Dad sold the farm in Myrtle Creek in 1965 and we bought a farm in Trout Lake, Washington, and soon turned it into a dairy with 60 cows. Trout Lake was a small community with only two churches and a very small school, there were 7 in my graduating class. We attended Mt Adams Baptist Church which was a great church for our family. As small as the church was we supported a lot of different Missionaries. One of my favorite things was when a missionary was home they would visit all their supporting churches, give a report of their work in whatever country they were in, and usually preach a sermon. I learned a lot about world geography, the cultures of different countries, and the politics of those same countries. Some of the missionaries were great preachers, and one missionary, in particular, had a huge impact on my life. David and Patti Jo Yount were missionaries to the Philippines and started and built a very big and successful church there, successful meaning that they reached many, many people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I lived in Trout Lake from 1965 until 1976 when Patty and I left for me to become the pastor at Jefferson. During that time I heard David Yount preach 3 times and each time I was greatly impacted to the point that I can remember each of his sermons as if I just heard them yesterday. They were home from the Philippines in 1976 and I asked him if we could get together so I could get some counsel from him on my struggle with whether I should farm or go to Jefferson and become a pastor. He is the one who gave me the quote that I use all the time, “ get close to God, and do what you want, because if you get close to God He will put His will in your heart in the form of a strong desire or dream.” He also asked me how much I read my Bible and I answered, “ every day, and I read it through every year. “ He looked at me intently for what seemed several minutes and said, “my counsel to you is that you go and Pastor because God will use you and bless your ministry.”

For some reason I got to thinking of him tonight and googled his name and found several youtube videos that he and Patti Jo made. In one of them was the same message that he gave to me 44 years ago, “ the more you read the Bible, study it, and memorize it, the more He will use you to do His work.” I also saw a video of his funeral service when he died in 2021. “Say hi for me Lord, and tell him thank you.”