As we Leave the Swan River Valley and Surrounding Area....

      First of all please allow me to say that we will be leaving the Swan River Valley around October 26th and if anyone would like to sit down and chat over coffee about what we will be doing or what our needs are, please feel free to call or send an e-mail to set up a time.
  It has been our pleasure to live in the Valley both in 1999 - 2002 when we pastored the Little Woody Baptist Church, and over the last 5 years since we have been back. Over the 8 years we have been able to get to know many families and so very many friendships have been developed. We are very grateful to the people of the Valley, first of all for accepting us when we first came here, and secondly for their continued friendship over the years we were gone and now as we have been back.
   There is a value that comes with the friendships we have made in the valley. I was able to cry with many of you as you mourned the loss of a loved one, when I was the chaplain at Paull Funeral Home. I have over the past 4 years been able to develop good relationships with many of your children right from the middle school into the high school where I am working now.
   You the people of the Valley have become like family to us, like any family some closer than others, but in the end family (people who care for one another) and as we prepare to leave for missions in Mexico I want to thank you for that acceptance. One great example is the Star and Times putting my family's heart and desires into a story for all to read. If there was not a care for my family, they could have just known we were leaving and said and done nothing. But that is not what good friends do, good friends help each other out, and that is what they did for us.
   Allowing the desires of our hearts to be made known to the public, allows the public to come along side us and team up with us through prayer support and financial support. We will be adding information as to how things are going in Mexico here on this blog.
   So for now it is good-bye to the Swan River Valley, thank you for what you have done for us in the past and what you will be doing in the future. Feel free to take a look at the information I have posted over the past few months. There is information about speaking engagements I have had, the loss of one of my best friends ever from the valley here, and also information on how to support us and become another team member that will help make a difference in the lives of the people of Mexico.  
    Thank-You and God bless you.
       Irvin, Mari, Leah and Jaxon Penner