Indiana

The updates haven't been as frequent as I'd intended, but I wanted to do a quick update of our speaking on the Indianapolis District.

We started the tour Wednesday, Arpil 29 at Avon Parkside church. Unfortunately, Pastor Darryl Bogatay was ill, and we didn't get to meet him. The youth pastor and our friend Nancy Pyle (who is NMI president at the church) took good care of us.

Thursday evening we spoke at United Community, with Pastor Darwin Pressler and his wife Jean. Linda , a lay member of the church, heard that we needed a car for out time on the district, and offered hers. It was really great to have a car to use as we needed throughout our time there.

Saturday evening we traveled to Stringtown. We spoke at a Faith Promise dinner that evening, and then in both Sunday School and the church service in the morning. The pastor at Stringtown is Rev. Bill Bean. His wife, Martha is the district NMI president, and arranged this entire tour. Thanks to her for a great job.

Sunday evening we were at Grace Pointe church. The little girl wearing some of our PNG artifacts was a total charmer! Our hosts were Rev. and Mrs. Don Brewer. Rev. Brewer is serving as interim pastor.

Thursday morning found us at Westside Christian School. We spoke in the chapel service of this K-8 school. A great group of kids. We also got to spend some time with Westside Church's preschool.



Thursday evening found us at Spiceland Church of the Nazarene with Pastor Allen and Rachel Southerland. We stayed with NMI president Ray Hail and his wife Marian in their 180 year-old farm house.


Friday we were with the Greenburg Community Church of the Nazarene, and Pastor Perry and Tina Cook. Helen Philips, the NMI president organized the service some snacks afterward. They also gave us a money tree! We had several requests for cuttings from this tree.

Sunday morning was a special time for us. We were at the North Vernon church, where our friend Don Messer was was pastor until his recent sudden and untimely death. He and his wife Barbara were formerly missionaries in Africa, and later served as pastors to missionaries through Nazarene World Missions. In this position they cared for missionaries and their families, especially the MKs who were in college in the US. Don had visited us in PNG, and is missed by us and by Nazarene missionaries around the world. We got to spend a few minutes with Barbara, who is still in Mount Vernon. She will be returning to Olatha, Kansas, and will continue her work with World missions. Associate pastor Brian Goode is serving as interim pastor. He, along with NMI president Martha Morgan took good care of us there.

The tour finished Sunday evening with a service at Speedway Church of the Nazarene, which is located in the community of Speedway. You won't be too surprised to know that the community has grown up around the Indianapolis Speedway, and the church is just a few blocks from the world's most famous race track. We could hear the roar of cars doing the time trials for the up-coming Indy 500. We had a good service, hosted by Pastor David Perry and NMI president Lisa Fishburn. There were several people from the Westside Church who came because of a special interest in PNG. The photo is of the foks who stayed around to talk and ask questions.

The trip home was uneventful, unlike our trip east a little over 3 weeks ago. It was nice to actually travel together. Drew and Andrea picked us up at the airport, Sam was waiting at our apartment. We'll see Amy and my dad this afternoon. It's nice to be "home" for a few days before heading out to western Washingon on Saturday.

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