Goodbye USA

Labor day on September 7th marked the beginning of our goodbyes. We drove out of Long Beach with tears streaming down my eyes after hugging Debbie and her sweet family for the last time.

The five weeks away have gone by both quickly and slowly. We have visited a lot of people, reconnected with old friends and made plenty of new ones. Experienced both literal and figurative mountains and valleys along our journey's path. In many ways our trip was a step of faith and we are blown away by how much God has used it to prepare us to move out of from the settled state that we have enjoyed for the past five years.

Our conclusion - God is good, God is faithful, God provides, God hears, God answers. We are blessed.

Enjoy this sample of people and places from our journey from California to Washington to Colorado to Arizona to Wisconsin.

Bill, Sydney, Lillie, Debbie - Chestnut Ave, Long Beach


Bill, Angela, Alexa - Coffee Shop near Wheaton, IL


Karen and Jim (my first math mentor teacher) - Port Townsend, WA


Sonja, Jeremy, John and Bill - Wauwatosa, WI


Karen and Ron - Prescott, AZ


Duckhorn family - Milwaukee, WI


John and Jan - Colorado Springs, CO


SPLICE program - 3 weeks in Palmer Lake, CO


Our instructor, Robin - MTI, CO


My small group - missionary women heading to Czech Rep, Haiti, Japan, Cambodia,Mozambique & Sudan!


Hiking in Colorado with new friends from SPLICE.


Pikes Peak with new friends.


Reservoir - peaceful place to pray - Palmer Lake, CO


San Francisco, CA


Saying goodbye to favorite places and food too!

I posted more pictures on Facebook - search for "Angela Loudon" if you aren't already a "friend"!

STEP 2009 Team Unity

We were blessed to see a spirit of unity among the 30 team members, despite our varied backgrounds. Here are a few shots of times the team was just hanging out together.

Bilingual t-shirts helped us witness while out and about

STEP 2009 Outreaches

The team split into 3 groups and each group went to a different city in the Los Angeles area to hold daily Children's Bible Classes.

Here's Eric and Brandon with their boys in Westminster
Megan guiding her girls in Gardena through the Bible to learn about Christ
Children on Los Angeles listening to the lesson
Singing songs and learning memory verses were among the activities at the Bible Clubs
Beth, Angie and Kendra with their small group of children in Westminster

Bekkah and Beth with some of the children at the 15th St apartments in Westminster
Bekkah, sharing God's word with her small group
The Westminster outreach where at least 40 children show up every year.

STEP Prayer & Preparation

Prayer and Bible Study were an integral part of preparing for the week of Children's Bible Clubs.

STEP Training 2009

The first four days of Summer Team Evangelism Partnership are focused on training and preparing for the neighborhood outreaches. Here are some pictures from those days:

Bill listing all the different cultures represented at the Church/STEP potluck

Beth shared her insights on the Virgin of Guadalupe and communicating the gospel clearly to children
I like Bill... here's another picture of him doing something he loves!

STEP's "visionaries" - the Yarralls and Duckhorns started planning for these outreach mission trips 5 years ago. We've now done it four times. Nancye (my mother, standing) is head chef!

Jeremy and Sonja joined us a week early and worked hard getting the outreach lessons and materials ready

John Duckhorn led some of the devotionals and shared how he came to know Christ

As one of the two team members who has participated all four times in STEP, Kayla shared many of the lessons learned with the new team members. Here she is leading a small group of children in Los Angeles.

Megan also joined us a week early to work on getting the outreach lessons and materials ready

Shawn Wicks and Bill Loudon focused on preparing the team for each day's Bible lesson to the Children. Shawn also taught us how to effectively use skits/dramas to communicate Biblical truths.

A Few STEP Pictures...

Just a few pictures of our time with the STEP team, giving you a glimpse of what the two week training and outreach were like: