School is about to START !!!!!!

There are a thousand things left to be done but it is already time for school to start.  This past week was "Sports Week" when all the students who are in athletics come on campus to start training for whatever sport they will be training for.  Besides all that activity, there are still a lot of things that need to be done, both in the new gym and the old buildings as well.

When we arrived in May we made a request to the Administrator to name the street where the RV's park SOWER AVENUE.  The decision was made by the school to allow us to name the street so we ordered appropriate signs from the Colony and procured a post from the county.  After we returned from our trip to visit the Sower projects in our area, we were able to pick up the signs so now we are living on "SOWER AVENUE".

The teachers are beginning to return and the other Sower couple (George and Karen Foster) and we decided to have a picnic with a few of them.

Then it was time to make a trip to Watertown to the annual campout and baptism in Lake Kampeska.  It was a cool and gray day but those being baptized didn't care if it was raining. We spent the night with our good friends Tony and Eila and their new puppies.

It was a great day!  The ages of the 6 baptized ranged from 6 to 55.  Isn't God so amazing.

Then it was back to work preparing the new gym classrooms for the beginning of school.  Door trims needed a fresh coat of paint----

---and the bathrooms needed a whole lot of partitions.  Those partitions did not have a hole in them.  We had to drill as many as 29 holes to mount and complete a single door.

There were a lot of partitions to install!

Just putting on the finishing touches in the girls bathroom.

Of course there is still a lot of painter's tape stuck on things that weren't supposed to be painted.  It really should have been removed sooner because now it has to be scrapped off.

When we were done it was a beautiful thing.

But we have this pile of parts left over?  Oh yeah, there are 4 more sets of partitions that are supposed to go in the locker rooms clear at the other end of the building.  Football players to the rescue.

These things are heavy.  Each divider panel weighs between 150 and 175 pounds.  There is still a lot of things to do but tomorrow school starts.

July and August Travels

After spending some time on the farm we embarked on a trip to see the other Sower Projects in our area.  We left the farm on Monday morning, July 16th.  We spent the first night in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

On the way we stopped to see some of the sights.

We were able to see this sight of Chimney Rock.

Then we crossed into Wyoming.

On the way through Wyoming we saw this fire.  Later we found out that the military started it while doing live fire excercises.

Of course, along the way, we saw a lot of pronghorn.

Sheridan greeted us with this water tower.

Next border was the cross into Montana.

There are a lot of mountains and sky in Montana.

There was also a lot of clear water running down the rivers along the interstate.

We spent our second night in Livingston which is only 50 miles north of Yellowstone.  The next morning we took a side trip through part of the park.

This is the North entrance to the beautiful park.

Of course I must get a few shots of my favorite subject.

Pictured here is a mineral spring.  There wasn't a lot of water flowing and on the left you can see an extinct flow shaft.

On our journey through the park we saw these beautiful bull elk.

That night we spent the night in Missoula, Montana.  The next morning, Thursday July 19, we visited Camp Utmost which is located north of Greenough, Montana.

This is the cafeteria at the camp.  Several of the supporters of the camp have forest land and the equipment to turn that forest into lumber.  As a result, you can build a building that looks like this.

Here we are, back into the state of Wyoming.  We spent the night at Gillette.

The next day we took another side trip and looked over one of the open pit coal mines.  This is one of the "old small" shovels.

And you think you have tire expenses.  This is a $38,000 dollar tire, and that isn't mounted and balanced.

From there we returned to South Dakota and spent the night in Sturgis (a week before the rally).

We found a very beautiful and quiet drive through the canyon at Spearfish.

And of course, since it was really warm, we took the opportunity to cool off. 

We had down days Saturday and Sunday and took the opportunity to visit the Faces at Rapid City.

There have been a LOT of changes since we were here in the early 80's when we were last there.  It is still a great sight!

On Monday, July 23 we made our last project visit to Cedar Canyon Youth Camp.

We met a number of youth, excited to share their lives and stories about Jesus with all those who come to camp.

Then, it is back to Sunshine Bible Academy, where we found that they had removed a couple of houses and a garage.  Well, there was a big hole where one of the houses stood.  So, we were tasked with the duty to fill it.

Of course a few loads with this rig and the job was completed.

Along with the big truck, we had the opportunity to use the rest of the BIG toys.

This was really a lot of fun.

Finally, after our first week of the August project, we took some time to again visit the capital in Pierre.  This time we were with our new friends, George and Karen Foster.