Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Pheasant Season Is OPEN!

Saturday was the pheasant opener here in Iowa. It was a beautiful sunny day, the wind was a bit gusty but all in all a great day.

I was stuck in a meeting in Des Moines! Drats!! Stinking meeting!!

At least I'm not bitter about it! I finally got a chance to head out to the field on Monday morning. I rolled in to Forest City about 7: 45 AM and Pastor Farrell was patiently waiting for me. After everyone arrived we headed out to the field.

We found what most hunter found on Saturday, the birds were in the standing corn. We started by walking a large piece of CRP that was all grass and we scored one bird. From there we walked a field of standing corn and at the end of that we took a couple more birds. We walked a drainage ditch and some pits over grown with grass and trees. Another bird.

Time for lunch and not a moment too soon!

Following a "great" lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, chips and a jug of ice water. We walked another drainage ditch that yielded nothing but two hens. I was done & headed for town.

Now the story goes, if you choose to believe it, that just after I left and the remaining hunter took the same drainage South of the road (we had walked it North). That Pastor Farrell jumped three roosters and dropped them with three quick shots! Nailing the very rare "Triple Bagger". (I made that term up) The truth is I did not see therefore it could not have happened!

Seriously, congratulations Pastor Farrell & I'm sorry I missed it!

A great day was had by all. There were 6 hunters in our group and we took a total of 13 ringnecks, not a bad day considering some hunter on Saturday never saw one bird!

Pastor Steve

Monday, October 23, 2006

Youth Rally and Skunks

We attended the first area-wide youth rally in the North Iowa Fellowship on Saturday held at Forest City.

The event began with our Bible quiz time, the passage this month was 1 Timothy chapters 1-3. There were two options available, a written and oral tests. Congratulations to all who participated and studied so very hard.

The speaker for the day was Evangelist Timothy Silcott. He did a fine job with the text of Judges 7, the story of Gideon.

Walking tacos was the food fair along with brownies, toffee bars and other cakes and bars.

The activity for the rally was a trip to the area YMCA. Activities available to the young people were *Basketball *Volleyball *Wallyball *Dodgeball *Swimming *Racquetball *Billiards *Carpetball and just hanging out with your friends. If your not familiar with wallyball, it is a hoot! Basically, it is volleyball in a racquetball court. You are able to play the ball off all walls as well as the ceiling!

After all of the teams played in the wallyball tournament the champs from Iowa Falls took on a team of the sponsors from Clear Lake and some others. Myself & Lynn, Ivan & Brenda Good, Nick & Justin Oliver, Ash Lang, Pastor Steve Hill and another sponsor from Iowa Falls. It was a close contest but the kids from Iowa Falls were victorious 21-17. What a blast!

The last bit on this blog is about the ride home when I smeared a skunk! There were three in the road and I nailed at least one maybe two. There was no way to miss them, I really did not want to run over them but it happens. And now.....My van STINKS!

Pastor Steve

Saturday, October 21, 2006

North Iowa School Bus Accident

North Iowa School Bus Accident Sends One to the Hospital
Pete Hjelmstad
Mason City, IA (KIMT)
Friday, October 20, 2006

A school bus accident sent one to the hospital Friday morning.

Just before eight, a Clear Lake bus with five students on board went off the road, hit a utility pole and then a tree.

Clear Lake Superintendent Mike Wright said the driver, sixty-five year old Sharon McBride, suffered a head injury and was taken to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa.

She was treated and released.

None of the kids on the bus got hurt.

Police say McBride's medical condition may have caused the crash, but wouldn't elaborate on the condition.

The accident remains under investigation.

© 2006-2007 New Vision Television

Friday, October 13, 2006

Cross Country Season is Over

Susan has now completed her freshman year of cross country.

The final meet was yesterday at the Hillside Golf Course just outside Corwith, Iowa. The weather was brutal; 40 some degrees and a North/Northwest wind at a sustained 30 mph! Wind chills had to be in the low 20's or high teens.

15 girls ran in Susan's race and three did not even finish, quitting due to the weather. Susan did very well all things considered and finished with a time of 24:14. The course is laid out over the golf course and covered 2.5 miles.

Her best time this year was at a course on the Forest City Golf Course and she ran a 23:14.

Needless to say we are very proud of her and are already looking forward to Cross Country season 2007!


Pastor Steve

Thursday, October 12, 2006

We Got SNOW!

I awoke this morning to a disturbing sight. Snow! We received about a half inch which accumulated in the grass and on the cars but not on the pavement.

I thought this was a bit early but I guess not seeing that our over night low last night was just 22 degrees.

To make matters worse my Mom & Dad just flew out to spend the weekend with my brother in FLORIDA!

Where are my long-johns?

Pastor Steve

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

FaithFest @ FBBC&TS

Last Saturday FaithFest was held on the campus of Faith Baptist Bible College & Theological Seminary. I wanted to call it a state wide youth rally but that would not be entirely truthful ... there were young people from all over the mid-west.

Our group rolled out of the Clear Lake/Mason City city area at about 6:45 AM, for those who were actually awake there was a beautiful sunrise. We arrived in Ankeny and got through registration just in time for the first rally with Evangelist Ken Sparks. Wow, what a great speaker/preacher! Excellent Bible messages and very funny stories. Evangelist Sparks spoke 3 times and I thought he did a great job every time!

The activities for the day included the use of many inflatables in which the kids competed against one another for best times. Prizes were awarded at the last rally of the day. What was really cool was the fact that there were over 1100 young people at the event. There was quite a few teens that made decisions to receive Jesus as personal Savior! That is what it's all about!


Special thanks to the sponsors: FBBC&TS, Fit 4 Life, and IRBC. A very special thank to Dan Versteeg for all his help! Thanks to the Faith Baptist Church at Mason City for asking us to ride along with them. Great Idea!

It was a great day and everyone seemed to have a great time!

That's The Way I See It,
Pastor Steve

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Youth Deer Season 2006 Conclusion

Susan and I got out one last time on Friday morning. The weather was better, not near as cool as the days before.

We arrived a bit later than we normally do so getting to the stand was top priority before we totally disturbed the entire woods. Slipping as quietly as possible we got into the stand, settled back and waited for the sun to rise.

We were not in the stand 10 minutes when I realized that there was a deer just ten yards away in an open spot, but the darkness seemed so thick! I asked Susan if she could see the sights on her gun and she said "no". So we simply had to watch the deer slip off into the shadows.

Later in the morning we saw two bucks that once again offered no decent shots and then we spotted a doe and fawn headed right for us, we both saw them coming and we were ready! And then it happened ... the doe jumped and began to snort and blow! Then we saw that an orange cat was walking in the area right where the doe was and she was NOT a cat person!

You guessed it, doe and fawn long gone! Daughter now very hungry and ready to head in for breakfast. Because of her schedule Susan was not able to get out again and so her second youth deer season comes to an end without her harvesting her first deer.

Susan has already said that she can't wait until next year!

Pastor Steve
(For the record I'm not a cat guy!)