Ready for The Trail

 

4 Months Later

After much prayer & preparation, Keith is pursuing his life-long dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail. Departure date is Monday, March 7, 2011. His plans are to start at Springer Mtn, GA & travel 3 days to Neels Gap; if he can get up the next day, he will travel again & so forth, until, hopefully, he will make it to Katadin in Maine; just a little over 2200 miles. Plans are to be back by our anniversary date in September & Grant's first b'day. He says he will blog as he goes along, so you can follow him from there and me from here in TN. My plans are to travel to Nicaragua with our church in April for an evangelistic mission trip where we have a partnership with a church/school in Corinto. We are living temporarily in a rented condo in order to be somewhat flexible as to where we may be by the fall or next year. Hope this does not sound as if we were 'flying by the seat of our pants'. Our intention is to be available to what & where the LORD might want us next. This gives me some stability & a good place to 'nest' while Keith is able to do this. He turned 60 in 2010 & we both believe the LORD is giving us this time for a season - I believe it is true that He gives us the desires of our heart.

As of September 9th, we are back in the states & on that date, we also were blessed to have our 4th grand-baby, Grant Franklin Bartley, making it 3 grand boys & 1 grand baby girl in our household coffer. Also, as of September 20th, we have opted to take a leave of absence from the Mission Board and as of this time we are traveling to see & reconnect with family & friends. We are not sure where or what type of ministry the Lord will lead us into, but we are sure that He knows & will let us know at the appropriate time. We would appreciate your prayers with us concerning His leading & direction, that we may hear & obey, which is our heart's desire.

 
Did you know Panama is divided into North & South America? This is the Bridge of the Americas; when you cross it from our side, you are in North America, our side is South America! We now have our driver's license for Panama & our residency; we also receive a senior citizen's discount, on food, lodging, etc; sometimes up to 50% off some things, plus free entrance into Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal!

 
 
 
This last team was from Missouri; we worked in Portobelo, Portolindo & Cacique for 4 days & being right on the beach, it was very hot & humid, plus we fought the mosquitoes & they won, with me anyway. The beauty of the place was marred by the poverty & violence; it was a sad place to work in. We did door-to-door evangelism, open-air preaching & showed movies on Sat & Sun nite.

 
 
 
 
We made a trip to the Darien Province, west side of Panama, to see what connections we could make; what churches were there; potential places for teams. Travel time was about 4 days.

 
 
 
 
This is a recent trip into the mountains & rivers of Bocas, the northwestern part of Panama. We visited several villages along the Changuinola River to determine if there was any evangelical presence there. In the village of Guayaba, there were no churches, with the exception of a cult called 'La Luz del Mundo' (The Light of the World). This church believes the True Apostle lives in Mexico City & the people of the village earn money to give to the True Apostle. Please pray as we try to establish a Baptist work there.