Faith Bible Church Campout & Burn Road Bible Church

On Friday morning, the three of us (Andrew, Katherine & Bob) went to Cougar Rock Campground to spend a couple days with the Faith Bible Church group. Pastor Tim & family went out on Wednesday and some others joined on Thursday. We had a wonderful time of fellowship, time in the Word, singing....and yes, some awesome hikes. Friday the three of us headed down to Longmire to look through the store and then we took a short hike around the meadow reading various signs on the history of Longmire (we also had a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier). Then we headed back toward camp but stopped to hike up to Carter Falls. A treat for us was a doe with her two fawns that walked right up to us. We got some pictures and a video. Once everyone got back to camp from their various hikes (some of the group went up to Paradise), we had dinner and devotions around a nice campfire.

On Saturday morning, five of us men got up at 5:30am and drove up to Paradise Lodge for a 4.4 (1700ft elevation) mile hike up toward Mt. Rainier. We were fortunate to have a great view all the way up to about the 7000ft height before returning. We could almost reach out and touch Nisqually Glacier we were so close. Boy we're we bushed when we got back for breakfast which Katherine, Sarah, and Eric had ready for everyone (Mountain Breakfast Burritos). Pastor Tim shared from a couple Proverbs and some Psalms which were a nice inspiration for the day.

Just before lunch we all loaded up to head out for another hike starting at Narada Falls, which ended up being somewhat over 5 miles with some real nice elevation in it. We stopped part way through at Reflection Lake and ate lunch. Along the way we saw a fox and took some pictures. We headed out after a wonderful spaghetti dinner arriving home to unload, take showers and prepare for Sunday morning.The two of us got up early to drive up to the Arlington area for services at Burn Road Bible Church. Pastor Doug took the group through a portion of their Doctrinal Statement for Sunday School and Bob preached a topical message, "Finding Delight in the Word of God" from Psalm 119. Afterwards we went to Doug and Rene's home for a delicious lunch and then headed home in the late afternoon. All in all it was a long, but great fulfilled weekend.

NICE/IFCA Annual Picnic

Beautiful weather, great friends, good food and wonderful time of sharing made for another annual picnic at Earl & Shirley Brubakers. They always host us with a beautiful, wooded landscape surrounded by high rise apartments in Tacoma - spittin' distance from the Tacoma Mall. The NICE Board met earlier in the morning to interview Randy and Angela Koch. They will be working with Eric & Jennifer Nyborg at the Antioch Bible Church in Beaverton.

The kids had a wonderful time romping around, playing on the trampoline and enjoying the gold fish in the pond. Bob led us in a time of sharing any plans for the fall, what God has done over the last few months and any prayer requests. After a time of prayer Earl, Director of NICE introduced the Koch's as new missionaries with NICE and handed out some NICE travel mugs to any missionaries who hadn't received any yet. God gave us a beautiful day of calm weather with a gentle breeze to enjoy ourselves.

Idaho Trip & West Memorial

On the weekend of July 24-26th we (Bob, Katherine & our daughter Sarah Joy) headed to the Sun Valley area for a wedding. A pastor friend of ours had a daughter getting married who is also a friend of Sarah's. It was a great wedding even though it was warm. They say Sun Valley hasn't really experienced much sun these days as they've had lots of rain. What a change! On the Sunday we were there Bob preached at Larkin Memorial Community Church in Carey, Idaho. This is a predominantly Mormon town with LMCC being the only other church; one building down from the LDS church none-the-less. And with a last name of "Kimball" the pastor gets many questions. Yes, he is distantly related to Spencer Kimball, past president of the LDS. While it was a short weekend it was a pleasant time. On August 6th, the two of us made another trip to Idaho spending five days on the road visiting different ones along the way. We started out early Thursday morning dropping by Noel & Lorraine Olsens home in Gleed then ending up in Yakima for lunch at a local restaurant. We drove on to Nampa, Idaho arriving at Leroy & Carole Reddings home for a late dinner and overnight stay. The Reddings served a short time as Associate Pastor at Bonney Lake Community Church. They are great hosts and we had an enjoyable time of fellowship. Friday morning we packed back in the car and headed to the Sun Valley area. We made a stop in Fairfield, Idaho to visit our friends, Chuck and Fay Butler who pastor the Community church there. After a time of visiting we decided to grab a bite to eat at the local cafe and then headed to the church and visited some more. We're glad things are going well for Chuck who has recently had eye surgery. Friday night we arrived in time for dinner in the Wood River Valley at our friends, Dan & Mary Shoemaker who we also stayed with for the weekend. Saturday was a slow start to the day but eventually we meandered over to the Hansen's house, another friend of ours, for lunch and fellowship. Saturday night found the Shoemaker's and us in Bellevue for a bite to eat and then home to review & print the Sunday morning message. Sunday am came quick and off we went to Sunday School, which after we arrive with just a couple people, we discovered it had been canceled. Oh well, we had a good time talking with those who came. Bob preached to a full house which was great to see. A number of people from various churches, for various reasons, have been attending Calvary Bible. Bob shared from Hebrews 12:1-3 on Focusing on the Right Perspective in the Course of Life concentrating on the theme "Faith initiates responsible action by concentrating on Christ in the Christian race." He shared the need for three responsibilities: Responsibility of Laying Aside Various Hindrances, Responsibility of Running with Endurance and Responsibility of Concentrating on Christ. It was great to see the new Sanctuary that has been framed and now ready to finish off the interior. God has been gracious to CBC and they continue to trust God for the final financial resources to finish the Sanctuary.

Sunday after we headed back to Fairfield where we visiting some more friends, the Browns. We had a great chicken dinner with Apple pie & Ice Cream (one of Bob's favorites). We stayed the night and headed out Monday morning for home which was about an eleven hour trip. All in all Katherine handled the trip well as she is recovering greatly from her surgery.

On Tuesday morning Bob headed to Carson, Washington with Earl & Shirley Brubaker, Executive Director of Northwest Independent Church Extension, for a Memorial Service for Florence West. Katherine was unable to come due to a prior commitment with Andrew and his upcoming job. Florence and her husband Bill have served with N.I.C.E. for a number of years. Her son David, pastor of Carson Bible Church did a fantastic job, as did many other members of the family, in honoring their mother and faithful saint.