The Wonderful Weekend in Herrick

Family and Friends,

As promised we wanted to take a moment and share about our wonderful, late-July adventure to Herrick, SD, where we were the guests at a Festival-of-Tables fundraiser to benefit our personal missionary support.  This adventure is really about the amazing people we met, who blessed us in so many ways.  We can't say enough about how God is working in and through these people.  They asked us to visit and inspire them, but we were the ones who left inspired.

Most people in the world don't even know about missions or the work missionaries do.  Then there is another large group of people who are aware, but choose not to support missions or get involved.  Next comes the faithful few who support missions in some way, whether through giving funds, going on a trip, or following the adventures of some missionary family and lifting them up in prayer.  But then there is a very tiny percentage of people, like the ones we met in Herrick, who grab ahold of their gifts and talents and throw themselves fully into the work of supporting missions and missionaries.
 
Meet Robyn Waterbury.  She and her husband Bob have six kids, farm a couple thousand acres or so, provide leadership in their church, and own and operate a beautiful and comfortable hunting lodge, where we stayed during our visit.  Robyn has been to Haiti to serve at the Mission Haiti property and share her creative talents.  She has also been busy writing children's books (printed in English and Creole) specifically for the use of our orphanage and schools and is expanding to incorporate the talents of the local High School students in Haiti.  If that wasn't enough, she was the mastermind behind this whole fundraising idea, and she personally hosted us and cooked for us during our stay.  And get this...she did it all without ever having met us before! 

The Hunting Lodge (wheelchair accessible!)

Inside the lodge

Relaxing! (Robyn in background)

Hangin' with the locals at "Bernie's Inn"

We arrived on Thursday night to get settled in, and the fundraiser was scheduled for Friday.  Friday morning Robyn took us down to "Bernie's Inn" in Herrick to meet some local friends and experience the quaint atmosphere of everyone's favorite hangout.  I'm sure Robyn would laugh at our choosing the word "quaint."  She might describe Bernie's as overly homey, somewhat dillapidated, or even honest-to-goodness rundown and full of clutter.  It was part grocery store, coffee shop, liquor store, apartment (the owners sleep there to prevent theft), and antique dealer.  I kept thinking the guys from the History Channel show "Pickers" might show up at any moment.  But we had a good time and a lot of laughs, and everyone welcomed us and made us feel at home.

Friday afternoon we headed over to a nearby town, Burke, to set up for the fundraiser.  This is how a Festival-of-tables fundraiser works...The organizer recruits a dozen or so other people to decorate a table with some specific theme.  Then each of those table leaders is expected to recruit seven people to join them for the evening.  Everyone buys a ticket to come, enjoys a nice meal and a speaker, and the funds benefit a certain cause, in this case Mission Haiti and us. 

Another key person who contributed a great deal of time and leadership was Donette Lyon.  She and Robyn worked together to coordinate the event, and well over a hundred people attended that night!  What a blessing for us to look out and see all those faces of people who were formerly strangers, but who share our passion to impact the people of Haiti with the love of God.  How humbling and how energizing!  Also, special thanks to Pam Plasier (Mission Haiti Director), Nelson Vandehoek (Mission Haiti board member), and Pam's son and two nephews for driving the few hours, spending the weekend, and helping so much with the event.  Nelson whipped the kitchen staff into shape and kept everyone running with plates of food, drinks, and amazing desserts.

I (Cory) was honored to deliver the message that night and share a little bit about what God is doing in Haiti, what we feel He plans to do in the future, and how people can be involved.  What a privilege to share with people so interested to hear what is going on.  They blessed us with hospitality, with their prayers, with great conversations and a chance to get away and relax, and even with a nice check of money to go towards the work of the ministry.  And to make sure you didn't miss it the first time, we literally had never met a single person in Herrick or Burke before that weekend.  It was a God thing.

If you are interested in seeing the tables the ladies decorated, look below.  There was a lot of creativity and special care put into each one.  A thousand "thanks" to people of Herrick and Burke.

May your Adventure intersect with the Adventures of others, and may you bless each other along the way!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers

Table #1:  "Spring Time" by Marija Hay

Table #2:  "Tea Party" by Suzette Johnson

Table #3:  "Mother's Department" by Deb Indahl

Table #4:  "Life on the Farm"  by Robyn Waterbury

Table #5:  "Nancy's Custom Machine Quilting"  by Nancy Krier 

Table #6:  "Candy Land"  by JeanAnn Bryan

Table #7:  "Joy"  by Donette Lyon

Table #8:  "Riding for the Brand"  by Sara Grim

Table #9:  "Generations"  by Linda Lillibridge

Table #10:  "Mother's Memories"  by Kay Matucha

Table #11:  "Red Hats"  by Kathy Kayl

Table #12:  "Good Times with Wine"  by Sharon Pedersen

Table #13:  "Family Affair"  by Peg Glover

Table #14:  "Summertime Fun"  by Lisa Mayer

Table #15:  "Take Thyme for Coffee"  by Francie Johnson

The kids sat at the "Candy Land" table and ate their fill of candy (they had real food, too).  
We had a long drive home that night, so it all worked out!