We are safely back from our 10,354 mile road trip. We had one near miss in Oklahoma when a tire came off a big rig and God protected us. We are so thankful to have been able to reconnect with many family, friends and churches all over the country. Even with all those miles on the road we didn’t get to see everyone we wanted to see.
One of the stops on our trip was to the area where the Ethnos360 missionary training center is located to attend our daughter Rachel’s wedding. Rachel and Albion were married on July 16th and it was a beautiful ceremony and a joyful gathering of many people we know and love. Some we’ve known for years and some, like Albion’s family, we just met. Please pray for Rachel and Albion Merrick as they continue in the missionary training.
After the wedding we worked our way down to Florida to spend a couple weeks with Shari’s family. Then we headed up towards Wisconsin making stops along the way. In Kentucky we were able to stop at the Ark Encounter exhibit and tour the scale replica of Noah’s Ark and the Creation Museum. That is a must see if you ever get the chance.
In Wisconsin we spent about a week staying near the Ethnos360 Bible campus. Jason was able to get to know the area and start applying for a job before school started. We reminisced over all the wonderful memories from when Shari and I attended the same school back in the 80’s. Please pray for Jason as he begins this 2-year course in Biblical Studies. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Jason, the last of our 4 children, and head home to California. So, yes, we are officially empty nesters now.
Since arriving back in California we have been getting settled in and doing some projects around the house. Doctor, dentist and eye appointments have been keeping us somewhat busy. In between the appointments we are slowly getting back into translation work. Speaking of translation, we were finally able to get a call through to our translation helper, Raymond. It was wonderful to hear his voice again. He mentioned that the Simbari church in Port Moresby was able to put up a little building in their settlement for meetings. They also want to teach a literacy class as soon as they can bring down a box of primers and flashcards from the resource library in the tribe. They have been teaching through Hebrews. It’s not always easy to live out what you have been taught so please pray for the Simbari church – for the believers to boldly share their faith, to walk in the Truth, and for their lives to be showing the light and love of Christ to those around them.