Family Connection Tour

After three months and over 16,000 miles on the road, we are glad to finally be home on November 16. We had the privilege of ministering to many families in homes, community centers and churches and saw the Lord do a deep work not only in the lives of those we were with but in our lives as well. We have so many pictures, stories, highlights that we could go on and on. Here we will just give a few highlights:

God blessed us with just the team that we needed for the trip and each one played a part contributing a valuable aspect to the team. Not only did our family go, but also John and Tia Hynes and their little two year old son Samuel. Gabriel Cleator and David’s two brothers, Samuel and Matthew also came sharing messages at many of the meetings. 

We started out by recording one complete all-day Family Connection. This was helpful so we could play portions for the all-day Saturday events in other cities for other speakers who were not able to travel with our team. As it turned out, we did not use very many videos, but primarily live messages.

Paul fast became friends with his traveling buddy and playmate, Samuel Hynes.

Many of the host families such as this one pictured here hosted our group along with a few other families for an enjoyable evening. We would typically start with a fellowship meal and then proceed into some preaching, quartet music and testimonies.

Each host family was so gracious, loving, generous and fun to meet and learn from. In Kentucky, the Reckner Family were so gracious in hosting us. They had some horses they allowed us to ride as they shared the ministry they have to their community through the horses they have.

In Virginia, we enjoyed a wonderful time with the Wilkes Family who hosted a Family Connection in their ministry focused home.

David’s brother Samuel often helped with conducting a children’s program for the all-day Family Connections and was a favorite among the children.

Priscilla and Tia did an amazing job traversing so many miles as moms and yet still keeping a focus on ministry as well.

Davia and Paul were amazing travelers. They found lots of opportunities to have fun along the way, even at a Sinclair fuel stop :-).

Everyone had their role at a typical fuel stop from washing windows, fueling the large RV we were blessed to use, or helping the little ones get their wiggles out.

The Nakatsu family hosted us for several days giving us a break between the many miles we put on. They wrote a nice post about our visit on their family blog.

Typically, when we would pull up to a stop, each one would work together to get everything ready. Priscilla found creative ways to use her stroller to carry in all the Styrofoam cups, plates and other paper goods. 

Paul enjoyed the many different opportunities to have fun in his own way. 

There were so many fun tractors and other vehicles that Paul wanted to pretend to drive.

At one of our stops in Texas, we were blessed to run a Family 5K. David pushed the stroller while Priscilla ran alongside and came in first place for her age division.

In Maryland, we were just in time for some beautiful Fall leaves, so we enjoyed getting a family picture!

David’s family lived near Fredrick, Maryland and while we were visiting there, we were able to go see some of the places he remembered including visiting “Barber Dan” who has cut hair for over fifty years.

So much could be said about each group we visited and there is just no way to write about each one in this simple blog post. There are so many special memories.

We enjoyed many late nights of fellowship along the trip including several with the Mayo family where we had a series of meetings at their church fellowship.
It has been such a blessing to meet families all across the US and Canada and reconnect with other families that we had not seen in several years.

David’s older sister and her husband and children hosted us during our time in Toronto, Canada.

Visiting Gettysburg

It was not all work, though days were long and we averaged traveling over 4 hours everyday for the three months that we were on the road. We also made time to visit several fun places along the way. One of which was the Gettysburg battlefield. 

So many of those who fought on both sides of the Civil war were men who had a deep walk with God and firmly held beliefs. In many ways, it is a sobering reminder of the frailty of life.

Visiting New York

We were able to visit New York for the first time as a family. What an experience!

David had the privilege of leading an officer to the Lord at the 9/11 memorial while in the process of handing out tracts. The officer was so ready and open and literally laughed with joy when he heard that salvation is a free gift not something you can earn or deserve.

We had heard about the Times Square church that was pastored by David Wilkerson before he passed away and we were so blessed to be able to visit for their Sunday evening church service. I will say that it was pretty crazy for us to take the large RV downtown Manhattan, New York.

Visiting the Grand Canyon

Words do not describe what it is to experience the Grand Canyon. We tried to schedule in one day off each week and we were blessed that it worked out to take our off day at the Grand Canyon.

Paul had so much fun! Most of the time Paul rode on David’s shoulders so he could see everything without being in any danger.

David’s two brothers Matthew and Samuel considered all the cautions posted advising against going down to the bottom of the canyon to see the Colorado river and hiking back in one day. They decided they could do it. They did it in an amazing 7 hours including a nice time down at the bottom by the river.

In the mean time, we hiked some smaller trails that gave good views of the canyon at different locations.

One of our favorite trails was the Bright Angel Trail. We hiked a few miles down and then turned around and came back up.

The views are hard to discribe! Paul enjoyed getting a good look while David had a firm grasp on his leg.

Redwood Forest

The shear size of these trees were incredible! We were blessed to drive the “Avenue of the Giants” and see the beauty of God’s handiwork!

Davia’s First Birthday!

On our very last week of the trip, we celebrated Davia’s first birthday! It is amazing to think that one quarter of her life was spent traveling the country. It is also amazing to think that she has visited 39 states before her first birthday.

She is starting to walk and has such a sweet personality about her.