BROTHER, WAS IT COLD, BUT IT WAS FUN!

This may be hard to believe, but after over 40 years of basically preaching the same message (Jesus Saves) every time it is a fresh, exciting and rewarding time.  That certainly was the case for the Ice Fishing Derby that I spoke at on the bank of Lake Saratoga, WY.  Honestly I did not know really what to expect.  I knew it would be cold.  The only question was, How Cold?  The over night lows were in the teens and the daytime highs were in the mid 20's.  The big problem was the wind chill, with the wind gusts at times as much as 65 miles per hour.  Let me give you an overview of what took place.

Friday

I rented a car in Denver, CO and drove about 5 hours to Saratoga, WY.  It should have taken about four hours but because of the high wind gusts the speed limit kept going down.  At times I was a little concerned because of the amount that the car would shake with some of the gusts.  The last hour of my trip the snow was coming down so hard it was almost a white out.  Blowing across the road and into my headlights.  I made it just fine, but as I was walking up to the Pastor's door he was walking out and informed me that the police had just called and that there was an emergency at the tent at the lake where we would be giving out free coffee, hot chocolate, snacks, serving a meal and where I would be speaking the next morning. The emergency turned out to be that the wind had blown one side of the tent down.  There was a group of men and women from a church called, "Set Free", which is located two hours from Saratoga, WY where almost all of the men and women were former drug addicts, but have been set free through the liberating power of the blood of Jesus Christ.  They were able to get the tent back up.

Saturday

Up at six o'clock a.m. to eat some oatmeal and travel to the lake.  When I got there it was light enough to see but the sun had not come up yet.  About a mile from the lake was a small herd of mule deer.  I stopped for a little bit to take in the beautiful surroundings.  The snow covered mountains and mule deer in Wyoming.  When I got to the tent everyone was busy getting generators going for the heaters.  It was 14 degrees.  It wasn't long until some of the fishermen started dropping in because they had confused our tent with the Chamber of Commerce tent, who had sponsored the derby.  We had a small line of people at 12:00 noon for lunch.  We served chili and hotdogs and then I spoke.  I spoke three different times throughout the afternoon with 12 people responding that they had prayed to receive Christ into their life.  It was a good day!

Sunday

We just served coffee and snacks with the service at 10:00 am.  We had our largest crowd with 28 at one time.  There were 2 more who made public professions of faith with a total of 14 indicating they had been saved.  The Ice Fishing Derby was just a secular sponsored event by the Chamber of Commerce.  It had been done for years.  This time the First Baptist Church, Saratoga, WY made it a spiritual event.  I was so blessed and honored to be a part of it. 

 

Ice Fishing Derby, January, 2015, Lake Saratoga, WY

 

 

Dr. Morris Anderson, Founder of MORRIS ANDERSON OUTDOORS,
 Speaking under the Hospitality Tent during the Ice Fishing Derby on Lake Saratoga, WY

Dr. Morris Anderson, Founder of MORRIS ANDERSON OUTDOORS,
 Ice Fishing during the Ice Fishing Derby on Lake Saratoga, WY