the sense that you were totally away from civilization as it is located just south of the John Wayne airport, which is the main OC airport. There is actually a lot of wildlife there, we walked about a 2 mile stretch and saw lizards, bunnies, birds & fish. However we only saw a small percentage of the entire area.
Some of our group forgot that we were supposed to be hiking!

Green Thumb ?

After the semester ended I got inspired to try gardening again. I planted herbs, some potted plants and flowers. So far everything is thriving... here are a few pictures:

Back Porch

Front Flower Beds

Independence Day

Jorge & Monica, from Bogota, Colombia, spent a night with us on their way through L.A. to Australia. We spent the 4th of July with them driving around the Palo Verde Peninsula and then down to Seal Beach. We arrived at the Korean Freedom Bell around 11:00Am to discover they were having a 4th of July celebration. So we stayed and heard some speeches (in both languages), saw a flag folding ceremony (the words that go along with this are amazing, I'd never heard them before) and then heard the bell rung 14+ times.

Korean Bell Flag Folding
(You can read the words that accompany this ceremony here, scroll down past the folding instructions and you will find the words)

Jorge & Monica at Whale Watching Lookout Museum

Summer Team Evangelism Partnership 2007

Summer Team Evangelism Partnership

Our team leaders/initiators, my Dad & John Duckhorn (Wisconsin):

The team was composed of people from our local church in Westminster, the Knox family from Tulare, CA and the group from Wisconsin (Milwaukee area mainly):

The folks from Wisconsin (minus John & Dona):

Girls' Day Out

Mum, Debbie, Sydney and I enjoyed a day together last week. We had pedicures, went to BJs for lunch and then hit the mall. It was fun to hang out! Here's the picture I took of Debbie and Sydney enjoying their pizookie dessert.

San Francisco

On Tuesday we spent the day looking at a few of the sights to be seen in San Francisco...

One of the locals came to check us out...

Downtown there were lots of flags flying... here is a group of them, from left to right: Gay pride, USA, California, San Francisco. I'll let you guess which one we saw most! (Ignore the blue flag, I've no idea what it is.)

We stopped by the campus of UC Berkeley. Bill momentarily left US soil. This circle says:

"This soil and the air space extending above it shall not be a part of any nation and shall not be subject to any entity's jurisdiction."

Only in California!!

It was a beautiful but clear windy day. Here's Dorothy and me looking out at downtown San Francisco from Treasure Island. Bay Bridge can be seen.

Bill needed to see the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. I'm still trying to understand the history of this place.

And, of course, the Golden Gate bridge was walked upon.

Windy... Bill, Robyn & Dorothy.

Bay Area

We mainly went to the Bay Area to share at a missions conference last Saturday. But... we also went to visit friends too:

Robyn & Dorothy (we stayed with them).

Had a nice evening post-conference with the Hamiltons, Gina and some of the gals.

Monday we enjoyed lunch with the Dillons and an old Colombian friend, Nelson (on left).

... and we also rested from our normal flurry of activity.

I'm proud of Bill

Bill received an award last week at Talbot. I wanted to show it off...
It also came with a $300 scholarship towards next semester!

Let the favor of the Lord be upon us...

This morning, God brought these two psalms to mind:

Psalm 90:17

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us;

yes, establish the work of our hands!"

Psalm 127:1-2

"Unless the LORD builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep."

It made me think ahead to our planned ministry this summer with STEP (Summer Team Evangelism Preparation). There is much to be done in preparing for the team's arrival and the outreach events we'd like to see happen. I was convicted about fretting too much and striving to work it out in my own strength. These Psalms remind me that it must be God's work through us. He is the One who changes hearts and causes all things to work together for good. Yes, we must be diligent and obedient to the tasks at hand, but not excessively - sleep is allowed and is a blessing!
Please pray along with us that God would establish the work of our hands and be the builder of and guardian over our feeble efforts in reaching the world for Christ.

Wedding

Here are my parents and the Lopez' having an enjoyable time at a wedding we all went to last weekend. I "forgot" to get pictures taken of Bill and I. The girl getting married is from our church and she and her family are close family friends of ours. It was a Samoan-American wedding, so it was fun to see some of their traditions!

Stray Cat

Two views of the stray cat.

It seems we've been adopted by this little guy, he's lived on our doorstep for the past 3 days. A very friendly little kitten - I'll be sad when he gets "found". (Spotsie has been territorial though, and probably will be glad to see him gone!)

Spotsie (our cat) sits inside the screen door longing to go outside, while Stray sits on the doormat longing to come in! There must be a spiritual lesson on contentment to be observed here.

My cute cat...

Last night we had the family over for a pizza "farewell" dinner, since the parents are leaving for Colombia later this week. After dinner Bill put on a nature documentary that was very cool and we all enjoyed, including Spotsie. She perked up when the snow leopard came on screen and was eager to watch, so rather than have her block our view we parked her on the stool and she watched that entire segment of the video!

Museum: Getty Villa

Yesterday we visited the Getty Villa with Shawn and Dawnita:

It was a beautiful experience to walk through the gardens, around the fountains with the fog rolling in from the ocean (the museum is located on a hill above the Malibu coastline).

As far as the works from antiquity... here are a few of my favorites (please excuse the poor quality of photography! "No flash photography.")

Polyhymnia: one of nine Muses, she was the Muse of mime - meant to inspire the poets and philosophers, but probably worshiped as a goddess. Roman A.D. 200.

Spouted Horn with a Stag - I love the intricate detail on this silver horn. It dates back to Parthian 50 B.C. - 50 A.D.

Griffen head: used by the Greeks as a guardian of valuable things, 650 B.C. (the Harry Potter books have quite a bit of Griffen imagery woven into the story - symbolic of the good guys and loyalty.)

As a math teacher I've used dice a lot in lessons to discuss probability etc. It was fun to see such an ancient pair of dice!

Note: to see an image closer up (larger) just click (or double-click) on it.

Before & After

Here's the official before and after pictures from our roommate reunion at the end of last summer:

Birthday Party Pictures

A couple of months ago we had a birthday party for my mum :) - I just discovered that Dad had pictures in his camera and so now you get to enjoy the festivities too! We had our L.A. family and a friend from Scotland/NZ, Wilma, at the party (unfortunately her husband, Stan, was sick in bed!).

Where have we been?

Since I last posted we began a new semester of studies at

TALBOT SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

and of teaching classes at

BIOLA UNIVERSITY.

I've also had a birthday - but it was celebrated in short bursts of activity and so there are no pictures of the big:

3 - 5

One of the things that has been challenging to me so far this semester is on the topic of prayer. A question that was presented to me a couple of weeks ago and one that I've been thinking about every since is:

When I take a "posture of prayer" do I really talk to God as a person - or do I go through the motions as a ritual without much thought at all?

May prayer not become an empty habit, but may it be an ongoing, moment by moment conversation with my Lord!

Beach Vacation

Last week we were able to get away for a few days - it was wonderful to have a vacation where all we had to do was eat, sleep, read, walk & talk! We were able to find a place that is rented out to people in ministry at a low price and yet great location - we walked out of the back door onto the sand! The views were amazing. It was a great way to rest up before starting a new semester of classes.

Walking & Bird-watching.

Views from the porch.

Happy New Year!

The Letkeman-Loudon-Howell Family picture....