Memorial Day

The Walk of Flags in Fergus Falls, MN, a beautiful city tradition.

Today we are remembering those that have gone before us to fight for the freedom of American citizens and others throughout the world. I remember both my grandfathers who served in the U.S. military and all the relatives who have come before us who made this country great by their faith in God and their hard work serving others.

2012 Garden News by Gretchen

2012 GARDEN

 Weeds, Weeds, Weeds! Hoe, Hoe, Hoe!

Radishes, Spinach, Beans, Corn, Lettuce, Dill

Grass clippings can be a great mulch!!!

 This year, we've planted our garden early, due to the great weather! Our garden this year consists of zucchini, lettuce, cucumbers, beets, corn, spinach, radishes and much more. And, our beloved rhubarb! :) We guarantee that we'll have a wonderful harvest!

Mother's Days

Frank Family Mother's Day! Mom, Grandma, my four sisters, and me.

Ministry News by Elysia

Our road to serving God through Training Leaders International is moving forward. Ethan is preparing to serve in Athens, Greece in June 2012. He will be teaching along with a team of other teachers the subject of Biblical Theology to pastors and church leaders congregating in Athens. This short-term trip will be about ten days long.

In order to prepare for these teaching trips, Ethan is currently support raising for his yearly salary and mission trip costs for TLI. So far this spring, Ethan has traveled by car to Idaho (twice), Arizona, and Colorado to meet with friends and relatives sharing the vision God has given us to teach and minister to church leaders around the world.  In fact, today he will be returning from Idaho where he spent a week meeting with friends there to share about our mission work.

Are you interested in joining us in our team of prayer and financial supporters?  If so, please contact Ethan or visit the Training Leaders International support page in order to receive more information about supporting us.  Please let Ethan know if you would like him to meet with you to talk about TLI and our vision for teaching and training Biblical, Christ-centered leaders throughout the world.

Praise and Prayer Requests

1. PRAISE: We are already building a team of supporters who are interested in seeing the Gospel taught and leaders built up to advance the ministry of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
2. PRAISE: Ethan will be joining a team of teachers in June to Athens, Greece!
3. PRAYER NEED: Ethan's studies as he prepares to teach Biblical Theology.
4. PRAYER NEED: Spirit-filled and Gospel-centered teaching that glorifies God and builds up the Church throughout the world.
5. PRAYER NEED: Financial provision and prayer support.
6. PRAYER NEED: A long-term base for the Larsons to work from. Strength and provision for family life. Spiritual growth and fellowship for the Larsons.

"That Your way may be known on earth, 

Your salvation among all nations." Psalm 67:2

The Primary Thing in Marriage

....Christ and the Church

As Christians, we often talk about Christ as the foundation of our marriage. Is this really true about us and our marriages? When I first saw this video, I realized how selfish I am and was saddened.  This couple has taken the gift of the covenant love of Christ and applied it to their marriage. We must look at this covenant relationship with Christ as the point and purpose of marriage, rather than our personal happiness.   I had a talk with a missionary in Chad when I was there in January. She was telling me about this concept and reminded me of the book "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In it he writes,"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." Now, Lord, teach us how to apply this concept and cling to Christ as our source and true foundation in marriage.

To read more about Ian and Larissa, go to the Desiring God blog:
Why We God Married
A Daily Disabled Life

Art and Worship

Last night at our home fellowship, we listened in and watched the 11th session of the Truth Project dealing with the subject of LABOR. When we look at our work from a biblical, God-centered perspective, it brings so much life and creativity to the tasks of six days.  The presenter, Del Tackett, saved an interesting perspective on creative art for the very end of the lesson. In an interview with Makoto Fujimora, this amazing contemporary abstract artist who happens to be a Christian, Mr. Fujimora explained to us the importance of art and of Christians working as artists.
Tonight I found this interview with Mr. Fujimora at patrolmag.com (never heard of this mag before). His intelligence and understanding are very high, so his answers are very deeply thought out and explained, but very abstract (like his artwork).  I particularly resonated with this response to the question:

You speak of “proper worship”—how is the propriety of our worship determined? And, to apply it to art, how is the revelation of something holy evaluated in art?

By “proper worship,” I mean a distinctively Christological way of looking at God, the world and ourselves that is driven by understanding and experiencing God’s grace. I am not merely speaking of liturgical elements, denominations, or traditions. If you follow Tim Keller’s reasoning in Prodigal God, you see that Christ saw the world in grace-filled and extravagantly compassionate ways.

So that means that the enemy of expression is not just waywardness of culture but also legalism of culture, and this often starts at the church. For Christ, we are (and the universe as it pertains to us) the object of affection, his masterpieces. So we need to bring people in to see that we are far more beautiful and transcendent to God as the best of the arts do are to us. But the arts train us, make our hearts and mind more aware, of things excellent and beautiful.

Olana - Matthew Six by Makoto Fujimora

I am inspired. Maybe its time to bring out the brushes again.

Science Success!

With my husband's help, homeschool was finally fun this month! It has been a challenging month for teaching the kids in homeschool, and Ethan stepped in to help the kids with their math and physical science. Thank the Lord!  Peter and Ethan have been spending the last week working on creating a model rocket with a kit that Ethan's Lawn Pro boss gave him.  Ethan bought the extra parts such as the launching kit, the electrical charger, the fire-proof paper and the paint, and has been putting it together during his free time.  The launch today was a smashing success!

 We also were able to complete projects for their School of Choice Open House in April. Gretchen and Ethan worked on creating a demonstration of third-class levers in the form of bicycle gears.  They set up the bike rollers and explained how the low, mid, and high gears worked to provide more power or more distance.

Peter and I worked on a project that used a propeller to send a straw along a horizontal fish line and a balloon to send another straw along the line. This was to demonstrate thrust used in both propeller and jet aircrafts.