Coming Tomorrow: A New Home!

Today was a great day!  We had our first six kids come out on the bus this morning to church, and it seemed like they had a great time.  It was Andrea, myself, and the bus driver who were able to help.  I think that the kids were really excited and will bring out some friends next week–they were even inviting some right when they got home.  Praise the Lord, and we pray the same come next week and even more!

Tonight I also had the opportunity to preach–Isaiah 53: “His Life for Ours.”  I really believed that God worked through His Word, and some came forward and made decisions.  After church, a lot of the teens in church helped us load up for the move tomorrow.  That ended up being a BIG blessing!  We loaded up one vehicle, which we will take tomorrow, and one of the older teens is going to bring his truck in the morning to load that up.  We are starting around 9:00a, and am hoping to be all unloaded around 11:00a.  We are really looking forward to moving in, and will post a few pictures sometime–not tomorrow though!  I don’t think everyone wants to see our big mess that will be there.

We can say that today was truly the Lord’s day today.  He blessed with kids riding the bus to church, a good attendance, a great message this morning about the Table of Shewbread from Pastor; He then blessed with testimonies and preaching in the evening.

Red Lion, PA

BorologoThis borough (as they say in Pennsylvania) will be the new home of the Speckhals family as of Monday, the tenth of August.  Red Lion is a very interesting town.  If you look at it on a map, it looks very cramped–and it is.  The traffic can be pretty HORRIBLE too for a town of 6,000.  We really love our new home–which is a beautiful apartment right off the main drag.

Today was the annual Red Lion Street Fair.  Our church set up two booths in the fair: one for Reformers Unanimous and one for the church itself.  We were there this morning for a little while handing out tracts and seeing if there was an opening of sharing the gospel with them.

090808_093746

090808_093926After we spent some time at the booth, we went out bus visiting for the new ministry.  I think it went well, with possible some new riders tomorrow.  Thank the Lord.  We got to walk the whole route today!  Instead of trying to drive around and find parking spaces during the fair, we just took of from the booth and went door knocking.  It was a beautiful day!

After we were finished visiting, we did some serious furniture pickup!  The man in charge of the Reformers booth let us borrow his truck, and out we went.  All of our finds were either from Craigslist at a great price or free along the road.   First we drove a few minutes and got a washer and dryer, both of which were in pretty good condition, especially the dryer.  Then we went and picked up a “double pillow top” mattress at a great price too.  We got back to our apartment, and a few men that were at the church fair booth helped us unload everything.  What a blessing…especially for my wife, since she didn’t have to do it!

After we unloaded that, we got confirmation of a dresser, borrowed someone elses truck to pick up that, and in the process we found a free office desk and coffee table alongside of the road.  More blessings!  The coffee table needs a couple of finishing nails in it–probably the desk too; but other than that, they are terrific!  The coffee table can even fold up so when someone is sitting on the couch, they can lift up on the top and bring it up and towards them at eating level via some hidden hinges.  ‘Not too bad!  Everything we picked up today is already in the apartment too.

My poor wife is a little worn out from all of this running around!  I might be a little too…  We are praying that God will bring some kids on the bus tomorrow, and that He will be glorified on His day tomorrow.

Our Summer at Mt. Zion

Yes, things are going very well here at Mt. Zion Baptist Church.  It is good to serve at a likeminded, strong church.  Earlier in the summer we had youthcamp in Hanover, PA (Yes, the home of Hanover pretzels…that is almost all we eat out here with Dustin, pretzels and french fries, oh, also kettle-cooked potato chips and popcorn!)  But camp went very well…I must admit I was dreading it a bit, just because I don’t like to break out of my shell, but once I did (You don’t have much of a chance at teen camp!), it was the best thing for me since being here.  I really got to know the teen girls more, and Jenny Starr also…Pastor Chris Starr’s wife.  God is good.

Mt. Zion '09

Then we went right into preparation for Vacation Bible School.  It was another great week!  We had a high attendance day of 227!  We also have teenagers come for a time of preaching, craft, snacks, and activities.  And here at Mt. Zion they really go all out with decorating for VBS!  I was wishing Lindsey (my little sister with Downe’s Syndrome) was here!  She would have loved it!  I had the privilege to lead Cassandra Carter to the Lord, a teen girl of about fourteen.  Praise the Lord for the souls saved and decisions made for God!

Then, bouncing right off of the VBS contacts, the deacons approved the idea of beginning a bus ministry in the nearby town of Red Lion.  And you know who that responsibility fell to!  The Fairhaven grads!  What a thrill and blessing, though!  So, we followed up on each of the bus contacts we had from the week of VBS, where we found many had their own church, etc., but a few families showed interest in the bus ride to Sunday School.  We took the bus out last Sunday, and would you believe it poured rain!  Dustin was up knocking on a door, and it started hailing!  Well, neither of the two families who were interested actually came the first week, but we will be at it again tomorrow.  Probably doing a few bus visits, some follow-up visits, and maybe a lot of canvassing!  It is a bit difficult starting from the ground up, but if we will possibly be church-planting one day, this is great training!!!

Tomorrow is the Red Lion Street Fair too, so please keep us in your prayers that the church booth and the Reformers Unanimous Booth will be used of God to reach the community with the Light of the Gospel!

Amidst a Country in Turmoil

Well, I guess this is my first post.  These definitely are crazy times in this country.  Even with all of the turmoil with the government takeover of health care, with union thugs involved now, the life of Andrea and Dustin Speckhals goes on, thank the Lord!

Here in little Brogue, Pennsylvania, we feel far away from Obamacare and Pelosi; even though–believe it or not–we are less than two hours away from Capitol Hill.  Our life is blessed!  We are living through some of the greatest times of our life.  I think it’s some of the same things newlywed couples have experienced for decades.  Here is just one funny story in the life of the Speckhals’

100_1968

So here we are, in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania Dutch country, looking forward to moving into our own home.  It sure will not be huge or fancy, but something we will love.  Actually, yesterday we found that wonderful place in Red Lion, PA.  It is perfect, and we are signing our lease today!  The problem is that our furniture repertoire is minuscule…or just non-existent.  Andrea was looking on Craigslist on Monday and saw a FREE kitchen table and 2 non-matching chairs to go with it.  We ended up telling the people we wanted it, and planned going out to get it after I got out of the office.  One little ‘problemo’…all we had to transport it with was our little Saturn SC1.  It’s a great car, but it’s very small!  “Why not borrow a truck?”, you ask.  No one was at the church except for us, and I didn’t really feel like asking someone to come all the way out there to get it.  Oh well, I thought, we’ll figure it out.

After work on Tuesday, I grabbed Andrea and we headed down some winding roads through the ‘wilderness’ to Stewartstown or somewhere nearby there.  We get to the table (which looks high quality and in pretty good shape), and the rest is history.  First we try putting it through the trunk…doesn’t fit.  Then we tried through the passenger door…doesn’t fit.  Then, thankfully with that Saturn, it has a third door on the driver’s side.  We wiggled and shifted that table around and got it in with no damage to the table or car at all!  The sight was simply magnificent!  Somehow we got the two chairs in too, got everything as tight as we could, and drove back to the church.

100_1970
100_1972

For the last two months, Andrea and I have been living in the beautiful Prophet’s Chamber at Mt. Zion Baptist, and now we’re ready to get our own home.  Now we have a table and two chairs: our first bit of furniture.  The rest we will buy over the next couple of weeks.  God has blessed us so much.  I can say that it’s a lot of fun being newlywed;  you all should try it some time.