I had such an amazing time in the States and enjoyed connecting with so many family, friends and supporters! Everyone was so encouraging and I was truly blessed by all of the conversations. I thought I would jot down a few memories from my summer.
First up: Dallas, TX
I grew up in the Midwest and when a kid, spent time with some of my cousins (Jenny, Mindy and Sarah) at my grandma's home in MN. When I was ten, they moved to Texas. Another cousin, Sarah (from Florida) and I met a few years ago for the first time when she was working in Germany. So, my first week and a half was spent with all of these amazing cousins! We had phenomenal Tex-Mex food, watched David and Mindy's kids swim like fish, spent time chatting with each of my cousins, heard hilarious stories from Jenny (I think she is the best storyteller I have ever come across), won the combined adult and children's cannonball into the pool for the Bishop Olympics (won a gold medal; I was doing a cannonball for Lettie who is 2), ate so much amazing food, shared stories around the table on the back patio with family (heard a few new ones!), went for early morning runs/walks (jetlag), spent time with 4 fun kids (zoo visit, Tai Kwon Do, bike rides, birthday party and more!), made friends with Maisy dog (easy) and Mala dog (harder) and Sugar dog (hardest) and so many more memories that I am unable to think of at the moment. I almost forgot to mention that we also went to the Discovery Museum in Dallas! The museum was created by Institute for Creation Research and they did a marvelous job!
From left to right: Mindy, Sarah, Jenny, Sarah, Joanie and myself.
Next up: Asheville, NC
I always love my time in Asheville, NC! The Bluegrass music, Southern gospel and so many friendly people make this area really special! I arrived on a Friday evening and checked into Ridgecrest Conference Center which is beautiful and met a few volunteers who were very friendly and helpful! I spent most of Saturday hiking around the area and saw some gorgeous views! Along with a bit of wildlife! A snake, spider, and a caterpillar. On Sunday morning, I attended the Feed and Seed church in Fletcher. I love their Sunday School class and felt so welcome in the midst of this church family! The service begins with some old-time gospel music and I got a chance to share about the past year at BFA in the service before Pastor Phillip gave his message. So many individuals and families came up afterwards to offer their encouragement and blessings! Thank you Feed and Seed!
Third up: Midwest
Welcome to the Prairie lands!
I was born and raised in Watertown, SD which is a great place to be from! Growing up in the country meant a lot of time spent outside riding bikes, skiing, building snow forts, climbing trees, weeding, raking leaves in the fall, carting wood in the house and much more!
I flew into Minneapolis and was picked up by my Aunt's friend, LuLu (my third aunt:) who brought me to Osakis to stay with my Aunt Joanie. We had ice cream with delicious chocolate sauce from Berlin, the best haircut ever in Alec, shopping at Goodwill, met up with dear friends, kitty loves and some car cleaning before heading to Watertown in SD. In Watertown, I enjoyed spending time with friends, helping my parents clean their upstairs windows, help my friend Sarah sell fireworks on the 4th (so much fun!!!), visited a friend with the most beautiful front porch and flower garden I have ever seen, met up with dear friends at Midwest Bible Camp (Thank you for your patience as the projector was being stubborn!), had lunch with my parents and my brothers Joshua and Nathan and his wife Jen, then drove out to McIntosh, in Northern Minnesota to see my Uncle Ben, Uncle David and Aunt Miriam and more cousins! David and Miriam built a cabin a few years ago and it was wonderful to see the finished product! And get a tour of all the organizing that Uncle David has been doing in the outbuildings on the farm. And a tour of his amazing garden too! My cousin Kayla and her husband Kyle arrived with their two kids and we had dinner outside and spent a lovely evening together! And tried to spray flies with old mouthwash infused with essential oils! Didn't work too well...probably because of the sugar in the mouthwash. ;)
Finally, Colorado!
In the year of 2003, I moved to Colorado and lived in Fort Collins for ten years until the fall of 2013 when I moved to Germany. I love Colorado! The scenery, mountains and so many friendships that are still there! For the most part, I had back-to-back meetings scheduled; mostly before I arrived as I knew time would be short and go so fast once I was in the area. Besides meeting up with so many dear friends and supporters, I also had a few hiking days. I hiked with my energetic Colorado parents, Dick and Carole and their friend Lyn up Twin Sisters. I also spent a day hiking Homestead Meadows with my brother, Daniel. The wildflowers were gorgeous! I also got a good recommendation for videos to watch (Beyond: Is Genesis History and have already watched two small sections), spent a day in Cheyenne with my friend, Becca (great burgers, amazing kombucha with sweet pets and conversation), enjoyed time at my home church of Faith and was also warmly welcomed at Discovery Fellowship Church on my last Sunday in the US, enjoyed Red Robin with a dear friend, visited Lucky's Teahouse with another friend, loved time spent with Kim and Christy (conversations, salsa, tea, chatting about herbs and sweet Max), also loved time with Elisabeth (amazing meals with bacon!, future plans, lots of laughter, 2 chairs, dinner and walk in Old Town) and of course getting my covid test before getting on a plane to return to Germany.
No comments:
Post a Comment