Monday, May 19, 2008

A Stranger in a Strange Land

The goodness of the LORD is never so evident as when we are are alienated from all that is comfortable and comforting in this world. Greetings to our loved ones at Grace. We have made the move down to Winston-Salem and are enjoying our new surrounding and making new friends. but, all in all, we continue as aliens in a friendly, but unfamiliar environment.

Our apartment is nice, two rooms (a kitchen/dining room and master bedroom upstairs and two rooms and a full bath downstairs), right across from the campus, and partially furnished ... er, we have a fold up table and a futon mattress. We're planning on getting furniture as we go, but right now we are living like pilgrims and/or newly married college students; and we like it. With high-speed internet (no TV) a stove and fridge, we have all the mod-cons we need!

It will be some time before we settle into a church home. We've started traveling on weekends to speak. Yesterday we were 3 1/2 hours north on the Virginia/West Virginia border in Covington, VA at New Hope Baptist Church. wonderful folk, good services, a magnificent Sunday meal prepared by Mrs. Miller, a German lady who used to run her own restaurant with German food. beef, pork, brats, 7 side dishes, three desserts and several pounds later I staggered to the pastor's home to sleep before the evening service. The drive was through the beautiful Allegheny mountains both ways. I hope to do a lot of weekend travel for the school as time and health permit.

Spending a lot to time in admin. work and prep for a PhD class coming up the week of August 2-6. Only three students so the time should be very profitable. I'm scheduled to represent the school at the GARBC conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, so I should meet some of my former BBC compatriots around the booths. Lots to talk about :-)

We love you guys, miss you more each weekend, and could not have make the move down here without the magnificent love gift that you gave us. After I found out how to silence the chimes (no one needs to be that aware of the time) we are enjoying the pendulum clock in our kitchen/dining room. We miss the grandkids something terrible.

Pastor Smith

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