On Assignment - at home in Nebraska and Iowa

One of the biggest joys on our trip around the US is seeing family again and meeting new people. We usually have a mix of both at each stop on our way, seeing church family we have stayed with before and meeting new members while there. But in general our family is in different States than the congregations we visit.

Leaving our Minnesota church family we rented a car and began the 'road trip' section of our Home Assignment. From Minneapolis we would drive the rest of the trip - to Omaha, Nebraska, over to  Muscatine, Iowa, on to Curtice, Ohio, back to Indianapolis, Indiana, and finally to Chicago, illinois where we would fly out. We left Minnesota with a light powdering of snow on the ground and fog in the air wondering what Omaha would be like when we arrived about 5 hours later. We heard that Minnesota received a foot of snow after we left, but we arrived in Omaha with no snow.

Once arrived in Omaha we found a hotel, checked in and headed over to Shirley's sister's, pretty much just around the corner. From there we were able to go to her son's house where we were all together for dinner. What a great evening - finally being able to see each other again!
The next day we planned to attend Southwest church of Christ, where we had visited back in 2007. Walking in the door we were enthousiastically welcomed by Joan Hazelwood who knew we were to be in Omaha and hoped that we would be coming by. How fun and encouraging to be so welcomed! Joan and LaVerne had been in the congregation when Shirley was growing up and Joan had allowed us to translate her curriculum for Belgium and the Netherlands. We also ran into Lane Hinton, who had been one of our 'students' for a summer back in the 90's.

We only had a coupe of days in Omaha, but we were able to spend as much time as possible with family, doing a bit of shopping, Scott got his hair cut and we did a lot of catching up. We even drove over to see a neighborhood with an amazing light display. We are so thankful for these opportunities and how this is made possible by the generosity of so many. We couldn't have been in the States if others hadn't brought us over.

After a much too short visit in Omaha, we jumped in the car and headed over to Muscatine, Iowa. It was Shirley's birthday, so we had some heartfelt goodbyes with her sister, stopped to get a Nebraska sweatshirt (some things are just important!) and went out to eat when we finally drove in to Muscatine about 5 hours later.

in Musactine we were staying at our 'regular' place. This place is far from regular, but the Huddleston's see us as family (since we have stayed with them several times) and we feel very much at home. So we simply let ourselves in. Muscatine is a congregation where we have many familiar faces and church family (including the Schellekens, with whom we have worked since 1982!), but it was here that we were thrilled to meet a whole group of new people.

In the 5 days we were in Muscatine we had several chances to meet the congregation and get to know them better. On Wednesday evening Shirley went to the ladies group while Scott went to a different class. Afterwards we had a meet and greet around dessert foods.
We found out that the church family in Muscatine often meets around food. The following three evenings we had dinner and then dessert with various groups - elders, deacons, wives included, long-time friends and then the youth as well. The exciting thing was being able to meet so many new families as well as reconnect with old friends. On Sunday we talked about our work during the class, Scott preached and then went to sing with a group at a rest home. In the evening we visited with the youth again and two different classes before praying with the elders. We always want to be of use when we visit and we were glad to be able to do so many things here.
In the meantime we also enjoyed a quiet home and even went out to The Hobbit - it's a three-parter, so be warned (tongue firmly in cheek). On a rainy morning we drove off on our way to Ohio where we will finally meet our soon-to-be daughter-in-law and see our son.

You can see more pictures over here. We were busy meeting people in Iowa, so we don't have much of any pictures. Did you take some? We would love to see them!