May 18, 2013

Well, it’s official; I am taking a full-year furlough, beginning in August. Finally, after 14 years. Yep, I need it! I hope to base out of my parents’ home in Wisconsin and travel to see as many of you (in the continental US and Canada) as possible. Yep, all the way out to Deer Park, Washington, and British Columbia, down to southern California, over to Sanford, Florida, and on up to Maine and Ontario, and pretty much everywhere in between. Can’t wait to see you all! For some of you, it’s been 25 years since we’ve seen each other face-to-face.

The past few months have seemed like a mini-roller coaster ride. I’d like to share a few of the struggles and blessings I’ve experienced just this week.

My Mexican church Jerusalen has offered to give me 4 free invitations to a Kids’ Camping trip the first week of April. So Monday I went out to the Brickyard to invite 4 kids that I thought could really benefit from the 3-day camping trip. While I was talking to Lupe and her kids, a well-dressed lady approached and, well, kind of rudely interrupted us in order to promote her “mission.” She was from church that was going to be doing a campaign at the Brickyard – guess when? Yep, the same days as the camping trip. She kept going on and on about how the Americans were coming and would be bringing “blessings,” i.e., STUFF. Clothing, toys, shoes, groceries, etc. Who would want to miss that??? Oh, and btw, “we’re building a church and dining hall here at the Brickyard.”

Hello there! It’s been awhile since I’ve written, mainly because I’ve been fighting through 3 colds in the past 2 months. Talk about being “under the weather”! Thankfully I am much better now and just in time for a lot of activity at the Brickyard!