Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Back From California

Posted by John and Anna Weeks on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Well, Paula and I are back from California, a real whirlwind trip. Thanks for your prayers. We weren’t able to make it up to Portland, Oregon for Jasper’s Memorial service, but we heard from my mom that it went well. Please continue to pray for Jessi and Leif, Jasper’s siblings and his mom Julia.

Paula and I flew into LA and then took a shuttle bus up to Santa Barbara where my sister-in-law Debbi met us and took us the next 1 1/2 hours to San Luis Obispo. We stayed in my mom’s house, but she was up in Portland, but we had a great visit with my brother Matt and his wife Debbi. Matt had Friday off so we all enjoyed time together Friday.

Disc Golf

I even got in some disc golf as there’s a park just a short walk from there.

Paula at Avila Beach

Saturday, Paula and I drove 10 hours up to Eureka my hometown.

John's oldest brother Dan, wife Kim and daughter Kelsey

Paula and John in SF

We ate out Vietnamese food with my oldest brother Dan and his wife Kim and daughter Kelsey. We stayed with them up on the top of Kneeland in the mountains.

Paula at Dan and Kim's farm

On Sunday I was able to speak in the morning service at Grace Baptist Church. It was great reconnecting with many old saints in the church, including Ralph and Virginia Buerer, both about 92 years old! Sunday night we had a big bar-b-que up at Dan’s with many visitors too.

John speaking at Grace Baptist Church in Eureka

On Monday we had lunch with Wes and Jan Wieman. On Tuesday Paula and I drove back down to San Luis Obispo stopping in San Francisco again for about 3 hours eating crepes on Polk Street, going to Lombard’s crookedest street then to Pier 39. We finally got to see my mother Mary that night. The rest of our time in San Luis Obispo was awesome visiting with my mom.

John and mom Mary on her 80th birthday

Paula and Grandma Mary

Paula got to join mom and Debbi at Grace Church’s women’s Bible study and they celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday. On Friday Matt and Debbi and us took my mom to Madonna Inn for her 80th birthday meal. Matt and I also snuck in a motorcycle ride to Lopez Lake.

Matt and John after motorbike ride

Saturday we took the train down to Ventura where we visited and stayed with friends John and Joy Whipple and boys.

Paula Bicycling at Ventura Marina

We went to the beach, seafood lunch at the Ventura Marina and wonderful steak dinner at Joy’s with her folks Pastor Amos and Ernestine joining; Pastor Amos was the pastor at Grace Baptist Church my whole growing up years!

John with Pastor Amos and Ernestine Clemmons

 

Thanks for your prayers. I had a great time with Paula and visiting my mom and so many other friends. Please continue to pray for Jasper’s family that he left behind and for God to work His glory through it all,

In this together,

John

 

Print Friendly

Posted in Family, Ministry, Prayer Request | No Comments »

Quick Trip To California

Posted by John and Anna Weeks on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the long hiatus with no updates! Things are going well here in Missouri at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). We’ve just finished CLA Practicum and Phonetics has already begun, however I’m only going to teach Block 3 as I’m heading out to California. I also was able to just help teach four sessions at a local college, SBU in Bolivar, MO. This was a phonetics and language-learning seminar for Inter-Cultural Studies students heading overseas this summer for their 6-month practicum. But let’s talk about our upcoming trip tomorrow!

That’s right, California! I’m flying out tomorrow, April 19th along with our third child Paula, 16. We plan on visiting my mother in San Luis Obispo and also my brother Matt and his family who live there as well. Then we’ll travel to Eureka, CA where I get the privilege of sharing at our home church Grace Baptist Church on Sunday the 22nd. This should be a nice “kick-off” to the following Sunday’s Missions Conference and we’ll get to share a little about my nephew Josh Weeks and what awaits he and his family as they head for Asia Pacific in November. We’ll linger in Eureka through Monday then Tuesday drive back to San Luis Obispo where we get to visit my mom for three days and celebrate her 80th birthday together! It’s been 3 years since we’ve seen her our other family! My cell phone is 573-836-2225 if any of you want to connect with us somehow!

On a tragic note, we just received word three days ago that my nephew Jasper (my oldest sister Julia’s second child) was just in a fatal off-roading accident. We don’t believe he was saved and his mother Julia, my sister, is not right mentally to start with from years of substance abuse and I’m not sure how she’s taking all of this. Julia has never walked with the Lord since youth and has lived a very troubled life. What makes this “extra” tragic is that Jasper, although he endured a difficult childhood with a mother who wasn’t fit for raising children, had really made something of himself starting his own fencing and landscaping business, selling it, and starting another business. He was a bright kid with a promising future and we had really hoped that he would become a believer. My parents had raised Jasper (Jasper actually lived with his aunt and uncle Dan and Kim just up the hill from my folks) and his older sister Jessi while their mother was in jail for a few years and they poured their lives into these two kids, with Jessi becoming a believer, but Jasper choosing not to. Jasper was 24 years old. My mom’s already flown to Portland, Oregon along with my niece Mary Katherine (currently at NTBI Waukesha) to be with Jasper’s older sister Jessi and younger brother Leif so I won’t see my mom ‘till the end of our trip.

Please be praying for Jasper’s older sister Jessi and younger brother Leif as well as for his mother Julia and father Dean Allison. Pray that God would work through this whole situation for His glory. Please pray also for Paula and I to have quality time together in our travels and for a great time sharing at our home church. Please pray also for Anna and the kids who aren’t traveling as they stay behind in Missouri.

Thanks for all,

In this together,

John

 

Print Friendly

Posted in Family, Prayer Request | No Comments »

…Survived the Season of Sickness…

Posted by John and Anna Weeks on Monday, January 12th, 2009

Sheep near the bungalows where we stayed...

Well, we made it through the “Sick Season” which happened to coincide with Christmas and New Years! Thanks for praying for us as we jumped from Grace’s motorcycle accident and subsequent concussion, to Anna’s Dengue Fever, to John’s Strep Throat all during the busy holiday season!

We still managed to enjoy “stretches” of the Holidays including a “get-away” to Jakarta for 2 days by train (actually relaxing), a Christmas morning breakfast of eggs and strawberry waffles, Mom and the kids... enjoying a couple Christmas packages from home and the presents and pictures inside, and a trip to the beach with friends and playing board games in the evenings.

Please go to our Photo’s page on this website under "Christmas 08" to see more Christmas pics of the family.

To see pictures of our trip to the beach on New Year’s Day, please go to our Photo’s page "For New Year’s 09 to the Beach!"  Anna along with three of our kids left with our friends on New Year’s Eve afternoon and I waited to leave until New Year’s Day because Paula wanted to go to a friend’s New Year’s Eve party, but then Paula decided to stay back home with her pets and friends. Dad and Kurt along the bluff trail... Yes, it was a lonely motorbike ride there, but therapeutic as I always say.

During the Holidays, we continued to welcome and orientate our 6 new missionaries to the field. John also continued to take them on language and culture excursions such as trips to the Post Office, bus station, hospital, auto and motorbike mechanics shops, the market, a seamstress/tailor shop, how to entertain guests and be received as a guest, how to wash clothes, cooking fried rice and a trip to the rice fields. To see more pictures of our excursion to the rice fields, go to our Photo’s page to the folder "Excursion to the Rice Fields." Working the oxen across the terraces...

I am still looking forward to some of my favorite excursions to the coffee plantations and rubber tree plantations! Those are in the next couple of weeks!

Please continue to pray with us concerning our family, especially our two oldest daughters as we look at the best options for their futures. They are having a difficult time over here now and really could use your prayers. We too could use your prayers as we seek the Lord for His wisdom in this and that Anna and I would draw close and be “on the same page,” that is, in God’s will in this. We’ve made some mistakes as earthly parents and over-prioritized ministry over the well-being of our children and really need to draw back and look to the Lord for guidance.

Thanks again for your faithful support of our ministry and for your faithful prayers and interest in what’s happening over here in Indonesia. Please pray too for our safety and well-being as most of the world does not look to kindly on Americans these days, especially with the current conflict in the Middle East.

Looking for our Lord’s soon return,

In this together,

John for Anna Marie, Katie, Grace, Paula and Kurt

Print Friendly

Posted in Family, News Article | No Comments »

Pray For Our Daughter Grace After Motorbike Accident

Posted by John and Anna Weeks on Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Dear Friends,

Please be praying for our second daughter Grace as she recovers from a concussion after a motorbike accident. She was driving the motorbike last night with her older sister Katie on the back. They had left the house wearing helmets, but then took them off while riding on backroads. Born to be wild...They were making a 90-degree turn and hit loose gravel on the pavement and the bike slid out from under them. Katie was not hurt, but Grace was knocked unconscious for a few minutes. Their Indonesian friends rushed them to a local hospital wear the doctors just bandaged her up. When they got home Grace was still bleeding from her head wound and had injured her shoulder and foot which was bloodied too.

Grace kept asking the same questions over and over again like, "Is all my hair gone?" and she was experiencing short-term memory loss. Our other daughter Paula was having a sleepover and Kurt was already in bed so I stayed with the younger kids while Anna drove Katie and Grace an hour away to a bigger city and bigger hospital. The roads were clear and Anna made it in a half-hour! They immediately got Grace into emergency and stitched her head wound and then did a cat-scan. They did not find blood on the brain and after spending the night at the hospital they returned this afternoon.

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day late here on Sunday with some friends and enjoyed turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, casserole, and pies the girls had made. The girls started a pie business a couple weeks ago so have been busy baking and selling pies! They made my favorites pumpkin and pecan pie yesterday before the accident in anticipation of our late Thanksgiving. We can’t get pecans here but had received them in a care package! The turkey we ordered in advance!

Please keep praying for Grace as she recovers and still experiences some nausea and short-term memory loss; it seems to be getting better though. Please pray for a full-recovery.

Print Friendly

Posted in Family, News Article, Prayer Request | No Comments »