Cactus Flower

  Somehow, I missed the whole month of August!  I didn't even take very many photos!  But here's a short, newsy video letter to cover August and September!

A few years ago, we had a wild idea.  The camp where we had worked closed.  The church where we had assisted got a national pastor.  All of our boys left the household.  It seemed like a good time to consider a move or a new type of ministry.  We weren't too old, but not too young.  It was around the end of 2017. We briefly considered going to Mozambique.  Local churches had made some trips to the country helping a national missionary there.  One of our sons had gone on a missions trip.  There was a definite need and we already spoke the language.  Culture adjustment at our age could be rough.   Byron took a three-week trip up and down the Amazon River.  He had always thought it would be a possibility with his boat and mechanical experience.  We knew a few people in the region, and the language and culture part wouldn't be too much of a problem.  After his trip, he just didn't feel that someone else running up an...

  Byron, the guy in the white helmet, turns 61 today.  That's our son, Byron the Third in the black helmet.  He'll be 30 on his next birthday at the end of the year.   My husband and I were close to thirty ourselves when we had our first son. Lately it seems that every other day or so someone wants to know "When we are going to retire?" Sometimes it feels more like, "When are you going to leave" is the real question, but that's a story for another post sometime. Has the sunset on our work and ministry in Brazil?  Is it time to hang our hats and pack it all up.  Are we too old? Too old for what?  Too old to tell others about the love of God?  Too old to preach and teach?  Too old to ride a motorcycle on dirt roads? Okay, you may have us on that last one!  It took a few days to recover from our 8 days of motorcycle travel with our oldest and his wife last month.  It took a few weeks to recover from all the bumps and aches of our ...