Catching up after a month!

Wow, it has been ages since I've written on the blog. It just didn't seem to work into my schedule at the time, and I got side-tracked with other things. Anyway, here's a brief look at the past month. By the way, I'm writing from our home in Yukon, Oklahoma. We had a two-week break over Palm Sunday and Easter. I'm so glad that churches don't want missionary services on those weekends! It's given us a chance to get home, take care of some family issues and relax a little in our own comfort zone. But we're back on the road the day after tomorrow, Thursday, March 27.

We spent the end of February near Keymar, Maryland. We were in a good missionary convention at the Evangelical Wesleyan Church there and enjoyed the fellowship of many people in the church who overfed us and seemed like old friends. We have been in that church for their convention at least twice and one other time on a regular weekend. We had planned to spend a few days sight-seeing around Washington, D.C., but the weather was so cold it just wasn't practical to be outside much. We stayed for ten days in the home of a retired pastor and his wife, Rev. Royal and Patty Mattoon. We were actually in a little apartment with a small kitchen, so we didn't need to bother them much as far as meals were concerned. Patty and I are both quilters, so we talked a lot about quilts. They are wonderful people and we enjoyed our stay with them.

From Keymar we moved on to New Jersey for a Monday night meeting on March 3rd. A Dr. Edward Roberts had contacted our northeast regional director to find a missionary who could share in his missiology class, and since we were in the area we were happy to go to Newark. Newark is actually a rather gray, grim town, but across the river we could see the skyline of New York City. We were picked up at our motel by a young black man who had attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, OK. The school was located in the basement of an old big church. Most of the students were in the late 20s or 30s, worked during the day, and took classes three nights a week in the Bible school. OH, did I mention that we were the only white people in the building??? Yep, the church was a black church and Dr. Roberts directs the school, although he is the pastor of another black church in the city. They were wonderful, friendly people. We had a great time with them. I teased Frank that this was probably the only time he ever taught a missiology class where the students were amening and praising the Lord the whole time!

From Newark we headed towards Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where we were in another missions conference at the New Love in Christ Church. The New Love church has supported us in India for many years, and we have been to this church at least five times through the years. We stayed with our old friends, Jo and Truman Long. We have stayed with them at least two times in the past and felt like right at home with them. The conference was very good and we had fellowship with several other missionaries who also participated. Again, we were overfed and felt like stuffed turkeys!

We finished in Harrisburg on Sunday afternoon, March 9, and headed home. We had planned to follow I-70 all the way west to St. Louis, but that weekend Ohio was hit with a huge snowstorm and roads were treacherous. So we took I-81 south to eastern Tennessee and caught I-40 west. I-40 passes about two miles from our home in Yukon, so it worked out good, although the trip was a little longer that the northern route. Coming south through Virginia and west through Tennessee was a very nice drive, we would love to see it in the late spring or autumn. It's a beautiful part of the country.

Well, we got home on March 11th and had time with family, as well as catching up on things around the house. We had a good day on Easter with Laura and her family as well as Mom Dewey. We leave again on Thursday, March27th, heading toward northern New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and West Virginia. We're hoping that this time around we will be able to get to Mount Vernon and other areas around Washington, D.C.

Please pray for us as we travel and present the needs of Ukraine, as well as our own needs of financial support to get to Ukraine by the end of September. Pray for safety on the roads and contacts with people whom God has prepared by burdening their hearts for the lost souls of this world.