The Fair

For some reason I really like to talk about food from the State Fair. I went with some friends last Friday while Tim did some silly futbol thingy. And boy did I have some yummy food. First I have to say that the way to enjoy the MN State Fair is to resign yourself to spending a lot of $ and eating a lot of food that is really, REALLY bad for you. Once you get over that, which can be especially difficult for the ladies, then you will have a blast. And I did! I started off the evening with some mini-doughnuts and then moved on to some Dole whip. Marlyes got a pretzel and that was tasty too. At that point we were joined by 10 others friends and the food fun really began. We got a blooming onion, french fries, cheese curds and deep fried pickles. Later came the chocolate milk, cotton candy, lefsa, chocolate covered frozen bananas and more mini-doughnuts. Obviously I wasn't able to try everything, a stomach can only permanently hold so much, but I will say that the deep fried pickles were nothing short of amazing. I definately recommend them. Perhaps you can only eat one though. Tim and I are going on Saturday and I am looking forward to garlic fries and perhaps a deep fried candy bar. Afterall, the Fair only comes once a year!

The Weekend in Review

Friday night:
Heidi and I did different things. I went to my annual Fantasy Football draft with the 8 Christian Guys league. This league has been in place for a long time and the drafts are always enjoyable. This year was no exception. We actually had two drafts and I think I did okay in the first and better in the second. Right before the draft, I lost to Brian in disc golf by one stroke at the White Bear course. Heidi went to the MN State Fair with people from church. She had a good time. Our church has some quality people.

Saturday:
It was a long day for both of us. Heidi was at work from 5 am to 1:30 pm. Right after she left for work, I went for a 20 mile run with Eric. Candace rode along with us carrying our supplies, which was a huge blessing to us. The day was beautiful with temps in the low 60’s. The run went well, but we were happy when it was over. Candace continued to bless us by whipping up some scrambled eggs, which tasted amazing. Then Eric and I left with Robbie and Michael to play some disc golf. We met up with Chris, Dan, and a friend of his at Kaposia Park. As usual, the course kicked our tails. Dan did well, Robbie and I did better than last time, but the others did not fare so well. We then proceeded on to North Valley Park for round 2. Dan and his friend needed to leave early and we struggled trying to find each hole as we went through the course. At the end, Chris came on strong, Robbie did well, Eric didn’t finish the last few holes as he searched for his lost disc in the water, and Michael and I fell apart. My legs were so tired from running that I had trouble with my drives. Heidi and I ended up getting home within a few minutes of each other and heading out again for a cookout for our friend, Yvonne. We got to enjoy some good food, some interesting people, and a beautiful day. After that we pretty much just came home and flopped right into bed. I have not been that tired in a long time.

Sunday:
We enjoyed a typical solid service at Bethel Christian Fellowship. Pastor Harrison filled in for Pastor Jim and preached with zeal. Heidi had to work in the afternoon and I mostly hung out there reading and drinking coffee. It was nice for me to not need to be anywhere. After our run to Super Target, we ended our evening with a little TV. It was a good weekend.

update letter

Most of you received this letter by mail, or will shortly, but for those of you who read our blog and didn't, here's an update letter we just sent out:


Greetings Friends and Family!

We pray that your summer has been a great time of connecting with loved ones and enjoying God’s creation. We just wanted to send out a little update to catch you up on how we’re doing with the process of going out as missionaries with Mission: Moving Mountains (MMM).

As most of you know, we were accepted to go to West Africa as full-time missionaries with MMM (www.movingmountains.org). Since then we’ve plunged into an intensive schedule of training and preparation; in addition to daily life of course! Tim is still working at the National Marrow Donor Program and Heidi at Starbucks Coffee.

So far our training and preparation has included lots of reading and study guides (everything from marriage to agriculture!), participating in a rigorous mentorship program called Sonship, sponsored by World Harvest Mission, meeting regularly with MMM staff and with our spiritual mentors.

Next month we will make the trek out to Colorado Springs for a seminar on support raising that’s being taught by The Navigators. We will be out there from September 16th -30th and would love to see those of you who live in the area! It is our goal to be in the full swing of raising support by October/November. Once we enter into that phase, we hope to be able to leave for Africa within the year – very exciting!! There is a lot that needs to be done before that, but we are filled with great anticipation.

We are still getting plugged into our church, Bethel Christian Fellowship (www.bcfnations.org), where we’ve been attending for the past year. Tim leads a monthly missions/prayer event for the young people and Heidi is involved with the prayer/counseling ministry. Recently, we took on a new leadership role working with the young adults and we are very excited about the possibilities of this and look forward to ministering together as a team.

We want to encourage you to check out our web-log at www.chaseus.blogspot.com for updates on how we’re doing, pictures, prayer requests, and to see and where we’re at in this process of preparation. We covet your prayers and want to reciprocate, so please let us know how we can be praying for you!

Please pray:
o That we would be diligent in this process of training and preparation
o For continued faith for Heidi’s full physical recovery
o Our focus would be entirely on God as we prepare to shift our lives overseas



As a further update on my physical health, this past week has been pretty hard and I'm in a lot of pain. Though the headaches persist I am persevering and looking forward with great anticipation to a complete healing. God is able! We still greatly desire your prayers and intercession and really appreciate those of you are praying.

Frontenac Nights: the Adventures of Heidi and Tim

Heidi and I made a pleasant discovery this past weekend. We like the little river town of Redwing, MN and Frontenac State Park is a great place for camping. Redwing, where Redwing shoes are made, sits in the Mississippi River Valley surrounded by trees, rolling hills, and bluffs over the river. The town has a cool little main street with shops and restaurants and a large city park on a point in the river. There is also the Cannon Valley Trail, a former railroad right of way that has been converted into an asphalt biking/walking trail. Heidi and I rode it for a while on Saturday and had a great time. (Chris Heng and I once stumbled upon that trail during a mountain biking adventure a few years ago. It was fun to ride more of it.) After our ride, we headed east of Redwing about 10 miles to Frontenac State Park. Our camping site was really nice with tree cover and bathrooms close by. There were miles of trails for hiking and we took one down the bluff to the river. It was beautiful. There were also some incredible overlooks a short walk from our campsite. We give Frontenac State Park two thumbs up. At the end of our adventure we did a little shopping and Heidi scored a sweet ring at an antique store. It was a great trip.

Gretchen taught everyone a new hobby

the slackline

Some pictures from our camping trip.

Some of the guys. Looking good fellas!
Nice job kids, just keep on paddling. These people were NOT from our group.

Some "seasoned" canoeists.

Noonie! The trip mascot, aka Nudie or my personal fave, Butchy.
Hanging out by the fire pit.

A weekend at the Wilderness

Our weekend at the Wilderness Fellowship with friends from church was great. The weather was fantastic, the surroundings were beautiful, and the people were a blast. Some of my (Tim) personal highlights included the intense Bocce Ball game that ended in the woods, going running while Nick rode along on my bike, sitting by the fire and disclosing information about ourselves, swimming and diving off the old pontoon, and Sunday morning worship by the lake. While Matt, Nick, and I were swimming, we reverted back to being 12 year old boys by jumping over each other into the water, pushing each other off the pontoon, and doing Cannonballs. It was cool to see a group of people that did not really know each other come together in God’s creation. I felt like I had made a connection with everyone there and now can count them among my friends.

The people that came were Heidi and I, Matt and Sierra Hegstrom, Michael and Emily Sparling, Gretchen Chamberlain, Angela (Gretchen’s friend), Nick Culp (who just moved to MN and attended BCF once), Matthew Carlquist, Tiffany, and Marlyse. What a fun group of people.

Heidi and I are excited to take a more active role with the young adults at our church. We will have a kick-off after church on September 10. Tell your friends! The group is for both married and single people in their 20s and 30s.

Random thoughts from Tim

 The last 2 times I have played disc golf have been the worst rounds I have played in years. On Tuesday, Eric Unger and I played Kaposia Park and I hit every tree I possibly could and missed most of my putts. At least I found a disc on one of my many trips into the woods and it throws really nice. Somehow I have to get my game back.
 I am excited for the camping trip with the young adult group from church. There is a great group of people coming and I know we are going to have fun.
 My marathon training has been going fairly well. The unusually hot temperatures have been messing up my runs. Last weekend I started a 13 mile run at 5 am and it was already 86 degrees. I do not run well in heat and my training is suffering a little, but I am confident that I’ll be ready on October 1.
 We have not blogged about Africa prep in a while, but it is coming along just fine. There is so much to do and we are feeling a little overwhelmed, but we know that it will be worth it once we are there. Kim and Paul McVety have been fantastic in helping us with the process.
 I love Heidi.