Working on the railroad

After a day of working on the railroad, I came home to an enjoyable visit with the Nelsons. They had a fun time trying on my PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) I use while on the job. Courtney, as promised, here are some of the pictures. (Cute kids by the way) -Justo

Dear Friends,
Life finally is getting back to the way it is supposed to go as my full Plt is finally at camp Allen. Last week was basically a lot of weapon cleaning and I moved rooms to be with my friend Tony Ward and another guy from my Plt, Bret Holmes. Last Thursday I BZOed my rifle which is basically sighting it in with both iron sights and A Cog which is a 4x scope. Other then that I had periodical medical lab work done Friday morning and Then cleaned weapons the rest of Friday and got off at 1330. To day we went to Church at a church of Christ Church service. I enjoyed the Church service with all Capella singing and the sermon from Col. 3. Well that is what I have been up to.

Christ's Marine

David

Coates twins update

Ashlee Coates, the mother of the twins writes:

"hey everyone!!! our family was officially complete on July 29!! austin came home and everyone is very glad to have him here! some recent weights...Ellyssa 6lbs 6 1/2oz, and austin is 7lbs 9oz. they are both about 20in long."

Austin is still on oxygen, but they hope he will soon be off that. Praise God for these precious little miracles! Thanks to everyone for praying.

Canada visit

Josie took a trip to Canada to see her 89 year old mother. Granny was having a very good spell which made it more special. So, Josie took Granny to visit friends and relatives young and old. She was able to use Harry's car which made things easier. The skies and people of this part of Canada have a feel all their own. Oil, agriculture and harsh climate shape the people. Lloydminster, where Granny lives, is a border city claiming both Alberta and Saskatchewan as its own province. Broken people need the Lord and the spiritual needs are as great as anywhere.

Canada visit

Living skies in Saskatchewan: Oil, Canola, Skies

Josie and Granny with Carsten

Granny, Uncle Rupert, Aunty Liz

Camping with Laura

Cousins

Oops

Taking down camp

On our way home

Dad and Jessica cooking supper

Unexpected visitors

Karaoke with Lucas' MP3 player

Lucas resting

Best Friends

Lucas taking in the beauty

Preparing supper

Campsite by the water

Now in Norfolk

Well time keeps marching on. I am now based on camp Allen. It is great to finally be in some sort of permanent base. This is to be a base of operation for the next two years as long as I am not over seas. Life for the last week was all bases around preparation for the change of command ceremony from Lt. Gen. Weber to Lt. Gen. Natonski. This ceremony took place yesterday. It took a lot of marching and drilling to get ready and every one was a little stressed out about it as the Commandant of the Marine corps ( Gen. Conway) and the Sgt Maj of the marine Corps was present, Sgt Maj Kent, as well as close to 30 other flag officers. The ceremony went fine with just a few mess ups and with my chuck getting soaked with sweat as it was over 90 deg. and we had to stand stationary in the sun doing rifle manual for close to an hour. Any way this is all part of the job even though it is not the fun part. I would much rather be out in the field shooting and sleeping out under the stars then drilling and doing rifle manual.
you can pray for me as I continue looking for a church in the area. It is a hard balance to find the "Perfect" church and spend the next 2 years looking or to just find a church with good doctrine and just try to fit in with it even though it might not be Lutheran or exactly what I am looking for. I will try to keep you posted!!!

Christ's Marine
David Pillman