{"id":315,"date":"2012-05-17T19:59:26","date_gmt":"2012-05-18T00:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/sander\/?p=315"},"modified":"2012-05-17T19:59:26","modified_gmt":"2012-05-18T00:59:26","slug":"helping-us-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/sander\/2012\/05\/17\/helping-us-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping us out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While in Colombia we get asked many questions about all things U.S.\u00a0 That means that in any given conversation, someone might ask us a question about something in the U.S.\u2014politics, lifestyle, food, media, newspapers, movies, road conditions,\u00a0 styles, likes, dislikes, etc.\u00a0 The list is endless because the interest is often impulsive and we, being from the U.S., are the experts on all things U.S.\u00a0 Or at least that is what is thought.\u00a0 Many times we will admit that we don\u2019t know the answer so we say we don\u2019t know (which doesn\u2019t satisfy the curiosity and the questions continue) or we answer as best we can (which is somewhat near the truth as we know it).<\/p>\n

Being in the U.S. for these four months in order to interact personally with different ministry partners and update them on the Covenant Church and ministries in Colombia, we once again are also updating our knowledge of the U.S.\u2014first hand, up close, and personal.\u00a0 But, it is not just first hand knowledge of the U.S. that we are getting; it is also first hand experience with the wonders of being a part of the larger Covenant family\u2014in all of its variety and through its many faces.\u00a0 As missionaries traveling to different Churches and interacting with different ministry partners, we rely on the larger Covenant family (represented by individual Churches and people) to host us, set up meetings and interaction times together, move us around to different places, etc.\u00a0 In short, we are at the mercy of the local Covenant people and Churches.\u00a0 Everyone and every place has its local flavor, beauty and idiosyncrasies and everyone and everyplace, so far, has been a blessing for us to experience.\u00a0 We have stayed with distant relatives whom we didn\u2019t really know very well previously.\u00a0 We have met many new friends, and old friends who were still very friendly.\u00a0 We have been surprised, once again, by the inevitable connections between others and us \u2013 people we both know, common experiences we have had\u2014some at the same time.\u00a0 The hospitality has been amazing and heart-warming.\u00a0 The help of others to get us to the next place on time has been greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n

Our time with Rich and Almetta is an example.\u00a0 Almetta\u2019s father was a great friend of ours while Gary was a Pastor to Youth in Kingsburg, CA.\u00a0 Almetta asked specifically to be able to host us while we were visiting her Church on the plains of Nebraska because of this \u201cCovenant family connection\u201d.\u00a0 So we stayed in a warm, farm house on a dirt road, near one of the oldest Covenant Churches in the U.S. (where we experienced the coldest weather we will face in these four months).\u00a0 We slept on a \u201cnon waterbed\u201d waterbed (read \u2013 very soft mattress which was actually comfortable), shared one bathroom and ate very good country breakfasts.\u00a0 But, perhaps, the most telling touch of all came from Rich, a retired truck driver.\u00a0 He heard that we were going to traverse the state of Nebraska to arrive at our next destination and that we needed to get there by noon.\u00a0 He got up early with us to eat breakfast and was waiting for us with his road map.\u00a0 With his experience on the roads of Nebraska he wanted to advise us on how to arrive on time, making sure that we had access to his experience.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that he saved us lots of time or miles, but he saved us some hassle of small town thru traffic travel (stoplights, speed limit changes, etc.)\u00a0 It was simple advice, but it was very thoughtful and caring and \u201cfamily\u201d.\u00a0 And it worked out beautifully.<\/p>\n

Just another day and night on the road in the Covenant.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While in Colombia we get asked many questions about all things U.S.\u00a0 That means that in any given conversation, someone might ask us a question about something in the U.S.\u2014politics, lifestyle, food, media, newspapers, movies, road conditions,\u00a0 styles, likes, dislikes, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHelping us out - Walking Alongside Gary and Mary Lou Sander<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/sander\/2012\/05\/17\/helping-us-out\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helping us out - 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