The Freedom Team In Mexico

The Freedom Team in Mexico Prison 

Tom and Carla Flaskerud and The Freedom Team from Bend, Oregon are in Mexico going from prison to prison to present the gospel to inmates.

Pray for the team, for their health and strength.

Tom and Carla Flaskerud married in 1978, but Tom has quite a history before accepting Christ as His Savior. For one thing, he kidnapped Carla. Seriously. Over the next few weeks I'll talk more about the Freedom Team and the positive impact they have on those forgotten souls within the prison walls. Men and women who are in the prison from a life of crimes, many of them heinous crimes and the they are lost because they don't know Jesus as Savior. Pray for each one hearing the gospel message for the first time.

	Tom Flaskerud

email:office@thefreedomteam.org pastortom@thefreedomteam.org from Carla on Saturday:  We have internet! Praise God. We are in Guerrero Negro. We did two programs yesterday, one in a rehab and one in a church. They both went well. The team is doing great, no one has been sick or gotten an injury. The people are very responsive and we are seeing the Lord do mighty things. Thanks for all the prayers. We will tour the salt mines here today and then leave for Vizcaino after that. We had 27 1st time registered decisions, 10 rededications, and 9 other commitments. We will be on the road for another 5 days. Not sure where we will be staying just yet. If we have connections we will post again. Glory to the Lord.

My Blue Datsun

Have you heard the true story where an elderly woman pulled a gun and screamed at the four men in a car, “I have a gun and I know how to use it.” Of course, the men jumped out of the car and ran. 

Truly shaken up, the woman put the groceries in the car, got behind the wheel and found her keys didn't  work.

Later she walked into a police station. She explained her plight in detail to a sergeant. The man in uniform couldn’t keep from laughing. He finally pointed to the four pale white males at the other end of the counter reporting a high-jacking by an elderly woman.

My story isn’t better, but just as embarrassing.

Stephen Bly died in the summer of 2011, but his words of wisdom will live on in my heart forever. In the summer of 2008 Steve was the keynote speaker at Oregon Christian Writers Conference. These are notes I captured in one session--wish I could share his humor, too. 

Steve Bly’s formula for non-formula fiction: Certain things he tried to include in all his books.

1. Have the reader on the edge of the chair every 12 minutes. (from Stephen Spielberg, i.e., Raiders). Every chapter should get the reader excited and scooting up to the edge.
2. Write the dialogue for the whole chapter before I write anything else.  They start to talk and he starts writing to move the story along.
3. Every 20 pages, I make sure I have included all 5 senses.
4. Every 100 pages of mss add humor—give the reader a laugh.
5. Every 100 pages give the reader something to cry about.
6. Try to include memorable minor characters.
7. Point to turning point when the protagonist’s life turned around.
8. No paragraph over 150 words.
9. Have six sentences that are six or less words on every page. Mix lengths.
10. Read every chapter out loud 3 times. Third time: Get a quiet place where it’s just you, and read it to the Lord.

For more info. check out Stephen Bly online  

Finishing Dad's Novel was a Family Affair #1

I first met Janet and Steve Bly at a writer's group in 1980. Both of them helped me master the art of writing and publishing. Janet posted a "Finishing Dad's Novel was a Family Affair" in Nine parts. You can read them all and see Janet's photos on On the Bly website. Be sure and scroll down to the first page to read the journey of Janet and her sons. Kat 

My husband, Stephen Bly, hated half-done jobs. But more than that, should I say to him, “You know, some day it might be nice if we did this or that . . .”, the mere mention of something I wanted repaired or built became to him an uncompleted project, something he had to get done now. He couldn’t stand to let a ‘to do’ list lie around more than a day or so. 

In early January 2011 he determined to tackle three big undertakings and finish them by summer: 1) oversee the pruning of more than sixty tall Ponderosa pines in our yard, 2) hire a re-roofing of the house, and 3) complete his contracted 106th novel, Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot.

A few weeks later he played 18 holes of golf. The next day, he could hardly stand for more than a few minutes without sitting, breathing hard. We found out he had pneumonia. His almost 5-year battle with prostate cancer began to take its final toll. The next four months he spent more days in the hospital than out with one complication after another. He passed away on June 9th, 2011.I determined to finish the projects for him. I hired a tree trimmer. I found a roofer.Meanwhile, my sons each said to me, “Let’s get that book done. I want to help.”At the start, I sensed the wisdom and perhaps God’s individual purpose for including our sons in this undertaking. They had their dad’s genes in creativity and wit. Together they’d impart their father’s personality. I couldn’t do it without them. I also discovered the value of their on-the-spot feedback and weekly encouragement.


The contract had been signed, the advance given. I emailed the editor and asked for permission for my sons and me to finish writing the novel and for a deadline extension. 


“I’d like very much to publish Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot as a tribute to Steve,” she instantly wrote back.

She gave us four months, until November 1st. The third project on the list became a family affair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Janet Chester Bly has authored 31 nonfiction and fiction books, 19 of which she co-authored with Christy Award winning author, Stephen Bly. Titles include The Hidden West Series, The Carson City Chronicles, Hope Lives Here, and The Heart of a Runaway. Her 3 married sons, Russell, Michael and Aaron, live down the mountain with their families at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers in Lewiston, Idaho.

Stuart Brannon's Final Shot--A Finished Family Project

The first chapter of Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot by Stephen Bly peaks interest. The prologue mentioned Seaside, Oregon—an interesting setting for the legendary Stuart Brannon—a man that drove cattle all over South America and managed to bring a thousand Mexican beef into the Arizona Territory all by his lonesome.

  

Bly started Brannon’s Final Shot before he died, June 9, 2011. His wife and sons finished the project. They kept the legendary Stuart Brannon in and out of many a fracas, avoiding the dime novel author, Hawthorne Miller and added a bit of romance. I’m sad this is the last of the Brannon series.

Clean Up in Aisle Three-Adventures on the Way to the Altar

Enjoy Guest Blogger: Lori Roeleveld

Once upon a time, I worked as a houseparent in a Christian agency caring for troubled children. There were several houses on the property and each was assigned a different supporting church to attend with our wards.

Unhappily, I found myself worshipping in the stiffest, most solemn congregation on the list of contributing parishes. These were some long-faced, serious, scowling believers, I tell you that! If the gospel is good news, no one had told these brothers and sisters. It was like attending calling hours for Jesus week after week.

In my house were several older teens and three, rambunctious eight-year-old boys. The older teens were as frightened as I was of our fellow worshippers, so they caught on immediately that this was not a place to cause trouble and behaved appropriately but eight-year-old boys have the spiritual gift of squirming.

One Sunday, two of my boys, Eric and Marcus, were plaguing one another throughout the deadly proceedings. I scowled. I pointed fingers. I made the death sign across my throat. All to no avail. Suddenly, just as the ushers presented the collection at the altar, the two took to pummeling one another so hard they rolled out of the pew right into the aisle!

Signs for Teen Bedroom

When our oldest daughter moved into her own bedroom, she grew plants. At one time we counted 43 beautiful plants in her 9 x 12 square foot room. That’s a great accomplishment for a teen, especially keeping them alive.

She babied her plants, watered and fertilized them. That wouldn’t be bad, but her door opened into a hallway and across from the doorway into the kitchen.

That still doesn’t sound bad until you add the two weeks of clothes littering the room, her school work in piles and of course, the smell of the fish oil used on the plants.

Her father and I figured a dirty bedroom didn’t hurt anyone—until the smell permeated the kitchen.

Before we invited guests I hung signs on her door:

Disaster Area

Gas Mask Required Upon Entry 

Hard Hat Area 

Clean it Out Today or Else

Open the Door with Caution

I have no idea what the “or else” might have included because daughter always complied to the signs.

   

Sometimes I do wonder if those signs are what created such a perfectionist. Her house, even when her children were little, was and is, always spotless. 

Wish that daughter lived closer now, she could teach me a few organization skills. My house isn’t bad, but my office—oh my. Wonder if I added house plants if it might "feel" better?