Well worth the many miles. . .

We just got back from an amazing weekend. . . inspite of the 24 hours of driving!

Friday morning we left North Dakota and headed east, south, east, and further east until we almost reached the shores of Lake Michigan! We sang at a Gospel Fest in Hilbert, Wisconsin which is about 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and about 800 miles from Cando, North Dakota! 🙂 Actually, we really enjoyed the drive. . . it’s a great way to see the country and we drove through some beautiful areas.

Friday night we stayed in Appleton, WI and then only had to drive about 30 miles on Saturday to get to Hilbert by 10:00am–we sang at 11:20am and 3:20pm. We joined 15 other Gospel groups for this first-time Gospel Fest . . . what a great event! Voices of Peace did an excellent job of organizing and preparing and they had a hard-working, willing group of volunteers to help with all of the details . . . including the Friday-night crowd of 700 people! One of our favorite parts about singing at these events is meeting new people and enjoying the friendships that have grown over the years. We enjoyed getting to know Voices of Peace better, as well as Eternity, The Miller Family, and others.

We had to leave ASAP after singing at 3:20pm at the Gospel Fest in Wisconsin so that we could get to Minneapolis and be ready to sing at 8:00am and 10:30am services on Sunday morning. At about 9:30pm on Saturday night, we pulled into the parking lot of Minnesota Valley Church. Pastor Al Monson met us there and we hauled in the sound equipment and got that ready to go for morning. After getting the sound system set up, we drove less than 2 miles to stay in the home of our good friends, Louie and Marlene Brown (2 for 1 Music). Louie and Marlene were here a couple of weeks ago for the Gospel Extravaganza so it was a real bonus to get to see them again so soon–and staying at their house beats any hotel! Thank you so much!

Sunday morning we sang at the 8:00am and 10:30am services at Minnesota Valley Church. Minnesota Valley is an AFLC church (like our home church in Hampden) so we felt especially at home! Also, my Mom knows Pastor Al from back in their LBI days in Los Angeles so it’s fun to see those paths continue to cross. The people at Minnesota Valley were appreciative and encouraging and it was a blessing for us to be with them! And if all of that isn’t enough. . . we got to see some Hampden-natives (!), several very dear friends from my Northwestern days, and even a young lady who I spent the summer with at FaHoCha Bible Camp! Words cannot express what a tremendous blessing it is to have the support of these dear ones.

A full weekend as you can tell. . . full of driving, singing, and many undeserved blessings. The Lord is faithful and continues to be so good to us as we seek to honor Him through this ministry. We pray for His faithfulness in your life, too, as you serve Him wherever He has called you!

–NJD

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