Surprise!

Today seems like normal March weather for Michigan - cold and grey - but what a surprise the rest of the month was...Wow...like summer! On one of our visits earlier in the month, I even got my mom outside for a walk in the sun. She loved it!
That was just before we headed out to Pennsylvania for a final interview, after thirty-five years of service with ABWE, in front of the full board of our mission. We were very apprehensive on our way out, remembering that first scary board interview before we were accepted as missionaries all those years ago, but this time it was different. We were totally surprised as the board members gave us a standing ovation. Another surprise, we stayed in an executive suite at the mission headquarters that someone graciously paid for us. It was a beautiful suite (just off to the left of the entrance). With the building situated at the top of a hill, all the rooms in the suite - even the bathroom - had an outstanding view of the Alleghany mountains and Harrisburg.While there, we visited with friends from São Paulo and Amazon days in Brazil, and even friends from back to the days I had served in Bangladesh. That is forty years ago that we were there. We went out to a restaurant for brunch with friends Dr. Dick and Linda Stagg (she was Linda Short back in those days) and her mother Bernice. Brunch became a four hour visit! It was surprising how the years melted away as we talked and laughed together. One more nice surprise. That evening while out to dinner with our friend and administrator Dave Southwell and his wife Ev, he informed us that we would be receiving an award for 35 years of service at the mission's Missionary Enrichment conference this summer in Baltimore.