Lake Seminole to Lewisville Lake near Dallas

 Spanish Moss on trees

Lake Seminole (Northern Florida at the corner of South Georgia and Alabama).  We enjoyed our meetings with Christians in South Georgia and Northern Florida




We drove to Jacksonville, FL one weekend where Ron presented lessons geared toward evangelism.  


Night time in St. Augustine, FL ....out to dinner with Garry and Jeannie Swearingen. 

We enjoyed our stay with some dear friends from our early days of mission work when we lived on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It actually felt a little strange being in a house again after 1-l/2 years full-time in an RV. It was strange but nice! Jeannie and Gary Swearingen had a wonderful dinner prepared for us the night we arrived and then one night we went to St. Augustine for dinner. Our friends made us feel right at home.   We had a good time catching up and exploring ideas about the Lord’s work.   Our next stop was Pensacola, FL.

From Lake Seminole we traveled to Pensacola for one night’s stay at a Corp of Engineers’ park on the barrier islands. It was actually a bit scary to drive down this narrow road with sand dunes on each side and the ocean waves lapping within view on both sides of the road. As we entered the gate to the park, I asked the attendant if he was sure there was a park ahead and enough space to turn an RV around. He smiled and said yes but we drove miles and miles along this narrow stretch and it looked as if it would just end in the ocean at the end of this strip of land.  It was amazing at the very end that it spread out to accommodate about 100 parking places for RV’s and other type of campers. The white sand covered the whole park. I would not want to be there during a hurricane!

We got there late in the afternoon as the sun was going down so we hurried to the walkway to the beach with a camera. After a short walk along the sand, the sun went behind clouds as we returned to the RV to have dinner. We could hear the waves from the ocean all night, which is a calming sound.

Early the next morning we hooked up the car on the trailer and drove to Baton Rouge, LA. We arrived on Wednesday in time to attend the Bible study with Christians at the church where we had parking privileges for the RV. The next day, we met Joan Ni, our Chinese worker who coordinates the bringing of children from China to the U.S. for surgeries. Joan and her husband took us to lunch on Saturday and treated us to some wonderful Japanese food. It was so nice to get to know Joan and her husband. We also had dinner one night with the preacher and his wife. They have served this congregation for 25 years.

Ron spoke at the Sunday morning service on Sunday. The Chinese service was going on at the same time in another part of the building. Following our services, they came over and baptized four people. There was a fellowship meal for both congregations. We left on Monday to return to Dallas.

We have been at the Hickory Creek Park on Lake Lewisville since we arrived late on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. As soon as the Bible class was over on Wednesday night, April Dasher came up and invited us to their house for Thanksgiving lunch. April and Greg were members in Peachtree City, Georgia before moving to Dallas so we have been friends for several years. It was a wonderful day. Greg’s parents from Valdosta, Georgia were there. The meal was delicious and spending time with them was really great. Greg’s father is an elder so he and Ron enjoyed discussing various aspects of the Lord’s work, including our work in China.

Last year, we arrived in Waxahatchie, Texas, the day before Thanksgiving. We rested that day and went out to find a restaurant that night. Everything was closed. We finally found an Applebee’s open and ate dinner there. This year, we thought we might repeat those plans and make it a tradition to eat at Applebee’s but the Dashers gave us an opportunity to keep from having such a tradition each year.

It has been so good to be back at Lewisville church of Christ. We received a warm welcome upon our return. It’s good to hear some of Jeff Jenkins’ good lessons. Traveling to many churches is nice and enjoyable but arriving back at Lewisville felt like home! Ron delivered a report to the church in Commerce a week ago and this Sunday we will be the Argyle church.

This past Sunday, we were invited to lunch with friends in Greenville so we had another great meal and fellowship with two other couples. 

I caught the cooks off-guard in this photo!

Carolyn Chance on the left has been a close and dear friend for more than a year. 












Henry, the man on the right talking with Ron has also been a great supporter and dear friend to us since we met him last year.  The Christmas Eve party, mentioned below, will be at his apartment!

We are relocating the RV to the other side of the Lewisville Lake today. We can only stay two weeks at a Corp of Engineer park, but the park on Kingfisher Road allows a 28-day stay. It is the park that we have used many times before. On the 23rd or 24th, we will drive to Boles Childrens’ Home right outside of Greenville for a few days. Our friends in Greenville are having a Christmas Eve party and we are invited. On the 26th we will leave Greenville and start our trip to Houston, making a few stops (perhaps) on the way. The ladies at Waxahatchie have quilts for us to pick up.

That’s enough about where we have been and where we are going. Other changes in our lives have included a few health issues. Ron had a very difficult time following the cataract surgery. The eye has finally healed and he thinks he can see better. He and I both deal with dry eyes and that’s an on-going problem when you have to use heat, especially. None of our ailments are serious. I think they are just normal aging complaints.

The weather has turned cold. We had three nights and two days of continuous rain. I thought we might consider trading the RV for a houseboat. After the rain, it’s turned very cold. There was ice around the door of the car this morning. I think we will not have warm days again until springtime.

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday Season!

We are so blessed in this country and we should constantly thank God for his love and blessings.

May He bless all of us with a better 2012, physically, economically and spiritually.