Dear friends on the other side of the country,

Hi, I am in Seattle and loving it. I got off to a rocky start with the time change, 3 hours, and the brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, cold of Seattle, a blustery 60 degrees, not counting the wind.

I had a hard time sleeping the first couple nights, went to bed at 12 midnight here, which was 3am where I am from, then by 7am, my body is on 10am time so I got behind on the sleep.

That just lasted a couple days, Sunday was awesome as I was able to speak and share our ministry with Brookview Church in Seattle with Pastor Jason Huguenin and his wife Jen.

This is a pastor who is doing it right. The church is growing at a wonderful pace with vibrant, exciting Christ followers. It was an honor to share with them what God is doing in Haiti, and have them express a deep desire to partner with us. They actually have already been helping financially in a huge way for the past year. Thank you Pastor Jason.

Monday I had the chance to explore Seattle, and this beautiful area. I used to rank Michigan of course as the most beautiful, wonderful state in the union with Indiana 2nd and so forth. Well, this area, the Pugent Sound, pacific northwest has jumped from number 49 (of course New Jersey is last) to number 2 on my places of wonder.

Seattle is a city of deep history and so fascinating. Yesterday we took a "uboat" like the boats used to storm Normandy beach, which is converted into a bus, to tour Seattle. Then, after driving the city streets for an hour, the bus suddenly drove down into this huge lake. We continued to tour Seattle in the boat, and saw the nearly 500 houseboats docked around the lake. I don't mean your daddy's houseboat; these are houses like yours that are actually boats; just fascinating.

We later went to the top of the Seattle Space Needle and what a thrill that was to see this beautiful area from some 600 feet in the air. The mountains all around, Mt. Rainier, the islands, the ferries (boats), the ocean, lakes, houses, downtown Seattle and so much more; just majestic. If you have never been to Seattle, you gotta see it to believe it.

We then took a monorail downtown and I had my first Starbucks ever, at the original Starbucks. Then it was off to a local favorite restaurant "Joey's" which was pretty fancy, and I was treated to dinner by the band The Classic Crime, who just visited Haiti two weeks ago.

We had a great time laughing and remembering the times in Haiti. It was an awesome night.

Today I am taking a ferry on a tour of the islands; hopefully I'll see the fortified Bill Gates home and much more. A community meeting tonight sharing Haiti, then tomorrow we go underground. Yes, 100 years ago Seattle was flooded so they raised all the streets and left underground was a city; a city where people lived secretly for a long time. Tomorrow we tour that.

Thursday is Thanksgiving and on to Minnesota to continue the JiHM world tour. We have decided that about every 6 months, I will be making a world tour for a couple weeks to share this ministry so if you would like me to come to your neck of the woods, let me know. Just need to be able to share the ministry in your church and a home presentation or two. Maybe you can move into that coveted number 2 spot on my state list.

I am in contact with my staff and family everyday and although they claim they miss me, all is well.

Pastor Jason and the Christians are dealing with a new thing here in Seattle. Some strip club owner started coffee shops on every corner, drive thru ones, with nearly naked ladies running them. You pull up, a near naked lady fixes you coffee and off you go. The lines of cars are long. Pastor Jason spoke at a city council meeting to try to help stop this very obscene new business.

I do have one huge prayer request that is weighing heavy on my heart. My younger brother Mark was diagnosed with prostate cancer and is in the beginning stages of figuring all that out. Please pray for Mark and his family as they deal with this. He is a wonderful, Godly man whom we all love so much.

Thanks, take care, drop me a line and have a very Happy Thanksgiving! tominseattle

p.s. In the "yes she said it" department: I was at a bookstore today and the clerk said, "did you see the new Michael Crieghton book, he wrote it after he died, seems many authors are doing that." I kid you not, she said it.