April 2010

Heather and I hope you had a great March! It’s always a wonderful season for us in Ireland. After a long, cold and usually wet winter, hope of spring is in the air. All the daffodils are bright yellow trumpets telling of the arrival of the new season. This year we’ve a little extra expectation around the Sanford home. The kids and I planted six hundred bulbs of tulips and daffodils in the garden for Heather’s Christmas present while she was away. She doesn’t know where they are, so every sprout is a surprise… and they’re sprouting everywhere! We wanted to give her a big bouquet of flowers every spring for the rest of her life! We can’t wait till they start to come up so we can pick a bunch to have in the house. These blooms always remind us, too, of the trumpet of the Lord for which we patiently wait. We know that Jesus will return some day “with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God” (1 Thess. 4:16).

As for March and ministry, we always have St. Pat’s, and St. Pat’s is always great! This year was no exception. Plus for the second year in a row, we had a team from Texas to help us out for the big event. And this team was AWESOME. They worked so hard, did everything we asked, and went the second mile for every single assignment. Along with all of the preparations for the parade and float, this team was tremendously helpful on several other very important projects.

First, our church set up a door-to-door survey to find out what people in the surrounding areas thought about religion, God, and what they want in a church. A church member went with each team member to the surrounding neighborhoods. The survey results were fascinating and will help us formulate the future plans we have for targeting the area with certain classes. We then sent them back out to put 5,000 postcards (invitations to the church) through the mailboxes of every house in all the neighborhoods. In addition, they helped us distribute thousands of tracts to the crowds before and during the parade while the rest of the team, and the rest of the church, were in the parade.

As for the parade, we had a FANTASTIC FLOAT!!! Every year for St. Patrick’s Day we choose between creating a church float or a float for our children’s camp. Last year’s float was for the church. This year, since our children’s camp theme was so great, we chose to do a float for our camp. The theme: WILD WEST. The float had a “jail” pulled by a REAL horse. The entire team, dressed as cowboys, line-danced all the way down the route. The music was loud and fun. The dance was so neat, and all the kids were singing along, “…zig zag, ‘cross the floor, shuffle in diagonal…Pop it! Lock it! Polka-Dot-it! Countrify it! Hip-Hop it! Put your hawk in the sky, move side to side, step to the left, stick it and glide!” Each time the wagon stopped, the “baddies” would break out of jail and run through the crowd until the sheriff caught ‘em and stuck ‘em back in the jail. It was terrific! Usually the “powers that be” don’t like anyone to stop in front of the grandstand due to time constraints. However as we were passing, the mayor sent a runner to ask us to stop for them and do our ‘skit.’ Wow, what a privilege! It made me feel so proud knowing our group’s reputation precedes us.

The float was a lot of fun. It was also a blessing to see my beautiful wife in her boots and hat, carrying my baby in her hat, holding my son’s hand (who looked like a real Texan boy, just before his sixth birthday)! Hannah and Abbey, my two bigger girls, looked so cute in their jeans, hat and boots, too! I was a proud dad… and a proud pastor.

Thanks for everything! Love from Ireland,
Kevin and Heather Sanford and Family