Ok, so brother Rob is gonna take a break from this S2S blog for a couple of weeks, and I'm going to take anyone who is interested along with me on some of my travels.
The cover photo actually rewinds us a few days. Lisa will love for all of you to know that she just turned 60. And any of you who do know her realize she is as beautiful and gracious as 60 gets. And that meaningful life event led to some birthday travel. We just returned on Saturday from a few days in Daytona Beach, FL with our kids and grands. And I think all who had the pleasure of gathering in that place would describe it as one of the best times they have experienced on this earth. It will likely never be topped...perfect travel.
Now it is Tuesday, and I'm already dreading leaving our home on Thursday morning to arrive at Des Moines International Airport very early for a 6:00 a.m. departure...to Chicago...to Addis Abbaba...to Lilongwe...and ultimately on a bus to Chipata, Zambia. No human will ever describe that as perfect travel. But it will get me to where God wants me to be; ultimately, to where I want to be. I can't wait to see some of my best friends in the world, men who happen to live in the Southern Hemisphere on the other side of the globe.
Unfortunately, I will be away from Lisa for 2 weeks - she isn't going this year. This will be our longest seperation in more than 40 years. I'm not looking forward to that. I'll also be relatively inactive in my real estate business for 2 weeks as well, that might be the most distance between me and Central Iowa real esate in over 30 years. Thankfully God has allowed me to put together a crack team of young real estate experts that will allow my clients to enjoy top notch care and service while I am gone. But still, I wish I wasn't missing out.
On the flipside, I'll have the privilege of doing some teaching to our 115 pastor partners and 6 Zambian staff, making sure we are all on the same page; literally, the same Biblical page(s). I'll have the pleasure of leading our vulnerable S2S members in 4 love feasts and communion...these are fabulous I Corinthians 11 & Luke 14:13 events.
And finally, thanks to a handful of really cool S2S donors, I'll be helping to build our first ever Animal Demonstration Farm. This will be in partnership with Dr. Curt Youngs from Iowa State University and Repentance Baptist Church, led by my good friend Pastor Jonathon Banda. Well, actually, I'll likely only be cheering them on in this endeavor, as I'm relatively helpless with power tools...will we actually be using power tools? Regardless, Jose Rivera owner of Rivera Construction from Ames will be leading that charge, and I can't wait to spend 14 days with that young man.
I'm not very good with social media, but I'll try to update this blog at lease once a day or so. And I'll try to get as many photos and videos to brother Rob and our marketing specialist Annah Begg. Hopefully they can get that stuff out and you'll be able to have a sense of what we are doing and more importantly what He is doing
See y'all in few days. In the end, you won't want to miss it; I'm expecting it to be perfect travel.
Rog
