Last night after dinner, while Lorena worked in the kitchen, Kelly, Christian, and I worked on Spelling Power in the family room. The phone rang. Kelly, as is her wont, ran madly to answer the phone. She talked a little bit than walked over and handed me the phone.
“It’s Uncle Vernon.”
Uncle Vernon is one of our ministers who is currently working in Wyoming. He is not an uncle by blood or marriage. No, he is a much closer uncle than that. True fellowship is good that way. I grew up with Vernon in Newberg. He had a very successful career as a fire fighter before he entered the ministry. We had lost contact a little since he went to Montana and Wyoming fifteen or sixteen years ago, but he came back and spent an evening with us this year before he went to preach at the Lebanon Special meeting this year, so we had some quality time with him. Kelly and Christian are good friends with his baby brother, Gary’s kids, so they enjoyed getting acquainted with him.
After we got past the pleasantries, he said “I’m going to Mongolia!”
The only thing I could think to say was, “Wow! When?”
“In June.”
“Awesome,” I said. And it is.
He is going for ten months to see how it works out and to start working on the language. Then he will come back for a bit before to decide about going again for good. It just got laid on his heart. Amazing. He does not know much about Mongolia, but he is willing to go if God sends him there. The whole family is celebrating. We have a good friend named May who has worked in the ministry in Mongolia, the kids have been studying about Genghis Kahn and Mongolia in their work. It is an amazing place with an amazing people. Now we will have to study more about Mongolia and get ready to write some letters over there. But right now, we are celebrating Uncle Vernon’s willingness to to go where ever God sends him, even if to help the people of Mongolia.
Score: Ken -4 / Bryan -7 (ouch!!)