Dale

The first full week in January is the meeting of the Executive Committee meeting for the National Missionary Convention. As a past president and the selected representative for missionaries in Latin America, I attended the meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, site of the 2008 National Missionary Convention. We met on the 8th of January in the Millennium Hotel and planned out the convention for this year.To get there, I was up at three in the morning and heading for the airport by four. I caught my plane and left Cleveland a little after five. After a three hour flight and a short lay over in Houston, I caught a commuter plane for Tulsa. We landed there about 10 in the morning where Walter Birney picked me and another committee member up at the airport. Then it was right to the hotel and directly into the meeting. We worked till noon then took a break for a working lunch. Afterwards, it was back to work until we finished up in early evening.The convention is shaping up to be a great one with our president, Dr. Doug Priest, who leads Christian Mission Fellowship. While we will be limited in the number of workshops we can have, because of the small number of rooms available at the Tulsa Convention Center, we carefully selected the best and most popular from previous years. So we are looking forward to another great convention and hope all of you can attend. After a long and tiring day, I headed for my room and hit the sack.The next morning I caught a flight back to Houston and then another commuter plane up to Killeen, Texas, where I had taken an extra day for a visit to our son Alex. I was delighted to see him at the airport and to meet his wife Carole and see our new grandson for the first time. That evening, they took me on a tour of Fort Hood and then I spent the night with them at their tiny apartment off base.The next day, we visited more sights there on the base and in the area. I visited the two area churches and toured the museum of armor on the base. I invited Alex and Carole out to eat. Needless to say, I took advantage of the entire time to hold the baby and carry Jonathon Thomas around and to get to know him. It was evening before we had finished and headed back to the apartment. Again that night I slept on the couch and snuck out early for a trip to Starbucks and a big cup of coffee.Carole fixed me a great breakfast and my “all to short” visit was over. Alex and Carole took me to the airport, where I caught my flight to Houston. From there I caught another plane back to Cleveland. It would have been nice to have stayed longer, but since I am scheduled to fly back to Colombia this coming Thursday, I needed to get back and pack my bags and get ready for that flight.My time here in the States has been a great blessing. I have enjoyed visiting many of you. It was fantastic to spend time with my family and play “grandpa” to my grandchildren. Now I look forward to being back in Colombia very soon and getting back to the work. I thank you for your prayers and ask you continue to lift us up in your prayers.