MSC Senior Week and Junior Week are over for 2011! :-(

Teresa, Simon David, and myself had a great week at Senior week. Trying to explain that week to someone who has never been is simply impossible! Seeing campers grow that week is so encouraging, and being with the staff is just like family, only better!

I'm so proud of our Faith! Not only did she receive the award for Best Attitude for a Girl Camper, but she also won the Junior Week Burping Contest!! She makes her Daddy proud! I've always said that pound for pound she is the best burper in the family.

We saw the midnight showing of HP7 Part 2. It was good. Several small changes from the book that didn't seem necessary at all to me. I thought Snape's "redemption" didn't translate very well in the movie, but that's probably just me.

We took a "preacher weekend" (Thursday-Saturday) and went camping in Mountain View, AR. We stayed at a commercial RV park, as opposed to our normal state park camp ground. Teresa and I were by far the youngest people there, not even considering our children! We also took two of Kaden Erickson's siblings (Kilee, 11 & Konor, 6). The RV park was nice, but the tent camping sites were smack in the middle of the park, near the entrance - worst site we've ever had! Still had a great time. The weather was perfect. It got down into the 60's both nights. All the kids did great. Several of the older folks said they were the best kids who had ever stayed there, and since many of them actually LIVE there, I'll take the compliment! Our kids are veteran campers (Faith was still in a playpen on her first trip.), Konor camped out in our backyard last year, and this was Kilee's first time EVER. I love the whole experience. Cooking on the camp stove, and with a Dutch oven, and over the fire, playing games under the dining canopy by lantern, walking to the bath house to... aahh... brush my teeth, sleeping in the old tent together. It is just great, great family time!!

One of the old men walked by our sight and looked at me and said, "You better enjoy it. It goes by fast." I told him, "Don't I know it." Then I thought, "Mister, you have no idea how much I realize it!" Shortly after that I was watching all the kids throwing around a football, and for a second I thought Faith was Kelsey. Nothing creepy, just that instantaneous little thought. She reminded me so much of her sister. I thought again, "MIster, don't I know it!"

Friday we went to the Ozark Folk Center. Again, we had a great time. Admission was $27 for the whole family, including the Erickson Kids. The Folk Center is like a little village with shops that are keeping old-time Ozark crafts alive. There's everything from gunsmiths to candle makers, basket weavers to blacksmiths, and plenty of bluegrass/country music, if you're into that stuff, we are not. They do demonstrations of the old techniques, and sell their wares. It may have only cost $27 to get in, but by the time we bought a basket, a pottery mug, four wooden tops, and dipped 6 candles it cost a lot more to get out! Hey, I'm not complaining. I loved it! The little money we spent is negligible when you consider the memories we made. If we could have stayed another day, Simon David and I (maybe some others, but not Teresa) would have done Loco Ropes, which is a treetop rope course connected with the Folk Center.

I would highly recommend a trip to the Ozark Folk Center. Even more so, if you've never taken your family camping, you've got to do it. Buy or borrow a tent and head out to a local state park for a night or two. If you want some advice about food and equipment, ask the person you're borrowing from, or feel free to give me a call or drop me an email. You don't have to be an "outdoors person." It's more about quality family time. Oh yeah, NO TECHNOLOGY!! No DS's, iPods, Portable DVD players, etc. Since Teresa brought her Kindle this time, I'll have to make an exception but only because it's still just a book.

If you've been to Teresa's blog you already know that we are moving to Columbus, Mississippi to work with the East Columbus church of Christ.

(Warning: Simon is stepping up on his soap box!)

You know, I hate the term "working with 'suchandsuch' congregation." While it is true I will be supported by the East Columbus church to preach the gospel. I think "working with" implies that I am somehow separate (and apart) from the other members of the congregation. I don't think of myself like that. I never tell people I work with the Northside church of Christ. I always say I am a member of the Northside church of Christ. Truly, we are going there to become part of the family of God that works together in Columbus at the East Columbus church. Maybe that seems like splitting hairs, or nitpicking, but I think we "in the church" are often guilty viewing the local preacher as a "Pastor" in the denominational sense, and I refuse to play along!

(Simon steps off his soap box and puts it back in the closet...)

We are excited about the move and looking forward to new challenges and opportunities to grow into better servants of God. I never thought I would ever live in Mississippi, but before 2006 I never imagined living in Arkansas either. It just another step in the journey that leads to eternity and the only place any Christian should think of as home!

I really don't have anything new to say. I'm just tired of seeing the India Report from November on my blog.

I've come up with a new motto for the year: "Do more than is expected."

There are few bits of news concerning the Kelsey Wynne Harris Foundation:
1) We are going to have a booth at the Midsouth Homeschool Convention in Memphis, TN on March 3,4,5.
2) This year's Pork Tenderloin Day is going to be held on March 10, because March 9 is on a Wednesday.
3) The first ever KWH Foundation Golf Scramble is going to be held on October 15 in the Indianapolis area. Stay tuned for more details!!

We would once again ask that if you know ANYONE going through cancer treatments who hasn't received shirts from the Foundation, please let us know.

Brethren & Friends,

Well, the preacher classes in Ongole have been completed. We closed the classes on Friday at 1:00 in order to give the men time to get back to their homes. I combined two lessons from Colossians on the last day in order to use the last hour to talk about religious titles. Many of them men were converted out of denominations last year when bro. Bill Beasley came to Ongole. Because of this, they are still very young in the faith. After hearing some of them introduce themselves, and address me, as "pastor" I decided to use the last class to talk about what Jesus said in Matthew 23 about titles, and then we talked specifically about the Biblical use of "pastor." I noticed most of the men feverishly taking notes, so I hope it changes some hearts! We got off to a rocky start in Ongole because of the rains hampering travel, but in the end I felt like God had blessed us in our efforts.

After classes ended we took a drive to the Bay of Bengal which is only 15km away from Ongole. However, it took over an hour to get there. A mile equals about 1.6km, which means we averaged around 10mph, and no it was not due to traffic! We did have a few stubborn water buffalo that slowed us down, but mainly it was due to typical Indian roads. We only had a few minutes of light by the time we got there, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. You should have seen the Indian brethren reaction when I rolled up my pants and got in the ankle deep water. You'd have thought I was walking towards a cliff without a fence!

On Saturday we left Ongole to be reunited with Jonathan in Nalgonda. We visited a village that was on the way. It took two hours to get there(This time on a nice highway.). The church in this village was established about 6 months ago when Deenadayal baptized 16 souls into Christ. He and another gospel preacher named Peter Raju have been working with them since that time. The church meets in a room attached to the home of one of the members who identifies himself as the preacher (He was in the classes in Ongole and still has MUCH to learn!). I preached a lesson from Mark 4 when Jesus calmed the sea. I talked about having Jesus in your boat when faced with the storms of life. I was overjoyed when 8 people expressed a desire to be baptized! We went to a nearby river and by the grace of God they had their sins washed away in a muddy river.

After that, Deenadayal and I made the long journey to Nalgonda. It took six hours on dusty and congested roads. We arrived in Nalgonda around 10pm and we ate some food with Jonathan and Isaac Ramu at Isaac's home. After that we moved to the lodge. I'm not going to complain, so let me just say that I slept with the light on to keep the cockroaches at bay!

Jonathan and I will conduct one more series of classes here in Nalgonda. Our plan is to follow the pattern from Jadcherla. We will divide the men into two groups and we will swap groups halfway through so that all the men we have an opportunity to hear both of our lessons. Friday we will move to Hyderabad to relax before leaving Sunday evening.

Please pray that we will be able to help strengthen these men in the faith and that God will be glorified by our efforts. As always, we request that you especially remember our families during this separation.