Friday, June 19 - Anderson, CA

I apologize for the time that has passed since our last post, but our past few days have been rather eventful. We bid a sad farewell to Twentynine Palms early Monday morning and headed for Magic Mountain, located in Valencia, CA, just north of Los Angeles. We had a safe trip and spent a great day at the theme park there. They had some amazing rides and roller coasters, and we really enjoyed the day, though it was very long. We even got our picture taken with Batman and Aquaman! That evening we spent the night in a hotel not far from Magic Mountain.

We left early Tuesday morning for a very long day of traveling. We spent the first part of our day in Sequoia and King Canyon National Parks, on the Eastern side of California. We were able to see much beautiful scenery and General Sherman, which is the largest tree on earth. On the hike down to see the tree, an elderly couple began a conversation with us. We started talking to them and told them what we were doing out West and about some of our travels. We soon learned that they were visiting as well from Idaho and that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although we did not get an open chance to witness to them, we were able to spend some time talking with them and building a relationship. Their names are Don and Julie Minton. We are praying that we would somehow be able to see them come to Christ, and we plan to send them some things in the mail and continue to build a relationship with them. We would ask all reading this to pray as well for this precious couple – they were very kind and sweet to us, but we know they are without Christ and in need of a Savior.

After Sequoia, we continued north to Yosemite National Park. Traveling through these parks took much time, because all of the roads are nothing but hair pin turns and driving straight up and down mountains. We were very excited when we actually reached 25 mph at one point! It gave us an excellent chance though to behold God’s beautiful creation. We were able to see many beautiful waterfalls in Yosemite, and we even saw two black bears! One was out in an open meadow grazing and was pitch black. The other was a blonde black bear (I know, very strange!) and the rangers told us as far as they know there is only one in the park. We were so grateful to God for allowing us to be there at just the right time to see him as we traveled.

We left Yosemite and headed toward San Francisco, where we planned to spend the night. It was another 3 ½ hour drive, and we were all rather exhausted when we arrived around 11 pm. We were a little concerned to find that the hotel we planned to stay in no longer had vacancies, but the man at the desk was kind enough to find somewhere else for us to stay. God continues to take care of us and provide for our every need this summer. Wednesday morning we were able to sleep in a little bit after the preceding two exhausting days, and we had breakfast and saw some of the sights in San Francisco. Though I would not want to live there, it was a beautiful city. We visited and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, and we got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean! We were also able to spend a few minutes at China Town looking around and drove down Lombard Street. The thing that probably struck me the most about San Francisco were the roads. Many of them seemed to go straight up and down at nearly 70 degree inclines. We would drive across an intersection and the road would just seem to disappear from under us as we crossed over it! We spent a lot of time driving in low gears to get up those hills, but it was all a great experience.

We left San Francisco around 1:30 in the afternoon and finished our trip here to Anderson, CA, where we will be at the Heritage Baptist Church. Pastor Lucatorta and his family greeted us so kindly, and we have been having a wonderful time staying here with them. Upon arrival, we were able to change clothes and unpack, and then we went out to eat with the Lucatortas and headed straight to the Wednesday evening church service. It was a great blessing. Pastor Lucatorta preached a very helpful message out of Jude, and the entire church family greeted us so kindly.

Thursday we had a wonderful breakfast and then spent the morning helping Pastor Lucatorta at the church, mostly putting labels on tracks and preparing baggies to be put on the cars at the fair this week. Their church is right across the street from the fairgrounds, so many people use the church parking lot for overflow parking – it is a great opportunity to get them some information about the church and the plan of salvation! We had a pretty quiet afternoon, able to catch up on some laundry and a few other things, and were invited that evening to the home of the Rocklitz family for dinner. We immediately fell in love with this precious family. They have 8 children at home, and we had the greatest time spending time with them. Mrs. Rochlitz prepared an amazing Mexican meal, and afterwards we taught the entire family to play Mafia, a game which was a big hit with the children. Rebecca and I decided to revert to our childhood days and even managed to jump on the trampoline with all the kids without hurting ourselves!

Friday Mrs. Lucatorta prepared another tasty breakfast and the Lucatortas took us to Burney Falls, which is a little over an hour away from Anderson. It was a beautiful waterfall, even above the ones that we saw in Yosemite. Pastor Lucatorta told us that Teddy Roosevelt said it should have been one of the wonders of the world. We then enjoyed lunch and a time of fellowship with the Lucatortas and returned to Anderson. This evening they had a get together of all the Senior High teenagers and College aged young people at the Lucatorta's house. Mrs. Lucatorta made her famous pizza and we all got to know each other and watched a film entitled “No Turning Back.” It is the story of the Whitmans, who were one of the first missionaries to Oregon back in the 1830’s. Mr. Whitman also later led the first wagon train to make it over the Continental Divide on the Oregon Trail. It was a very powerful story, and we all enjoyed watching it. I won’t spoil it for any who may not have seen it with too many details, but there were few dry eyes by the end of the film!