Routine & Rebates

'Tis good to be back in Central Texas, settling in again after our two month trip to the east and north. Still catching up with accounts, correspondence, doctor & dentist appointments. The 6:30 AM Men's Bible study today was great as Gary taught us the significance of Biblical adoption. Phil, Roy, Doyle, John and Bob are good friends who greeted me, wanting to know how it went on our 6,000 miles of driving in past two months. Went great, I explained, even as gasoline prices went up! Cost us 6.8 cents per mile first part of trip and 8.9 cents for second half to keep the Nelsons' 2000 Honda Civic glidding smoothly over the great roads of America. $3 a gallon is still less than the $4 plus that we will be paying in Brazil when we return in July. Maybe the $100 gas rabate proposal will become a reality by then! Even so, it's a long shot to imagine it actually reaching us there.

How did they remember all that?

Greetings fromTexas! Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas sure were hot when we made our way south beginning of this week. Visited some great friends and told our story to a number of children, youth, parents and even some retired folks. Hardly anyone was aware that Brazil nuts really grow in hard pods like that in the Amazon jungle. And, of course, our dried piranha evoked genuine interest from young and old. One 3rd grader asked his mom to take his picture with it after breakfast for show and tell... Found our nice apt. awaiting here, a delicious supper ready for us at grandma's house and plenty of chatting to get caught up with. Today we are doing laundry, accounts and shopping for groceries. Mail awaiting us included interesting letters written by 6th graders in Alabama who heard our presentation back in February. Apparently their teacher had them write us right after our visit, thus the vivid details of things they remembered: the color of Brazilian money, how Brazil nuts grow, that there are McDonalds there, our funny mistakes in learning Portuguese, different fruits and foods, a song we taught them, that Brazil has won the soccer World Cup 5 times, about umbrella ants, iron ore exports, 40 to 60 cell phones there, that the gov. is a democracy, and that the climate is hot where we work. Did we really say all that?? Many said they are praying for us as we go back this summer to continue our ministry. Was good to get those letters....

Travels & Stuff

Over the past week we have driven from the Detroit area, stopping to visit friends in northern Indiana. Since our destination was Siloam Springs, AR, we made a stop in Branson, MO to enjoy a patriotic show called Celebrate America, an excellent presentation that renewed our appreciation for our homeland's outstanding history. Since Friday we are visiting son Mark in Siloam Springs, enjoying our chats and doing some stuff together, even helping a bit with the landscapping project of his and Joy's new home. Tomorrow we are off again, first to Kansas, back to Oklahoma and finally two stops in northern Texas before arriving in Temple on Thursday, the 20th, Lord willing. It has been a great trip, two months total away from Temple, but it will also be great to be back in one place for awhile! How long that 'awhile' will be depends on when Marcy's baby decides to be born over in Florida!