I told someone the other day “I’m moving so fast these days, I think my hair is on fire!” That is about how it feels these past weeks as we have stepped up our responsibilities at IMM. Let me just give you a rundown of what our summer has been looking like.
June 9th we received word that our visas for residency in Spain had been approved and both Gwen and I were required to pick them up in San Francisco in person (I know, every government has it’s rules…). We arrived in DFW from Madrid on July 11th only to find that all flights had been cancelled due to tornado warnings. We spent an extra 24 hrs in Dallas.
June 16thth we picked up our visas in San Fran and on June 19th we left Seattle, WA to drive 2000 miles to Springfield, MO. We arrived just in time to prepare for my “special” medical examination that our mission requires of all people over 50 years of age! This is the procedure where cameras go where no camera has gone before. I went in on Monday, June 22nd and Gwen followed on Tuesday the 23rd. The next 12 days were meetings and services, which by the way, were absolutely worth the drive! God, in one of these renewal meetings, truly spoke faith and encouragement to my heart!
We had a great trip back from Springfield, swinging through to speak at a great church, Carbondale Assembly of God in the Tulsa area on July 5th and then with Pastor Gary and Sherrie Roberts on Wednesday at Terrebonne Assembly of God in Oregon. Of course, there were approximately 2000 miles of travel between them and a slight case of food poisoning (picked up in Kansas) to go along with them.
Currently, we are preparing our container to be shipped to Spain. This of course requires untold hours of packing, shopping, lifting, and organizing. This all gets fit in between, services in some wonderful churches, meetings with potential partners for IMM, attending a national gathering for pastors and preparing for and officiating the wedding of our son Dan, who will make Miss Kayla Blair of Seattle his bride on August 15th at Westminster Assembly in Seattle, Washington.
The summer culminates with our flight back to Spain on August 18th! While all of this activity may sound like busy work, it is connected to the real work of touching people with the hope of Christ. Time and again, in various church services, I’m met by people who share with me how much something said had touched their heart. I am constantly reminded of just how important it is for us to be doing our Father’s work! IMM is in full production mode right now for “Open the Bible: The Gospels” and should have them completed by early spring. A new project, “Women of the Bible” is in serious pre-production mode and we hope to have a pilot done this fall. We could do none of this without your support. Thanks for praying and investing in IMM and us.