Spring 2024 Trip

LaVern and I left April 9, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. to start our spring trip. The weather was
great! When we got about halfway to our destination, we missed a turn. We ended up
having to call the House of Hope (our first destination) and asked Terry, the Assistant
Executive Director, for help. My GPS was constantly saying, “Rerouting!” A very
annoying voice might I add. Terry told us to have Seri get us to Champaign, IL and he
would direct us from there. Thank the Lord for Terry and getting us safely there even
though it was 10:15 p.m. They were expecting us at 6:00 p.m.

Our topic we discussed was “Meditating on the Word of God.” It was powerful and we
got quite a few videos of the residents and the AED’s sharing what they received and
what it is like to run a place like this. The Videos are on this webpage don’t forget to
look.

Lawrence & LaVern Praying for revival at Pastor Tim's Church

While we were there, we took the time to visit our missionary partners, Lawrence Urlick
and his family in Terre Haute, IN. We ate at a Mexican Place where Michele was able to
get away and spend a little time with us. Lawrence showed us the park that he has his
summer meetings at and the church that he connects with regularly. He took us to
Pastor Tim’s church, and we prayed for revival to hit this area. It was very powerful, and
you could sense the presence of God. Pastor Tim and his son, Jordan, showed up and
we had a great conversation with them.

The last evening we were at the House of Hope, Terry and Nelda had us over to their
apartment to share a nice steak meal with them and some of their staff. I interviewed
them that night.

We left House of Hope on April 12 th and stayed overnight in Knoxville, TN. We were
traveling to see our grandchildren and the new great granddaughter, Ellie Gifford. What
a beauty she is! We had a couple of days with them to enjoy their new home. One
evening they took us to Steve’s Classic Burgers. What a treat and right next to it was an
ice cream shop. We enjoyed that too!

We got up early on April 15 th and headed towards Greenville, KY. It was good to see
Joshua and Steffanie once again and meet the new residents in their building. We had
great accommodations throughout our whole trip. They only had one girl and I prayed
with her that she would get more girls in. When I got home, they had another girl join.
PTL. Again, we did lots of videos of testimonies and what they received. We spoke on How to Hear the Voice of God.

Group photo in Kentucky!

Phil showing off our fish and bread, the table was full of it!

LaVern and I stopped at many Waffle Houses on our way to and from home. We just enjoy that place, it always has good food, and it is quick and fast, just what you want when you are traveling.

Next stop, Ohio Mission Bible Training Center. Mike Turner was there and really took good care of us. He knows me well, so he stocked me up with quite a few TEAS! The exciting experience we had at this place is when I was teaching on Jesus feeding the
5,000 with fish and loaves of bread, Phil got a phone call while we just finish telling that
story and a church just dropped off a lot of catfish and loaves of bread plus hushpuppies. We all scrambled into the garage to see it all laid out on the table and realized what great humor God has. What a nice feast we had before we went to bed.
We shared the Gifts of the Spirit at this center. People received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and 9 came forward to get rid of the nicotine habit. It was an eventful time and like always it was hard to say goodbye.

The last mission we went to Kentucky Mission Bible Training Center in Saylersville, KY.
We spoke 9 times there on the Gifts of the Spirit. Took a lot of videos there too and
interviewed the AED’s. One of the staff members took us out to eat at the Farmhouse.
Dave ate this gigantic burger. It was a fun evening and we listened as Dave told us
stories about his life. Another interesting tidbit is that there were two girls at this mission
that looked and acted just like a couple of our granddaughters. It was hard to say
goodbye to them for sure.

Each place we gave a faith challenge to them. Courtney at House of Hope to receive
her legs. She had a car accident and lost both legs. Nothing is impossible with God. At
Set Free more people to come in so they can fill up. Ohio Mission Bible Training Center
for Patches the dog to receive her sight and hearing. She was born without them. At
Kentucky Mission Bible Training Center their faith challenge was for Dave to get a new
leg and for that Mission to have their own building.

Group picture at Ohio Missions Center

Banquet at Grace Mission Center in AR

Our next place was Grace Mission Bible Training Center in Paragould, Arkansas for
their banquet. We had a lovely hotel room, and the banquet was delightful. We met new
and old friends.

Our last stop before heading home was to visit friends and partners in St. Louis, MO,
Steve & Gloria Gardner. They treated us like royalty. The first night they had our good
friends, Dickman’s, over for a great lasagna meal. We acted like young high school kids
staying up all hours of the night sharing what God has been doing in our lives. Iron
sharpens iron. The last night we were there we knew the Gardner’s were having their
48th Anniversary so we took them out to the Cheesecake Factory. What a great time it
was.

We got home May 1 st and went out for pizza, unpacked our van, and crashed in bed. I’m
glad we gave all we had and now it is time to fill back up so we can give out again.
Enjoy life, it is worth living!
​
Be sure to check out our interviews from the Trip on our Videos page! 

Love, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit,
Sandy