2009 Florida Trip

Hi friends:
We left Prospect Heights on Saturday, January 10 after an eight-inch snowfall during the night. Fortunately the snowplow came down our street a short time before we were ready to leave. Wilmore, KY (home of Asbury College and Asbury Seminary) was our first stop where we stayed with friends for two nights. It was a relaxing time after a few very hectic weeks for both Rosie and me. Our next stop was Acworth, GA for two nights at the Hills. Sam is working in Greensboro, NC now so he wasn't home, but we enjoyed the time with Fran and the family. We also had a delightful lunch with the Talleys, good friends from Emmaus Bible School days in the fifties.

We arrived at Wycliffe Associates headquarters on schedule, where we are parked in their spacious RV park, way back at the end of the line! There are about 75 motorhomes and trailers in the park right now. Some people had to be turned away! The big news down here for a few days was the cold weather. Several mornings we had a hard frost, but nothing like Chicago with 0 and 5 below! Today was a near-record warm day--about 82; now that is what I like!
After a few days here Rosie flew to Orange County, CA for several weeks with our daughter, Karen, and also to see her sister and brother. There are over a hundred and fifty people here at Wycliffe Associates (WA) so I am not alone, but I do miss Rosie. There are some couples here with whom we worked in England last January-March and one couple from Valence, France. There are others that we remember from our month here in 2007.
Every day we have devotions together at 8 a.m., then work til noon and again from 1 to 4:30 with a coffee break mid-morning and afternoon. People work in all kinds of areas--kitchen, office, sewing, landscaping, digging ditches and the building construction. There are about 25 to 30 of us who are working on the new addition to their offices, the building we worked on two years ago. Another 10 or so help in cleaning up, fixing tools, shopping for supplies, etc. Not many work really hard but a lot of work gets done and they are all volunteers paying to be here! These people love the Lord and are serious about helping in the goal of Bible translation.

Most of the time I have been working with a plumber installing pipes for the water supply, drains, restrooms, etc. It has been fun working with him and learning some new tricks of the trade!

Rosie and I had dinner with Dave and Linda Marcy on MLK day which was a holiday here. They have been working with Wycliffe Bible Translators for about 30 years since we sent them out from our church. Last Sunday I enjoyed visiting their church which moved into a new building in 2007.

I enjoyed the service and will probably be attending there in future Sundays. It is a church very much like our home church, Arlington Countryside Church; the music was similar, format, etc. The people were very enthusiastic, energetic, engaged and the pastor gave a good, biblical and practical message.
As plans are now we will be staying here until about mid-March and then head back home to take care of many details, such as selling the home of a friend who recently moved into assisted living. Rosie has been very involved in that transition.
Well, until next time, thanks for traveling with us.