Missionary Fellowship

Once each quarter, our District Secretary/Treasurer Ken Burtram and his wife Johnese invite all the Potomac missionaries to their house for a get-together. We each bring a dish of some kind, so there is always tons of great food. But the best part is just catching up with one another.

Last night was our fall get-together, with chili as the main dish. Fall was also reflected in the desserts: caramel apples! We had a great time chatting as usual, and Nancy Arsenovic (our official "missionary-care liason") had prepared some questions to get us all talking and laughing. We discussed our worst cultural and language mistakes, what we like about other missionaries, in what ways we've changed because of living outside the US, and more. We were representing such varied countries: Cambodia, Kenya, Yugoslavia, El Salvador, Belgium, Palestine, the Phillipines, and more! It made for some pretty amusing stories. We howled with laughter at Dr. Cynthia Calla telling a patient to eat more "fruits and trees" as well as Patrick Collins offering a grieving family his "deepest cows" instead of sympathy. I shared a faux pas of my own--not so much funny as awkward, since it involved a cultural mistake at a funeral in the West Bank. Suffice it to say, I'll never make that foolish mistake again.

The drive to the Burtram home in Warrenton, VA took me three hours, instead of the usual hour and a half, because of the Friday evening rush hour and the downpour of rain. Driving home took less time but was even more stressful because of the torrents of rain that made the roads hazardous. Praise the Lord, I made it safely home.

In other news . . . I regret that I will be away this coming week on vacation with no internet access. I will not post a new blog until Friday, Nov. 2. Enjoy your week; I'm planning to enjoy mine! :)