Well, let me begin by saying we’ve been getting a lot of use out of our boots and coats lately. It’s been quite chilly in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and we even enjoyed a day of snow flurries. Thankfully, we haven’t had to contend with snowy roads yet. Hallelujah! We are equally grateful for the wonderful heat in our motorhome and luxuries like heated throws and heated mattress pads. God has been good!

I won’t bore you with a long list of churches we’ve been in, but I will tell you God has kept us busy. For the past three Sundays, we’ve experienced morning turn-around services followed by evening services at a different church. For those of you who are confused, a turn-around service means they have Sunday School, morning service, dinner on the grounds, and then an afternoon service, which takes the place of their evening services. This is becoming more popular, especially in areas like this that encounter harsh winters. So, we would arrive early, stay for all the services, then hurry on to the next church to be in time for the evening services there. It made for some long, tiring days, but we enjoyed the extra time to get to know the people.

While we weren’t able to be home with our family for Thanksgiving, God allowed us to have meals with pastors and their families and some church members several times throughout the past weeks. He also gave us the opportunity to take a nice lake-side walk on Thanksgiving Day as we meditated on how blessed we are.

In addition to visiting and/or presenting at eight different churches, we also had three churches take us on for support over the past couple of weeks. This brings our support up to 53%. We’re so excited and love watching God move on our behalf.

Last week, I (Dana) received an email inviting me to join a UK Bible study online. The young lady who invited me had found my blog and was enjoying my online devotions. I was a little nervous about attending a Bible study with a group of people I didn’t know, but I felt it was a good opportunity to connect with those of like-minded faith. And, the fact that it was a group of people in the UK was so amazing to me. I enjoyed meeting some new friends and had a good time at the Bible study. I was even asked to contribute some insight, which I gladly did. I’ve been invited to attend the online Bible study at any time, which I count as a real privilege. I just love how God opens doors!

This past week has been difficult for me. For those of you who don’t know, I suffer from a joint disorder, and sometimes, my body decides it’s had enough. This week, my low back went out in an excruciating way. Normally, when this happens, I stay in bed, use my heating pad 24/7, and do my best to recover. Obviously, that was not an option. So, I put a smile on my face and did my best to hide my discomfort, but let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. Still, I’m happy to say God’s grace is sufficient, and He helped me through, though I don’t think I hid my pain as well as I had hoped to. My back is doing some better, but I’m looking forward to seeing my chiropractor at the end of the week!

We should soon be arriving at our next meeting place in Ohio. Funny thing, we thought we were already there. We followed the GPS and pulled up in a church parking lot, but when Jason went in to find out where we were supposed to park, he discovered we were at the wrong church. Awkward! Somehow, we had put the wrong address into the calendar, which resulted in our going the long way around to our intended destination, which is apparently an hour away. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “Deputation is NEVER boring!” On the plus side, we were able to introduce ourselves to another pastor and leave a prayer card with him. Honey out of the rock!

On Thursday, we’ll be heading home. Our upcoming Sunday morning meeting had to cancel because of a COVID outbreak in the church, but we’ll find somewhere to drop in. We have another scheduled meeting on Sunday evening in our local area. After that, we’re off for the Christmas holidays. We’re looking forward to time with family and friends and to being in our home church for a few services.

So, that’s the latest news here on the Rongione deputation trail. As you can see, God has taken good care of us and provided for us every step of the way. We’ve made many new friends and look forward to meeting many more.

We want to thank each of you again for your love, prayers, and support. Thank you for your encouraging emails and letters. In case I don’t do another update before the holidays, I want to wish each of you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!