Here I sit – in a room at Lodge of the Ozarks in Branson, MO. It’s a fine room as hotel rooms go. Even if it were a terrible room I think I could fall asleep tonight just fine. I drove 1,155 miles to get Archie and me here. He made it pretty well. He rode without too much pain. Part of his pain was having to listen to the book on CD that I listened to on the way. But if I have to drive I have to do what it takes to keep myself awake. We spent the night in Zanesville, OH last night waking up bright and early today and getting on the road this morning at 6.
What beautiful scenery I have seen today – mountains, flat land, acres and acres of corn fields. The farms that appeared on the flat lands in Illinois were like little cities where the clusters of silos rose in the air like skyscrapers dotting the skyline. The rock formations coming into the city of Branson were just spectacular to my eyes. And maybe the most unusual things I saw today was gasoline for $2.97!!! What a bargain!
If you don’t know why we came to Branson, it is the National ARMM (Association of Retired Ministers & Missionaries) Retreat. It’s Archie’s denomination. It starts tomorrow afternoon and goes through Fri. morning. Hopefully he will see some clergy folks that he has known from years past. We are both looking forward to our time here. We do have lots of free time to do whatever we chose.
I hope to be well rested when I get home next week. When we leave on Friday we will be coming back through Virginia to visit a friend of mine who has been diagnosed with very serious cancer. I will see some other friends too while I’m there.
God has really been good to us as we prepared to get on the road to come here and I thank God for that.
Know that I will continue to pray for our church family while I am away. We are coming up on some very busy times with Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas. I would ask you to keep Archie and me in your prayers too.
God bless!
PASTOR ON VACATION – PASTOR BECKY COVERING
Pastor Penny will be on vacation, leaving after worship on October 30 and returning the evening of Nov. 6. During this time, Rev. Becky Broyan will be available if you need pastoral care. Her home/office number is 520-4195 and her cell number is 332-2421.