Kelly and Connie’s Place

We just finished 3 successful ministry events and are looking forward to a little slow down in the action for the month of July. So what have we been up to? One of our favorite events is seeing just who God is calling to the mission field. The first week of June brought 25 new missionary candidates to Orlando for a week of orientation.

Candidate Orientation Program June 2009

The two young single girls I interviewed mirrored the other 23 candidates with their passion for God and for missions. These two have known they would go into missions since they were 5 years old. One was from Oregon and the other was from Oklahoma. Both of them have already been to “difficult” fields, on more than one short term trip, that lasted up to 2 months long, and loved it. They are sold out to missions and can’t wait to go long term. They were amazing and inspiring.

Our second week found us flying to Colorado to spend a few days with our staff in Denver. We hadn’t been there since last September so it was good to see them all again. The highlight of that trip was the office family picnic, but the weather was wacko and cold. We had rain and hail which forced all of us under the only covered area in the whole park. We enjoyed ourselves in spite of it all.

This past week we had our ACMC team fly into Orlando for their bi-annual team meeting. Now this is a group of mission specialists with diverse giftings that touch on just about every area of missions one could imagine. What a team.

ACMC (Advancing Church Missions Commitment)

Next week we are in for a real treat, but that’s a story for another time.

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Fifteen years ago today, Kelly and I were celebrating our 25^th silver wedding address with about 100+ Indonesians. We had purchased 100+ individual slices of cake to give to our fellow Indonesian church members at the end of the service. You see, we were following their custom, where the person having a birthday or anniversary throws a celebration party for all their friends. If you go out to dinner with your friends for your birthday, YOU pick up the tab for everyone. We had only been there for 6 months and could barely speak the language, but honoring customs transcends any language. It was one of those memorable moments for us.

So, if that was our 25^th anniversary 15 years ago, that makes today our “40^th anniversary”. How great is that! The two of us thinks it’s pretty great. If you look at us 40 years ago, you can see that we were “just kids”, and we don’t feel a year over 39 today.

June 7, 1969

Today after church, we went to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate. We ignored our diet for one day and ordered Ossobuco…it is so delicious that it melts in your mouth, and is well worth the splurge.

Ossobuco

Have you ever had this meal? It’s a meat, potato and gravy person’s delight. Here is their description:

OSSOBUCO: Marinated Pork Shank Slow Cooked Until Fabulously Tender. Served with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy and Vegetable of the Day

We enjoyed our meal and reminisced over our previous anniversary memories, like the one mentioned above. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll be blessed to share another 40 years together…if we live to be 100.

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