Shippensburg and Jane Lew

October 31, 2010

Because of the little hesitation Bobby noticed in the van as it approached New York City the week before, he decided to rent a mini van again and have us all pile in. Even though the van ran great all the way back home from New York, he decided he didn't want to make it work so hard pulling the trailer through those West Virginia hills. I figured it was probably a good idea except that we disliked the lack of space.

We arrived at our hotel Saturday night in Shippensburg and found out we were booked in a room upstairs and the hotel had no elevator. This has happened probably a half dozen other times. Bobby checked to see if we could move to a first floor room but the hotel was booked full so we opted to get Grace out of her chair and Bobby carried her upstairs while I took the wheelchair to the front desk and asked if they could guard it for the night. They agreed and I ran off to bed.

Pastor Dan Cluck met us at the front doors of the church and while he helped us unload the mini van, Bobby quickly explained that we don't normally travel in such a small vehicle and that our big van was taking a break this weekend.

We enjoyed a great service and at the close, Pastor Dan asked us our family to move to the center of the sanctuary while his congregation surrounded us to pray for us. Pastor Dan and this group of believers were a huge blessing to us not only because of their prayers for us but when we drove away Bobby told me that Pastor Dan had written a second check from the church in addition to the original love offering and for nearly the same amount as the original!! And I shouldn't neglect to tell of the lady who blessed me with the “pentecostal handshake.” She reached out to shake my hand after church and put a $50 bill in my hand and simply said, “lunch!”

A quick lunch was what we had to do as we were due to arrive in Jane Lew, West Virginia a few hours later. We arrived at Broad Run Baptist Church in Jane Lew in plenty of time and our friends, Brother and Sister Godfrey helped us get in and even supplied that children with some yummy snacks from the kitchen. Bobby and the children practiced some of their Christmas songs since we had a little extra time.

It was an enjoyable concert, as the room was nearly full and we sang and spoke of Jesus on Halloween as well as sang about 4 Christmas songs.

Afterward, we enjoyed some soup at a family restaurant before retiring in our hotel next door for the night.