For the last month, I have been back up in the States as I take advantage of the semester break from teaching and preaching in Colombia. This allows me to spend time here with my family and yet permits me to teach each semester in the graduate school of our Christian College program in Colombia.
I arrived back at the very end of October. My wife, my daughter Susy and her husband were at the airport in Cleveland to meet me. I picked this specific time as it is the end of the teaching semester in the Colombian educational system and is also just in time for my wife’s birthday. Also, I took advantage of those first days to visit the grandchildren and my other daughter, Wendy.
But also, as is typical with the peripatetic nature of the missionary ministry, I began traveling to and speaking at churches almost immediately. The second weekend back up was the missions fair at Orrville Christian Church. The next week I flew down to Florida to speak at a missions fair in Orlando. That weekend I preached for all three services, spoke to the college age youth group that Sunday evening, and then on Monday spoke to the chapel service at the Christian day school and visited Florida Bible College before catching my flight back up to Cleveland.
Then two days later I headed to Cincinnati, Ohio, for the National Missionary Convention. There I enjoyed the sessions and visiting with other missionaries and church leaders. But I also had a workshop on the difficult subject of bribing when traveling to and working on a mission field and had a prayer session at the youth convention. It was a great convention and if you did not make it down you missed and exciting event.
The following week was Thanksgiving and we had a very nice family gathering on that special day. Both daughters and their husbands were over as were our grandchildren. Alex did not make it back as he is just returning to the States from his second tour of duty with the Army. That weekend I preached at Orrville Christian Church so the minister could attend a family gathering.
Then I did a rare thing for me; I took a week off and went deer hunting. But even there I mixed business as I had invited Dewayne Liebrandt to hunt with me. So we hunted in the day and planned our efforts in deaf ministry in Colombia in the evenings. We were successful on the hunt as well as we both got deer.
My first month back has been a great time of sharing with my family and with our supporting churches as well. It keeps me busy in ministry as I am able to enjoy family time as well. Now I have December, which will be much of the same as I complete this cycle and this year with the semester break here in the States.