OCTOBER 2009 An interesting thing happened to me a while back when I opened our email. As always,I started by separating the wheat from the tares, you know, toss the junk mail, & take a quick peak at all the letters to determine which ones to address now, later, and think about it. On this day there wuz one lettah for the "think about it file". Just so you know, the "think about it file" is the in box, and I keep them there so that I think about them every time I open the email ! Usually that jus means I think about it for a couple of seconds while I remember what it wuz about, but this one wuz differant. I actually opened it & reread it several times ovah the next few days. I jus couldn't figure it out, but there wuz something strangely differant about it. Part of me wanted to jus ignore it & toss it, but I couldn't, I kept being drawn to it. It said he saw our "commitment to the Gospel of Christ" while checking out our site, and that he too wuz a musician. My 1st impression wuz that he wuz just someone looking for something, cuz he was asking if we could help by 'Including us in some of your tours, Assisting us to release a world class project, Come over to South Africa and be a blessing'. So, as you can see, his use of English wuz a bit poor, unlike my own you know, but it jus seemed to have an earnestness to it that I couldn't get past. You've all probably received those letters, that we've been taught to be suspicious of from someone we don't know because of all the scams out there. I'm not afforded that luxury with the groups email because we receive so much email every day from people we don't know, and I have to chance that it's not harmful cause I nevah know how important it could be! I really give our anti virus and anti spam & all that stuff a workout cause I have no choice. Anyways, as I wuz saying, there wuz sumthin differant about this one. It wuz supposedly from a Pastah from... South Africa, but he did include a church web site, so I checked it out and it looked legit, so I did the right thing and wrote back a nice polite Christian reply being sure to inform them that we were jus a "small" group and us guys even held regular jobs to support our families jus in case! The next day I received a very enthusiastic and warm reply, so I asked him to explain how he came across our site and why he invited us to come to his church without knowing us. Why would a Pastah from South Africa be check'n out our web site and then actually writing to the Campbells? This is where it get's interesting, you see in other parts of the world they believe a little differently than we do, we learned that from our friends the Pillai's from India. The Campbell Family claims to be a faith based Ministry, but we are mere amateurs next to these people, they shame us! They pretty much don't believe in coincidence, either, but that God lines up everything for a reason, so he believes God directed him to our web site, period! Hows that you ask? Oh, I'm so glad you asked. He wuz out of town preach'n at anutha church and while on a walk he saw a poster for "The Campbells" and wuz interested enough to do a web search for them and didn't find them, but came right to our site! Now I don't know if you've evah done a web search for The Campbells, but you nevah come right to our site cuz there's more Campbells this & that out theyah on tha web than you can shake a stick at! Anyways, Pastor Petrus Mamuhohi of Limpopo Province, South Africa checked out our site and when he saw we were Gospel singers n that we had been to India, he "knew" that God had directed him to our site... simple as that! Funny thing is, bout the same time he wuz check'n us out, Cindy & I were talking to a friend about her Missions trip to Africa and we thought it would be a neat experience like India, but we nevah really seriously thought on it cause we fully expect to return to India on another missions trip soon, so how could we possibly fit in another nation too? On top of that, he expects us there for Easter! Six months to raise thousands of dollars in this economy! So here we are, asking for your help, your prayers first of all, and if you feel so led, your help in finances too! All we know at this point is that we know that we can't even begin to finance this trip on our own, but we do believe that if God wants us to go to South Africa, he will supply the means. This is one example of where our faith pales compared to that of our new friend in South Africa. We believe God will supply if he wants us to go, he believes God will supply, because he does want us to go! Interesting difference huh? Hey, while your praying, please pray for our good friend Pastah Bill Havens & his wife Pam from Pittsfield Ma. His cancer has returned and he is undergoing some pretty intense treatment, and he will surely appreciate you holding him up to the Lord! Until the next time, God bless, Bill SEPTEMBER 2009 I usually send out this lettah with-in a few days of Homecoming, you know, after I've caught up on my sleep a little but still on a cloud. This year howevah, events forced me to put this lettah on hold while Cindy & I enjoyed a family vacation at camp near Moosehead Lake! That's right, out in the middle of the woods, no powah, no cable TV, no internet, no phone... God's country! We had to sit around the campfire n jus talk n relax, eat, ride 4 wheelers, eat, go boat'n,eat, go canoeing, eat, go Moose cruise'n, hey, did I mention eat? Ohh mahn, Smores are still so great on a chilly evening by the camp fire, not only that, but I discovered that the ever versatile Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is even bettah in a Smore than a Hershey bar. I don't know why I nevah thought ah that befoah, I guess I mustah thought it wuz against the rules or sumthin! There wuz a couple ah poor ignorant nefarious characters, non family membahs I might add, trying to insinuate that a Kit Kat bar was even bettah, but I wasn't buying nun ah that theyah! I've been a Reese's fan for way too many years to be drawn in by that one! Anyways, God really blessed our vacation n we had a great time n gut our batteries recharged! Scott went camping, hiking & fishing somewheres in the White Mountains. I suspect he thinks himself a modern day Grizzly Adams, except he has no beard, wears little boy pants and smells better! Anna Banana pretty much stayed home & played grandma, Nopie... well, we nevah really know with her, she just finds someone to hang with, usually on Beal's Island! Leo had Laser Surgery done on his eyes to fix some floaters in his vision & is doing well, all except for not being able to see anything unless the lights are on full bright! Anyways, another Homecoming has come & gone, and our sincere "Thank you" to all of you that joined us, and I trust you found it a trip worth making, and will join us again next year. Wouldn't it be great to have to find a bigger Auditorium to hold all us crazy Christians praising the Lord? Eight more souls are on their way to Heaven too! It jus nevah ceases to amaze me that unsaved people actually buy a ticket to a Christian concert & end up getting saved... ain't God great? We always pray before a service n ask the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of the unsaved and prepare them to receive the message of Salvation, so that being said, it probably shouldn't strike me as odd that the Holy Spirit could also prompt the unsaved to fork over some hard earned cash as part of the preparation of their heart to receive salvation should it? We've received many good reports on all the groups, especially on Mike Upright, Covenant Sons, and of course our Granddaughters! Per usual, our beloved & lifelong family friend Pastah Barry Dutton performed the duties of MC brilliantly with his use of humor, grace, & prose. How about the good eats, like the pizza & that cheesecake? Once again, we thank all of the folks that support us by working during the concert the rest of you were able to enjoy. This event wouldn't be possible without their sacrifice & support and they need to know that we do in fact know that and we appreciate it. DENNIS & LINDA JOHNSON head up this small army of volunteers, and we were astounded to realize that so many people are involved with keeping things going smoothly, and here they are with their area of operation: SUE POWERS- Auditorium & School Staff, AUSTIN, KARMA & KENDRA BAILEY –Lobby & Auditorium, KEN & SANDY ELLIS-Sunset Greenhouse-Decorating Stage & Cafeteria, , PHIL & PHYLLIS FOLLENSBY-Front Entry, JESSICA & TIM EDWARDS-Stage, TERRI & STEVE GOGAN- Stage & Kitchen, RENA FAYE GREGORY & AILEEN CHASE-Prayer, ect, LARRY, KATHLEEN & KATE HILLMAN, Hillman Bakery- Kitchen, LAURA, ABBY & EMMA KING, CAROL LEHTOLA –Help Everywhere, MARLENE MYERS-Stage & Kitchen, JEN REED- Electronics, BOB SEASTEAD – Equipment, NORM, LISA, & TABBY SMITH-Clock, lobby, ect, BEV TAYLOR-Stage & Kitchen, SANDY THOMPSON –Stage, Front, & Kitchen, GRAYSON & JOAN WHALEN-Front, LIL WHEELER-Kitchen.TOM & BETSY LADD'S, the TV setup that wuz a real blessing to all those that served in or visited the cafeteria. That's all for now folks, until next time, God bless, Bill Because of Grace, JUNE 2009 Thank God summah is finally heah, well, mostly that is! While the New year has seen our schedule at it's lowest pace in years, all kinds of things have been happening with us. Cindy and our daughter in-law Dawn have taken over the booking, and I've gotta say, they make a good tag team! I don't think any Pastah will be safe from their feminin charms, cause they make it awful hard to say "NO" to a lady! Cindy's making most of the calls while showing Dawn the ropes,and Dawn's a real quick study! Do you remember Mason? He played piano with us for a spell, and is pictured on the cover of our "Journey Home" project. Anyways, we had quite a talk, and it seems he's come to the realization that he's not as happy playing in the world as he was playing Southern Gospel with us! Something to do with God, and conviction & all, so he's been doing a lot of thinking & praying & he's gonna give us another whirl! He need's your prayers too folks, this is not an easy decision, as this life impacts every part of your life including all your personal relationships. Not only that, but we're a family group, and he has to fit us! Surely you can't expect us to change for an outsider, friend or not! What about Scott you say? Oh don't you worry about him, as I've been saying right along, "He ain't right", and he fit us like a glove right from day one! The Bus! Nope we don't have it back yet, but progress continues. The interrior was completed by a sweet, caring Pastor & his church members in Georgia over a year ago. Then we prayed & waited for the finances to make several mechanical repairs and install some air conditioning before bringing it home. The money for the repairs was donated by a great Christian friend in March, and we took the bus to a great shop in South Caroliner... there it sits! The repairs are complete, but the air conditioning dealership burned down! They are now rebuilding and we hope to get the air conditioning installed in time for the unveiling late this summer. Some more great christian friends in Downeast Maine have asked if they can paint it for us when we get it back! Ain't God good! God has literally given us that bus! From the original purchase by another great Christian friend here in Maine, the generator, the interrior, the repairs, and now even paint, incredible! And oh yeah, it now has a name! Pearl, as in the Pearly gates! Cause that's what it'll feel like every time we go through the door! Hey, what does summer heat remind you of... airconditioning maybe? Like say maybe in the Messalonski Performing Arts Center? That's right, believe it or not, we're entering the countdown for the 14th Annual Campbell Homecoming on Friday August 21st! Tickets are now available for the same price as last year, just $18.00 each. If you sell 20 of em you get two free tickets, a great gift for a Pastor & wife! You can get them at one of our concerts or by calling Naomi at 207-577-3484. Naomi will make every effort to answer your call, but if she doesn't, please don't hesitate to leave your name & number and she'll call you back as soon as she can. Perchance you're a little courious as to why you might want to join us this year, I mean besides the good food, fellowship & fun, lookie here! All you ladies that were with us last year will likely be pleased to know that our good friend Mike Upright is joining us again this year. For those of you that may not know Mike, he's one of the most requested Country Gospel singers out there. This country crooner from North Caroliner is also known as The Southern Gentleman, and we'll vouch for that! Do you like a men's Quartet? Join us and check out The Proclaimers Quartet of Georgia... at least that's where their mail goes! They too have quite a following, and they really know how to get it done! We're sure you'll see their love of God shining through their music as you enjoy their sound, that's why we envited them to join us! Are you more into Homegrown? We've got that covered too! We met this next group several years ago and the first time we heard them sing, we encouraged them to hit the road, and they did! The Hyssongs will be joining us this year for the 1st time in quite a spell, and we know you'll enjoy their music, humor and testimony! Have you ever seen 3 Pastors from differant denominations love each other and sing and praise the Lord together? If not, you will here, if you have, you know you're gonna enjoy Heavens Blend! Do you like uptempo music and power singing with the enthusiasm and energy of the champion high school football team? Then you'll love Elzadia! She's kindly agreed to join us again this year. She's a nut & loves the Lord dearly, if you don't know her, you surely will! Yes, of course we have a surprise or two lined up for you too! You can visit all these groups from the Homecoming page on our web site if you like. The plan is to open the Lobby & cafeteria at 5:30, open the Theater at 6:00, and start the show at 6:30. Some more good news is that our friend Tom from New Hampshire believes he's made the neccesary arrangements to allow him to be with us again this year to supply live TV to the cafeteria again! Ain't that great? You can get something to eat when you want without worrying about missing part of the show! Is transportation a problem? We have friends in a Pittsfield Ma church making arrangements for a tour bus at an estimated cost of $50.00 per seat including the Homecoming tickets! If anyones interrested, we'll supply more info as it becomes available. Want to spend the night in Maine? Check out our Homecoming page on our website. Three Hotels are offering discounts for ten or more rooms. If you make your reservation with one of them just email your reservation to me, and I'll track them to keep the hotels honest! God bless, Bill APRIL 2009 I’ve been a couple of weeks now think’n it’s about time to start another newsletter and then, well, I find something else to do, aww come on now, don’t tell me you’ve nevah done that! Procrastination is great ain’t it, unless of course you’re waiting on the procrastinator? It’s not like there’s a lack of things to do! This is a little bit like writing a term report with no real due date, and no flunking grade for not getting around to it! What’s the incentive, where’s the motivation? I honestly don’t know, but every once in a while this wisecracking mood just seems to overcome my otherwise upright & stoic exterior and I jus start two fingah poking at the keyboard. It’s just when I pause to think that it hurts! Thank God the snow is becoming a memory, but the mud is in full bloom, more rain is coming, but yet the woods are dry and we’re in danger of forest fire! I got my first mosquito bite, the grass is turning green, my chain saw won’t start for the first time in ten years, and I haven’t found my lawnmower yet! Ain’t God great? We’ve had so many blessings the last few weeks. Even in the midst of our concern over so many open dates and the budget crunch it’s created for the group, God has blessed. We had a wonderful trip south and made some new friends and renewed old friendships. We spent a day or two in the 85 degree pool in Florida and two days at Busch Gardens just relaxing and having fun. We dropped the bus off at the garage to get the repairs it’s needed for so long. That’s been scary, but what a comfort to know that God had it all taken care of through the generous gift of a friend of the group. Think your last car repair was steep? Check this out, a little over $3000 to get the radiator recored and the frame it sets into replaced, just under $3000 to get the rear airbags replaced. The South Carolina mechanics were astounded at the rust they had to deal with, never seen it before, so now they have a better idea what winter road salt does to steel! That’s the major repairs done and now we wait on the windshield defroster repair for about $1000, and hopefully the installation of the roof air before the funds runs out. Then all we gottah do is come up with money for the fuel to get Pearl home! That’s right Pearl, you know, like in the Pearly Gates, because we think it’ll be a little bit like Heaven on earth when we get aboard Pearl for that next trip! We went to our own church for Easter for the first time in a dog’s age. Cindy & I sang with Julie, our Pastah’s wife and Pastah Dave preached on the cross and two decisions were made to accept Christ as Savior, WHEW! We had the whole clan ovah for Easter dinner and had some great pig with all the fixins & fellowship to boot! Leo ate me undah the table again, he makes me so jealous! All I could do was lust & belch while I watched him smile & chew… sickening! We had a wonderful time at the Southern Gospel Music Fest at Hermon Baptist, the first sing of the year here in Maine! Thank you to Wes and the rest of the gang there for all the effort involved, as well as all the other singers that made it so much fun… and two more souls on their way to Heaven! As I’ve been tell’n ya, God is good! Hey, check out our web site for the new schedule with map feature, I think you’ll like it, we also have a new link to Gospel Gigs, it lets you put in your Zip code to see who’s singing in your area. Until the next time, God bless, Bill FEBRUARY 2009 Thank God, the days are growing noticably longah, and winahh is gonna turn to warm & muddy I mean Sunnyl! I don't think I'd do very well in Alaska, the cold is one thing, but I'd never survive those long dark nights up there. It feels so great to have the sun rising now on the way to work and actually have an hour or so of daylight left to dig snow or chop ice aftah get n' home! I start to feel so good this time of year, energy level is rising, looking forward to the coming day, not just surviving another episode of shivering! It just seems so wrong to bring the P/A equipment into a church and watch the frost come out of it and the condensation run off it as it warms up to room temperature. Undoubtedly the good Lord watches over us, cause dispite this kind of treatment, we get years out of it before we have to replace it. Typical of most years, our schedule is always light in Jan and Feb because people are recovering from overspending on Christmas, heating their homes and on top of that, some of the dates we do get are canceled for snow.This yeah howevah like most of you, the economy is also contributing to our financial woes and the pressure is on. Dispite that, or perhaps because of it, I jus gottah give you a praise report! This is good stuff right heah! We've been promised all the funds needed to finish the bus repairs! That's right theyah! A very dear long time friend of the group has given a very generous donation to the group to make all the needed repairs! Ain't God good? We're gonna be down in the Land o Sunshine in another couple of weeks for some dates, and we'll be able to get the repairs done and hopefully bring it home with us. Can I get a witness? The gift was given with the request that no indication of where it came from be made. We can do that, even though we do like brag n' on our friends! I'd like to share the reasoning behind the gift with you if I may, it went something like this." I can't sing, and I can't speak, and I know I can't. Someone once told me that some people's service to the Lord is to make money and to support other ministries that serve the Lord, and I can make money to help your ministry that others can come to know Christ as Savior". Ain't that neat? There was something in there about baseball & a homerun too, but then again, I usually do well just to remember where I'm at! We're all in the Lords service together folks,maybe in differant ways, but together, we have to help each other serve. Someone sent me a little story I hadn't heard in a while, and it kinda fits heah. A Godly man asked God to show him what Heaven & Hell were like. God agreed and first showed him Hell. All the people were sitting around a table full of food. They were all skinny, and crying and screaming and covered with food. They all had utensiles attached to their hands, but they were longer than their arms and no matah how hard they tried, they jus couldn't feed themselves. Then God showed him Heaven. The man then became confused, because the people heah were all sitting around a table full of food, and they too, all had utensiles attached to their hands that was longer than their arms were so they couldn't feed themselves heah either. Something was differant though, none were skinny, and they were all neat n' clean, and laughing and talking. The man couldn't understand the differance, because they had the same table and utensiles as the people in Hell, so he asked God. Ahh said God, that's because the people in Hell were trying to feed themselves, the people in Heaven were feeding each other. That's what we have to do heah too folks. We all have differant strengths and talents, and we need to help the other use those talents to the service of our Lord. Hey, hope to see you soon, God bless, Bill JANUARY 2009 Undoubtedly, there’s some protocol someplace that dictates I should probably start this by telling you I’m sorry for being so long since our last update, but… nuff said! Haaaa! Really though, I must confess to just being completely exhausted by my & the groups schedule through the Holidays, n’ I just lacked the mental energy to compose one of these wonders of wit, or the lack thereof, depending on your point of view! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as did we, and that you were able to share the real reason for the season with somebody. Oh man, so many blessings have come our way since I last wrote. By Gods mercy& grace, he continues to use us, and we’ve been allowed to see many, many souls come to Christ during our concerts, & hey, I saw my 1st miracle in ages on December 2nd. Leo & I picked up the bus from Pastah Ray & his helpers in Georgia, n’ when we stepped aboard n’ Leo saw what was done to the interior, he was speechless… the good kind, mind ya, n’ then he had to go & get all weepy eyed! You gottah see it to believe it though, bee-u-tee-ful, a home to be proud of when friends come to visit for sure! All solid Oak! I’m not sure you can really appreciate it though unless you’d seen the before. Our sincerest thanks to Pastah Ray & his gang, and the good Lord too of course! So much time & thought went into this effort that it’s humbling, a gift of love for sure, and all as unto the Lord! By the by, two of the men that spent countless hours on this rebuild are dealing with cancer, and we would appreciate your prayers for them, no names though, just God's servants in Georgia! Did you know you’re s’posed to hold your right hand ovah your heart when you say Georgia? Yaah, it’s true, I just learned that a while back from a nice ole fellah that explained it all out to me. Anyways, then we drove to our friend’s home in Eden NC, where the girls were staying and I saw my 2nd miracle when they all stepped aboard! Cindy, Anna, Naomi, Joni, Toni, n’ Rita, all woman mind ya, and even Jerry all standing there with their mouths hanging open & no sound at all! Well, for about 10 seconds, then chaos & lots of rejoicing by all! We decided against bringing the bus home to winter in Maine and left it with our friends in Eden for some repairs where people are used to working on buses. Please pray for our finances to meet these expenses as we need 6 new airbags in the rear, heater/defroster repairs, radiator repair, and 2 new air conditioning units in the roof. Then, praise the Lord, we should be all set for thousands of miles! We didn’t have a camera with us, so we’re waiting on our friends to send us some pics (hint hint) so we can post them on our web site for you. Anna was blessed with two more grandchildren during this time, Connor Allen, 9lbs 8oz, was born to her son Chris Savage& his wife Sarah on 12/04, and Aliyah Grace 9lbs 11oz, was born to her daughter Mindy & husband Josh Morris on 11/27. That puts Anna ahead of Cindy & me 6 to 5, but we’re pretty sure our grandchildren are much more beautiful! I’ve asked Cindy & Anna to pick out some of their favorite pics of their grandbabies for the web site too, so you can see for yourselves. Jus please don’t tell cuz we hate to see all Anna sad! Oh yeah, we’re putting together another trip south in the first two weeks of March, so if you’re somewhere between Maine & Florida n’ can use us during that time, please let us know cuz we still have some open dates! Actually, we need your help with our schedule right now period! As with most of the Southern Gospel groups (and probly you too), the economy is having its effects on us, not just with traveling, but because churches are tightening their belts too, so if you’re in or know of a church that can use us, please have them give us a yell. We’ve got some good friends in East Long Meadow Ma, one of whom we call Mama Faye, she’s the one that joins up with us once in a while n’ does American Sign Language to some of our songs. Now she is some anointed in this ministry, n’ I don’t mind tell’n ya that she can bring tears to your eyes, especially when we sing “I bowed on my knees & cried Holy”! Anointed you say? Uhuh, she spoke at a public benefit for the deaf the other day to 500 people, and when she wuz done, ovah 150 of them raised their hands for salvation! Praise the Lord, ain’t that sumthin? Imagine… ovah 25% of the audience! Can I get an AMEN? Why don’t we see that in our churches? Where’s the hunger? Where’s the fire? Where’s the LOVE & concern? I don’t know about you, but we get pretty tickled when one soul raises their hand for salvation at one of our concerts, but man, 150, that blows my mind! So anyways, she wuz tell’n us about one of the things that happened to her when she wuz riding with her son the Paramedic in Boston, & I’ll try to make a long story short, but it seems they were set’n at a stop light in one of the hilly sections of Boston and could see a coffin on one of those roller carts behind a hearse & the men were opening the back door to load it in. Anyways, sumthin went wrong & the coffin started rolling away from them. Well a couple of the guys saw it at the same time & tripped ovah each othah trying to stop it, so Mama Faye being the fine Christian lady she is told her son he had to do sumthin. So he jumped out of the truck & started run’n aftah it and just as he caught up to it she saw him reach into his pocket & haul out a bag of Halls, and was shocked to see him open the top of the coffin & toss the bag of Halls in, but you know what? Its true, Halls stop coffin dead! Haaaa! Ya yaa, I know, Booooo! Hey, we look forward to serving our Lord and Savior with you in 2009, God bless, Bill OCTOBER 2008 The Good Lord has seen fit to take another New England Gospel Singer home. Ken Fernald, of Portsmouth New Hampshire, "New England’s own Gospel Singer" went home to be with the Lord on Friday October 10th at the age of 59. His passing will create a large void in the Gospel Music Ministry in New England, and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him. For more information, you can go to his website, www.kenfernaldministries.org. We would like to ask you to pray for some of our friends. My buddy Pastor Bill Havens of Pittsfield MA, who has been undergoing Chemo for several months now for Melanoma, has just mystified his doctor by growing a cancerous tumor under his arm, which isn't supposed to happen during treatment, so they are stopping all further treatment until tests can be done on November 4th. We also have a long time family friend, Angel Haywood, who will soon begin treatment for an internal abdominal cancer. Please continue to pray for Makayla Hyssong, the infant daughter of Richard and Kelly of the Hyssong Family Singers who has been diagnosed with tumors around her heart and brain. Testing continues in the search for a treatment. In other news, remember our own "Miss Maine Wild Blueberry Queen" Mel, Melissa Sterns? She's about to become Mrs. Eric Dove, that’s right, she's get'n hitched to Eric of the North Carolina Dove Brothers Quartet! I asked her if we were still her favorite Gospel group, but she hasn't got back to me on that yet! I also reminded her of what happened to Sonya aftah she married Matt Browder... she started talking real funny, can't hardly understand her anymore! Praise the Lord, the Frith name lives on! Campbell William Frith was born to Dawn & Bill Jr. at 1:30 in the aftahnoon on 08-28-08, 7.8 lbs, & 18.25 inches of screaming manhood, and a real lady killah too if I do say so myself! Leo was bout bust’n at tha seams ovah what he considers to be such a manly first name! Mannn, it seems everywhere I’ve turned the last 30 plus years, it’s been Campbell this, & Campbell that, now its nevah gonna end, but I guess I’ll get ovah it! Cindy survived her surgery and still has all her fingahs, and the biopsy came back negative for cancer, so God is good! Now she’ll have to toss out all the missing fingah cooking stories she had planned for the grandkids! For her recovery, which also coincided with our 30th anniversary, I surprised her with a trip to one of our favorite places, Beal’s Island ME. We have a bunch of wonderful friends up theyah that have known us seems forevah! Pam & Jeff made us stay in a cute little bungalow ovah look’n tha harbah, then they forced us to eat lobstah till we couldn’t eat anymore! I hafta admit defeat heah though, as this is where Cindy-Lou takes aftah her mutha… get between her and her Lobstah, n’ you’ll be pull’n back a bloody stump! Anyways, when you considah I’m more than twice her size, she handily defeated me, cause even though I ate 7 lobstahs, she ate 5! Then we went on a scenic tour of tha coast in Jeff’s Lobstah boat, and Jeff & Joe let me play at being half a stern man for a couple of hours. They got some good chuckles watch’n me try to band lobstahs, most of which seemed pretty unconcerned about tha process, but once in a while one would take exception & put up a good fight. Its kindah cute, them claws wave’n in tha air, but all of a sudden you realize it may not be all fun & games, and that one of those claws is called tha crushah for a reason! Hey, hope to see you soon. God bless, Bill AUGUST 2008 Praise the Lord! Once again our HOMECOMING was a success as Jesus Christ was lifted up, and three more souls are going to spend eternity in Heaven! Ain’t God good? Thank you to all who attended and joined us in worship of the Lord in music, fun & laughter! Rather you know it or not, you all had a part in those three souls coming to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! We had a couple little wrinkles, but we learned a couple more things to make next years HOMECOMING an even more pleasant event for all who attend. Our biggest challenge has always been the right time & method of opening the doors to the lobby and then the Theater; we think you’ll like our ideas next year! We always have all the groups join together and pray before we start, but it was especially encouraging to see individual groups praying in the back before they went on the stage this year. While we always seek quality sound in those we invite to HOMECOMING, we try very hard to only invite those we believe will seek 1st to honor God in their program, and we feel the Lord has allowed us to do that so far. We were so pleased with the presentation of all who stepped on the stage, but most pleasantly, and despite their small stature, it would seem Cindy’s and my Granddaughters were arguably the favorites! What did you think of that stage? Wasn’t that just the best yet? If you have a church that would put that backdrop to good use, let us know. How about the grub? It had three of my favorite qualities, good taste, huge quantities and CHEAP! We truly thank God for all our worker/helpers; this event would not be possible without their contribution. They consider it as service unto the Lord, and most of them spend hours and days preparing their part for nothing more than a thank you. More than that, most of them see no more than 10 or 15 minutes of the program. By the way Tom from Whitefield NH, they sorely missed your live TV this year, & they promise to feed you real good next year if you’ll come back! Soooo, grab ya calendar right now while ya thinking of it and fill in Friday August 21st 2009 for the Campbell Family’s 14th annual HOMECOMING. Same time, same place, and remember, it’s always the 3rd Friday in August! Won’t you please plan on joining us? Hey, please pray about our bus, as we’re in a bit of a pickle. We were praying for a large enough crowd at our Homecoming to help us meet the expenses to get it back, but… oh well! Anyways, we need about $4000.00 to get it back home. Pastor R. and his gang are doing a job and a half on it, and they are not charging us for their time, but we need to reimburse them their out of pocket for materials. We also need some brake work done on it to safely drive it home. If you can help in prayer and or financially, please know that it will be greatly appreciated. They just sent us some pictures of the changes taking place on it, and I gottah tell ya, it’s impressive! We hope to have them posted on our web site in the next couple of days, so please check it out and see how God is blessing when you get a chance. Please pray for Cindy too, as she has a growth on her finger which the Surgeon plans to remove on September 8th. Please pray that it is not cancerous so they won’t have to take the finger too. It would make for a good cooking story for the great grandchildren in the future I suppose, but she’d have to find a new place for her wedding band, and she’d also have a tough time holding onto her hankie when she sings! God bless, Bill
JULY 2008 Praise the Lord! We’ve had some answered prayer! Leo’s Great Granddaughter Nadalie Sleeper, 22 months, has suffered from frequent infections for several months, and was thought to have cancer. The prayer chain was thrown into action and the tests came back negative! She has been healthy ever since! We now request your prayers for another baby. Our good friends The Hyssongs, who also travel from Maine singing Southern Gospel, have just received some bad news. They ask for your prayers for Richard and Kelly’s baby girl Makayla, who was born July 19th, and has been diagnosed with some heart trouble. As always, thank you for your continued prayers! We were jut teased with an e-mail containing some cell phone pictures of an empty bus shell! Ours! Stripped! Nuth’n but wires n’ insulation hanging down! It makes us real excited for what the future holds, as we sure miss our home away from home! The secretive Pastor R and his gang sound pretty tickled with themselves if I do say so myself! I sent them to our website guy Mark, but he just laughed, said somethin about hoping the bus would look better than the pictures! Actually, he said he needed better quality pics for the site, man, I sure hope someone in that church owns a camera! Quick! The price of gas has fallen a whole 15 or 20 cents in the last couple of weeks and what are ya gonna do with all that freed up cash you wundahh? You’re bored and wish there was something different going on that didn’t cost an arm and a leg! Have I got a deal for you! HOMECOMING! That’s right, the countdown has begun, not much more’n a couple a weeks to go now! As always, we have some special and unique surprises for you, but you can only see and hear them if you’re there! You can even throw on the feed bag with us without going broke! You can spend the whole evening with us for about the same money as a fancy restaurant! Tickets are just $18:00 each, and you can buy them now with your credit card and a phone call to Naomi at 207-577-3484. You can also send a check of the correct amount to our address below. Don’t worry about it being too late to mail them back to you; we’ll just have your name on them at the door if you like! We’ve been asked about our list of accommodations and any hotel discounts. We couldn’t arrange for any discounts as we have no idea how many folks might want rooms, but we can try for next year if people let us know they’re interested. Neither can we vouch for any of the hotels in the area as we’ve never needed to use them. We will vouch for the More to Life Campground http://www.moretolifecampground.com/ . We’ve heard rumor they’re all booked up with their regular sites, but willing to make room if u will work with them. Mark & Lynn are precious people that love the Lord, along with a bunch of crazy summah residents, and I’m sure you won’t regret your stay with them! Hey, look’n forward to seeing you there! God bless, Bill JUNE 2008 I’m sure you’re all aware of the losses the Southern Gospel world has seen lately, perhaps one of the latest and most popular being Dottie Rambo. What I’m not so sure of is how many of you are aware we have just lost another great one. Maybe she wasn’t as nationally recognized, but a great one just the same, especially here in New England and Maine in particular. Diane Muise went home to be with The Lord on Monday, June 9th. She will be greatly missed by many, in particular, her husband Leo, her children, and many close friends. I will not go into further details here, but for more information, you can check out these two sites. http://www.sunjournal.com/story/269720-3/Obituaries/Diane_L_Muise/ http://www.dianemuise.com/ It’s been a couple of weeks now since we returned home from a wonderful trip south where God greatly blessed us with souls, fellowship with some dear old friends, and the pleasure of meeting and making new friends. Cindy-Lou and I were blessed by the birth of our 1st grandson, Justin Adam Thayer, 6 lbs, 13-1/2 ozs and 19 inches on Sunday morning May 18th at 6:04am, and we got to listen to it all on cell phone speaker beginning at 2:00am! We spent 3 days with Pastor Bill and his gang of enthusiastic helpers at the Indian Creek Sing in Carnesville Georgia. They even let me hinder, I mean help a little bit in the cook shack. Good thing just a little, or I’d hafta poke a couple more holes in my belt! I think I let the Indian Creek gang down a little bit this year though … I was so busy visiting folks that I never got around to pulling any pranks on the other groups, but there’s always next year! We had to leave our bus in Georgia to get some work done that it’s needed for a spell! Well, maybe we didn’t hafta, but this Preacha man twisted our arms behind our backs real hard and said he and his church wanted to finish the interior for us! Ya hah, and we didn’t even hardly whine about it! Cool huh? Pastah R called us a couple of days ago to say they had it gutted out and would take pictures of the whole project for us! I’m not gonna tell you who or where it’s being done yet as I’ve not asked permission to tell. Besides, we don’t want anyone else lining up their buses there for conversion until ours is finished! We’ll post pictures on our website as they become available. How’d we get home you ask? Have you evah watched all them clowns pour out of the Volkswagen at the circus? Yah, same same! At least the clown part, but that van sure did feel like a Volkswagen by the time we got home! We have some rather warped though good friends from Mass. who actually looked forward to fetching us and thought the trip to be an adventure! Our sincere thanks to Darlene Norm, Lisa & Tabby! We’ve been busy since we’ve been home too, why just this past weekend, we sang in Maine Friday and Saturday, then drove all night to Mass and slept in the van for 3 hours before waking up to friends bringing us breakfast from a Nationally known fast food restaurant… that’s when the fun began. About a half hour later Leo and I were having cramps, a little while later, Leo took his 1st trip to the bathroom and we knew something was wrong! The Pastah took us out to Din’ahh and Leo and I couldn’t eat! Imagine! We went to our evening service and were praising the Lord to find the bathrooms quickly! Some plop plop, fizz fizz, ohh what a relief it is (for those of you under 45, that’s Alka-Seltzer) and we made it, until the ride home that is! I don’t believe I’ve evah gone so far down the road with my head hanging out the window like an old hound dog making such horrifying guttural sounds in my life, thank God my ears ain’t any big-ah than they are! While most of this loving compassionate group seemed to find this somewhat humorous, Leo was a little concerned for the paint job! Hey, the Browders are coming to town this month, maybe yours, check out their schedule for Maine and the rest of New England at this link: http://www.thebrowders.com/ Anyways, HOMECOMING is just 8 weeks away, Aug 15th, it doesn’t seem possible does it? As always, we’ve got a couple of new surprises up our sleeves for you! If you’ve evah thought about ordering tickets and joining us, do it now. Don’t hesitate, do it on impulse, NOW, do it NOW! Then save your gas money! You can check our website for some potential places to stay the night if you need to. To order tickets by credit card, you can call our ticket line at 207-577-3484. We’re doing the ticket phone ourselves this year, n’ as you know, we don’t have an office staff, (unless you count Leo & Naomi) n’ we’re gone a lot, so if no one answers, please leave a number and a good time to return your call. You can send Checks to the address below for the number of tickets needed. If you can’t join us, please pray that God will be magnified and have his way and souls will be saved. God bless, and hope to see you there, Bill MAY 2008 This may not be a news flash to some of you, but I’ve been dealing with some pretty severe Brain cramps here lately. Yah yah yah, but worse than usual! That’s why I haven’t written in such a spell. Maybe it was the wintah hum drum blues, I dunno, but I think its ovah. The sun is up when I get out of bed to go to work now, and it’s still shining when I get home from work. Praise The Lord! Not only that, but I can actually whittle away on the HoneyDO list before it gets dark! The snow is gone now and the green stuff is starting to poke its head up through the mud. I only got stuck twice on the 1st mowing! Yup, we’re full into mud season, so summahs coming! Hey, ain’t God Great! He’s been bless’n our socks off with souls the last few weeks! I don’t understand why he uses us, it’s AMAZING, 27 souls the other night, that’s right 27… inah crowd of about a hundred! Whew, don’t that just blow yoah mind! If I wasn’t a Baptist, I might be tempted to do a little jig! The fields are white for harvest folks, time to get to it! Hey, speak’n of getting to it, did you know the Campbell’s 12th annual Homecoming is just around the corner already? Well sortah, you see, a friend told us what year they were last with us, and little bit of the modern math led us to an astounding fact. It seems when we wuz doing our old fashioned math sometime back when, we musta got mixed up when we took our socks off to get past the ten count! Well, we are from Maine you know, and yes, it is in fact part of the United States! So anyways, next year we may be celebrating our 14th annual Homecoming instead of the 13th! Anybody out there superstitious? We have tickets available now at $18:00 each. We advise you to buy your tickets now. That way, you’ll have your money invested and feel compelled to be there! It’ll also give you time to save up gas money, you see, the human psyche is a funny thing, if you put it off until you have all the money saved, you’ll miss it. You have to have a vested interest! We’re asking folks to make a special effort and buy tickets for unsaved loved ones this year. Every year we see souls come to Christ at our Homecoming! That’s why this year we’re calling it The Campbell’s Homecoming Camp meeting style! Feel free to bring your straw hat! We have quite a lineup for you! Hot dogs, burgers, nachos… Oh yeahh the Groups! Speak’n of Straw hats, how about our dear friends The Browders? That’s right; Sonya will be celebrating her Homecoming to Maine with us again this year. The Browders have had three songs in the top 50 this past year! You like singing cowboys? How about Mike Upright from North Carolina? He’s one of the most requested Country singers out there. You like a men’s Quartet? Fourfold is coming back to Maine! The owner, Greg Powers, has been a great friend of ours for years, and we’ve patiently waited for him to get a solid Quartet together that we would be proud to put in front of you. We think he has, & you’ll love em! Of course, we’ll also have some of our old friends back with us like Alan Frink, Elzadia Parsons, and Heaven’s Blend. Who else you ask? Only The Good Lord knows for sure, cause we can’t keep track of who Leo has talked too and he can’t remember! Now it’s just a mattah of squeezing them all into the hour schedule and giving them each enough time to do their thing. Good Friends, Good Music, Good Food, and our special guest… The Good Lord! Please join us; you’ll have a time to remember! The Messalonski Performing Arts Center in Oakland Maine, Friday, August 15th, 6:45 to 12:00 p.m. Be There! God Bless, Bill FEBRUARY 2008 Well, here I am jus luv’n the cold n’ snow while tha othah poor membahs of the group are in the SUNNY SOUTH! Jus don’t seem right! Did I evah tell ya how much I hate the cold? Cindy calls me a couple of times a day to tell me how nice it is n’ how much she wishes I wuz there with her, n’ I can heah the chuckles in tha background! Jus plain mean spirited I think. I hope they really enjoy it cuz I’ve a feel’n they’ll pay for it when they get back… plenny of wintah left heah yet! She knows when I haven’t paid enough attention to her before I go to bed too. She requires a certain amount of luv’n, before being tucked under her blankets for tha night don’t cha know! She WILL prove her disdain to me if I neglect that requirement too. Jus as soon as I open the bed room door I know. If she’s at the door wagging her tail, I dun good. If not, she’s on the couch on TOP of her blankets with a “take that!” look in her eyes! I can go to bed at 3:00 Sunday night & get up to a 5:00 Monday morning surprise! Other than that, she can wait 10-12 hours! It’s a hard call sometimes, pay attention to Lucy and sleep a little less, or sleep a little more and clean up a mess! Stupid Beagle! She knows how bad I want her to come when I call her too. Her standard position is nose to the ground and tail in the air, thinks she’s a huntah. Doesn’t mattah if there’s a foot of fresh snow on the ground, she’ll jus make like a snow plow! She can be 10 feet away when I call her and the tail will jus wag fastah! Doesn’t mattah how loud I yell either, but when I start growl’n and my eyes throw fire, she knows it’s time. A little bit like being married don’t cha think? Well… and heah’s the scary part, I got to thinking about that relationship tha othah day. I think maybe that dog looks at me a little bit like a god… Stupid Beagle! You think maybe the Good Lord has kinda tha same relationship with us? Are we as good at being God’s best friend as the dog is at being Man’s best friend? How long did it take you to happily greet the Lord after the last time He scolded you? What kind of mess do you leave for Him when you feel He hasn’t treated you right? How long do you make Him call your name before you pay heed? Are you envious of the things that God has giv’n others? Ouch! Owe! Oohie, oohie! God Bless, In HIS Service, Bill JANUARY 2008 Well folks, anuthuh ye-ahh has come & gone! I don’t know bout you, but I’m still try’n to member to write 08 instead of 07! Most of you know that Scott Brunt of the Brunt Family Singers of New Hampshire is now sing’n bass with us, but what you probly don’t know is that Mel is no longer with us! I think she decided we were just a little too nuts for her! We’re gonna miss the Madame Blueberry, and we wish her well in her future endeavors! Anyways, here’s a little “Goodbye” from Mel:
We’ve really been blessed of the Lord so far this wintah… and he blessed us with 14 more inches yesterday! Soooo, we’re feel’n “Called of God” to head south for a few weeks! Not that we’re Snow birds or anythin, but it’s jus that we understand that’s where the reasonable people are this time of ye-ahh! Hey, by the by, Cindy-Lou & I have our 1st Grandson in the Oven courtesy of our baby girl & her husband! Bout time! I’m still trying to coach my son in how it’s done, but his wife keeps popping out girls! That’s bout it on the news front, so I will close in a little story: My introduction to the “The Miserable Old goat” was a door opening to quite an adventure. My new boss led us like lambs to the slaughter to meet him! Asked who he wanted for a partner he colorfully bellowed out “Give me the tall one”! He could cuss like a parrot! A day without shocking several people was a drag to the Old Goat. I soon figured out he was gonna make noise whether I liked it or not, so I thought I may as well join in the fun! We soon became quite a notorious team! And I used to be so shy! We would screech at each uthah until the room emptied, and we could use every one else’s equipment to get the job done, the Boss loved it. Remember the two old men in the balcony on the Muppet Show? That was us! After a few earnest talks with the Old Goat, I confessed I was a Christian which didn’t settle real well with him as like soooo many people, he had been hurt by a Christian. I still remember the look on his face one day when after a particularly colorful outburst, I said “Can you say three words in a row without taking my Lords name in vain?” The look on his face! You see, he once called himself a Christian too. He came to one of our concerts and the next day at work I became known as the Choirboy! Every Monday started with “Well Choirboy, did you go to the Mountain top this weekend?” I couldn’t help myself… his twinkling eyes, beautiful platinum white hair and moustache; I replied “You should know you miserable Old Moses Look alike!” Hah! It’s been about 12 years now, the Choirboy and The Old Goat are no longer partners, but we still bellow our greetings to each other! He knows I’m a Christian, and I’m not perfect, but I’m real, and I try my best. I think he even trusts me, and I believe that one day, The Old Goat will know who to talk to when things are bad, and hopefully he can be restored in The Lord. What’s the moral of this story? I dunno… who are you? Do you really know? Are there three or four of you? The person in private, with family, saved friends, unsaved friends, co-workers? Who do they see? Who does your Lord see? Make you proud does it? Ohh Dear Lord, help me to be true in my walk with you! God Bless, Bill DECEMBER 2007 MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours! As we enter this most Blessed season of the year when we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, believe it or not, I had a thought! Has it evah struck you as interesting that as the days grow shortah, and the nights grow longah and coldah, that this is when we lift up the Light of the World for all to see? At least heah in the frozen north, you Suthners will have to use your magination on the longer, colder (not cooler) night’s part! At the same time the talking heads will soon be telling us of the sad things people do because of the pressures of the “Holiday season” while they continue to eradicate the Hope of the World from public mention. What are you doing that others can see that little light shine through you? This is the perfect time for us Christians to let folks know that we know the reason for the season! The kind smile, the opened door, the shoveled path, the scraped windshield, (again, you suthners may have to use a little magination heah, maybe substitute share an umbrella or clean a dirty windshield) the extra big tip for the waitress along with the tract, instead of the standard “Good steward” (i.e.: Cheapskate) Christian tip, or worse yet, the “best tip of her life” by leaving just a tract and no cash, maybe even a free gallon of gas to the stranded motorist! How about that warm and heartfelt MERRY CHRISTMAS at every opportunity! How bout that extra effort to invite someone to a special Church Christmas service? Remember, lots of people will go to church twice a year… if they’re invited! Despite my desire to send a completely upbeat Christmas newsletter, I have a burden at this point to bring before you some matters of prayer. Please pray for our troops and their families, especially those with the burden of being apart for Christmas. Please pray for us as a group as there has been a little trouble, and we will all be going to jail this Thursday… but thankfully only for the afternoon! Praise God! They need the Gospel there too you know, and we’ve been asked to share it! We also request your prayers concerning Cindy’s Asthma; she’s really been struggling for about 3 months now. Nopy had to take her to the Emergency Room in New Hampshire Sunday afternoon while Leo, Scott & I set sound. She was turning colors and had a heart rate of 137… that’s faster than when she’s really mad at me! She pitched enough of a fit that the doctors showed wisdom and let her out after 3 hours! The Pastor and crowd were most understanding, as we started the concert 40 minutes late and still we saw 5 decisions! Ain’t God great? Our final and most personal prayer request is for our very dear friend; Pastor Bill Havens of Pittsfield Mass. He just had surgery Monday for Malignant Melanoma. It has spread and further tests are under way to determine the extent and treatment. Pastor Bill and I have been good buds for years now and manage to find a little bit of trouble whenever we are together. His wife Pam and Cindy get anxious whenever we are alone together out of their site and influence! Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, and strength, courage and peace for Bill and his family. While you’re at it, pray for a big miracle! God is still in the miracle making business you know! I believe Bill’s family can have one in time for Christmas! What about you? Meantime, The Lord has really been blessing us with souls at our Christmas concerts with 11 decisions to accept Jesus Christ as Lord this weekend! We look forward to the remainder of the Christmas season and it’s Harvest! We will be having a few days off between Christmas and New Years Eve when we will hit it again! Although we will miss presenting the Gospel in song and seeing souls saved, we are excited about sharing this time with our family. It is our hope that you will pause to remember HIM, and the blessings HE has bestowed upon you. That you will take the time to draw closer to HIM. That you will reach out in Love to your family and friends. That you will forgive and forget. That you will humble yourself before HIM, for HE alone is worthy! We truly, truly, wish ya’ll a Merry Christmas! God Bless! Bill OCTOBER 2007 News Flash! Campbell family sinks to new low! That’s right, you heard it here 1st! ... Any ways, we just concluded some wonderful meetings at 1st Baptist in Webster Ma. The Lord moved, souls were saved, hearts were changed and spirits renewed! We started the Sunday pm service with the introduction of our newest member! Scott Brunt of the Brunt family singers of New Hampshire! For those of you that don’t know him, he’s a low down… ahh, BASE SINGER! Uh huh, we’re now a quartet! Well, kinda. You know how we are; we get bored easy so we mix things up a bit. Now we have an extra voice to throw in the mix for a total of six. The saddest thing though is that Leo and I can’t even pretend to be a base anymore! We’ve had the privilege of work’n with the Brunt’s many times over the years, and shared many great laughs and times of fellowship. We look forward to that continued relationship as this move was made only after all members prayed, and came to the same conclusion… Scott fits us like a glove… he’s nuttier then a fruit cake! In hind site, some of the more proper members of the Campbell family have expressed some concern that Scott & I might not be a safe combination! Imagine! Something about manners… or the lack thereof, and a warped sense of humah! Scott will travel with us as his work schedule allows. The Brunt family will slow down so Gary (Scott’s dad and Brunt Family Tenor) can enjoy his retirement more, and Alan Frink will do more solo dates. I’m a little concerned though that Gary keeps giggling when he sees us now, and Alan keeps muttering something about a twofer (the price of one) deal! Don’t be surprised to see them all get off the bus with us sometime! On a more serious note, the bus has transmission issues and we lust aftuh your prayers for two reasons. (1) The problem up heah in Maine is get’n somethin like that worked on! Our mechanic is willing to look & learn, but at the same time he don’t feel real good bout experiment’n on our dollah! We’ll see what happens! Soooo, (2) meantime, we head to New York this weekend, & then areas south (WV & NC) in a minivan pull’n a trailah, and it’ll take more time and money to look for & stop at hotels and restaurants then we are used too! The mixed blessing is that I don’t have enough vacation left to go along! Leo will probly considah that somewhat of a vacation himself! He may be whistle’n a lot more’n usual as he won’t have to feed me or worry bout who I might catch off gard with my warped sense of humah! On tha uthah hand, I won’t be theyah to help set up & tayahh down. If any of you live neah one of our dates and can be around bout 3 hours early to lend him a hand it would be muchly appreciated! It’s been so long since I’ve missed a trip with tha group that it’s gonna feel real weird! Besides that, I’m gonna hafta eat my own cook’n! Hey, God Bless! Catch ya heah, or in tha ayah! In HIS service, Bill APRIL 2007 Surprise surprise! Actually, I started to write several times, but things have just kindah been up in the air with us and I didn’t know what direction to take. Not that we gave any thought to quitting, we were just having a time picking up the pieces. During Christmas vacation we came to realize that losing Leo Jr. hit us much harder than we realized it would, and decided we needed to take some time to get our family healed. Of course we all new we would have to deal with his loss on a personal level, but really couldn’t comprehend it’s full impact on Ma & Pa, and the group. Despite his not being an active member of the group, his moral support was integral and there was always the hope that a miracle would allow him to sing with us again one day. For years, we were always kind of pleasantly surprised to find him still with us at each new day, but it was still a shock when in the twinkle of an eye he was gone. So here we are, one more reason to look forward to HEAVEN! We WILL sing with him again! We are going through some more changes, hopefully the last for a long time! Jenn has left us. Yes sir. No more rainbow red hair for this group! Ha ha! Sorry Jenn! Hey, do you remember Melissa Stearns? She filled in for a couple of years when Cindy was out with throat problems. She’s the one with long dark hair. The poor dear has been accused of being part of the family so many times I’m concerned for her mental well being! Yup, Mel is rejoining us! She’s been waiting in the wings for a long time, and was always just a call away waiting to help out. One of the hardest things to deal with during this time has been canceling our Mission trip to India. Knowing that we disappointed so many friends there is heartbreaking. Knowing that we missed out on a blessing ourselves from the presence of our Lord in a way that so few Americans are privileged to witness just leaves a big empty hole. We can only wait and look forward to the next opportunity. We did sing this past Saturday for the 1st time in a spell, and God blessed us with 3 decisions to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior! So. We’re back at it and hope to see you soon. In HIS service, Bill
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