God's Mercies are Faithful

The last couple weeks have been filled with comings and goings.

After we moved out of our Blacksburg apartment, we drove the 700+ miles to Orlando for a soul-nourishing conference with other missionaries at Pioneers Headquarters. What a feeling of being understood there was as we missionaries related stories of how God is working on the mission field and in our own lives. Then we drove back.

We sold the Mercury Sable that has served us well for six months. And this time, my passport returned to me on time with the proper renewal and visa all in place.

This week has held final good-byes to our sending church, Blacksburg Christian Fellowship, and our home group. Tears were shed! That group has been so loving.

Tomorrow, a man from our home group will drive us to Roanoke so we can pick up a rental car. Our widow friend in Northern Virginia will keep us overnight tomorrow, and Friday we head to San Francisco and a family reunion at Asilomar. We've been looking forward to the reunion for a long time! Fourteen Rosies will have fun together before our departure for PNG!

Even as we must say good-byes, God has been reminding me of His faithfulness:

Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David. Isaiah 55:3

Read our June 2008 Prayer Letter

We have added a new feature to our website. You may now view our prayer letters right here as part of our blog. Click on this link Pair O' Grafs' Paragraphs to view our June 2008 prayer letter. As always let us know what you think by adding your comments.

Able-Bodied Crew Helps Us Move

One of the blessings of being associated with a body of believers like BCF is believers show up with their bodies to help other believers in need.

We were very blessed to have a team of dedicated young folk show up at our door at 8:00 a.m. on a Thursday morning to help us to load our truck with the belongings from our apartment.

The five you see standing on the lift gate include Sydney, Jenny, Heidi, Dori and Nathan. Two others are not pictured: Daniel and Kevin. All but Kevin are headed to a short-term mission trip to South Africa. Kevin is going to do a short-term trip to West Virginia.

These folk represent the arms and legs of our Lord. They gave up a morning of sleeping in to help us, and we are most grateful.

In addition our children helped us load some of our other belongings the night before. Thanks to them as well.

Preparing to Move

Thanks to you who prayed for our long trip last week-end. We did avoid the traffic: a tornado watch kept some people off the roads. The wind and rain were fierce at the top of the Chesapeake Bay bridge, but God saw us through. And the fellowship was sweet with the Mid-Shore Community Church. That little congregation is taking hold on the Eastern Shore. One woman physician in the church even funded a scholarship for a female student at the Christian Leaders' Training College.

This week, we are washing up winter clothes and preparing to pack them for storage. For things we no longer need, it's also been intriguing to try our hand at selling them on Craig's List. Responses have been immediate!

The round of "last things" is beginning. Last dinner for our kids at our apartment. Last time to visit this friend or that one... Those things are difficult. We're feeling the sadness of good-byes.