Guadalajara de nuevo

I spent the last week in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was a good week in that we got a lot accomplished, but it was also a very long week.

There is a group of missionaries and national pastors working with the Deaf in Mexico that gets together a couple of times each year to fellowship and learn from one another. This trip was the normal fellowship time coupled with our planning meeting for camp this summer. This always takes place between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. That is the week that virtually all Mexicans who work regular jobs are given time off. It is easy for the pastors and church leaders to travel to the meeting even if they are working outside the church.

We had a great time of fellowship. There were 3 national pastors as well as another national who is not the pastor of his church, but teaches the Deaf in the church’s ministry. Then there were 2 missionaries present. There were several others who were in and out of the meetings as church leaders and close friends of the ministries represented. But the main ones were the 6 of us present really just to spend time learning from one another and encouraging the pastors.

We also spent a couple of days planning for our upcoming camp. The camp will be in July. The camp facility that had casually been considered was not available the week we needed. We were able to confirm another location that we have used in the past and everyone likes.

I knew there were some grumblings of serious problems. I had no idea what they were or who they effected. Because of this, the other missionary paid most of my airfare to get me down there and made sure that I had my hand involved in the planning of camp. I am the camp director (for this final year), but felt like things could be handled without me. As it turns out, everything was handled well by one of the pastors.  I let him take control and was pleased to know that the camps will be just fine without me in the future.

The problems were never fully revealed to me until the last night of the meeting. What seemed destructive on Monday turned out to be just a misunderstanding of an outside party who innocently spread some information inaccurately. For whatever reason, this information was withheld from me until the end. I think it worked out for the best. There was no need for confrontation and conflict.

It was a great week, but I had a couple of nights that were about 3 hours long. I am ready for some rest.

When does it end?

I have really been hoping for time to catch up on the blog. I have so many events and activities that are taking place every day. Then when I do have time to blog I have not had Internet access.

This week we are in a conference at a church in Ringgold, GA. This is a church that I have been part of in a small way since its inception. A friend of mine started a Bible college for the Deaf in 1994. The school was connected to a local church and did well in the church. After some time though, they felt they needed more room for their own church services because they were growing bigger than the hearing church could accommodate. I am not sure what year they started having services on their own, but they have been an organized church for quite some time now.

In 2001 we were at this church for their missions conference. They were growing well, but still at the early stages of growth. Now the church has several missionaries that they support and some which are sent out from this ministry. We have had well around 200 each night for the conference.

Many of the missionaries and staff at the church and school are old friends of ours. It is great to get together with them and share stories and catch up on old times.

When this is over I will be flying to Guadalajara, Mexico. I may or may not be able to blog from there. But rest assured, I am working and not just going there for vacation. You believe me, right? I know, how can someone go to a beautiful place like Guadalajara and call it work? I will try.

Bicycle Museum of America

Me riding a big wheel.Thursday we spent a couple of hours at the Bicycle Museum of America. We saw a sign on I-75 advertising the museum and took a detour from our traveling. The museum is not right off the interstate like we had hoped, but we had a couple of hours free that we could spend there.

We were greeted by a friendly hostess. She shared with us some of the history of the museum and its pieces before we started talking about the bikes themselves. Much of the collection was bought individually at auction when the Schwinn family had to sell off their bikes.

There was a good 15 minute video that we watched to help get us started in the history of the bikes. Then we spent more time than we had available browsing through the collection. The hostess and a volunteer were there to answer our questions. They both seemed very knowledgeable and willing. When I asked about a specific bike brand (Bianchi, my bike) the hostess went into their warehouse to bring out a sample from them. The showroom does not have enough space for them to show all their bikes at once. Therefore they constantly rotate bikes in so there is a different group of bikes each time you go. The main ones are always on display, but many secondary bikes are rotated. We are talking about hundreds of bikes on display at once.

In the parking lot of the museum is an extra treat. The Erie Canal passed through this town and one of the locks is right there beside the parking area.

I did some recording at the museum. I have not had a chance to listen to it, but if it is any good I will share it here.

Round on each end and high in the middle

We have been criss-crossing the state of Ohio the last few days. We were in Michigan until last Thursday morning. We sauntered back to Ohio (we were here on our way from PA to MI) to land in Fremont for a couple of days. Fremont is in the north western part of the state very near Toledo.

In Fremont we got to spend time at a used book store. I also did a little geocaching and got in one cold run. Really we just needed a place to crash for a couple of days between meetings. We visited with an old pastor friend while staying in the missionary apartment at the church.

We went from Fremont to Dayton by way of Canton. For those of you who don’t know, Toledo is in the northwest corner and Dayton is almost in the southwest corner. Canton is in the middle eastern part of the state. We left Toledo/Fremont on Saturday afternoon to visit friends in Canton that evening. We enjoyed a great meal with them before heading back west to land in Dayton for the night. The group we visited in Canton was the group that painted our church last year.

I don’t know exactly what time we left Canton, but we ended up at our hotel in Dayton around 11:00 that night. We were not presenting our ministry in a church on Sunday morning, but we were scheduled to be in a church in Troy (north of Dayton) which was the home church of several of our friends. We met with them and had a great time at church and then after church we went to lunch together.

Sunday night we were still in Dayton so that I could preach at a different church. A college buddy took us out to dinner and we talked until the restaurant kicked us out at 10:00.

Monday and Tuesday we were stuck with no place to stay. Our next meeting was scheduled to be in the center of the state on Wednesday. By Sunday night though I was able to contact some friends with whom we worked in a previous ministry and they offered us a nice bed and some great fellowship. Before we left Dayton though, we spent a few hours at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

On Monday the church we were scheduled to be in for the Wednesday night service in Mansfield (center of the state) had to reschedule the meeting. That left us without a meeting for Wednesday. Our next landing area was my brother’s house in Indianapolis. But I called today and got us a meeting in Kenton, OH which is between Dayton and Toledo. We will be there on Wednesday night before heading to Indy on Thursday.

In a 7 day period we will have logged about 750 miles in the state. That is enough to drive from one side of the state and back 3.5 times. I don’t know if the state really is round on each end, but we have seen some rolling hills here in the center. So I guess it is a bit higher.

Itinerary from now til April 17, 2009

I have been wanting to get a post up about our travel schedule so that if I am going to be in the area of any of my Facebook or Twitter friends, I can let you buy me a diet coke or a cup of coffee. It could be either. I am pretty flexible. This is

  • March 19 to early on the 21st we will be in Fremont, OH.
  • March 21 we may be in Canton, OH visiting some friends before heading down to Dayton.
  • March 22 AM service will be at Troy Baptist Temple. I am not speaking, but will be visiting friends there.
  • March 22 PM service I will be speaking at Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Kettering, OH.
  • March 23-25 AM we are looking for a place to crash. Any offers? 2 somewhat cute kids in tow.
  • March 25-26. I am speaking at Mansfield Baptist Temple on the evening on the 25th.
  • March 26-28 we will be in Greenfield, IN just outside of Indianapolis.
  • March 28-31 still undetermined.
  • April 1-5 Ringgold, GA. We will be at the mission’s conference at Harvest Baptist Church.
  • April 6-11 I will fly to Guadalajara, Mexico.
  • Rest a few days in Pensacola, FL.
  • April 16-17 back to Indianapolis for the mission’s conference at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Lawrence.

Nothing is set in stone from there until May 16th, but we will be spending the month of May in Texas in churches. Details should come later.