Adventures Away

We're back! At least some of us are. The rest should be home... well, right now we don't know just when to expect them! But maybe that's getting ahead of myself.

First off, those of us who traveled to Southern Illinois enjoyed an excellent weekend serving alongside of fellow ICHE board members Ken & Jeri Sisson, and family, and also convention coordinators Greg & Jane Hughes and their daughters.


The Lord used Mr. Wakefield's messages to touch many hearts and lives through the weekend - including ours. Mr. Wakefield has been speaking at ICHE conventions for the last 9 years and is still among the most requested speakers.

Leroy & Rachel Hostetler are an Amish couple that have been attending ICHE conventions for at least the past 4 years. This year they brought all five of their children (ages 7mos-8yrs) with them and spent all day Saturday at the conference... and then eagerly invited us to stop at their house on our way home for dinner on Sunday. We did and had a very enjoyable time with them. Their children are the happiest Amish/Mennonite children I have ever met. Of course, I've not had the opportunity to meet very many of them! They have found themselves somewhat on the outs in their Amish community due to the way they raise their children and the fact that they homeschool, and were so delighted to spend an afternoon talking with a "likeminded family."


Of course, Amish hospitality included not only a delicious meal but also taking their "English" guests out for a buggy ride! We visited their grandpa's farm (he raises elk and deer) and spent some time at the pond. Picture taking is disapproved of in the Amish community, but they did allow us to take a couple of pictures during our visit.



Meanwhile, in another part of the country, a different drama was being lived out...

Remember all those guys who traveled out to New York last week? Well, their Sunday afternoon was spent at the graduation party of someone in New York that they didn't know, playing volleyball and football in "what must have been 100 degree weather" and then piling into a borrowed car and driving an hour and a half back to their hotel in Syracuse. What, why & wherefore? Weren't they supposed to be home Sunday night? Well, Saturday after they had finished their work at the convention, Josh pulled up his suburban and trailer to load up all his equipment and they found a large puddle of oil beneath his truck. They added another quart of oil and watched it drain right out.

The long and short of it is that they loaded up the trailer and someone else towed it back to the hotel for them. Somebody else made some calls and got the suburban towed to a local dealer for them for free, someone came forward with a station wagon for the boys to use during their extended stay in New York, someone invited them to join them for church Sunday morning and a graduation lunch and party afterwards!

Josh just called and said that the mechanic is looking at the vehicle right now and so we await to hear just what is wrong, how long it will take to fix what's wrong, and when they can start for home. More updates to come!

Too bad life is so boring...