Vacation is over!

I promised to write and have lots of pictures when I returned from visiting in the U.S. Obviously, I have not done either one!! We returned to Budapest on April 28. Merrill likes to report that in the 18 days that we were gone, we were in 7 airports and had no delays, missed flights or missing luggage! I think that is an amazing record and we are thankful to God first of all but also to all the airlines and crew to have had safe and efficient travel.

It was good to be in the U.S. and we were able to visit with lots of friends and family. Our home congregation, Bettendorf Christian Church, has within it an organization called the Mission Care Committee. Their function is to care for missionaries that the church supports. They do a very fine job and we are so happy to acknowledge their care of us. While we were home, they had a "book shower" and they shipped about 100 pounds of books to our son, who lives in Rochester, NY. That was sent in two suitcases, so that when we returned to Budapest, we could take them as our 2nd piece of luggage.

We also purchased some books and music CD's and DVD's while we were in Texas. We carried these books and materials in another suitcase that our daughter had and it was small enough to be a carry-on bag. When we left Rochester, NY for Budapest, we were able to take all of our bags with no additional charge. We think God had a hand in that transaction as well. The agent who checked us in said two of our bags were a"little" overweight, that is two and three pounds, but he wasn't going to charge us for that. We thanked him for being so kind and explained that we were bringing back extra materials for the Christian library that we work in.

Yes, we brought plenty of work with us, but that doesn't include a couple of fairly large donations that we received here in Budapest. Altogether, we have at least 400 volumes to sort and catalog. The books that we have as duplicates will be saved and be distributed to other locations in Eastern Europe by our friends and mentors, Andy and Phyllis Anderson.