This past week, Patty and I travelled to Michigan for training for teaching English in China. I will try to recount some of the highlights of the trip and training.

Saturday--We left and travelled about halfway there and stopped for the night at Rock Cut State Park in Illinois. It was really warm so we went hiking and ended up at a swimming lake. On the way back, I ended up getting us lost and we ended up getting an extra 6 miles of exercise. Let's just say, Patty went to bed at 8 pm because she was exhausted. We did some camping and the weather was nice for sleeping.

Sunday--In the morning, we left for Spring Arbor (training). Driving went well and we arrived early. We were able to meet some of the other short term m's that will be leaving to various places like Mexico, Ukraine, Peru, Thailand and Myanmar, China, Romania, and Venezuala.

Monday--This was our first official day of training and we learned a lot about what to actually expect. It will not be just the fun and adventures but also many struggles with getting used to different cultures and learning how to live in a new language. At night, we went to a large worship service and learned about the work of the Father in Asia. Amazing things are happening.

Tuesday-Thursday--We had three more days of training and getting to know other workers and people from throughout the world. We learned a lot from so many people and it will take many days to understand it all. We will hopefully get a chance to keep in touch with and learn from our new friends. It was a great chance to learn about the Free Methodists--we were blown away by what we learned and the passion of the people we met.

On Thursday night, we left for our romantic part of the trip. We drove to South Haven along Lake Michigan and stopped at a Bed and Breakfast. We walked along the lake on the sand and visited the lighthouse. It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy the beauty of the small town. In the morning, we left and drove towards home. We stopped at another lighthouse in St Josephs. We stopped again in Chicago to go through the Field Museum--amazing collection of actifacts on Egypt, Africa, Ancient America and Dinosaurs. We travelled through the night and heavy rain storms and made it to the Cities at about 12:30 am. What an amazing trip and lots of learning. We are glad to be back though and have lots of work to do. We are closing on the house on Friday--ahh!! Hope all is well.