How to describe life in Greenville, SC?

For fundamentalists, Greenville is life in the fast lane. There is so much going on, so many people to see, so many things to do, that you have little time for such things as writing 'pastor's updates'. Certain people have complained (we won't mention any names, but the initials are RJP). One would have to be here to really understand it.

We arrived in Greenville yesterday afternoon. We went to supper on campus with most of our kids... Kaleigh was at her job in the Dining Common while we ate. Her supervisor sent her over to sit and chat with us for a bit. Before we went in to eat, I sneaked up behind her (she is on the salad bar crew) and told her she had to stop working for a minute to get a hug. She is a great girl.

After that we went out to the place we were staying... although Debbi is fighting off a cold that has lingered all week across the continent. She of course is not resting much during the traveling, so that doesn't help. We decided to take a motel closer to the university so that Debbi can get a bit more rest (we were an hour away at the other place).

Today has been a mad dash of getting Susan to campus, sending off some papers to hopefully inch closer to a finish of the importation process for her car. She also got some business taken care of for her new career here. Next we were off to meet Debbi's sister for lunch, then check in to the motel, then Debbi's brother-in-law and I went out shopping for Debbi. They say there is no pain worse than childbirth, but we thought shopping must come in a close second. Hopefully everything is done satisfactorily ... I have to head to Costco in the morning to finalize the purchases... this is all for the 'graduation party' scheduled for tomorrow afternoon following graduation.

This evening we took all the kids, Debbi's sister's family, Meg's parents (Brad and Sarah Calhoun), and two other friends to supper. We had a good time and now we are crashing at the motel.

Tomorrow is graduation, the party, then packing for our trip to the UK... never a dull moment around here. We'll probably see a few more friends along the way tomorrow.

God bless you all. Stay in the Word.

Pastor Don

Greetings from St Joseph Missouri.

I'm sorry we didn't update you on our travels last night. It was a long, long day with a late arrival in Wall, SD. Consequently, we caught up on e-mails, then crashed.

Susan decided to document our trip with at least one picture in each state we drive through. This post will be mostly pictures.

The first ones are from Leavenworth Washington where we stopped for lunch:

Next are a couple of pics from an old mission in Idaho:

Next up was Montana, "Big Sky Country", first from in front of our motel Sunday morning:

Then me along the highway in Montana later that day:

Yeah, snow!

And here is Wyoming... Little Goose Creek in Sheridan Wyoming. Seems... appropriate!!!

Today we were in South Dakota. Here's Susan and Debbi and a new friend:

And last is Iowa, we'll get Missouri in the morning:

She's kind of cute, don't you think!

We'll probably send the next update from Greenville in a couple of days.

Good morning! We are in Sedro-Woolley, WA, enjoying the good fellowship of Pastor and Mrs. Coursen. We head off in a few minutes, but I thought I'd update our church folks on the "Susan's Car Importation Saga" or SCIS for short.

The letter from Honda Canada arrived by fax yesterday. Hooray!

One problem, it said that Susan's car meets Canadian standards and says nothing about USA. Oops.

Good news is that we can get another letter and do the paperwork at any customs office in the USA, including an airport near Greenville where we are headed.

So the saga continues.

We are headed for Bozeman, Montana today, a long drive.

I'll check in from there if there is anything to report!

~Pastor Don.

Reviving Pastor's Update

April 25:

I am just reviving the pastor's travelogue blog for our journey across the continent and the ocean. Hope to have some news to report to you from our journey soon.

Pastor Don
Jer 33.3

from the weary travellers

We are in Sheridan, WY again. When we left here two and a half weeks ago, we had snow on the ground. None today!

We will be in Idaho tonight, Lord willing, and home on Saturday.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Maranatha!
Pastor Don
Jer 33.3

homeward bound

As we send this we are packing up in Greenville for the long long trek back home. We hope to be home by Saturday and look forward to seeing you all on Sunday. It seems like we have been gone for a long time, much longer than two weeks. I know that when we get back home to the regular responsibilities that the passage of time will return to ‘normal’ levels.

I am going to give you a couple of videos from our weekend with the Calhouns.

The first is called “our little cabin in the woods”.

our little cabin in the woods from Don Johnson on Vimeo.

The second is a look at the Calhoun’s church building and our sight-seeing at Grandfather mountain and Elk River Falls. I am afraid I still have to learn to do better with the camera – I pan way too quickly. I hope it isn’t too hard to follow.

No. Carolina Mountain Sight Seeing from Don Johnson on Vimeo.

Maranatha!
Pastor Don
Jer 33.3

visiting the ‘outlaws’

We are in the mountains of North Carolina today, visiting Duncan’s in-laws, Brad and Sarah Calhoun. There is no term for what the relationship is, so we have taken to calling ourselves ‘outlaws’.

While here, we are staying in a little summer cabin Debbi found on the internet. The cost of renting was the same as what motels were looking like… so… here we are. It is quite nice.

Today we spent our time enjoying the great outdoors. A good bit of the day was taken up with Grandfather Mountain. It has quite astonishing views … and a few nervous edges to the cliffs. I stayed well grounded in the middle of the flat spaces. There is no terra in firma, I always say.

We also had a look at Elk River Falls, a rather amazing waterfall not too far away (and with not much hiking, right up my alley).

I’ll have some video shortly, I am importing it to the computer as I type.

Praying for you all and your services tomorrow. We will be worshipping with the Calhouns and their church in NC. We will be heading back to Greenville tomorrow evening, then hitting the road west on Monday, leaving Rory behind. That will be a sad moment… But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Maranatha!
Pastor Don
Jer 33.3