A new Retirement Plan

Sunday, December 19, 2021 Retirement has again taken another turn for us. We are now mostly settled into our sweet home in the Mountains of North Carolina! Peggy, after nearly 40 years is again in her home state and Kent is happy with mountains after growing up in the mountains of Idaho. We also have plenty of room for any of you to visit and we will give you the view of a lifetime (second only to Mount Kilimanjaro that is). One might wonder how we are filling all our “empty” hours in this new retirement setting. Indeed we are about 7 miles up the mountain from Franklin so not so social, so far. However, we have found a really good small church. It is Evangelical Presbyterian and the pastor is a very good expositor of the Scriptures. We have joined a small group of about 10 people and are slowly learning of the other activities of the church. Many of the other couples and singles there are retired like us. We have joined the Franklin Fitness Center to keep our “old bones” moving. Another way we are filling our days is with home repair. So far we have replaced or resurfaced all the floors in the house. We have completely torn out the master shower and reinstalled a new one to prevent mold and leaking. We are replacing the kitchen counters and many of the big windows that have lost their seal as well as the two sliding glass doors to the deck. We knew the house needed some TLC but were amazed at how much it needs. Most of the houses in our area are built as summer homes so making it four-seasonal has been a process. All we have to do is sit in the living room and gaze at the view to be assured we chose the right house for retirement. You have to come and see for yourself what a lovely place we are in now. Kent is continuing to work on his book in hopes that it will be published this next year. He is attending a Christian Writer’s conference in Asheville, NC in mid February in hopes of getting the right contacts for obtaining an agent to move the book toward publication. He is also beginning to work on other writing projects. Of course, he is always busy reading some HEAVY material. Peggy is enjoying the changing seasons and decorating the house. I have also done some knitting and sewing. I am also enjoying cooking and cleaning without such a busy schedule. I will say that both of us notice the big change in our lives from our busy Rafiki mission life to life in the USA. We hope to go to Tanzania to help out for a few weeks in April/May of 2022. We do miss the work and our friends there, but we are continually reminded that our time to retire to the States had come. We love to hear from all of you and are so enjoying the Christmas updates we are receiving. We missed that so much when we were in Africa. We are a bit slow in getting out a Christmas letter this year but we do hope that all of you are enjoying a peaceful relaxing Christmas. Anna will join us from London and that is a blessing. May the peace and joy that only Christ can bring dwell in your hearts as minds as you are reminded of the magnificent gift God gave us in Christ. May we all stand in awe that He came to suffer and die for our sins so we can dwell in heaven with Him. With loving and thankful hearts, Kent and Peggy Martin div class="separator" style="clear: both;">