Joyce Takes off for the US Mainland

Yesterday morning at 4.30 I took Joyce to the airport to fly to the US Mainland for a a few weeks of vacation. (We are thankful for the frequent flyer miles my trips generate). She flew all day and night from Guam, through Japan, through Los Angeles, through Houston and on to Dallas where she will stay with out daughter Missy at her house in Allen. Both mother and daughter have been looking forward to their time together with great anticipation. She will spend a week there with Missy and also get to see our foster son David Ahlgren, his new wife and baby. After a week in Texas, Joyce will head to Southern California, meet Michael, Samantha, Titus and Courage and head right down to San Diego to see Matt and Kristin and, most importantly, to see Milo for the first time. We love being out in the islands, but the hardest thing about living out here is being so far from family. I have been reading some histories of the early mission work in Micronesia (more on that in a later post) and I cannot imagine being in the position of those missionaries who sometimes stayed in the field 10-15 years at a time without being able to see their children and families. Yes, 24 hour flights are difficult but, hey, they are much better than a 3-4 month ride on a ship!

Joyce has been working pretty hard this summer. She spent the last few weeks taking an intensive evangelism class at PIU. She has done a lot of evangelism in the past but she said that she learned a lot in the class from the text and from the teacher, fellow missionary Ned Farnsworth. Last Wednesday they went to down to the Micronesia Mall to practice sharing what Christ has done in their lives. Joyce and the other students had several opportunities to talk to people there. I came along and took some clandestine pictures of some of the interaction.

With Joyce gone I am now in charge of our lawn, the flowers and trees. She has things looking very good. Top left you can see our driveway and front lawn. On the right you can see the front of our house with her many and varied plants. Our lawn mower is in the repair shop and my thumb is notoriously non-green. I am praying that everything doesn't die while she is away. :)