I have written this account of my life mostly for my kids but also for those that may be interested in reading it. I have tried to be sparing of the facts before the Lord Jesus came into my life, however that is not completely possible because up until that time I lived for myself without thought of the future. I did many unspeakable things that I greatly regret and have not even told my wife about. This is the reason that I have said many times, "I am not worthy of the least of His mercies but He has shown to me the greatest of them..." I want to thank the Lord Jesus for saving me when He did.
There is a real word stick-to-itiveness, see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stick-to-itiveness. Have you ever stepped on someone's discarded gum? Especially while walking on gravel or dirt.? How frustrating is that! Sometimes no matter how hard you try to get the gum off your shoe, there remains residual gum. Or, and this is a true story, when my two eldest children were young (before my two youngest were born, and before the mandatory use of booster seats or seat belts,) we were coming home from church after Sunday morning service. My son and daughter were hanging over the back of the front seats and my daughter was chewing gum. Somewhere along the way, she lost her gum and when I got out of the car, I found it. It was stuck on the back of my suit jacket. What a mess! There is some stick-to-itiveness that is not welcome.
However that may, there is something to be said for stick-to-itiveness. I remember while pastoring in Aberdeen, SD, we had our District Superintendent preach for us. I remember the general premise of his message, don't give up what God has given you. There were a number of ministers in South Dakota who had poured themselves into their labor. It was important that they not give up what they had gained. They needed to exercise stick-to-itiveness. There have been some regrets in my life and ministry. All of them have to do with myself and none have to do with the Lord Jesus or other people. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:23b "... He is faithful that promised..." My first effort in ministry was right after Bible college (Conqueror's Bible College in Portland, Oregon) in 1970. I took my young family to Mitchell S.D to help in the work started by bo. Loy Bowen and family. We went there at the advice of the late bro. J.H. Yohe as tent-makers. We stayed for one year, assisting in starting that work. After we left and went back to Washington where we were from. I remember feeling that maybe we should have stuck it out. But first let me tell you some of my life's story.
Morton Washington
My dad had been a logger in Morton, Washington. We lived in a house in Morton that was originally built as a garage, which my folks moved into in advance of building a regular house before I was born. The regular house was never built. I was born in 1941 and my first memories are of the little logging town of Morton, Washington. One of my few memories of Morton was when I ran away. I was only two or so. I remember going into the town of Morton and being picked up by the paper boy and taken home. As I recall my mother gave him a 50 cent piece which was a lot of money in those days. I remember feeling very betrayed. Another memory was of a half grown piglet that my folks got from somewhere. My dad built an enclosure and put the pig in it. I remember my older brothers climbing into it and hilariously chasing the pig around the pen. Then I climbed in to do the same thing. The problem was that I was the youngest, only about two, and instead of me chasing the pig, the pig chased me!
My folks separated when I was about three years old. As my mother told me later, she was to move to Puyallup, Washington, and my dad was to follow at a later date. Instead, he sued my mother for divorce on the grounds of desertion. This was before the 2nd World War ended with the surrender of Japan. My mother was able to buy a house in Puyallup where we lived until I was about nine years old. We had neighbors that were not living as Christians (by our standards) and some of them had children about my age. I remember going to play with them and doing the things they did. In their house as I recall, I tasted beer for the first time but not the last. Another thing that is vivid in my memory is the curl of cigarette smoke in our living room of the Puyallup house my mother bought when she moved from Morton. My mother had backslid from her walk with God. She had become bitter about many things and no doubt blamed it on people in the church. In later years she told me that some of the women in the Puyallup church had accused her of smoking because they saw matches in her purse. She did smoke, that explains the curl of cigarette smoke I saw.
My dad died in 1961. He was just 68 years old then. I was in the U. S. Army at the time and stationed just 23 miles from home. One memory sticks out in my mind. I wasn't yet serving the Lord but I was a believer. I was on my way back to Fort Lewis where I was stationed when I asked the Lord Jesus if my dad was with Him. Suddenly the inside of my car was filled with the presence of God. I wept profusely when I felt the presence of the Lord in the car. My dad had never (by his own admission) been baptized in Jesus name nor to my knowledge had ever received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Later, after I turned to the Lord Jesus and began to understand the gospel, I realized that he was not saved according the the scripture. Looking back, I realized the great grace of God that had entered the car that day. It was the Lord Jesus comforting my heart. I weep afresh as I write these words. God is good!
Puyallup, Washington
I took the third grade over due to my mother thinking I had to because I hadn't learned much. I got stuck with the same teacher and again didn't learn much then either. I remember the third grade teacher whom I thought was very unfair to me. One time as she was berating me in front of the other children I yelled at her to shut up. She did shut up but that was not the end of it. She marched me to the principal's office and told him what had happened. He grabbed me by my hair and shook me as he told me never ever talk to one of the teachers like that again. It was after that, that my mother remarried and we went to a different grade school. From that day I wasn't interested in school anymore.
I grew up in the town of Puyallup Washington from age 3 until I went into the Army at age 17 and I thought it rained everywhere. I had never been out of the environs of Puyallup until I was in the army. It was there that I began to realize that 1) I lived in a beautiful place, and 2) it did rain a lot. A sargent once told me that it was one of the most beautiful places he had ever been but it sure did rain a lot. I was a pretty average kid in my youth. I picked berries to ostensibly buy school clothes but my desire for other things was what I used the money for. I remember thinking I would like to learn to fly airplanes and would cash in my berry tickets and go to the local airfield to buy a ride in an airplane. That didn't last long as I never had enough money to go around. As I said I was a pretty average kid until I was age 17.
At age 13 or so I started to smoke. I remember picking up the butts of discarded cigarettes thrown away by others. One of my friends had a roll your own machine which we would get
the tobacco out of the discarded butts and roll our own cigarettes. During my youth I was under great conviction for the wrong that I saw around me and the hypocrisy in everyone including myself. As a teenager I
thought everyone was plastic. I began to run wild as a result. I remember my mother asking me what time I would get home and telling her "whenever I got home." I would never give her a straight answer because I
didn't know myself. I was hard to deal with as a young person. I had a few friends at school but considered myself as being unpopular and was very proud of it. I never had a girlfriend although I wanted one very
badly. But I was too obstinate to be well liked.
An incident that happened when I was about 12. I had a paper route and one day a stranger stopped where we picked up our papers and took an interest in me. I had longed for a father figure in my life. What I didn't realize that the man was queer. The reason for his interest in me was not good. He let me drive his car and paid for me to go for an airplane ride with the owner of the airfield. He told me that he had had a pilots licence but it wasn't up to date. He gave me a tool to figure dead reckoning. He let me drive his car again and tried to come on to me after the plane ride, I resisted his advances and drove his car back to Puyallup. The brakes went out and I crashed his car into a parked truck. We immediately traded places (at his suggestion) so it wouldn't appear that I was driving when the police got there and that was the last I saw of him. I never told my mom or anybody else except my wife because I felt so ashamed.
Another incident happened during my high school years. As I mentioned previously I was very unpopular in high school. Once a group of what I considered a popular click approached me as I was putting my school books in the locker. I don't know if it was planned or the spur of the moment. In any event one of the guys decided to kick me in the behind. I don't know if I said anything but when he said that I must like it he started to kick me again. I then turned on him, grabbed his arms and the fight was on. He hit me about three times rather inconsequentially then I hit him in the nose. I think I broke his nose because it started tb bleed. Then I said to him that he started the fight and I didn't and didn't want to fight and the fight was over. One of his click named Dick accompanied me as I left to express his admiration of me because I had hit him in the nose. At the time I thought Dick was a hypocrite also. I have since prayed for them all to find the Lord.
The Mercy of God
As I recall, I was about five years old when there was a beautiful display of probably the Perseid meteor shower that took place. It seemed as though all the stars were falling. All of the neighborhood were out in their yards oohing and awing over the sight. My maternal grandmother, Mary Jane Ward was visiting at the time. As everybody was exclaiming over the beauty of the meteor shower, I was terrified and crying. My grandma Ward who was a Jesus name Pentecostal Christian, came over to me, knelt down, and asked why I was crying. I said to her that I was afraid because all the stars of heaven were falling. She told me not to cry for it was just a sign in the heavens that the Lord Jesus was coming back some day for His church. I went from being afraid to being in awe. I don't recall a day since that day that I have ever doubted that there was a God in heaven, whose name is Jesus, and He would come back for His church one day.
I wish that I could say that I went to church religiously throughout my youth. I did not. I did not go to church on my own nor was I sent to church but grew up as a heathen. Oh my brother Joe and I went to a Baptist Vacation Bible School once where he won a New Testament because he memorized the books of the Bible. I did not win any thing as I just wanted to play. And when my mom married my stepfather, who was a Lutheran, I remember going to a Lutheran Vacation Bible School also. The results were the same. When I was about ten or twelve, my mother tried to correct the course our lives were taking, but without the church. It didn't work! As a result as I grew up as a heathen. Because I was a heathen, I did all the things heathens do. When I was a teenager I started to swear. I remember swearing at my stepfather who happened to be one of the gentlest people I have ever known. When my brother Joe turned to God at age eighteen and tried to witness to me I would cuss him out.
I did not own a Bible until I was in the U.S. Army when my oldest brother Gary who, with his wife, gave me one as a Christmas present. I did try to read it. I picked it up a couple of times and would try to read in Genesis but I could never get very far as it made no sense to me and I was not interested anyway. So I went through the Army and got out in April of 1962, just before the Vietnam war started to heat up. There were several attempts of the Army to get me to re-enlist, all to no avail. Although I was not required to join and to go to any active reserve meetings, once I thought I would join a local National Guard Ranger Unit in Tacoma. I remember going to the National Guard Armory with the intent of joining them. I was there for about an hour. I never spoke to anyone nor did anyone speak to me. I just walked around looking at the pictures on the walls as sergeants and others would walk by me. No one said boo. Finally I left not having joined the unit. I believe now that it was the hand of God in my life.
After being in the U. S. Army from age 17 to 20, from age 20 to 23 I lived for myself, chased around, did what most everybody else was doing. There were several times, that under great conviction for the sinful life I was living, I tried to turn to God but was unsuccessful. I assumed that God was a holy God and wouldn't want an unholy sinner like me in His holy heaven. Then in June of 1965, the Lord Jesus came into my life for real. I found out that as the Bible says in John 15:5, without the Lord Jesus' help, I could do nothing, not even live for the Lord. You too my friends, without the Lord Jesus' help can do nothing. But He will help you today if you ask Him to. I found out that He is a holy God but wants cleansed sinners in His holy heaven with Him. Jesus said in John 12:32-33, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die." My late mother once said to me when I was a teenager that God would never make me go against my will but He would make me willing. I am glad that He made me willing.
My brother Joe told of an incident that happened to him. He, at age 18, with my stepsister wanted to join a church. They had visited around different churches in the area and decided on a local baptist church to join. They were going to be baptized in that church and told my mother about their decision thinking that she would be pleased. Instead she tried to explain about Jesus name baptism in the Bible. She used all the arguments she could, including scriptures, to no apparent avail. They couldn't see any difference anyway. My mother used to have a radio tuned to a classical music station all the time to provide background music to her day. She had the radio turned to this station at the time of the conversation. Suddenly the music that was playing faded out and a man's voice came on which quoted Acts 2:38 which says, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." They were somewhat dumbfounded to say the least. Needless to say that convinced them to be baptized in the name the the Lord Jesus. After I turned to God my mother told me about the incident. I ask my brother Joe about it and his response was, "John it really happened."
How I met My Wife!
The first time I met my wife I didn't even notice her. I was about the age of 16 when my brother Joe invited me to go on a local cruise in Puget Sound with the church that he was attending. (he and my stepsister had started attending the United Pentecostal Church shortly after the miracle of the radio incident previously recounted.) My then to be wife was only 10 or 11 at the time. As I recall I went out in the stern of the boat to have a cigarette. My brother and some other members of the church came out to encourage me to live for God. A little girl came out with them. I have a vague recollection of that incident. The little girl was to become my wife.
I met my wife after I gave my heart and life to the Lord Jesus at church camp in Olympia, Washington. I was 23 and she was 18. I noticed her then. I had been baptized in Jesus precious name earlier that day. That was the first time in my life that I ever went to church on my own volition. I remember her dad coming up to me after the preaching with Shirley on his arm. This was in June of 1965, we were married on September 18, 1965. I have never been sorry. Another time my brother Joe tried to get me to give my heart to the Lord, I was about 16 then. He bribed me to attend his church three times for $20. I did go with him to church three times, got my $20 and never gave my heart to the Lord Jesus. My brother was very sincere but this is probably not the best way to witness.
As I said previously I married my wife on September of 1965. I remembered being in class in the eighth grade with Shirley's brother Albert. I wanted fellowship and as Bud, (his nick name) lived in the same town, I went to see him. It was there that I met my future wife again. She had just graduated from Puyallup high school and was intending to go to Conqueror's Bible College in the fall. I had always wanted a wife but nothing ever seemed to work out. That week as I was talking to the Lord Jesus, I confessed to Him that I understood why nothing had ever worked out. I then said to Him that if He wanted me to have a wife I wanted to be willing to do His will, even if it meant marrying Shirley Zielke. As a new convert I wanted to do His will no matter what.
I asked Shirley to marry me and the rest is history. We had our first child, David in 1966. I went to Conqueror's Bible College in the fall of 1967. Where our second child Rachel was born. In 1970 we went to Mitchell, South Dakota to help establish a new work. In 1971 we went back to the Portland, Oregon area where our third child Susanna was born, Then in 1973 we went to Yankton ,SD where Rebekah was born. I told the Lord that I didn't mind going to SD as long as my children were saved. I have kept the Bible verse in my mind found in Proverbs 22:6 which says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." I am still believing that verse of scripture for all of my children. I recognize that all my children must make up their own minds but I am still trusting God for as the Bible says in Hebrews 10:23b, "...He is faithful that promised."
My ministry
In 1973 we went to South Dakota to pioneer a work in Yankton, S.D. We were there for three years. During that time we baptized nine people in Jesus precious name and some received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was there that I had my first confrontation with a demon spirit. A man (who I'll call Jim), with his wife had lived the swinger lifestyle. They had been coming to our home missions church. I had baptized his wife and a couple of his children. He came over to our home (where we had our church) one day. My wife had had a dream the night before of a large man who meant to do me harm. In her dream, she was standing in between us speaking in tongues. When Jim, who was a large man, showed up at our door the next day, he had a rifle in his car and a clip of ammunition in his pocket. He was intent on killing me because he thought I was messing up his life. While we spoke in our living room my wife was in the kitchen speaking in tongues praying.
He accused me of ruining his family and finally I stood up and rebuked him in Jesus name. He also stood up and rebuked me in Jesus name. I then commanded him in the name of Jesus to tell me his real name, thinking of the scriptures found in Mark 5:2-13 and in Luke 8:27-33 where Jesus commanded the demoniac of Gadera to identify itself. His immediate response was to do a complete 360 degree turn around and when he faced me again the anger was gone and his response was, in a plaintive tone, his name. I was totally confused. I had believed that the man was under the influence of a demon and the demon went into hiding. Needless to say after three years of my first pastorate, I was worn out and left without getting a church started. I have wished that I could have exercised some stick-to-itiveness in that situation. Instead we went back to Oregon.
Aberdeen, South Dakota
We moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon where my brother Joe was pastoring (my brother Joe with his family moved to the East coast and a new pastor took the church in Klamath Falls while we were there). We went up to Tacoma with the thought that maybe we would start or take a church in that area. But nothing opened up and I felt like it wasn't the will of God so we went back to Klamath Falls. After about one and one half years in Klamath Falls I called brother Yohe who was over the area and asked if there were any churches open in South Dakota as I would like to come back. I told him I was willing to try to start a church if there were none open. He said to not do anything further till he called me back which he did later. The church in Aberdeen, S.D. had just opened up and when they heard that I wanted to come back to South Dakota they very quickly voted me in. And so we went back to South Dakota for the third and final time. We were there for almost seven years and while there about twenty people were baptized in Jesus saving name. That church is still in existence.
I was very home-sick for the West Coast and asked the Lord if I could resign the church in Aberdeen. I felt in the spirit that His reply was if I resigned, He would bless me or if I didn't He would bless me. He left it completely up to me to make the decision to go or stay. I didn't like that answer, but about six weeks later I made the decision and resigned the church. My intention with the resignation was to go back to the Pacific Northwest. The next evening after my resignation I received a phone call from a friend and fellow pastor in Nebraska, saying that a church in Lincoln had just come open and I should consider trying out for it. I was somewhat dumbfounded because he could not have known of my decision to resign the church in Aberdeen the previous evening. Needless to say I felt that it was God's perfect timing. Maybe what awaited us in Lincoln was why the Lord Jesus said I could leave Aberdeen, or stay.
Lincoln, Nebraska
My wife and I went to Lincoln and preached a Sunday morning service. I told the church in Lincoln that my desire was to go back to Washington or Oregon and that I
had no desire to move to Lincoln, Nebraska. I also told them emphatically where I stood on most things. (I have since becoming a Christian considered myself to be somewhat on the politically conservative side). During our
trip back to Aberdeen afterwards my wife said to me that it would be a miracle if I got voted in. After getting essentially a 100 percent vote in Lincoln, we decided to move. We were there all of nine weeks before we resigned
that church. Not a pleasant experience! After we arrived in Lincoln, I had trouble getting messages to preach. I have never been one to use other preacher's sermon outlines, I just liked to get my sermon thoughts in prayer
and from the Word of God. In any event for the first several weeks I couldn't seem to touch God and get a direction to preach. Then in our mid-week service, around the thanksgiving holidays, we had some visitors (a husband,
wife and the wife's daughter from a previous marriage) from the neighboring church, where my minister friend pastored, which was about 50 or 60 miles away.
As my custom was (and still is) I greeted them from the podium to make them feel welcome and mentioned in a kind way that I hoped and was sure their pastor knew they were visiting our church. After the service they requested to speak with me. What they told me shocked me to the core. They said the sister and her daughter had been accused of witchcraft and in essence had been dis-fellow shipped. They told me that several of the sisters in the neighboring church had also been accused and in some instances had confessed to practicing witchcraft. They wanted to attend our church on a regular basis. I bluntly asked this sister if the allegations against her were true. She assured me they were not true. I advised them to go back to that church, sit under the pastor and prove by their faithfulness that the pastor was mistaken in his assessment. (By the way, I was fairly well acquainted with this minister/pastor and had complete confidence in him). They apparently chose not to follow my advice and did not come back to our church.
After the thanksgiving holidays were over, I received a call from the same neighboring pastor and he said that I would not believe what he had to tell me. I proceeded to tell him that I already knew what he was about to tell me, that the allegations of witchcraft had arisen in his church. He was surprised and when he asked me how I knew, I explained the previous mid-week's service interview. From that conversation things deteriorated rapidly. The allegations of witchcraft spread to people who were attending our church and the other local Lincoln church also. We had enrolled our daughters in the other local church's Christian school and I probably panicked. I took them out of the other local school and tried to teach them myself. (We had had a Christian school in Aberdeen).
It wasn't long before the situation spiraled totally out of control. I had had a prayer meeting with some of the people in the church in Lincoln who felt they were under great spiritual oppression. I prayed for the sister and again commanded the spirit to identify itself and it said it's name was Conicia, (spelling?) and that it was the controlling spirit. I rebuked the spirit in Jesus name and things seemed to be better for the family the next week. I can't recall everything that happened afterwards, but over the next several weeks I felt that I had lost the confidence of the majority of the congregation.
I had no intention of resigning but when all this became known and I was threatened with personal physical harm by one of the board members, plus the two licensed ministers who were on the church board went around to the members of the church trying to get me out of that pastorate. (I am only mentioning the outline of the things that happened). Needless to say I asked the Lord Jesus to release me from that pastorate. When He did I felt the comfort of the Lord's love and compassion like I had never before experienced it. I truly felt that He was allowing me to be a partaker of His sufferings. I resigned the church after only nine weeks. We had no money! We had no way to pay for gas, even to leave town. That was when the district superintendent of the Nebraska District came by and counselled with us and gave us a check for three hundred dollars. That was enough to buy gas for our vehicles and head for Portland.
More Trouble
We left Lincoln, Nebraska on December 26, 1984. I was driving my 78 Ford pickup pulling an 18' camper, my wife was driving my eldest daughters car and my son was driving his own car pulling a homemade utility trailer. All the vehicles were loaded to the gills. We drove as far as Laramie, Wyoming and got a cheap motel room. That night there was a terrific ice storm and in the morning the roads and freeway were sheets of ice. Things seemed to go from bad to worse when we left Laramie, My middle daughter rode with me, my wife had our youngest daughter with her, and our eldest daughter was riding with our son. We all had regular road tires except for my son who had snow tires but no one had chains. I didn't have enough money to buy tire chains, etc. We didn't have enough money to rent the motel for another night. We had enough money to buy gas to get to Portland.
So we started out on the icy roads. We didn't get far before we started up a long grade on the freeway. My pickup's drive tires began to slip on the icy road conditions (it was only a 2 wheel drive). We were about half way up the grade when my pickup came to a complete stop while the tires were still spinning. My wife came to a stop right behind me and my son was able to go around us continuing to the top of the grade. I remember turning to my middle daughter who was riding with me and saying that I didn't have enough money to hire a tow truck and had no choice but to pray. My wife and my youngest daughter in the car behind were also praying as were my son and eldest daughter. After our prayer, I gently let out the clutch and watching my rear tires through the side mirror, the tires seemed to grab hold on the ice and we began to move picking up speed. The same thing happened to my wife and we drove to the top of the grade where my son and eldest daughter were waiting.
The wind was blowing a regular gale out of the South. I got into the left lane and the wind was so strong that my 18' camper trailer was actually jack-knifing on the ice behind me as we drove down the freeway. But we went on our way to Portland. The only other negative incident was in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. There was fairly heavy snow on the road and my son's car got stuck. Fortunately God sent someone who was kind enough to tow him to the top of the next hill. I have to admit that I was never so happy to get out of those mountains and onto dry pavement.
We finally got into Portland late that night. We had enough money left to rent a motel room on North Interstate Avenue in Portland. The next day was Sunday and we went to church in St. Johns area of Portland. The motel owner was kind enough to let us leave our trailers and two cars at the motel parking lot until Sunday afternoon. We then relocated our trailers in the church parking lot and by the pastor's home, and promptly went to the state of Washington to visit family. When we returned we attended that church for about a year and a half and then relocated to SW Portland to start another church.
Pastoring The Tigard, Oregon Church
We pastored the church in S.W. Portland for a few years then moved it to Tigard, Oregon. We pastored that church for a grand total of about 19 years. During that time about 40 people were baptized in Jesus name, and many of them received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Although that church is no longer in existence some are still in the church today for which I thank the Lord Jesus. In July of 2005 I resigned the church in Tigard. I preached at various churches in the area and served as the Foreign Missions representative for the district. I was asked to serve as interim pastor in Newport, Oregon which I did for about a year in 2006/2007. While there I baptized 5 people in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Other than preaching here or there, and serving as interim pastor, we attended the church we started in S.W. Portland until 2012 when my wife and I moved to Sedona, Arizona with the intent to start another church. By then I was 70 years old.
Another Miracle
We were there for just under five years with little or no success. Then I decided to quit trying, and move either to Oregon where my son as well as my youngest and
eldest daughters were living with their families or to the Missoula, MT. area where my middle daughter was, serving as a pastors wife. Before we left Arizona I was repairing a tow bar and as I searched for a cable I felt
I needed I could not find it. I searched high and low for it and my wife searched for it also. Neither of us could find it, so we assumed it had went with the motor home when we sold it in 2012 or 13. It was then that
the Lord Jesus performed another miracle for us. In repairing the tow bar I had some parts laid out on a chair behind me. My wife had searched for the part then went into the house. I had had my back to her and when I turned
around, there was the missing cable laying on top of the other parts on the chair. I assumed that my wife had found it and laid it there but hadn't told me. I picked up the cable and went into the house to express my appreciation
for her finding the part. She exclaimed that she couldn't find it and had given up and went into the house. The only explanation was that God had sent His angel to put the cable on the chair. This confirmed to me that the
decision to leave Sedona was OK with the Lord.
At Last
My wife and I went to Missoula and left most of our vehicles at my daughter and son-in-law's home and went to Oregon to see if that is where we would settle. We decided for various reasons to settle in the Missoula area. At the age of 75 (my wife was 69) we moved to and settled in Montana where we are presently living. I am now 79 years old and I think that now we are retired from pastoring. I want to give the Lord Jesus all the glory and honor and praise and worship for keeping us through the years. God has been and is good to us.
A Travelogue
M wife and I were talking the other night and the subject of where we have lived came up. When we first married we lived in a rented apartment for a while next to the Western Washington Fair grounds in Puyallup. Then in 1966 or so we bought our first house for, can you believe it, $10,000 dollars. We sold that house for $11,500 in 1967 and moved to Portland to attend Conquerors Bible College. While there we lived in the Bible College compound for a year and then moved to an apartment and finally to a house in the St. Johns area. Then in 1970, after graduation from Bible college, we went to South Dakota to help establish a church in Mitchell, S.D.
There we rented a house then an apartment. We stayed stayed there for less than a year. During that time the pastor was able to purchase a building for, again can you believe it, $3,500 dollars. In 1971 we went back to the west coast and rented a house in Sumner, Washington. As I couldn't find work, we went back to Portland and I went back to work at my old job. At first we rented another apartment. It was there that my third child was born. Then we were able to rent the same house we had rented during Bible College days. In 1973 we went to Yankton, S.D. where our fourth child was born, to start a church. We bought a house and turned it into a church. We had a total of 36 people on Easter Sunday in 1975. I baptized 9 people in Jesus name but none of them stuck. In 1976 we sold the house and moved to Klamath Fall, Oregon where my brother Joe was pastoring. We bought a house and stayed there until January of 1978 when we moved to Aberdeen, S.D.
As you may be able to tell we went to S.D. a total of three times. In the fall of 1978 we left S.D. and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. In December of 1978 we moved back to Portland, Oregon where I went to work for the IRS full time. We bought a house in 1988 and lived there until 2012 when we sold it and moved to Sedona, Arizona ostensibly to start another church. By this time I was 70 years old. We stayed in Sedona for about five years and then in 2017 we moved to the Missoula, Montana area and bought a house in Stevensville, Montana. After two years we sold that house and moved into the house that we are renting from my daughter and son-in-law where we are currently living.
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