July 11, 2013
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General Assembly and US Travel
We have had a wonderful time in the United States! It has been great to see so many of you, and to eat, see, and do some of the things we’ve missed while in Ukraine.
Since the last time I wrote, we went to Indianapolis for General Assembly. Scott preached at Idianapolis Westside Church of the Nazarene. We saw friends from all over the world. Scott and I spent time going to meetings and manning two different booths at times: the CIS booth and the ERO (European Regional Office) booth. It was super busy, but also very fun!
One special person Scott saw at General Assembly was Sheryl Perkins Tedder. She was his quizzing and missions teacher when Scott was a child at Denver First Church. She made a big impact on Scott as a child. She expressed how special it was to see him now as a grown pastor and missionary!
When Scott and I left for Indy, Bekah and Sarah stayed with my parents. They had 2 ½ days to themselves with Grammy and Papa Rusty (Habegger). Then Scott’s parents drove to Fort Wayne to pick up the girls. They stayed in a hotel with Grammie and Papa Gabe (Rainey) in Indy for two nights together – we didn’t even know what hotel they stayed at! J They swam and did all sorts of other fun things like going to a movie, Chuck E. Cheese, and the library. One day they spent 7 hours at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum!
While in Indianapolis, Scott and I, (and later Curt, Jan, Bekah, and Sarah) stayed with our wonderful friends Bill, Carolyn, and Ann Morris. These people have been our dear friends and prayer warriors for many years. We again laughed and cried and prayed together, just as if we had never been apart. Scott even received his made-to-order omelets from Bill almost every morning for breakfast!
On Saturday of General Assembly week, Bekah participated in the World Quiz. It was so much fun for her to compete over the book of Acts that she had studied so diligently this year in school. She was able to sit with her South Texas District friends, Jacob Martinez and Patrick Henry, during the quiz. She received the Bronze level award and really had a great time!
After the quiz, Curt and Jan, Marilyn and Farrel, and the Kiev Raineys drove to Bloomington to meet Dan and Heather Towriss and their family. We had lunch together and then went out on their boat. We had a really fun afternoon with lots of adventures!
Scott and Bill Morris stayed glued to the livestream from the General Assembly sessions as the new generals were elected. When it all ended, the Global Church of the Nazarene had gained a new GS, and we had lost a regional director for the Eurasia Region in Gustavo Crocker. He will be a great GS. It will be interesting to see who the Lord has in mind to lead our region in the days ahead.
On Wednesday, June 26, we headed our car toward the Lone Star State. We made it to Houston on Friday evening, and stayed with our friends, Jack and Glenda Holt for our days in Houston. Scott preached on Sunday at Living Word in the English service and in the Spanish service. It was so great to see all of our Houston family!
On Monday we headed to Trinity, Texas, for South Texas District Children’s Camp. We were the guest missionaries for the week. Bekah got to be a regular camper and had a wonderful week with a counselor and girls from Living Word. As the guest missionaries, Scott and I had four groups of kids, each for 45 minutes, each day on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It was so much fun to get to know the kids and to share with them our call, work, and a little of our lives. We even got to introduce them to one of our favorite Russian cartoons, Masha and the Bear! At the end of the week we had 3 kids share with us that they had a call from God to be missionaries! Praise the Lord!
After camp, we returned to Houston. The girls and I stayed in Houston for the weekend, but Scott flew on Saturday to Lowell, Michigan, to preach in Wes Hershberger’s church. He had a great time in Michigan and was supposed to arrive back in Houston at 10:50 PM on Sunday. However, long story short, Glenda and I drove together to pick him up at 2:30 AM! Never a dull moment . . . .
Tuesday morning we loaded up our car and headed out for Tennessee to see our friends, John and Cathy Aller. We spent the night in Texarkana, Arkansas, after having spent the evening as a family watching Despicable Me 2.
We will spend a few days with the Allers on their farm, and then head north to Fort Wayne again on Saturday. We will spend our last few days there seeing family, and packing, packing, packing!
We feel like we have lived about a year in this one month that we have been home. We have had so many fun, special, and crazy experiences that we will be packing a ton of great memories in our hearts to take back with us to Ukraine. We are looking forward to the exciting things God has in store for us in this next year in the CIS. It seems our lives and ministry are constantly changing, but that keeps us relying on God. Here are some of the upcoming events for which you can help us pray:
- Bekah will start third grade at Kiev Christian Academy at the end of August
- Sarah will start homeschool preschool this fall
- Scott will be the speaker for the Ukraine District Youth Camp on the Sea of Azov in August
- Scott and Sarah will travel together to Moldova at the end of August for the Nazarene family camp
- Three ministry teams will come in and out of Ukraine in August and September
- Scott has a trip planned to the US in September to speak at the Southwest Ohio District youth
retreat
- Scott will be team-teaching an Evangelism and Church Planting class in Russia to Russian
pastors this fall, and undoubtedly taking other ministry trips within Ukraine and other countries
We love you all and pray God’s richest blessings on each of you in the days ahead!
