Thursday, July 16

This day started very early and I was on the road by 5:30 in order to get to Yakima by 9:00. The road construction was not an issue early in the morning and is was much cooler too. You will see two mountain pics here. The first one is Mt. Adams and the second is Mt. Rainier from the east side which I have not see often.  In Yakima I met with Shane DelVecchio, Sr. Pastor, and Helen Teske, Worship Leader. They also have a 19 year old youth pastor. In fact, this whole staff does not fit the traditional mold of church leadership as Shane has a background that can only make you smile when you hear it.  Talk about a specimen of grace! But grace and mercy and love and acceptance is what you will find at the Connections Church, which is currently renting space from a Vineyard Church that you can see pictured. I would say that probably their main focus is on activities for and ministry to and through their youth. One neat thing they do is facilitate a service of blessing for youth by their parents when they turn 16. They will soon have such a service with five SDA youth and eleven non SDA families participating. Can you say, "AMEN"? This is another church that is on the move in positive ways. Connections branched off from the 35th Avenue Church in Yakima a few years ago. A good friend of mine, Harry Sharley, is the Sr. Pastor there.  We ran into a scheduling conflict and so I will have to visit with him over the phone and include that at a later date as they, with more traditional offerings, are also a strong and effective church family. The last three pics show some Indian drawings from the Ginko Petrified Forest near Vantage (we always stopped here on vacations when I was a young boy), a panorama shot of Dry Falls, and a pic of Coulee Dam, which was a lot more spectacular when I was younger. I guess a lot of things were more spectacular when I was younger, including me!  Next post will show pics of the ride over the North Cascades Pass.