Almost Heaven??? West Virginia OR How Can ALL the Wheels Fall Off at the Same Time

Wow, South Africa was the last time I wrote a post?!?  SOOOO much has happened since South Africa and when we arrived back in Mission, TX on April 24^th.

We came back the the United States and (as we are wont to do it seems) we started our first Sojourn 3 days later.  For the 5th straight year we went to do a Spiritual Sojourn at Port Lavaca, Texas from April 27^th– May 10^th. This one was different from the 4 previous Sojourns in that they had visiting preachers from other congregations come to do most of the preaching.  I spoke one night because the local preacher that was supposed to speak that night had started preaching at a different congregation too far away to still come.

The Group of Sojourners at Port Lavaca, Texas in 2018. (L-R - Myself, David Johnson, Irene, Janie Mullins, Mary Hale, Barbara Catterton, Linda Shelton, Larry Shelton, Gene Catterton, Phillip Mullins)

Following Port Lavaca we had a spiritual sojourn at a church in Stuttgart, Arkansas (“the rice AND duck capital of the world”) with almost all black members.  This went from May 17^th– 31^st The local preacher there, Keith Bryant, is heading up a drug addiction recovery program in town that has been very effective. While there the Lord’s Church had 5 new souls baptized into their Lord, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  We also had a gospel meeting that I preached there.  The Meeting Lessons were based on some popular Christian Songs:

Sunday AM Bible Study - Jesus Loves me - for the Bible tells me so
Sunday AM Sermon - Because He Loved Me So
Sunday PM Sermon - I Was Sinking Deep in Sin
Monday PM Sermon - Up From the Grave He Arose
Tuesday PM Sermon - I Serve a Risen Savior
Wednesday PM Sermon - Prepare to Meet Thy God

The Group of Sojourners at Stuttgart, Iowa: (L-R - Don Hudson, Rosemary Hudson, Larry Scott, Della Scott, Jim Gordon, Irene Gordon, Nadine Huddleston, Mike Huddleston)

One of the young ladies that was baptized studied with Irene.  Irene has led numerous individuals to the Lord with her “Double Bible Study” of the Gospel.  Two identical Bibles are used – 1 by Irene and 1 by the Student.  That way Irene can just refer to page numbers and the person doesn’t need to know all of the books of the bible and where they are found.

We left Stuttgart and went immediately to Le Mars, Iowa to have a combined spiritual/physical sojourn with the church there from June 1^st– 22^nd. Le Mars is the “Ice Cream Capital of the World.”  Blue Bunny Ice Cream is manufactured there.  

Sojourner Team in Le Mars, Iowa:  (Top to Bottom)

Linda and Joe Thomas; Wendall and Marilynn Evans; Jim and Irene

Irene had some physical issues there that kind of limited her participation.  I taught my instructional “Using the Biblical Concept of ‘Covenant’ to Interpret Scripture."  This was a 2 ½ week long sojourn.  Unfortunately, we didn’t do any door-knocking or have a gospel meeting there. 

Following the Le Mars Sojourn we went to visit Junzo, Emma, Maeda and Rowan and Fumiko in Durham, North Carolina.  Junzo is the Radiation Oncology MD in charge of the Gynecological Radiation Oncology Division at Duke University.  His wife Emma and he have to 2 children, Maeda is 9 and Rowan is 6.  Junzo is our oldest son.  Fumiko is our youngest daughter and is in the 5^th year of her residency in Radiation Oncology at Duke.  We dropped off the Trekker at Spencer, West Virginia where our next sojourn was and drove down to Durham for the 4^th of July holiday week.

After the 4^th, we headed back to Spencer, West Virginia.  You may remember that we were SUPPOSED to have a sojourn in Spencer last year which was cancelled because Irene had her heart attack and heart catherization.  Well, the Spencer Bug bit again this year.  We were there to conduct the VBS that was SUPPOSED to be last year, but Irene had some “Scintillating Scotomas.”  For all of us non-medical types, that means that she started getting areas in her field of vision that were wavy or just weren’t there at all or were like pixilated starbursts.  This was one of the issues that she had in Le Mars.  When she went to an ophthalmologist for it there, she was told that she should immediately go to the emergency room if it ever happened again because this CAN be a warning that a stroke is occurring.  So, when it occurred again in Spencer – off to the ER we went.  Spencer isn’t big enough to have a trauma type ER.  It has an ER where they assess you and if its bad enough they send you to one of the 3 or 4 big hospitals in the state.  She got shipped to Parkersburg, WV and was in the hospital for a week while they poked and prodded and tested.  Bottom line, she has “visual migraines.”  This is the BEST kind of migraine, I suppose, there are no actual headaches with them.

The Sojourner Team in Spencer, West Virginia: 

(L - R - Marvin Wynn, Jim Gordon, Eloise Wynn, Irene Gordon)

Thank the Lord that the Wynns - Eloise and Marvin, had signed up for the sojourn also. For the first week, while Irene was in the hospital, the Wynns went around to all of the businesses and asked to put out flyers inviting kids to the VBS (Vacation Bible School).  I was driving the 45 miles one way to Parkersburg to be with Irene. (As an aside, the curvy roads throughout West Virginia countryside are kind of like being on a Formula 1 racetrack, LOTS of fun to drive if you are a man without his wife in the car!).  The second week is when the VBS actually took place: Sunday, July 15^th– Wednesday, July 18^th.  The lessons were on the theme “Trust and Obey.” Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and the Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3); Daniel and the Lion’s Den (Daniel 6); Esther and the Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection on the 4^th night.

As if Irene being in the hospital wasn’t enough on our plate while in West Virginia, I had my very first ever bout of “pancreatitis” while there.  I wake up at 3 AM for my normal “I’m 65 and have to go to the potty in the middle of the night” wee-wee and BAM I’m taken to my knees with a red-hot-poker-like stab of pain in my right side just below my rib cage.  Irene is still in the hospital herself 45 miles away and now I’m under assault from something.  I figured out pretty fast that it was too high to be my appendix, so I decided to dial 9-1-1 put didn’t push <SEND> on my cellphone.  I got into the car and drove at a slower clip than usual to the hospital Irene was in to the ER. (I at least wanted to be in the same hospital as the one that she was in!).  I was ready to push <SEND> if I had needed to pull over and have the EMTs come to pick me up somewhere on the way, but I managed to make it.  My blood test showed that it was pancreatitis (I had Lipase #s of 484 for you med types; normal is below 100).  I was put on a “4 day clear-liquids” diet and kicked down the road.  Phew, we both didn’t end up admitted!

And as if all of THAT wasn’t enough.  I’m coming back from seeing Irene in the hospital on Saturday, July 14^th and the Transmission on our 2017 Ford Expedition EL dies!  You MUST be kidding me!?!?!  Praise the Lord, the ONLY car dealership in Spencer is a Ford Dealership. So, into the shop goes the Expedition.  BUT, being a small town, they are 2 weeks out on Transmission Repairs. So, after the Sojourn was done on the 19^th we ended up staying in Spencer until the 27^th waiting for the car to be repaired.  

CAN WE GET OUT OF WEST VIRGINIA FAST ENOUGH!

We drove from West Virginia to Traverse City, Michigan to visit Matthew and Janine French for a couple of days.  Until 2½ years ago we knew them as house parents at Shults-Lewis Children’s Home.  They left after 13 years and Matthew became the evangelist at the Traverse City church of Christ.  They love it there and are as happy as pigs in slop.  The men there are going to talk about having a sojourn there.

Matthew and Janine French.  Matthew now  preaches at the 

Traverse City church of Christ in Traverse City, Michigan

That brings you up to date.  Tomorrow we begin the Listening Lab here in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  It ends Saturday and we are headed to Lafayette, IN to take a couple of weeks off and catch up on some Medical Appointments.  Following that we head (driving our car only) to Toronto for 8-10 days and then we have the Shults-Lewis Sojourn from August 30^th– September 20^th.  On the way down to the Sojourner Workshop in October, I am preaching a Gospel Meeting in Grayville, Illinois from October 1^st– 4^th.  The Camp Bee Workshop starts as early as it is possible to begin this year – on Monday, October 8^th.  Since it always begins the 2^nd Monday in October, the earliest it can begin is the 8^thof October and the latest it can begin is on the 14^thof October.