Monday, June 1, 2009

Past, present and future trips

Back from one more trip and 3 more on the horizon....

The 19th of May, my best friend Rodney, his wife Maggie, their baby Hannah, Maggie’s sister Hayley, and I piled into a rented Kia Sedona mini-van to make our way to Maggie and Hayley’s brother and sister-in-law’s house in Walton, KY (just south of Cincinnati). The 14.5 hour trip seemed to fly by. Even with a 9-mo old, we made minimal stops and I feel like we made great time...even with stopping for dinner at Chick-fil-A (Hannah’s first Chick-fil-A experience)!

The day following our day-long journey, I left the house early to spend some time with some pastors/leaders at nearby churches. I spent time with Howard Megill at the KY state offices, Brett Talley and Jeff Perkins at Mt. Sterling Church of God, my cousin Jeremy Zerkle (grad student at Asbury), and two new friends from Eastland Church of God in Lexington, Dave and Marty Sperow. It was a long day, but totally worth it!

The rest of my time in Kentucky, I tried to relax a bit. It didn’t really happen all the time, but the opportunities I was able to relax were such a welcomed blessing! Now I’ve been back for almost a week and I’m planning for my next three upcoming trips.

First trip.....this Friday I am flying out to Roanoke, Va to spend the next week talking with different churches. The goal is to visit churches in the following: Roanoke, Chillhowie, Dublin, Blacksburg, Fairfax, and maybe others. I am grateful to these pastors for letting me interrupt their busy schedules.

Second trip....I will be flying to Indiana from June 24 - July 6 to not only spend time at NAC in Anderson, but also to visit with pastors/churches and to try to spend some time with my brother before I leave for Europe again. Can’t wait to see him, but not too excited about all the work that I’ll be doing! :-)

Third trip....July 11-18 I will be heading to House of Blessing orphanage in Haiti with a group of about 50. This trip is for a couple of reasons....first of all, I just was ready to do a missions trip. I’ve been in the states now for almost a whole year and I’m itching to experience something different again, if only for a week! Secondly, my church (South Lake Wales Church of God) has partnered with House of Blessing for many years now and so I will be going as a part of the Missions Task Force to see first hand the ministry that’s taking place. I am thoroughly excited about this trip, however, I’m focused on the first two first!