I once thought that putting out a blog every couple of weeks would be quite simple. Yeah, right. That was BEFORE I discovered that Microsoft Word© does not play well with Blogger©. "Use LiveWriter©," they said! Really! It's like going back to Notepad©! Meanwhile, we have sent out about six snail mail newsletters since January 2013 but have not done any blogging. So once again it is time for the Thimells to do some serious catch up reporting on the ministry to the military here in Idaho!
Picking up in February 2013, the snowfall wasn't so bad but stayed on the ground for weeks at a time with below freezing temperatures continuing for even longer. But the fellowship inside was warm although we began to see the first of many of our airmen and their families being moved to new assignments as well as others being temporarily deployed to Afghanistan and other places in the Middle East. By the fall over 2/3 of our people would be gone!
Since our financial support still needed a lot of shoring up, we made a trip back to Colorado in March where we have a lot of praying friends. The Lord has continually stretched our faith over the years but this past year was particularly eventful on this trip and the months following.
While in Colorado Springs I developed severe lower leg pain, cramping, and numbness. After visiting a chiropractor there I experienced some relief but during follow up treatment back in Boise an MRI revealed that I had a bulging disc.
My neurosurgeon operated on May 1 and found a bone fragment had migrated downward pinching the nerve bundle leading to my leg. He performed a hemilaminectomy (http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-hemilaminectomy.htm) and removed the bone chip but my post operation activity was then drastically reduced. Fortunately, our health insurance covered everything but I would not be able to travel for the long periods necessary for visiting our support team – people who have had our back with their prayers and financial support – some for thirty years or more.
Two weeks later Janet left Mountain Home on what would prove to be two and a half months of visiting the team without me. But the hand of the Lord was with her (and with me!) during that time as she drove over 10,000 miles and visited over fifty families in over 30 states! The old Blazer visited several repair shops along the way but the Lord used our weakness to prove His strength. We began to see our monthly financial support rising although Janet's knees were beginning to plague her quite severely.
Those years of training Navy recruits on the Florida parade ground with women's uniform shoes designed for their uniformity rather than utility had taken their toll.
Meanwhile, in Mountain Home, Eric continued his weekly teaching schedule at three different venues as well as continuing to meet with various airmen for discipleship and mentoring. By the time Janet returned in late July, our needed support was at the 75% level.
So on Labor Day weekend, Eric went camping with some of our Air Force families at Yellowstone. As soon as he returned, Janet left on another two weeks visit to California and Arizona.
Meanwhile, new people started coming to En Gedi Hospitality House but Janet was out of commission with her first knee replacement on October 8. Oh the pain. Eric was able to go to the November men's retreat where he did most of the teaching after we learned that our hoped for speaker could not come.
A few days later, Ed Buri, our co-worker was activated with the Idaho Air National Guard and deployed to Qatar for seven months of active duty as an Air Force Chaplain's Assistant.
Then on December 3 Janet had her second knee replacement! Each procedure took about three days in the hospital and a month of rehab. But the most difficult part was not the living with an icepack around her knees or going about with a walker, it was being unable to see her twin sister when her husband of over twenty years suddenly went home to be with the Lord. Dick Bonner passed away of a sudden heart attack on December 1, 2013. He had previously been a part of our ministry at the Osan Hospitality House where he retired as a Major. Then he had retired from Compassion International after serving there twenty years as a Systems Analyst. He had also been a faithful part of our support team all those years. Eric flew out for the funeral and witnessed the outpouring of support for Joanne and her family.
About the time Eric returned from the funeral, Suzie Buri left for Texas to assist her daughter with her third grandbaby. The Lord was gracious and we continued to minister during the Christmas season to the military families that call Mountain Home Air Force Base their home.
In mid-January, Eric began experimenting with having a men's Bible study meet at the Thimell home on Wednesday nights to replace the PMOC men's study which had been meeting at the chapel at noon. With the ever increasing workload following the deep cuts in manpower, fewer and fewer men were able to meet at noon since their lunch times had become totally dependent on the workload. But the new time and place seemed to meet the need quite nicely.
After a long cold winter we had an even longer wet spring that extended through March. Our normally dry mountain valley began to green up very nicely.
By April, En Gedi was bulging with new people. Janet's legs were doing very nicely and she and Suzie were able to coordinate the Friday evening fellowship suppers very well while Eric did the teaching.
On Memorial Day, we had a large crowd over to the Thimell patio for a picnic.
And all this time the Lord worked on our behalf and in June Cadence headquarters released us from our "Home Assignment" status so we no longer needed to make "fundraising" our top priority. We still had a very large debit where our work fund owed Cadence for paying our salary during those lean months but we are seeing that debit slowly decrease each month.
In July 2014, Ed returned from deployment to Qatar and were we excited to see him. With the increase in attendance at En Gedi we began to pray about a larger facility. Ed was able to use some of his Air Guard savings to renovate the En Gedi patio so that it could be used for the kids to play in during the Bible study time. With the eventual return of inclement weather this has not really worked out as well as we had hoped. We still need a solution for someone to actually watch and minister to the kids while the Bible study is going on.
In August, the Thimell guest room was used three times for visiting Cadence missionaries including Dick Patty one of our Cadence mission founders who also kindly encouraged the fellowship with some words from the Word.
For the weekend after Labor Day 2014 we had an En Gedi camp out at Three Island Crossing near Glenns Ferry. What a blessed time of fellowship and fun!
In November, Eric visited our first sending church in the Dallas area for their annual Missions Conference.
During that time, Mike Coleman, a Navigator Associate Missionary and Air Force Captain, took over the teaching for three weeks. Then in mid-December he taught another two weeks. These have been foundational studies and crucial for believers to get these concepts in their lives.
These last three months working together through the Christmas season with all four of us has been really good. We have been meeting together every Monday to pray and plan our week and we have experimented with some vision casting as well. We are attempting to be more proactive with developing our core group and to include them in our ministry plans. We believe the Lord will raise some of them up to serve Him vocationally in the future but we need to inculcate in every believer the purpose of God in using each one to minister to those they are around.
Picking up in February 2013, the snowfall wasn't so bad but stayed on the ground for weeks at a time with below freezing temperatures continuing for even longer. But the fellowship inside was warm although we began to see the first of many of our airmen and their families being moved to new assignments as well as others being temporarily deployed to Afghanistan and other places in the Middle East. By the fall over 2/3 of our people would be gone! Since our financial support still needed a lot of shoring up, we made a trip back to Colorado in March where we have a lot of praying friends. The Lord has continually stretched our faith over the years but this past year was particularly eventful on this trip and the months following.
While in Colorado Springs I developed severe lower leg pain, cramping, and numbness. After visiting a chiropractor there I experienced some relief but during follow up treatment back in Boise an MRI revealed that I had a bulging disc.
My neurosurgeon operated on May 1 and found a bone fragment had migrated downward pinching the nerve bundle leading to my leg. He performed a hemilaminectomy (http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-hemilaminectomy.htm) and removed the bone chip but my post operation activity was then drastically reduced. Fortunately, our health insurance covered everything but I would not be able to travel for the long periods necessary for visiting our support team – people who have had our back with their prayers and financial support – some for thirty years or more.
Two weeks later Janet left Mountain Home on what would prove to be two and a half months of visiting the team without me. But the hand of the Lord was with her (and with me!) during that time as she drove over 10,000 miles and visited over fifty families in over 30 states! The old Blazer visited several repair shops along the way but the Lord used our weakness to prove His strength. We began to see our monthly financial support rising although Janet's knees were beginning to plague her quite severely.
Those years of training Navy recruits on the Florida parade ground with women's uniform shoes designed for their uniformity rather than utility had taken their toll. Meanwhile, in Mountain Home, Eric continued his weekly teaching schedule at three different venues as well as continuing to meet with various airmen for discipleship and mentoring. By the time Janet returned in late July, our needed support was at the 75% level.
So on Labor Day weekend, Eric went camping with some of our Air Force families at Yellowstone. As soon as he returned, Janet left on another two weeks visit to California and Arizona.
Meanwhile, new people started coming to En Gedi Hospitality House but Janet was out of commission with her first knee replacement on October 8. Oh the pain. Eric was able to go to the November men's retreat where he did most of the teaching after we learned that our hoped for speaker could not come.
Then on December 3 Janet had her second knee replacement! Each procedure took about three days in the hospital and a month of rehab. But the most difficult part was not the living with an icepack around her knees or going about with a walker, it was being unable to see her twin sister when her husband of over twenty years suddenly went home to be with the Lord. Dick Bonner passed away of a sudden heart attack on December 1, 2013. He had previously been a part of our ministry at the Osan Hospitality House where he retired as a Major. Then he had retired from Compassion International after serving there twenty years as a Systems Analyst. He had also been a faithful part of our support team all those years. Eric flew out for the funeral and witnessed the outpouring of support for Joanne and her family.
About the time Eric returned from the funeral, Suzie Buri left for Texas to assist her daughter with her third grandbaby. The Lord was gracious and we continued to minister during the Christmas season to the military families that call Mountain Home Air Force Base their home.
In mid-January, Eric began experimenting with having a men's Bible study meet at the Thimell home on Wednesday nights to replace the PMOC men's study which had been meeting at the chapel at noon. With the ever increasing workload following the deep cuts in manpower, fewer and fewer men were able to meet at noon since their lunch times had become totally dependent on the workload. But the new time and place seemed to meet the need quite nicely.
After a long cold winter we had an even longer wet spring that extended through March. Our normally dry mountain valley began to green up very nicely.By April, En Gedi was bulging with new people. Janet's legs were doing very nicely and she and Suzie were able to coordinate the Friday evening fellowship suppers very well while Eric did the teaching.
And all this time the Lord worked on our behalf and in June Cadence headquarters released us from our "Home Assignment" status so we no longer needed to make "fundraising" our top priority. We still had a very large debit where our work fund owed Cadence for paying our salary during those lean months but we are seeing that debit slowly decrease each month.
In July 2014, Ed returned from deployment to Qatar and were we excited to see him. With the increase in attendance at En Gedi we began to pray about a larger facility. Ed was able to use some of his Air Guard savings to renovate the En Gedi patio so that it could be used for the kids to play in during the Bible study time. With the eventual return of inclement weather this has not really worked out as well as we had hoped. We still need a solution for someone to actually watch and minister to the kids while the Bible study is going on.In August, the Thimell guest room was used three times for visiting Cadence missionaries including Dick Patty one of our Cadence mission founders who also kindly encouraged the fellowship with some words from the Word.For the weekend after Labor Day 2014 we had an En Gedi camp out at Three Island Crossing near Glenns Ferry. What a blessed time of fellowship and fun!
In November, Eric visited our first sending church in the Dallas area for their annual Missions Conference.
During that time, Mike Coleman, a Navigator Associate Missionary and Air Force Captain, took over the teaching for three weeks. Then in mid-December he taught another two weeks. These have been foundational studies and crucial for believers to get these concepts in their lives. 
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