"Showers of Blessings"

As we sit in an Amsterdam hotel at 4AM and sleep alludes us, the great hymn “Oh how sweet to trust in Jesus” is running through my head. The hymn continues…. “Just to take Him at His Word. Just to rest upon his promise……Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, How I’ve proved Him or’er and Or’er. Jesus Jesus precious Jesus.. Oh for GRACE to TRUST HIM MORE.

Many planes and flights

I think this hymn sums up our recent “furlough” visit to the States. It was a very precious visit with lots of people visited and much “reporting” of our work in Africa and a fair amount of plain fun. A missionary soon learns that “HOME” is a word we use about many places we LIVE but does not really fit the usual definition of home. I think we learn that home is truly a place we are looking forward to in heaven and not to be found on this earth. We call our Village in Africa “home” but truly we will never fit in there as we are not native to the area. We call our house in Florida “home” but we have never really lived there. We call North Dakota “home”, however, we don’t even have a house there now and many we knew there are no longer living there after 5 years. Yes we have been gone more than 5 years now. I don’t say this to bemoan our existence at this stage in our lives as we both love what we do and plan to continue as long as the Lord grants us health, but I note this as how life is to us.

Our time in the states began with our dear friend Larry Renner picking us up at the airport and taking us to our house in Florida. He graciously did his even with his wife off in Arizona attending a very sick father. The Renners have been dear friends for at least 20 years.

We were in the States on our recent visit a bit more than 4 weeks. It was a great time. Anna, our daughter, made a visit for a few days and we relished our time with her just catching up and loving on each other. We made a presentation to a church in Florida that supports our work and had wonderful interest and feed back from that group of people there. 

We both had some extensive dental work while in the States. I, Peggy, had a crown replaced that was damaged by some African dental work and an implant started. Kent needed and received a root canal during the visit. We were blessed with some amazing donations toward this expensive investment and one large donation even from a dentist! We are truly blessed in so many ways.

We had lots of rain during our time and many of you know that I love rain. “Showers of blessing” I would say for sure. Rain can be messy but for some reason i just love the sound of rain and the cleansing of the environment around me. Our time in Bismarck was indeed showered with many blessings in addition to the rain. We were hosted as usual with our dear friends Randy and Raylene Alexander. They understand our needs and our desires when we come to Bismarck. They graciously pick us up and then give us their car to use and their home to come and go as we need. We have medical and dental appointments while we are their and many people to connect with over coffee, or lunch, or dinner. They also integrate us into their family as their girls and grandkids come for visits with us while we are there. It really does feel like “HOME”. We also were able to give a presentation to our church family in Bismarck with a fun dessert fellowship on Sunday afternoon. We were able to meet with several couples who would like to come out to our “home” in Africa to see and participate in our work there.. Yes, we ate far too much so cutting back is coming soon :(.  

Rain clouds

When we arrived back in Florida after our visit to Bismarck, it was pouring rain so much that we nearly had to pull off the highway to be able to proceed. We got to the house  safely and noticed as we drove into our driveway that one of our trash containers, located inside a small PVC fence, was turned over out in the yard. This was evidence that a bear had likely climbed into the enclosure and been able to open the fence and empty the trash can. As Kent cleaned up the mess he noticed about 4 pieces of mail in the mix and when looking at the mail I was sure we would not have thrown them out as one even had a small refund check enclosed. I just thought perhaps we were in a hurry and not careful. When we arrived in Amsterdam, my dear friend of 30 years asked if I had received the package she had sent and I said no, I guess it had yet to come. She followed the tracking on the package and found it had indeed been delivered on October 3 (when we were in ND) and placed by the garage door which is by the enclosed trash area. Of course she knows me well and there was dark chocolate in the box. Well, that also explains the mail on the lawn as mailman often puts the day’s mail with a package when he has to deliver it to the door. SO….the bear ate my chocolate and no telling what it did with my Christmas gift that my dear friend wanted me to be able to return to Africa with. Oh well it was all good for a good laugh for sure. 

I will also note that we did have a dusting of snow while in ND. We also had wonderful connections and visits at the "STEER INC" conference while we were there. We have around 14 cows that are sponsored by STEER and farmers for the support of our work. Only 4 days after we left ND they had a first class midwest BLIZZARD!! 

STEER conference

Birthday celebration with Anna and Andrew

We were greeted in Amsterdam by Anna and her boyfriend Andrew who made the trip from London to be with us for our 21 hour layover here. We had a really nice afternoon visit and then went into Amsterdam for a wonderful dinner at an Indian restaurant. We celebrated Kent’s birthday which is tomorrow and Anna’s which is in November. And yes it was raining nearly all day. 

So now we are headed HOME and will be there in our own little bed by tonight. I am looking forward to the RAIN in the forecast and listening to it fall on our metal roof. I am looking forward to seeing our friends and catching up on stories. I am looking forward to seeing my “children” and hearing their stories of life while we were away. We are both looking forward to the work God has given us for now. Most of all we are looking forward to having “GRACE to trust Him more”. May we all be reminded that God does indeed shower us with many blessing in many ways.