Rex

AUGUST 1970
As we were returning from Beach Grove, Indiana, Geneva and I stopped to visit Aunt Ruth and Aunt Lillie for a few days at the Kids' Klubs house west of Van Orin. That day they were having a teacher's workshop. All we could do to help them we did and also went along that evening. Our plans were to stay a week and then go back to Adams, Nebraska and see what the Lord had in store for us.

Before we left Illinois, the Aunts and the Kids' Klubs Board asked if we could stay a month. Then it was 2, then 3 - until it was March. It seemed to us we needed to go back again to Nebraska.

About this time Henry Harms came into the picture and shortly after that (a month or so), we received a call from George Erickson, Chairman of the Board, asking us if we would pray about coming into Kids' Klubs as their missionaries. Aunt Lillie's health was failing and Aunt Ruth was getting married. As Geneva and I prayed, it seemed we should go back and talk to the Board. We prayed and finally told them we would give it our best.

CAMP:
Camp was pretty well planned that first year, and we just acted like we knew what we were doing (thanks to a wonderful staff).Year after year, camps were held at Muscatine, Iowa with all of those who God chose to have part in them. Missionaries back from their fields would come and be camp speakers. Many hours of labor went into each camp and lots of people didn't get the thanks they should have.

MANY CHILDREN CAME TO KNOW THE LORD:
As the years went by because so many prayed, gave and helped as teachers, hostesses, and helpers, many boys and girls came to know the Lord. Others got their lives sorted out that were not pleasing to Him.

A TRIP TO NEW GUINEA:
Because the Kids' Klubs family was led to honor us with money gifts, it was possible to go to New Guinea to spend 6 weeks with our daughter's family, the Ernsts. After a wonderful trip and many blessings, we returned back. Within a week, we were told that Kids' Klubs would have to vacate the big red house, and Geneva found she had colon cancer. Her operation showed it had progressed into the lymph nodes, and she would have to have chemotherapy. As people prayed and looked and listened, a few houses were located.

THE MOVE:
None seemed suitable. Gerald Ringenberg (Kids' Klubs Board Chairman), the Board and we felt none were right. The little white house in Van Orin was for sale, but not for rent and that's what we though the Lord wanted. As we waited and time was running out, we thought perhaps we were to buy and as people gave, a fund was started, and we were able to buy that house. Less than 5 years later, the house was paid for.No one has ever moved from one house to another any faster. The Kids' Klubs family once again went into action. In a morning, all was moved from one house to the other. Of course, there was lots to put away. With all the Kids' Klubs family doing their part, camp was held that year and ran very smoothly even though Aunt Geneva wasn't up to par. Again, with all the wonderful helping hands, klubs carried on, because our Heavenly Father was leading.

AUNT GENEVA GOES TO BE WITH HER LORD:
Thanksgiving came and our two boys and their families came from Nebraska to be with us. It was a wonderful time even though Marcia and her family were in New Guinea. Saturday morning as the families were going back, we took Aunt Geneva to the hospital. On Sunday, the doctor said she had double pneumonia and said he didn't know if she would make it. That Sunday afternoon, the Lord called her to come home with Him.

Things were different after that. Again with many helping hands, words of comfort and encouragement, klubs kept on reaching out to boys and girls.

UNCLE REX MARRIES AUNT ARLENE:
Uncle Rex was not one to be alone after 41 years and as prayers went up to heaven, a friend of ours in Child Evangelism would come up - Aunt Arlene as you know her now. As time went on, a friendship was renewed. As we shared together when I was in Nebraska and also by phone, it seemed this could be His leading - that we share the rest of our lives together.

Aunt Arlene came to Illinois to get acquainted with the Kids' Klubs ministries and meet the Board. They assured her that we should assume these responsibilities and be the Kids' Klubs missionaries. With His leading, we were married in Lincoln, Nebraska and came to carry on the ministry. This was another road for both of us - one we had not been down before.

As we prayed, along with the prayer partners, the work continued. This was not easy for Aunt Arlene. However, she did a wonderful job in fulfilling her responsibilities (over and above many times.)

For 7 years, we tried to carry on with programs that would meet the needs of boys and girls in the Illinois Valley. Many blessings came our way - more than we could count. As time went along, we told the Board that when Uncle Rex was 70, it was time for another change in leadership. Kids' Klubs celebrated the 35th Anniversary in March of 1988. He had richly blessed the ministry and used so many different people during the years. Knowing that He would continue to lead Kids' Klubs Board as they sought His plans, we were honored in most gracious ways and continued until the end of the school year.