From Sea to Shining Sea

So...Amanda and I have gone from the Florida coast to the Oregon cost on the support raising trial. It has been great, and I have enjoyed meeting new people, and catching up with old friends. I really enjoy sharing my vision with people, and seem to be getting good response. It looks like we are going to make it to full support by the end of the year. Now that we have hit both corners of the US, we are looking to head back to the middle. We are getting ready to hit the icy roads and venture our way to Nebraska to do our last support raising trip of the year. We are looking forward to some time spent in Laramie to get plugged into a small group and share life with local believers. Hope you all have a very merry Christmas, and a wonderful new year.

We had a great group of ladies that came in from Ft Collins this last weekend. I was excited to see how well they worked together and enjoyed the time of fellowship. They were a joy to serve and it was neat to have a group of them willing to fight the elements to go out on a hike. There worship was spectacular and the Griffiths (like usual) did an awesome job on the food.

Amanda and I are now looking forward to the holiday season where we can catch up with friends and family. Hope to see you all soon.

Our Testimony

Many people have asked us "How did you get to Table?". I thought it was probably time to put this journey of discovery down in writing. Here is the story of how we got here. We both grew up in church and accepted Christ at a young age. My corporate job had moved us to North Platte, NE about 4 years ago. I began meeting with an elder in our church. The goal of these weekly get togethers was to develop accountability partners and improve discipleship. After meeting for about a year, I was encouraged to begin volunteering with the church’s senior high youth group. Amanda and I enjoyed helping lead small group studies and eventually joined them on a short-term mission’s trip. For this two week, work trip to Ethiopia, we were expected to prepare spiritually with a study through Nehemiah and prepare financially by participating at fundraisers and sending support letters. We learned a lot about showing God’s love through serving others.

During this year of discipleship and service, I began to feel prompted to search for God’s will in my life. I was in a good place, but I kept feeling that God had something better for me. I shared these thoughts with Amanda. It turns out that she too was feeling a need for more, though her teaching career had always been fulfilling. Something was amiss in our lives. This was when we were led to Table in the Wilderness. We had the opportunity to turn our good life into a great life serving Christ by serving others.

Matt

Wyoming Camp Life

We have been in Wyoming for a few months now and I thought that it was time to share a bit about our new life. Matt and I split our time up between the Table in the Wilderness (TWM) Lodge in Laramie and the TWM Campground in Centennial.

Most campers spend their time at the campground, which is beautiful and mountainous and outdoorsy. During their stay, we are also at the campground, which is about 40 minutes from Laramie. I love it there. God feels so very close when you are surrounded by His nature. We fill our time there with running activities for the campers like mountain biking, hiking, archery, disc golf, and camp fire. I am a terrible archery teacher, by the way. It's a miracle that no one has been injured, ha, ha. Matt loves the mountain biking and tries to make the trek through the woods exciting and safe. Most of the time he succeeds.

When there are no campers, we head back to Laramie and the Lodge. There are a few pictures of the Lodge so you can get an idea of what that is like. I think it is most like living in a dorm room. Small but with everything that you would need just down the hall. The Lodge will get more camp use this winter when access to the Centennial campground is blocked by snow.

Anyway, checkout the pics and let me know what you think. Amanda