Hello, Friends and Loved Ones,

Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers. I do have a couple of other posts that I want to write, but not much time for it at the moment. I did want to tell you about what my **sweet** husband said (or maybe not so sweet, I don't know!).

Anyway, usually (not always, but usually), when Brendin hugs me, it is to tell me
1. How short I am
2. How much grey hair I have

I don't really mind, because when the hugs come, it is such a blissful moment, that I can think of nothing else for as long as the hug lasts. I don't get upset about it, I will take those hugs any way I can get them!!

The other night, though, the two older ones, Alan, and myself were playing a game (the others had gone to bed), and I had my hair pulled back in a pony tail. Alan was sitting right beside me, and the light must have caught in my hair just right, because he said, "Wow! You're really grey!!!" I just laughed, and he said, "No, really! It looks like your Mom's hair!" Now, how is a woman suppose to take that??!! I mean, COME ON! I do think my mom is beautiful with a gorgeous head of hair. I did not think to ask him exactly WHAT he meant by those words:)

Now it is one thing coming from a 13 year old boy, but it is quite another thing coming from the love of my life!:)

Hmmmm...it sounds like maybe the hair budget is going to have to grow!! We will see!!

Have a Wonderful Day!

Psalm 113:1,2
Love,
Ida

Hello, Praying Friends and Loved Ones,

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for praying for us, and if you have been checking the blog on a regular basis, I am so sorry that I have not kept it up. It has been well OVER a month!!!!! We are still around. We made it back to Hamilton in time for Emily and Austin to go to Camp YES. I believe that was around August
10th or so. We had a wonderful time in Salt Lake City. Is it ever beautiful there!!! We had a great time getting to know the Spillmans, and they were such gracious hosts!! We truly enjoyed our time there. So while Emily and Austin were at camp from the 15 through the 21st, the rest of us took the opportunity to drive to Rochester, NY, to see our friend, Bro. Arnold. Although he was busy with classes in training new candidates for his missions board, he took some time out to spend with us. His daughter and son-in-law and their family are beginning deputation and heading to Senegal. His daughter, Julie, still has her job, so Bro. Arnold and Alex (his s-i-l)went to Rochester for the classes. With them, they brought Julie and Alex's daughter with them to get a head start in training her for traveling. It ended up that Bro. Arnold had to go to a Coordinator's class, and so we took care of the baby for him and Alex. She was so sweet!! At that time, she was 15 months old (I think!). It was really funny to see Bethany around her. She wasn't mean or anything, but it was quite obvious that she was JEALOUS!! She was also quite put out with Bro. Arnold because in all of the 7 years that she has known him, she did not know that he was married! When she saw the baby with Bro. Arnold, she asked who the baby was. He said, "This is my granddaughter." She replied, "I didn't know you were MARRIED!!" He said, "Yes, I am." From then on, she has treated him very differently! As she put it, "He was really cool when I didn't know he was married. He's just not cool anymore!" It didn't matter what we said to her, she was still disappointed.

Anyhow, the following week, Pastor McClain asked us to be the camp missionaries. That was really exciting for me! I loved it! Austin was a camper again, and Bethany joined him. This was an exciting time for her, too, as it was her first year. She did really well, and can hardly wait to go again next year. Brendin was used as a worker (which he really enjoyed), so that left Emily as an "only child" for the week. She kind of had the best of both worlds because she could basically roam around and participate when she wanted, or stay in the cabin with us. It was a relaxing week, and we were so thankful and blessed to be there!

The Lord answered my prayers as far as homeschooling was concerned. Up until that point, we had not been able to purchase any curriculum, but while we were at Bethel Baptist Church on a Sunday night, Mrs. Bakker approached me and said that the school there had extra books that we could buy, if that was what we wanted to do. Praise the Lord!! We were able to begin school on time. The children were kind of stressing out about not starting on time, but the Lord took care of that. Come to find out they had extras for ALL of our children!! Isn't God good??!!

This is Thursday night, and right now we are helping Pastor Eagles watch his boys. It works out well for everyone involved, because Mrs. Eagles gives piano lessons until about 9 p.m. So Pastor brings their boys to the church, and our children play with them for the whole time!! If Alan and I have something to do, Pastor is here, and vice versa, so there is always an adult here. So Pastor is able to still get some work done, and our children get to have fun with the boys. That being said, things are getting a little rowdy in the other room, so I better make sure everyone is safe. Thanks for reading!

Have a great day!

Psalm 113:1,2
Love,
Ida

My favourite place to visit, though, was Chubby's. It is a mexican restaurant, with the most amazing mexican food I have ever tasted (except for my mom's, of course)! The owners go to one of the churches that we were in, and they were so good to us! We went a total of three times, the first time the Spillmans treated us, the second, we used gift certificates given to us by the owners, and then a third time. If you're ever in the area, look it up. You will not be disappointed!

Well, I will sign off for now,

Have a great night!
Psalm 113:1,2
Love,
Ida

Hello, everyone!! I just had to blog and tell you about what is going on at Faith Baptist in Hamilton. For about 8 years (I think), a lady by the name of Mrs. Ames has been coming to our church. She was an orphan in Belgium, raised in a convent in Holland from the age of about 2 on. Then at some point, she married and moved to Canada with her family. She had been Catholic all of her life. Of course from the first time she walked through the doors, she has heard the Gospel message. Everything was so DIFFERENT for her. Many times she told me how that she could not believe that there could be such friendly churches, where people actually CARED about one another!! She remembers being hugged by me after only coming to church a few times. She really thought that STRANGE!! What got her started coming to our church was that her second husband (whom she absolutely adored) died, and after a few weeks, she attended a Catholic function (I think it was a dance), and she was just sitting there talking with some friends. Someone told her that she needed to be in the kitchen serving because she did not have a partner. It was not long after that, that she received a John/Romans in her mailbox from our church. After reading it, she took it to her priest and asked him why the Catholic church did not teach these things, and could he explain it to her. The response was, "If you want to learn about that, then go to THAT church!!" She said she was just stubborn enough to do it!! And she has been coming ever since!! Now, today, she is getting baptized, which means, she has already received the Lord as her personal Saviour!! Oh, what a blessing!!! Are you rejoicing with me??!! Thanks!

On another note, Alan was able to work things out so that today will be our last Sunday here in SLC, Utah. We are headed for home tomorrow!! The children are beside themselves because now they can go to Camp Y.E.S. Well, at least 3 of them can. Brendin has to miss out, but he has a pretty good attitude about it. So, we are all looking forward to getting home! (Where ever that is!!LOL) Well, gotta get ready for church. Have a great Lord's Day!


Psalm 113:1,2
Love,


Ida (On cloud NINE!!)

Hello, Friends and Loved Ones,
Thank you so much for praying for us! We truly appreciate them! We have been helping our friends Bro. Larry and his wife, Debbie put a new roof on their house. Alan has had some experience in that area, and we just wanted to try to be a blessing. So all of us are pitching in in one way or another. The children have really worked hard. Anyway, the Lord is protecting us. Alan felt something in his shoe, and he realized that there was a nail that went all the way through his shoe. Fortunately, it went between his toes, so there was no damage done. Yea!!

Two days ago, I was trying to cut some rain and ice paper for the men so that they would not have to keep climbing up and down the ladder. Well, I was using a two-edged utility knife--I had never used one of those in my life before. Before I knew it, I had sliced my thumb. Not too bad, but it did bleed quite a bit. So I just applied pressure, and after a minute or so, the bleeding stopped. I put a band aid on it (but I don't normally like to wear band aids), and just returned to work. The only reason I even put a band aid on was because I wanted to keep it clean, and I was trying to keep it from splitting again. Well, the day after, I had to clean out the van a bit and wash up some spilled something or other. I went on to wash all the windows on the outside of it, but I had to be really careful so that I would not split the wound again. I realized that I was not putting much pressure on it, and therefore could not wring out my cloth as well as I would have liked or needed. So the rest of my hands had to compensate for what my thumb could not do. Immediately, I thought of the church and its members. I kept thinking of how it hurts when members do not show up to church, or don't follow through with their promised responsibilities, etc., etc. I thought of how it hurts the rest of the church, and how someone or other has to jump in and do extra so that the job gets done anyway. So if the job is going to get done anyway, don't you want to be in on the blessing?? I especially thought of Bethel Baptist Church and the many churches in Canada that are without pastors. Someone has to work hard to make sure the job gets done. Could you help pray for churches just like these? That the man of God's choice would step into these rolls? Thanks!

Have a wonderful day,
Psalm 113:1,2

Love,
Ida

Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for your prayers! Other than a great missions conference here in Montrose, B.C., things have been rather uneventful. I think the Lord knew we really needed this time of rest. He has put us in an area where we wake up to the beautiful, rugged mountains and the lush, green trees. AHHH...SWEET!! To top it all off, to get to Wal-Mart, we have to drive down the mountain, and there is the gorgeous Columbia River snaking its way between a few mountains. I think of how the Lord just SPOKE, and this beautiful creation just came into being. Oh, what a MIGHTY God. THE MIGHTY GOD!!

When Alan and I were in Jacksonville during our missionary training, we had chapel every day. And every day, a different pastor would share with us what the Lord had laid on his heart. While they were all good, there is one that I must never forget. This particular man was Pastor Cummins from South Carolina (I think). Here is how he started off...

" When we read the Word of God, it is important to have some imagination." Now he turns his back on us, and he says, "How many galaxies are there? There are millions of galaxies!! Do you see THAT one? There is the Milky Way, where we live. (Pointing) Do you see that blue speck? That is the Earth. Do you see that tiny little brown speck? That is YOU! And the Lord of all Creation, the Lord of those millions of galaxies, all those planets, and all those tiny little specks, loves YOU!! So much that HE sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for you. And not only did His Son die for you, but He also knows how many hairs you have on your head!!"...

By this time, I HAD LOST IT!! You could have heard a pin drop.

Friend, God loves YOU!

Have a Wonderful day,
Psalm 113:1,2

Love,
Ida

Hello, Friends, Loved Ones, and Prayer Warriors,

After driving for MANY hours, through rain and strong winds, and then through the mountains has made me realize that there MUST be people praying, and a wonderful loving and merciful Heavenly Father Who loves us and keeps us safe. We are truly grateful for His goodness!! We drove from Russell, Manitoba, to Montrose, B.C. on Friday morning. While that was a LONG day, it was pleasant and uneventful. We drove through Saskatchewan, Alberta, and finally reached our destination at 8 p.m. Montrose time. We left Jason's house at 6:30 that morning. While I was exhausted, I had a shower and woke up. We then stayed up and fellow shipped with our good friends, the Rutherfords. Yeah...we stayed up til MIDNIGHT!!! Can you tell we missed them??!! We had a fantastic time with them!! We will stay in that area for 2 months off and on...I think. Anyway, it is BEAUTIFUL here!! I just LOVE mountains and trees and rivers. Here there are all THREE. EVERYWHERE we look. It is just perfect!! On Friday, we did see a caribou, also. That was really neat! We have been keeping our eyes peeled for other wildlife, but nothing, yet. The boys have big plans. Huge!! They want to go on all sorts of hikes and adventures. I am all for it. But they wanted to go hiking on SATURDAY!! Sorry, kiddos, I just needed a down day to prepare for Sunday. Thankfully, they understood and didn't nag too much.

On Sunday (today), we drove to Creston, B.C., where we were able to share our burden for the Togolese people at Valley View Baptist Church. What a GREAT CHURCH!! This is another one that I highly recommend. They are growing, and friendly, and just have a sweet spirit. We were also very blessed by the many questions that people were asking. We were truly blessed just being there. After the service, we had lunch at Pastor Friesen's home where Mrs. Friesen prepared a delicious taco salad. That hit the spot, and then to top it off, she served a VERY DELICIOUS strawberry cheesecake. I felt bad that I couldn't stay and help with the dishes, but we had to get back on the road. We had to travel a little over an hour to our next church, and there was a time change involved, and that church started at 5 p.m. So, thankfully, there were no troubles on the highway. We made it in good time. So now we had the privilege of being at Kootenay Baptist Church in Cranbrook, where Pastor Steve Swires ministers. We also enjoyed being here. They were a real blessing to us, too. They provided our supper in a nice restaurant, and then provided a motel room for us as well. Pastor Swires didn't want us to travel back through the mountains at night, so that was really nice of them to take care of us like they did. Well, everyone is ready for bed, so I better sign off.

Have a wonderful day,
Psalm 113:1,2

Love,
Ida

Hello, Everyone!! We have been in the Sault St. Marie area since Saturday afternoon, where we have been VERY BLESSED to fellowship with the good people of Mountain View Baptist Church in Goulais River and Maranatha Baptist Church in Sault St. Marie (pronounced Soo). We have had a terrific time being here, and I can hardly believe that our time here is up. We had the privilege of staying with Pastor Jeff Roberts and his family: Lorelei, Brandon, and Bethany. We are leaving within the hour. We will be traveling to the Grand Forks area, and then on to Winnipeg tomorrow. I have never been to this part of the country, so I am very much looking forward to the drive (that is if I can stay awake!!!). Please continue to pray for journey mercies, and that the Lord will keep the van working in good condition. We thank you for your prayers and thoughts!!

Have a wonderful day,
Psalm 113:1,2

Love,
Ida

Hello, praying friends!! I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to blog! Thanks so much for praying during our journey to Africa and back. Today is Tuesday, and we arrived from Ghana at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday. On Saturday, we picked up 2 of the children and tried to rest and get pictures printed for Sunday School the next day. Then on Sunday, we drove to Simcoe to be at Bethel Baptist Church, where we spent the whole day. So now I will take some time to tell you about how things went while in Africa. May I encourage you, that when the Lord places someone in your heart for any amount of time, to PLEASE pray for them at that EXACT moment. They may never know that you did that for them, and that is ok. We do not know what others are going through, and we really DON'T HAVE to know, just pray. There is a reason that the Lord has placed that person on your heart at that exact moment. Having said that, I will proceed to write about our experiences.

When we our plane touched down in Ghana, it was such an exciting, but kind of scary thing. We were being herded to customs, and we (Brendin and I) did not know what to expect. We (I) have the perception to somehow have this GREAT fear for those who are in customs. However, we told them that we were missionaries, and they let us through with no problems at all. It then took some time to locate our luggage, but fortunately, everything was there! What we were to experience next was so scary. First the heat hits you like a brick wall. It was around 8 p.m., and and REALLY dark, and extremely hot and humid. So as we begin walking to the car, we are immediately SURROUNDED with men who "want" to help us with our things. Now the thing is, Pastor Bohmah, a pastor that we know personally said that he hired a team to help us, but we did not know who all was in this team. And we were told to NEVER take your hands off of your bags, and NEVER allow anyone to touch your bags. So the whole way to the car, we are doing our best to keep up with Bro. Arnold and Alan and the rest, which by the way, walk VERY quickly:) But these fellows are constantly IN YOUR FACE, and what they were trying to do was separate us from each other. I don't think they meant any harm; this is what they do to make a living. Well, when we got to the van, we were standing there and waiting, and it just seemed so CHAOTIC. I took my hand off of one of my suitcases for one second, and someone grabbed it and put it in the van. Then he turned to me and said, "A little something for the boys, we helped you." Well, I didn't carry any money with me, and I told him that. But they are very persistent, and would get in our way, making it hard to move forward. Well, after what seemed like hours, (I know in reality it was minutes) we finally jumped in another vehicle and made it to the guesthouse that we would be staying in for 2 nights until we traveled to Benin on Saturday.

So on Saturday, we traveled to Benin. Now, Ghana is on the West, Togo in the middle, and Benin on the East, but those 3 countries are all in a row. And as you reach each border, each person has to fill out a disembarking form for the country that you are leaving, and then walk across the road to the other country, and fill out forms to get a visa. Mind you, we only drove through Togo, but we still had to do all of that paperwork, even to drive through it. Everything was hand written. So they had these big books that looked like old accountants' books, and they had to write ALL of the passport information on each person by HAND. So that took some time. 5 national pastors showed up to help us get through each border. They were truly a blessing. Even Pasteur Jean Baptist who came all the way from Benin was there to meet us. So we get through the Ghana and Togo border, and now we arrive at the Benin border and fill out all the paper work for that country. By this time it was several hours later. There, the border guards are so friendly. However, they would only give us a 48-hour visa each. But they said, go on Monday (this was Saturday) and have it extended. (We had just paid $30 U.S. for a visa.) It won't cost you a thing. So we get to the place where we will be staying for the duration of our stay in Benin, and have a GREAT weekend, and then Monday rolls around. It is a national holiday, and the government offices are closed. So Pasteur Jean says, no problem, we can just go on Tuesday. So it is decided that Pasteur Jean would take all of our passports, and on his way to pick us up on Tuesday, he would stop at the immigration office and have our visas extended. He is the first one there, but the office quickly fills up with white-skinned people. So he realizes why when he speaks to a representative. Who proceeds to tell him that we are in the country illegally because our visa is expired. And by the way this representative already had our passports and would not return them. He continued to tell the pasteur that it would take 2 more days and meeting the mayor and all of these other people and go through a long process to be able to get our visa and passports back. Pasteur Jean explained that we had to leave before that time. So the representative went on to say that there "might be another way". That for I think it was equivalent to $30 U.S., each person, he could speed up the transaction and we would have our passports back that night (This would be on Tuesday night, and we were due to leave on Wed.). He was told to be back at 6 p.m. to pick them up, as they would be ready by then. Well, when he went back that night, they were still not ready, and "by the way, now I need $24 from each person to finish the transaction". Pasteur said, but they ALREADY paid for the transaction! Why do you need more?? The rep. said that now he needed HIS part, for processing it so quickly. So now in total, we spent and extra $84 EACH person just to get our passport back. Hence the W.A.W.A. That means West Africa Wins Again. That whole day was spent in prayer. I just had this funny feeling, and I knew that the Lord would once again have to come to our rescue. I also kept thinking, "How am I going to call our children and let them know that we would not be home for a couple of years because we were in the slammer???" I know that kind of thinking was a bit extreme, but when Pasteur went back at 6, they still weren't ready, and he would need to come back that night. So imagine my relief when he showed up at 8 p.m. with passports in hand! So, other than that one trying time there in Benin, we really enjoyed being there, and seeing Pasteur Jean's heart and getting to know him and his family better, was one of the biggest blessings throughout the WHOLE trip. As a matter of fact, I cried when we had to say good bye to him. I would like to recommend that if you have a real burden to help someone in Africa, would you consider Pastuer Jean Baptist in Benin? He and his family and church people are all so humble, and truly appreciated that we would come and spend some time with them. I am really, really grateful for them. While we were there, we had to hire a driver and a van big enough to hold all of us. And in order to save US some money, the church took care of our gas for us. What a kind gesture!! These people don't have much, and yet they wanted to be a blessing to us. And they were!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Psalm 113:1,2
Love,
Ida

Hi everyone, thanks for praying. On Saturday we travelled from Accra, Ghana to Lome, Togo (4 hours) and then from Lome, Togo to Cotonou, Benin (3.5 hours). This was a hard trip in é vans, one without any air conditioning. Both borders you have to walk across, checking ouit of one country and buy a visa for the next one. It made for a long, hot 10 hour day. Such is life in Africa. Sunday I preached in the Baptist church in Cotonou, Benin. There was a great spirit. The music and singing where phenomenal. Gotta go, french keyboard is slowing me down.

Hello, praying friends! As you can see from the title, we have arrived here in Ghana. Wow! As I see the people and their trying make a living, it reminds me of just how blessed we are in North America. The people here are very kind. When we got off the plane, we went through customs very quickly and Pastor Bohmah was there to meet us. He had a team of young men to help us with our luggage. All of the luggage went in one van, and we got into another van. We were surrounded with men trying to take our bags from us so that they could put them in the vans for us. But the rule here is not to let anyone touch your bags if you don't think you can outrun them. Once the bags were put in the vehicle for us, they would not leave us alone because now we had to pay them. When they approached me with "A little something for the boys because they did work for you", I just sent them to Alan:) We are resting today, as tomorrow we will be traveling to Benin. Apparently, it will take the whole day to get there. It feels very hot and humid here, but we are staying in a guesthouse for missionaries right now, and it has a window unit.
Well, others are waiting for the internet, so I will sign off for now.

Psalm 113:1,2
Love,
Ida

Hello, Friends, I pray that all is well with you all. If there is ever anything we can pray about for you, we would LOVE to do that!! And thank you for praying for us! We made it safely back to Hamilton from a 3-week trip to Nova Scotia. Things went well, and for that we praise the LORD!!

We also praise the Lord for that Amherst Bible Church in Amherst, NS, voted to take us on for support! The church had an amazing spirit. Everyone was so friendly, and genuinely took interest in our ministry. That week, they happened to have an evangelist in. His name is Gerald Fielder. What a great preacher! We enjoyed sitting under the sound preaching, and getting to know him during Sunday lunch. So we went to church on that Saturday night with them, and then on Sunday, Alan was able to preach to the Adult S.S. then give a testimony and show the dvd during the morning church service. Just before the evangelist came up to preach, Pastor Grooms got up in front of the church, and made this announcement:

I am a little O.C. D., and I have to do this right now. I can't go on with the rest of the service,
or I won't be able to enjoy it. But I really feel like the Lord wants me to do this. It is a bit
unconventional. I really feel like we should take the Feeres on for $100 a month. We are
going to vote on this. All in favour say "Aye". All opposed, meet me down at the altar after
the service.

And just like that, we now have a new supporting church. I could not stop the flow of tears!! What a blessing this church has been to us! Again, the Lord put people in our path that I know will pray for us! Our prayer snowball is getting bigger!

While this was going on, our pastor back in our sending church at Bethel Baptist Church in Simcoe, Ontario, resigned. Please pray for Pastor Bohman and his family as well as the church. Alan and I both feel badly that we could not be there while this was going on, but fortunately Alan will be able to help them a little by filling in the pulpit a few times.

Tomorrow, Alan, Brendin, Cody, and I will be taking the long-awaited trip to Togo. The place is abuzz around here, getting everyone ready for their different places. I will miss the 3 younger children TERRIBLY!! I know that they will get along well, wherever they will be, but still...
We are praying that the volcano in Iceland (or Greenland, wherever it is) stops spewing out ashes so that we can land in Amsterdam as planned. I know that the Lord will take us to wherever HE wants us, so I will not fear:)

Well, I know this is short, but I really MUST get packing. I don't know if I will be able to blog while in Africa, so you many not hear from us until after June 6. Au revoir!

Have a wonderful day!

Psalm 113:1,2
Love,
Ida

Love,
Ida