Business with Pleasure
Our Austin trip filled us with deep gratitude for our family, friends — and yes, even some meetings about 50-in-5 regarding immigrants or short term teams (unplanned surprises). Some friends invited Lisa to celebrate her birthday in Austin, which was the genesis of the trip. Our hosts were the Conleys, and staying at their place felt like a second home. Some of Lisa’s birthday crew are shone in the picture but the women had a special night out planned.
Megan and Michael go to be with Uncle Ron (Lisa’s brother) and Aunt Debbie, as well as with their cousin Nina and her daughter — a really neat time and our kids love being with them. Our whole family had the opportunity to hang with the Conleys' grandchildren, and our kids really enjoyed them too.
We enjoyed seeing a number of other dear friends while there and we wish we could have seen them all, but in due time.
The strange surprise on this trip occurred in unplanned meetings with two individuals who desire to contribute to our disciple-making efforts long-term in Europe. On top of that our home church wants to send a short-term team to one of the cities as well. So the surprise — God invited us in and showed us what He is already planning, mixing business with pleasure once again.
We had a sense of real welcome from everyone we saw, and we all were amazed at the things God was doing in their lives.