15 Years of Clutter

Fifteen years ago, Marge and I moved to our house on 1512 Bank Street, Kalamazoo, MI. What a wretched beat up hulk this place was. Me as the erstwhile home improvement guy learned quickly that I would have to teach myself to do all sorts of things I had never done before. I also quickly discovered that it was going to be no quick nor easy task to fix this place up. It's been a money pit, but we've done some great things.

Our children have spent their entire lives here so far. They love this house. It is their home, and full of memories.

We tried to reach out to neighbors and friends, and show hospitality here. Several times our attic or basement became an extra room while a friend or two got "back on their feet." It was a place of family and to treat friends like family. This was a place to mentor kids and adults.

Sojourn practiced here, and lots of dreaming, planning, and learning music happened here.

Throughout all the years, we've worked to keep uncluttered, and to keep the house.

In less than a week our house goes on the market, and will sell sooner or later. While I'm hoping it sells quickly, it is the end of an era for our family. So, as we clean up what clutter we have, and repair the little things we had been putting off, it's a little tough, because it reminds me that this is the end of our time here.

As much as I hate all the work this place takes. It will be hard to say goodbye to 15 years of family and ministry, and the familiar Bank Street.

Adam

From Cicero to Peoria

At 1pm on Wed I drove to Cicero, Illinois and presented at 58th Avenue Baptist Church. 58th is an old neighborhood church nestled in the midst of Chicago brick houses and apartment buildings. Thirty years ago it was a Czech neighborhood, and pastor Karrow to me to eat down the street at one of the remaining Czech restaurants. No surprise that dinner included gravy and dumplings. It was a great turn-out for a Wednesday night and the people were friendly and enthusiastic.

By 9:30 that evening I was back on the road and home with my family by 1:30 the next morning. It took lots of coffee, but I did fine. I don't bounce back from late night drives quite like I used to, but by Friday I was clicking on all cylinders.

Friday morning I took Marge and Maryellen to school from which they were going on a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. From there they took the Amtrack to visit early with Marge's family. It's also an opportunity for Maryellen to take a trip on a train. She's never been on Amtrack before. Michael and I are driving down today. We'll all be staying with Marge's sister, and presenting in the morning and evening serivces at Calvary Baptist Bible Church, Peoria. Sunday night we will do yet another late night drive to get back to Michigan. At least that's the plan.

After that it looks like we will be off the road for a week or two. That will get us time to finally put our house on the market. December first should be the day it goes up for sale.

Adam

My Trip To Pageland was Providential

My Trip To Pageland was Providential

O.K. goofy play on words. Providence Baptist Church is in Pageland South Carolina.





























It's beautiful here in the land of pages. The landscape is like michigan with lots of open spaces and gently rolling low hills. Some of the leaves have changed color, but other than an overnight chill the daytime temps are in the high 60s and even low70s.

The folks at Providence Baptist are friendly and the worship service was rich and enjoyable. I enjoyed teaching in morning Sunday school and tonight I have the evening service. After church Scott and Angie took me to The Smoke House. I'm told it's world famous. At least the sign says so.





























It was crowded and the food was plentiful. Southern cooking is good.

Adam

Clean and Call

Monday, we spent most of the day cleaning the attic so that we will be ready to move, and so that we can be ready for the roofers. I discovered mildew inside the insulation and panelling that the former owner had put up on the roof line. I think he wanted to make the attic into an extra room. There's even carpet up there. With all of the leaking, it's just a bunch of mold and mildew.

So, not only will there be a new roof going on, but in December, I'll be ripping out all of the old panelling and insulation, tossing it out the window, and getting my own dumpster for all of it.

We talked about having a garage sale, but we buy so many used things, and a garage sale would have to wait until the spring, that we decided to donate to Good Will. As hard as we try not to have clutter, it wasn't hard to fill up the trunk and the back seat of the car with stuff to donate. We are getting rid of all the things we haven't used in 10 years. It might be different if we were moving across town. It's a good opportunity to lighten our load.

Today I spent much of the day talking on the phone with churches. Planning our next speaking engagements and making fresh contacts.

Video hilights below.

Adam

Change is a Constant

Tuesday of last week was my last full day at Pfizer. My job has been cut, and I'm in a sort of limbo. For the next 60 days I don't report to work, but I'm still technically an employee, and they could call me in. It's like being on paid lay-off.

So I'm using the time to make a lot of extra phone calls to churches, get the house ready to sell, and work on things we need for churches (i.e. Sunday school lessons, presentation, etc).

At the end of the 60 days, I'm officially cut from Pfizer, I get a severence Czech, and . . . it all depends on what God has in store. If support raising is going well enough, we'll just keep doing that. I will likely get some kind of part time work though.

Adam

Back In The Slammer

Here is video of day1 (27-Sep-2008) of our road trip.



Sunday we enjoyed leading Sunday school and in the morning service. Community Bible Fellowship is a friendly bunch and healthy growing church.

The church has "recycled" and is currently using a building that used to be part of a lumber company. Pastor Paully's teaching is both encouraging and challenging, and spending time talking him reminded me of that quote from Proverbs, "iron sharpens iron". I'm not sure how much I sharpened him though.

Pastor made it clear that we were stuck with our car and the congregation provided for our meals, The Slammer let us come back for another night(is that good?), and several members of the congregation helped us make arrangements for repairs. They have been an example of hospitality.



It was disapointing to find out that we would have to spend Monday in Aledo as I needed to get back to work. But, this morning we made all the necessary arrangements, and are preparring to go straight from Aledo, IL to Ludington, MI if need be.

God knows what's going on. This is a time to learn to just hang loose and treat it like an adventure.

Adam

Parmenter's Back in the Slammer

We set out on Saturday for an easy 5 hour drive from our house in Kalamazoo, MI to Aledo, IL so that we could be rested and ready to speak about missions Sunday morning (today) at Community Bible Fellowship . Well, about 45 min. outside of Aledo our engine sputtered to a halt and we were stranded on the side of the interstate.

Thankful for cell phones, I called Pastor Paully from CBF and he brought over a trailer onto which we pushed the car. Check my blog in a couple days for video. The plan was to drop us at pastor's house and then Pastor Paully was going to drop the car and trailer at the mechanics. On the way to his home he said, "We've made arrangements to put you up in a hotel here in town. It used to be the local jail, but now it's a bed and breakfast that the locals call The Slammer.

We had a great day today telling the folks at CBF about the Czech and also telling them about missions all over the world. It was an opportunity to encourage individuals to consider a career in full time missionary service.

After church today, we were informed that we needed a new fuel pump, and that it should be installed and ready to go by late afternoon on Monday. Happily, it looks the full costs of the repairs will be covered by the offering that folks at CBF took up this morning. We will be able to pay for the repairs in cash. How God provides. They are also working to provide us with meals.

So after a lunch at Doug's Diner, Michael has run off with Pastor Paully's boys to explore the woods, and Marge, Maryellen, and I are back in the slammer for another night.

Lord willing we will be home sometime Monday night. We'll repack and head for Calvary Baptist in Ludington, MI where we are speaking on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

We wanted to give this quick update so that you can remember to pray for us and . . . well. . . I've never stayed in a bed and breakfast that also once served as a jail.

Adam

This message was sent from Adam Parmenter to adammparmenter.journey2missions@blogger.com. It was sent from: ABWE Czech, 1512 Bank Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49001. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below.

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