One of the joys and privileges of being a missionary for me is the opportunity of being a part of a team of supporters and ministry partners. God has brought together a large team of people who have been standing with us for many years in our ministry. These people are family members and friends who have a desire to see God do something in Central and Eastern Europe, but more than that are people who simply love Andrea and I and our kids.
Yesterday was a day spent with just such people. We spent the morning at Steve and Lois Black's home. Lois is my mom's cousin, and her and Steve have been supporting us financially, praying for us and loving us for years. Whenever I travel through the Chicago area I stop in their house for our traditional pancake breakfast, and we almost always do this breakfast with my grandmother, Marge Owens. Yesterday my mom and dad picked up grandma, and my Aunt Judy also came down for the morning. The kids did a great job of being polite, since Andrea and I were the only adults not in our sixties there! Grandpa Pitcher, however, put Nicholas and Zachary in their places by beating them both soundly in ping-pong, showing that youth isn't everything.
After resting in the afternoon we spent the evening with Dave and Colleen Wiegman. Colleen and I grew up in the same church youth group, and Dave is a missionary kid from one of the missionaries that our church sent out. We also are old friends from our Moody days. Dave and Colleen have been supporting us as a family since our days of ministering in Germany, and are some of our dearest friends. We hung out at their house, eating pizza, playing Wii, jumping on the trampoline, playing chirades and watching Veggie Tales. Actually, all of the activities I just mentioned were what the kids did. We as adults just sat and talked for almost 6 hours (well, we also ate pizza, but besides that we just talked and caught up on life-an awesome evening!). Dave and Colleen are some of our dearest friends, and we count it a privilege to be co-workers with them in the work of the gospel.
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