Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Last Fall, when they heard we were headed out to be missionaries in Peru, the first church we served as a pastor’s family (Farmville UMC) called the Mission Society to see what it was we needed. They were told we needed good luggage because, “They will be traveling more than they can even imagine right now!” I wasn’t sure I believed that entirely…until now. Over the past six months, we have traveled to Peru, Brazil, Augusta, Elberton and many places in between. As I write this post, I am sitting in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As a family, we are headed to my hometown of Broadus, Montana, where we will be working at a community Vacation Bible School as Missionaries in Residence. We are looking forward to it, but it is a long way from Georgia to Montana (yes, we are driving). Internet connections when driving are not as consistent as we would like, so I am behind right now. (Iowa, by the way, rocks! They have wireless internet connections at most (all?) of their rest areas!) Let me take a minute to review our week.

Sunday: We traveled to Elbert County, Georgia (almost in South Carolina) to speak at two churches: Eliam United Methodist Church in the morning and Elberton First United Methodist Church in the evening. It was a long day, but thanks to the hospitality of Eliam’s pastor and his wife (Wes and Dossie), we feel good about the work God is doing. The people in that part of the state are absolutely wonderful, and there is a spirit of joy and hope seeping from the architecture. We know we have a lot more prayer support now than we did a week ago. Praise be to God!

Monday: Back in Ball Ground, we finished (can a person really be completely finished?) cleaning out our house of our stuff. Right now we have boxes at three different houses and will be sorting through the boxes again soon.

Tuesday: Hit the road to visit our friends in Ringgold and to put our house in Chickamauga officially on the market with a real estate agent. She and her husband warned us the house (a double wide in an excellent location) will be hard to sell. We feel confident they are going to do their best to sell it. Both of them are Christians and are verbally supportive of our work toward and in Peru. When we went to their office to sign some papers, both Audra and I were impressed when we saw a Bible on the desk and the Lord’s Prayer on their wall. While Audra and I were doing business, they kids were at a Drama Camp with Mrs. Julia and their friends.

Wednesday: Hit the road yet again, this time heading out in the rain toward Montana. We pressed hard and made it to St. Louis, Missouri. Entering the city, we stopped at the Gateway Arch. Rather appropriate, we think. It symbolizes the gateway to the new frontier starting with Lewis and Clark’s journey to the Pacific in the early 1800s. For us, I guess is symbolizes a gateway for our new journey…

Thursday: Visited the St. Louis Zoo before heading out west again. (This is one of the best in the nation in our humble opinions–the animals are healthy, the natural landscaping is fantastic and the price is–believe it or not–free!). Again, we drove hard, crossing Missouri to Kansas City, turning north, entering Iowa and finally South Dakota (speed limit 75–woo hoo!). Our goal tomorrow is to reach Rapid City and take the kids (finally) to see Mount Rushmore.

They kids are doing great. Of course, they are kids and there have been a few tense moments cramped in the back seat of the car, but by and large, they have been much better than I imagine I ever was. Audra is doing well, too. Right now her feet are elevated to cut back on some of the swelling, but all and all, not bad. The baby is wiggling around and trying his/her best to keep Audra on her toes (I’ve felt a kick once or twice).

While driving, Audra is helping me to memorize the book of James (so far I’m only about halfway through the first chapter).

It’s getting late and I need to get to bed! Thanks for your prayers and support. You are all wonderful!