When I left off on our last update, we were beginning a missions conference in Virginia. I’m thrilled to say we had a wonderful time. It was one of those churches where we felt accepted as we were and didn’t feel the need to put on an act or wear a disguise. That’s always refreshing. In addition to our nightly meetings where we had the opportunity to present our burden and Jason preached, we also had regular meals at the pastor’s house with the other missionaries and some members from the church. There were a lot of laughs and stories, and even though we stayed up way too late most evenings, it was great fellowship.

On Friday morning, the church hosted an apple gleaning. For one hour, we gleaned apples (which means we picked up apples that had fallen from the trees but were still in good shape) for a local organization that feeds the hungry. During the second hour, we gleaned apples for the church outing that was to take place on Saturday. You wouldn’t think picking up apples would be hard work, but after that two hours, my body was protesting.