PRAYER TEAM AT UNIV. FRIENDS CHURCH--- The details escape me but several members of Argonia Friends, I was one of them, were invited to a conference being held at University Friends Church to be a prayer support team. The Conference was held in the basement. The prayer team was upstairs in the Sanctuary. During breaks the person leading the conference would share with us the resistance he was encountering so we could pray as the next segments of the conference took place.
At one point he shared how he was getting resistance from a lady who supported homosexuality. She was a friend of a Friends University Professor who had been against homosexuality until he found out his daughter lived that lifestyle and then he had changed his beliefs. After the speaker had shared this with us we began to pray about it. The prayer team decided that there were evil spirits present and that we should pray for their removal. Most of the group sat in the pews or were kneeling at the alter. I started walking around the outside isles of the Sanctuary praying that God would remove the evil spirits. As I started praying tears started coming to my eyes, so much that I couldn't see, so I put out my hands so I could feel the walls & to steady myself. When I got to the front there was a prayer rail that I could follow until I could touch an outside wall again. I made 3 trips around the church praying and then stopped at the double doors at the back. My eyes were still so full of tears I couldn't see. I did something that was purely symbolic but I just felt led to do it. I pushed the double doors open with my hands and prayed that God would remove the evil spirits and fill the Church with his Holy Spirit. I stood there a few minutes with the doors pushed open praying. The tears began to stop flowing, I was starting to be able to see again and felt the burden to pray being lifted so I sat down in the pews and waited.
Between then and break the Prayer Team shared how they had been burdened to pray. At the next break we anxiously ask the speaker how things had gone. He said at a certain point the lady who had been so resistant started to appear uncomfortable & after a few minutes stood up & said she had to leave & had walked out, he had looked at his watch and noted the time. Some of the prayer group noted that we had started praying a few minutes prior to that time. The speaker said after she left the burden & resistance he had felt over the group was gone & things went much better.
ARGONIA FRIENDS CHURCH---Argonia Friends Church has been my Church. We started going there when I was 7 & we had moved to Argonia. It was my Dad's family home church after they moved to Argonia. My Aunts and Uncles also attended, some very regularly. Of those that lived in the Argonia area. Uncle Melvin, Aunt Delma, Aunt 'Teenie' & my mom were the most active. Dad attended regularly during winter & fall but in spring & summer during busy times he worked the fields. Uncle Loren didn’t start attending until Uncle Melvin died. My memory of Grandma Maude & Grandpa J.W. is limited to when they were older and didn't get around very well, except for special occasions. I heard a lot about Green Castle Friends Church out in the country between Argonia and Conway Springs, I think they were active in the Church when they were living near Conway Springs.
I went through my Sunday School years from elementary to High School at Argonia Friends. My teachers that I remember were Alvina Stork, Augusta “Gus” McCall & Melva Joy Pearce, my favorite, I had her at more than one age level. In High School I remember being on at least one Church Committee, The Temperance Committee. There were two other committees that made monthly reports so every 3rd month there was a report by someone on the committee reminding Church Members of the harm caused by Alcohol & Tobacco. I gave several. I started teaching children’s Sunday School class when I was in my 20's. The first class I remember was 4th & 5th graders & later High School. After Mary & I moved to Argonia we taught several age group classes together, Kindergarten through Junior High & were Youth Group leaders at one time. The S.S. Class I enjoyed most was the Loyal Friends, ladies in their 70-80's. Mary was teaching a children’s class. This particular year they were desperate for a Loyal Friends teacher, no one wanted to teach it. I figured the ladies had spent much more time reading their Bibles so I couldn’t teach them much in that area. I got several books describing the geography, cultural and economics of the Holy Land in the time of Jesus. Figuring to bring something new to them in this area. I got two sets of Sunday school lessons and would cut & paste a lesson together. Always before I used the S.S. material ordered by the S.S. Committee. They seemed to enjoy me as a teacher, or at least they said they did, but the dear sweet ladies would often fall asleep. There were about 6 & one or two would manage to fall asleep each Sunday. None of them ever snored so I & those who were awake would just go on with the lesson.
Growing up there were many people in the Friends Church whose personalities and dedication to the Lord impacted my life & had a big influence on the person I am today. Some, if not all, are family names familiar to my sons, they included: Homer & Norma Harsh, Ray & Augusta McCall, Dan & Violet Pearce, Argus & Melva Pearce, Wayne & Marjorie Johnson, Elaine Davis, Olen & Betty Taton, Harmon Hyatt, Alvina Stork, Thelma Achelpohl.
Over the years I have been on the Missions Committee, as has Mary, for many years, more than any other Church Committee. We were involved in getting a lot of Missionary Speakers to come to the Church and Mary and I planned skits to be presented during Church Services to promote Speakers or Special Missions offerings. One in particular I enjoyed was about a school in Burundi, Africa. I portrayed the teacher & I patterned it after the schools I visited in India, which in ways are similar to Africa. The Pastor's wife, Susan Neifert had been a Missionary Kid in Africa so she joined Mary and I in the skit. I was on the Nominating, Spiritual Life & Membership Committee also. I was on committees that selected Speakers or Musicians to do Special Services.
CASEY JONES & JERRY CRITES---Two very special people that attended Argonia Friends were Jerry Crites & Casey Jones [not the R.R. engineer]. Several of the Crites family had attended the Friends Church. Jerry was a little different. When he was young he had a bad stutter, words seemed to get stuck while trying to say them, he would slap the side of his legs as if to jar them loose & then he could say the word. When he was young he hardly spoke to any one. As he got older he had a little stutter but was much better, only a little pause now & then, he didn’t slap his leg & he liked to talk to people. Some people would avoid Jerry because they didn’t feel comfortable around him but Mary & I didn’t mind. In fact we would talk to Jerry at every opportunity. Jerry always considered us among his best friends.
Casey started coming to the Friends Church after he became friends with Jerry. He had a son Patrick’s age who once commented to his classmates that, ‘’My Dad is stuck in the 60’s !”, & that is a pretty good way to describe him. He was a biker & had tattoos. I always said that I thought if you touched his skin anywhere with your thumb it would touch a tattoo & that’s not much of an exaggeration. Casey was also a Viet Nam Vet with huge problems, physical and emotional. We had a Wednesday night Bible study at Church that Jerry & Casey attended. The attendance dropped so much they were going to stop it. Mary & I talked to Pastor Mike & said we wanted to keep it going for Jerry and Casey. So for a while Mary & I led Wednesday night Bible Study & only Casey & Jerry came. Casey had always opted out in reading the Bible in the other group. But in ours he would read. But his reading skills were limited. Mary & I just patiently waited & tried not to help him unnecessarily. He got better at reading & eventually I’m sure he shared Viet Nam experiences with Mary & I that he had only shared with his V.A. Counselor. After Casey’s passing Jerry stopped coming on Wed. nights & that was the end of Wed. night church.
Casey would test Church People. One Sunday he came to Church in Skull lounge pants. A biker t-shirt & a vest covered with skulls & he was wearing flip flops, maybe something else far out. One night in our Bible Study he mentioned it & said he had done it just to see how the people in church would react. I ask if he was pleased with the reaction, he said yes. One night he came with a can of root beer, that looked a lot like an actual beer can, in a foam holder. I didn’t say anything but I took a close look, but I thought, ‘’Naw, he wouldn’t bring a beer’’. He saw me check it out & commented it was soda. I think he brought it just to see if I would make an assumption & say something.
Casey was on the verge of being Pentecostal. He would sprinkle a lot of ''Amens'', ''Praise God'' '& ''Yes Jesus'' throughout Mike’s sermons. I was glad because I liked to do that but none of our other Quiet Quakers ever did, well Bill Pohlenz does a little.
My sweet Mary never did like Religious Titles. I never did quite fit the Silent or Quiet Quaker persona. The boys & I did a lot of crazy things at Father-Son Retreat, a lot of them the boys idea, some mine. When we were in Philadelphia we visited the site of an old ‘Free Quaker’ Church, called Free because they had no problem serving in the Revolutionary War. Being a Conscious Objector, opting out for serving in the military was & is a strong Friends/Quaker belief. There are stories of many being drafted & being used basically as human guinea pigs in Army experiments because of their belief. As you may know the term “Quaker” was a nickname given to members of the ’Society of Friends’, by others, because when filled with the Holy Spirit they were overcome & seemed to shake or ‘quake’ when they prayed or spoke.
My sweet Mary never did like Religious Titles. I never did quite fit the Silent or Quiet Quaker persona. The boys & I did a lot of crazy things at Father-Son Retreat, a lot of them the boys idea, some mine. When we were in Philadelphia we visited the site of an old ‘Free Quaker’ Church, called Free because they had no problem serving in the Revolutionary War. Being a Conscious Objector, opting out for serving in the military was & is a strong Friends/Quaker belief. There are stories of many being drafted & being used basically as human guinea pigs in Army experiments because of their belief. As you may know the term “Quaker” was a nickname given to members of the ’Society of Friends’, by others, because when filled with the Holy Spirit they were overcome & seemed to shake or ‘quake’ when they prayed or spoke.
So I never quite knew how to describe myself. One Father-Son Retreat there were 3 fathers named Larry. Our boys were running the sound & they made the announcement, to my surprise, that whenever they played the Larry Boy song [Veggie-Tales] the fathers named Larry’s had to get up on the Chapel Stage & dance as long as the song played. Dancing was an Old Quaker No-No. I guess it was that Retreat that I came up with my title, “An Evangelical, Pentecostal, Free-e-e-e Quaker. I used that term at Father-Son Retreat, Yearly Meeting & every once in a while around people & Mary gives me that, ’’I wish you hadn’t said that”, look. I often say at church gatherings of any kind, and at other places, that I have a lot of dear friends, Silent or Quiet Quakers, that I am looking forward to seeing in Heaven, but the first thing I want to do when I get there is find Casey Jones & we’re gonna Sing & Dance in the streets !!!!!!!!
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| finishing the new deck on the Big Slide Jason, Jonathan Patrick |
CAMP QUAKER HAVEN---We started going to Camp Quaker Haven, Our Yearly Meeting Camp along the Arkansas River south of Arkansas City, Ks. when Paul was 4 month old. Mary & I wanted to pass on our farm-based work ethic to our boys but since Patrick & Jason were young when we left the farm we decided doing volunteer work at CQH would be a good place. In the beginning we were one of very few families, only family is probably more accurate, that went each year. So some projects seemed to be a yearly activity for our family, like cleaning, repairing & painting the swimming pool & re-carpeting the Golf Course. We helped ‘Cooter’ Edwards rebuild the Chapel Platform one year. One year we put new boards on the Big Slide deck. Another year I helped a group of men pull up all the sections of the big slide, by hand with ropes, so they could be resurfaced them and we put them back. When the Mens & Womens Workers Cabin basements were first remodeled it was our family that put up the sheet rock to make the walls of the rooms & finished & painted the sheet rock. One time we pulled out posts that had been put around the heart by a former camp manager who apparently thought they added eye appeal to camp. We re-painted the mini golf shack a couple times. There are probably other projects the family remembers, but those are the ones that come to mind now.
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Paul [ lft], Jonathan[next] as Super Hero's in one of the years they were a part of Bobby Debusk's staff when he was coordinating MAYM Jr. Hi. & Sr. Hi. Youth Camps at CQH. I have some videos on my Larry Paxson Facebook |
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| Myself as M.C. at Father-Son Retreat |
Once I was convinced I should get a Messianic Pastor to do a Passover Meal. When I began to tell MAYM people many were not in favor, or I was warned to be very careful who I chose as if I could get someone undesirable. I shared it with Patrick & the negative vibes I was getting. He said, “If Church People are against it, it has to be God’s Plan'', sadly some times there is far too much truth in a statement like that. I called 3 Messianic Pastor, and left message on answering machines, only one responded. We visited to get to know each other, He wanted to know about Friends, & my reason for wanting him for a Passover Meal. I was interested in learning about Messianic Jews. He came & brought some of his Church Members. Mary fixed the Passover Meal. The camp cook did not want to help, it was never said but I detected some prejudices. I wanted everything authentic so I contacted several lockers before I found lamb leg bones. The Pastor & his wife were totally amazed, they had used chicken legs in all their Passover Meals. They ask of they could have the legs. I’d hoped I could convince Argonia Friends to hold a Passover Meal, Mary convinced me to give them up. The Pastors wife was so impressed with the authenticity of the meal she ask Mary to prepare theirs next years Passover Meal, it sounded as if they had others fix their passover meal, maybe another Messianic Church did so their members were free to enjoy theirs, she took Mary’s phone number, but Mary never got a call. The people of the Church taught us some Jewish Folk Dances. When it was over I got nothing but compliments, some even said it was the best FSR ever.
This is a side note but during the tenure of one Camp Manager & his wife. Mary, I & at times some of the boys went to camp on several occasions & acted as Camp Managers for a smaller weekend retreats [30-60 people] if the full time managers had something special they wanted to attend as a family. We would help Mary cook, run dishwasher & perform all the duties usually performed by Camp Staff in care & cleaning of cabins. At times we would open the Snack Bar. It was lots of work but we loved it. The groups were always great & fun to get to know.
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| Mary getting participants for Paxson Family Fun & Games before Chapel at Family Camp |
MAYM FAMILY CAMP--- The Larry Paxson family had Fun & Games at the beginning of Chapel at MAYM Family Camp on Labor Day Weekend for more years than I can remember [another 15-20 year adventure. This has been Relays & some of my Carnival Games, having Families & Groups competing & participating. Once the boys made very authentic props for doing Family Feud. Everyone loved it. At times we have had everyone in the Chapel doing an activity. Different family members have taught S.S. at Camp on Sunday morning too. We have also done some crazy things. When I weighed about 270 lbs all 4 boys dressed like I would, with hats & walking sticks, & stuffed pillows under their t-shirts & carried on [all impromptu]. The Campers loved it. Another time Patrick & Paul blew up balloons with their nose. I would pull some nonsense & tell funny stories, like the squirrel story, the first two days. But always I turned serious, with a speech about family togetherness, playing with your kids & praying over the group before the last Chapel Session when everyone was about to head home.
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| Paxson boys play basket ball at Family Camp |
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| Patrick & Paul blowing balloons with their nose |
MAYM COMMITTEES---Our Family was really involved in Mid-America Yearly Meeting activities when Patrick & Jason were in High School or just out of school. At one time we were all 4 on Yearly Meeting Committees. Mary & Jason on the Camp Board & Patrick & I were on the Missions Committee. I got on the Missions Committee in an unusual way. I had really wanted to be on the Yearly Meeting Missions Committee for years but was never asked. One Yearly Meeting I was talking to someone who was complaining how no one wanted to be on the Committee & every one they ask turned them down. I’d heard this for more than one year. After listening for a while I couldn't take any more. So I said, "Wait--Wait, I want you to say something’’. I want you to say, "Larry, would you like to be on the Missions Committee?" They did, & I said, ''YES!!!! YES!!!!, I would LOVE to be on the Missions Committee.'' I served for several years till they restructured how committees were selected.
Mary & Jason would go to meetings at Camp Quaker Haven as well as Y.M. Meetings. Patrick & My Missions meetings were always at Yearly Meeting gatherings or Mid-Board. We made several trips to Mid-Board meetings at Friendswood, Texas, a nice coastal like area, Palm trees and warm weather. Galveston is just a short distance away and the Gulf seashore was always nice.
Sometimes Yearly Meetings was held at Barclay College, which I really enjoyed. The people at the College seemed friendlier and more spiritual. They were always asking if you needed anything or how things were going.
One incident I’ll always remember & I think is funny, happened at Northridge Friends Church in Wichita at Yearly Meeting time. Patrick was in his 20's, had long hair and a beard and among other things was wearing a long trench coat. He had been sitting in the hallways of the church waiting for another meeting to start, probably.
Mae Kellum, who had been a Missionary to Burundi Africa with her husband David, both friends of ours, told me this later. She had been in the hallway when a woman had come up and whispered to her, “I think a homeless person has come into the Church, do you think we should tell someone?” and she nodded in a direction down the hall. Mae said she looked down the hall and saw Patrick sitting there. It was summer & quite hot outside & the Church was air-conditioned. Mae said she laughed out loud, I seem to remember Mae laughed a lot, I can almost hear it now. After she had quit laughing a little she informed the lady, "That's Patrick Paxson and he's on the Missions Committee with me.”
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| David Kellum [lft] David Neinsima [rht foreground] in Kwibuka, Africa. |
DAVID NEINSIMA------was the director of the School of Theology in Gitiga, Burundi, Africa. He had attended Barclay College in Haviland, Kansas. One year he was in the U.S. in an effort to raise financial support and to get teachers to teach at the College. Mary was the Bookkeeper at the Yearly Meeting Office in Wichita at that time. He didn't really have a way of getting around & no volunteers had stepped forward so I volunteered to take a week's vacation from Cessna and take him places he wanted to go. Having spent 4 years at Haviland going to college he was quite versed in English and the American Way. He could also see our culture in a humorous way. We had a great time. I would take him to visit Churches or retired teachers. It was quite humorous to listen to him. He would start out asking someone to come teach for a school year. If he didn’t succeed He’d try for a semester. On 1 person he got down to “Come teach one class for 3 months”.
He went to Barclay College admissions about getting student aid & getting 2-3 African Students enrolled. Patrick's old roommate at Barclay, Rich Sandstorm, was who he talked to. I could see Rich wasn't comfortable, so I pushed my chair back in the corner & said. "Don't mind me, I'm just the Chauffer”. That put Rich at ease & that's when the joke between David & I started about his “Chauffer”. I learned a lot about the School & Burundi and we had such a fun time together.
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