Hi, it's been a long time 
I just wanted to stop in and share something amazing that God has recently done in my life. I was working in Dallas, good job, nice place. Then a friend came to visit me from Austin. He said "lets go on an adventure." I said "like what?, living off the land in the white mountains?" he said "sure." I stayed up for the better part of the night figuring out plane tickets, gear cost, licensing and every other possibility. After all you don't begin to build a house without knowing you have what it takes to finish it. Long story short the next day we both quit our jobs and liquidated everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. Television, furnature, psIII, laptop, you name it. We purchased all of our gear online and had everything shipped to my grandmothers house in Phoenix. The plan was to live off the land in the white mountains starting at the apache reservation at reservation lake and then working our way down off the mountain before it got too cold and then eventually into the desert that has lakes and reservoirs to explore. Well, we arrived on Sept 13th. We got dropped off in the mountains with a couple grand in gear, a grand in licensing both state and apache, annual licenses. We had two fishing poles and a slingshot (without steelies) we had no working cellphone, I did have it but it wasn't activated, 73 cents and no car. A friend just dropped us off. Well, I didn't realized that monsoon season in the desert would effect us at 10,000 feet of altitude. I mean you are talking desert vs rocky mountain terrain. For three days torrential weather hit us just before sundown and didn't stop til daybreak. Our gear instantly began failing us. His pole didn't work, the zipper on the tent broke during a storm just as it hit. But luckly God paused the storm just long enough for us to put a tarp over the entry (15 minutes) then as soon as we were finished it opened up again. The following day our moral was low, my buddy was no woodsman and every fish we ate I caught. It just didn't seem like we could get a break and up that high snow can fall at anytime and then you really are trapped. Even if you have a car. If you drove for two hours down the mountain you would find a ski resort that was closed that time of year. The day after the tent broke, we went for a hike, upon returning I began to get an ear ache.. That was very intimidating, as I've known a kid who received permanent ear damage and needed many surgeries from an out of control ear ache and to make it worse I've had them terribly as a kid. I asked Richard. "would you like to sleep in a hotel tonight?" he said "I don't think that's an option Jeff, unless you have a magic wand." "I don't need a magic wand Richard." I told him dinner was on him and I was going to drop hydrogen peroxide in my ear and try to rest as best I could, he went fishing. After a few hours I tossed and turned and realized that it would be irresponsible of me to stay here. Without me he/we didn't stand a chance. So I left the tent with my dead cell phone and walked around the lake to an old closed down apache store with the thought that I could charge my phone and retrieve my families cell phone number. Then maybe we could hitchhike down to a nearby city, use another phone to call my sister and have money wired. Upon arriving at the store/boat dock, there was a Mercedes SUV with a boat attached just about to leave. The guy informs me the store runs on a generator and there is no power at all. However he does have a charger for my phone in his vehicle. While we are charging it he asks whats going on. I told him a friend and I got into a pickle and got stranded on he mountain. he said "what are you eating?" "whatever we catch" his eyes got big with shock. He immediately began ordering his friend to give me the fish they had just caught and nutrition shakes, left over lunch and anything else they had, then he said "whats your plan?" I said hitchhike to a town and get money wired to us. He said "I can give you a couple hundred bucks!" I said sir, you would be saving our lives but I couldn't possibly ask you to do that he said "bs" and he handed me 210 dollars. so with 210 dollars, a charged phone and a bag of food and beverages I went back around the lake, told Richard to reel in his pole. I showed him what God had done and he and I immediately began praising God. That night no storm came. The stars were bright and we had a fire long into the night. It was the only night that torrential weather avoided us. The next day a random camper gave us a ride to that close down ski lodge 2 hours away, they had an elk camp going, can you believe it? another guy instantly offered us a ride to the nearest town. He dropped us at a hotel across the street from a SURPLUS STORE!! we didn't even notice it til we already had a room, we sold all of our gear (each pack was 100lbs) so now instead of 73 cents and stranded in the wilderness we had $470 and no worries. The next day we began walking, another guy offered us a ride to another town closer off the mountain. He dropped us off at another hotel/bar and grill so we could get an idea of our next step. We walked down the road to a major highway that led off the mountain. we sat there on the side of the road with a sign that said PhX and a 40 dollars attached to it so they knew we weren't free loaders. Nobody stopped. We were about to pull in and head somewhere else when I realized that there was nothing around us but 2 churches. One on our side of the road and one on the other. Before leaving I walked up the long driveway nestled in the trees of the nearest church, I knocked a the door of a house off to the side and the preacher answered. I said "hello sir, my friend and I got ourselves stranded up here, God has blessed us all the way down, I know you have a network, could you send an email to your congregation and see if anyone is going at all down this mountain toward Phoenix? we would be glad to pay their gas. he responded "well, tomorrow morning I'm going to California, I have to go right through PHOENIX!!! Richard and I got a hotel for the night and the pastor picked us up in the morning. Dropped us off 10 miles from my grandmas house. And I must state NOBODY ever accepted any of our money. I sent Richard back to Texas and I stayed in Phoenix with my grandparents helping them and working. Then on December 25th, we found out she had a bladder tumor on January 1st we found out she had lung cancer and on January 16th she passed away. I was there for my whole family and I got to spend 4 priceless months with my grandparents!! HOW GREAT IS GOD!!!!
I just wanted to stop in and share something amazing that God has recently done in my life. I was working in Dallas, good job, nice place. Then a friend came to visit me from Austin. He said "lets go on an adventure." I said "like what?, living off the land in the white mountains?" he said "sure." I stayed up for the better part of the night figuring out plane tickets, gear cost, licensing and every other possibility. After all you don't begin to build a house without knowing you have what it takes to finish it. Long story short the next day we both quit our jobs and liquidated everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. Television, furnature, psIII, laptop, you name it. We purchased all of our gear online and had everything shipped to my grandmothers house in Phoenix. The plan was to live off the land in the white mountains starting at the apache reservation at reservation lake and then working our way down off the mountain before it got too cold and then eventually into the desert that has lakes and reservoirs to explore. Well, we arrived on Sept 13th. We got dropped off in the mountains with a couple grand in gear, a grand in licensing both state and apache, annual licenses. We had two fishing poles and a slingshot (without steelies) we had no working cellphone, I did have it but it wasn't activated, 73 cents and no car. A friend just dropped us off. Well, I didn't realized that monsoon season in the desert would effect us at 10,000 feet of altitude. I mean you are talking desert vs rocky mountain terrain. For three days torrential weather hit us just before sundown and didn't stop til daybreak. Our gear instantly began failing us. His pole didn't work, the zipper on the tent broke during a storm just as it hit. But luckly God paused the storm just long enough for us to put a tarp over the entry (15 minutes) then as soon as we were finished it opened up again. The following day our moral was low, my buddy was no woodsman and every fish we ate I caught. It just didn't seem like we could get a break and up that high snow can fall at anytime and then you really are trapped. Even if you have a car. If you drove for two hours down the mountain you would find a ski resort that was closed that time of year. The day after the tent broke, we went for a hike, upon returning I began to get an ear ache.. That was very intimidating, as I've known a kid who received permanent ear damage and needed many surgeries from an out of control ear ache and to make it worse I've had them terribly as a kid. I asked Richard. "would you like to sleep in a hotel tonight?" he said "I don't think that's an option Jeff, unless you have a magic wand." "I don't need a magic wand Richard." I told him dinner was on him and I was going to drop hydrogen peroxide in my ear and try to rest as best I could, he went fishing. After a few hours I tossed and turned and realized that it would be irresponsible of me to stay here. Without me he/we didn't stand a chance. So I left the tent with my dead cell phone and walked around the lake to an old closed down apache store with the thought that I could charge my phone and retrieve my families cell phone number. Then maybe we could hitchhike down to a nearby city, use another phone to call my sister and have money wired. Upon arriving at the store/boat dock, there was a Mercedes SUV with a boat attached just about to leave. The guy informs me the store runs on a generator and there is no power at all. However he does have a charger for my phone in his vehicle. While we are charging it he asks whats going on. I told him a friend and I got into a pickle and got stranded on he mountain. he said "what are you eating?" "whatever we catch" his eyes got big with shock. He immediately began ordering his friend to give me the fish they had just caught and nutrition shakes, left over lunch and anything else they had, then he said "whats your plan?" I said hitchhike to a town and get money wired to us. He said "I can give you a couple hundred bucks!" I said sir, you would be saving our lives but I couldn't possibly ask you to do that he said "bs" and he handed me 210 dollars. so with 210 dollars, a charged phone and a bag of food and beverages I went back around the lake, told Richard to reel in his pole. I showed him what God had done and he and I immediately began praising God. That night no storm came. The stars were bright and we had a fire long into the night. It was the only night that torrential weather avoided us. The next day a random camper gave us a ride to that close down ski lodge 2 hours away, they had an elk camp going, can you believe it? another guy instantly offered us a ride to the nearest town. He dropped us at a hotel across the street from a SURPLUS STORE!! we didn't even notice it til we already had a room, we sold all of our gear (each pack was 100lbs) so now instead of 73 cents and stranded in the wilderness we had $470 and no worries. The next day we began walking, another guy offered us a ride to another town closer off the mountain. He dropped us off at another hotel/bar and grill so we could get an idea of our next step. We walked down the road to a major highway that led off the mountain. we sat there on the side of the road with a sign that said PhX and a 40 dollars attached to it so they knew we weren't free loaders. Nobody stopped. We were about to pull in and head somewhere else when I realized that there was nothing around us but 2 churches. One on our side of the road and one on the other. Before leaving I walked up the long driveway nestled in the trees of the nearest church, I knocked a the door of a house off to the side and the preacher answered. I said "hello sir, my friend and I got ourselves stranded up here, God has blessed us all the way down, I know you have a network, could you send an email to your congregation and see if anyone is going at all down this mountain toward Phoenix? we would be glad to pay their gas. he responded "well, tomorrow morning I'm going to California, I have to go right through PHOENIX!!! Richard and I got a hotel for the night and the pastor picked us up in the morning. Dropped us off 10 miles from my grandmas house. And I must state NOBODY ever accepted any of our money. I sent Richard back to Texas and I stayed in Phoenix with my grandparents helping them and working. Then on December 25th, we found out she had a bladder tumor on January 1st we found out she had lung cancer and on January 16th she passed away. I was there for my whole family and I got to spend 4 priceless months with my grandparents!! HOW GREAT IS GOD!!!!