I'm headed to the barn!

Well, the journey continues... We've now moved on to another town in Macedonia. This couple lives in a small town, which is more the type of town Glenn and I would prefer to live in if we were doing something other than Member Care. We love this couple and really enjoyed our short time with them.


The Kirkpatrick's


Prilep Elementary School

The Kirkpatrick's have 3 school-aged children and due to overcrowding, they go to school on a split schedule. They attend the local Macedonian elementary school, pictured above.


Jeff and Amy

We also got to visit a little bit with Jeff and Amy (who were also in our FPO group in Virginia, so we go 'way back). Amy fixed us the BEST breakfast before our departure for home. I call it the McWilliams meal. It was two pancakes with scrambled eggs and ham in betweeen! Kind of reminded me of a breakfast from McDonald's, only better!

Two donkeys pulling a load

So far on this two week trip we've taken a train, several buses and a car or two, and Prilep was our last stop. When each of our trips come to an end, I am kind of like the horse who sees the barn and wants to head straight for it! The quickest way home would be to fly, but it would cost us about $800 to fly from Skopje, Macedonia to Budapest, Hungary. In an effort to save money, Jeff and Amy drove us from Prilep to Thessaloniki, Greece, where we caught a flight to Budapest.


Welcome to Greece!

Did Brother Paul walk on these hills?

I was surprised at how rocky the land was. Even though it was rocky, it still held it's own kind of beauty. Still, it didn't compare to the snow in Bulgaria!

To think I was this close to where Paul walked!

Once back in Budapest, we had 2 days to wash all our clothes and to repack for the next leg of our trip! I also spent a full morning wiping the floor in our mud room where the radiator had busted and spewed black greasy soot and water all over the floor during our absence! Fortunately, it didn't ruin anything, but unfortunately, we won't have any heat upstairs until we can get the radiator replaced!

Germany, here we come!

We flew into Frankfort, Germany on Friday evening, stayed overnight in a Holiday Inn Express hotel, and the next morning we were picked up and taken to a Christian conference center about 1 1/2 hours away in a small German village. We are here for the week. This conference is for our personnel who live and work in Western Europe who have been on the field between 4 months to a year. Glenn and I are assisting their Member Care team with short counseling sessions for each of the participants. Next week, their couple that does member care in Western Europe will come with us to Prague to help us with our conference for new folks.

Julie, Jesse and precious little Renae

We don't know very many of the folks here, but we did know one couple and they are very special to us. We met Julie and Jesse a little over 4 years ago when our daughter got married. Jesse is the brother of our son in law, Jonathan! (This is also the couple with whom Kari and Jonathan spent Christmas last month in Spain.) We have enjoyed getting to know them better and hope that we will see more of them in the years to come.

I took a little time off this afternoon from attending the sessions (since Glenn and I had member care appointments into the evening) to enjoy a walk into the village with Karen. Karen and her husband live in Prague, and each time we go to Prague for meetings, we try to get together with them. Karen wrote one of the best books on adjustment to life on the mission field called The Aroma Of Christ. If you live overseas and haven't read it yet, you should!

We are here until Wednesday and then head to Prague for our own CEE Ebenezer. Please pray for the families with whom we are meeting. Also, please pray for everyone's health. Evidently, there is a bug that folks are passing around, and we've already had our share of sickness for this winter!