Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Next stops: Iowa and Minnesota

Well, friends, here I (Chris) am at home and Frank is on the road. I feel a little guilty about not being with him as he travels, but for various reasons I am staying home during the month of June. First of all, I have a couple of doctor appointments---nothing serious, just those yearly check-ups and follow-ups. Secondly, I just needed to stop and stay at home for a few more weeks. When we travel, my weight balloons and I have a lot of stomach trouble due to my intolerance of high fat foods. So, I am fighting to get my weight back down to what it was before we started traveling and I'm trying to really watch out for those foods that make me have abdominal pain and IBS. I'm on the treadmill almost every day and am feeling pretty good.

But that means that Frank has to travel by himself for long hours on the road. Right now he is in Oskaloosa, Iowa, attending the Iowa Holiness Association Campmeeting. We lived in Oskaloosa before we went to India. In fact, our son Evan was born in Osky. We know a lot of people there and World Gospel Mission has a strong presence in the area. Frank is the assigned missionary for the campmeeting and speaks on Thursday and Friday. When I talked to him on the phone last night he was in the old, old cemetary in University Park, the home of Vennard College. The cemetary is a wonderful old place. You can see the headstones of many of the old holiness preachers and missionaries. In fact the grave of Cecil Troxel, the first WGM missionary (to China) almost 100 years ago is there. There's nothing scary about that cemetary. It is a wonderful place to roam and read the headstones of marvelous people who served the Lord so faithfully.

Now, on to more serious things. If you've been reading the news you know that there are floods in Iowa. Frank says that Oskaloosa is okay, but some of the places he wanted to visit next week may still be underwater. He has two cousins in northern Iowa, one near Waterloo where there was some flooding. So he's going to play it by ear and wait to see how the situation develops. Later next week he will be in central Minnesota for another campmeeting. He's not in a good place as far as weather is concerned right now or next week!

What am I doing at home? Walking the treadmill, quilting, seeing doctors, checking up on Frank's mom, and spending time with our Laura and her kids. All in all, a pretty good situation!

Pray for Frank as he travels and continue to pray that our financial support will come in so we can get to Ukraine in the fall. Thanks for thinking about us.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Chris and Frank. Know we follow your blog all the time and you are in our prayers. You guys are so amazing. I drove cross country a couple times when I was 19...and found it hard. Wow!!

I don't know what God is working in you guys through this incredible journey...but I know it will inform your future ministry in Berdyansk. :-)

Brother in Christ,
Mark Graham (Louisburg, NC)