Now What - Still again!

 In May of 1987 The American Missionary Fellowship flew Linda and myself to the home office in Villanova, PA. to attend orientation. Several other couples joined us for the few days we were there. While we were there Claire Harstad called us into his office for a chat. He informed us that we finally had enough support to go to the field and start our ministry as Area Missionaries. Clair later told us that after we heard the news, we floated down the stairs in joy! 

 The end of July that year, we packed up our belongings into a rental truck and along with Linda's brother and his wife, (Rick and Kayleen) we headed to the great state of Wisconsin. On one of our previous trips to Wisconsin we found a house in Trego, to buy. Eric came with us to Trego, but Kevin stayed behind to help at Camp Fort Faith in Morley, Michigan. We later picked him up as he took the ferry across Lake Michigan.. Rick and Kayleen helped us unpack and did a few house updates.

   We took the first couple of months just to get settled in and situated. We started to attend Trego Community Church which was right in he "big city" of Trego. Now that we had landed we were ready to begin ministry - NOW WHAT do we do? Linda had been used to being a pastor's wife, but what about a missionary's wife? During the next few months I spent quite a bit of time simply doing survey work, discovering the 13 counties that had been given us and visiting people in the area, along with getting to know area pastors. Part of my goal was to minister to pastors and encourage them. We also did more deputation vising potential supporting churches and some that had already started to support us. 

   Mr. Ecker, the former missionary, held Vacation Bible Schools in several Town Halls on the field. There was 4 of them that we started with and we began to get to know those areas and people with the goal of re-starting the VBS's in the summer of 1988. Two of them were close to home (Casey Town Hall and Evergreen Town Hall) the other 2 were much farther. Summit Town Hall, near Superior, Wi. was a good 60 miles from home and Arthur Town Hall (Cadott, Wi.) has almost 90 miles south of us. Most of these Town Halls were in the country and did not have indoor plumbing or bathrooms. You guessed it - Outhouses, which the kids actually loved. Usually we had to go a day before VBS and clean the Town Halls and the outhouses. You never know what you will find in a very seldom used outhouse. We always tried to leave the place cleaner than when we found it. 

   One of the real joys of VBS was training young teens to help us during the week. When many of them became 16 years old they would become our summer missionaries and actually raise support for the summer. Most of our summer missionaries were girls, giggles and all. They would travel with us to the Town Halls and help with puppets, memory verses, songs, snacks and even teach a class. They also learned how to set up the puppet stage and tear it down and clean up the property. Over the years we built up a wonderful relationship with each of these girls. Most of them now have a family of their own. There were 2 boys that did help us as well - our 2 sons, Kevin and Eric. They always did the puppets and they each had their own puppet that they mastered. Eric had "Bunny", a small bunny puppet and Kevin had "Floppy" a bigger floppy eared rabbit.. They would come up with crazy skits that they would do while showing prizes that the kids could "buy" with points at  the end of the week.  

   For over 30 years the kids and adults called us "Uncle Frank and Aunt Linda." Many of them still call us by these names. A few years we did as many as 7 VBS's in the summer. Usually it was 4 or 5 VBS's, which kept us very busy. Much of the busy time was in preparation before hand. It took months of planning what material to use, what verses to memorize and a host of other prep work. One of the lessons we used was a series called "Sunday School Charlie". Each year we would share a different adventure Charlie and his buddies encountered. It was Bible based and it kept the kids wondering just what was going to happen next at the end of each day's lesson. 

   Probably the greatest reward in teaching VBS is the number of kids that trusted Christ as their Savior and to see kids that already knew Christ , grow and develop in the Lord. What an amazing God we have!!!

Linda's memories : I always lead the singing at Vacation Bible School and enjoyed teaching the actions and hearing the kids sing. I particularly enjoyed being the "straight woman" in front of the puppet stage and interacting with the puppets. I didn't always know what was coming especially with our sons.The kids particularly liked Eric's bunny and his love of the turning ceiling fans.It humbles us to realize that we ministered to over 2000 kids over the years and know of at least 140 who accepted Christ.. To God be the Glory !

   STAY TUNED - more to come!!!

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