We covered a lot of miles in August, visiting  Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

In Minneapolis, we attended Creating Options Together, a training event that Cru’s inner city ministry put on for their staff and partners. They recognize that most inner cities have solid churches, but due to poverty and related problems, the churches need help. By bringing pastors and other church leaders together for training, they strengthen those partner churches.

On the shuttle from the airport, we Darryl Williams and Antonio Wilder (above, Daryl is in the center and Antonio is on the right), pastors from Charlotte, North Carolina. We talked about their two churches and neighborhoods. They had ideas for helping their communities, but didn’t have money to get started. Anne Marie showed them how to write a project proposal to present to business leaders in their city. These proposals should give the businessmen specific ways to help.

Next, we flew to Milwaukee and drove to Madison to visit Michael. He’s enjoying life in Wisconsin. Weekends and evenings, he runs trails and streets with two running clubs. He took us for a hike on one of the trails he runs on.

Work is going well for him as he learns the ropes and works with his first two customers. He travelled to Pennsylvania last week to visit a customer’s hospital when his coworkers set them up with his company’s software.

From there, we flew to Omaha and drove to Holdrege to be with my dad when he had surgery to remove four discs from his neck and replace them with metal spacers.

We spent two days with him before surgery, doing some things he enjoyed, as he would be less mobile after surgery. We visited the cemetery and left flowers by my mom’s memorial stone, stopped by the farm where dad grew up and visited a museum.

After surgery, dad spent a few days in the hospital. Then I stayed in his apartment with him for a week and Anne Marie returned home. Before I left, I was confident he was doing well and could get by on his own with some help from friends. I flew home after almost three weeks away.

As you think of us during September, would you pray:

• for complete recovery for my dad, Ross, post-surgery (he continues to do well),
• for Mark’s work to complete a special issue of Worldwide Challenge and for some major adjustments his team is making to communicate more effectively, and
• for Anne Marie as she prepares to teach two Bible studies this fall.

As always, we are grateful for your prayers, friendship and generosity.