Our Visit With The Parker's

We ended our trip to Georgia with a visit to see the Parker's.  We arrived at their house on Sunday night and had a great time catching up in person. Mr. Wendall and Mrs. Jane are retired IMB missionaries who mentored us during our first term on the mission field. We traveled many, many miles with them in Guatemala visiting Kekchi villages and churches. They taught us so much about people, culture, language, and how to be a good missionary. Together with Ms. Fran Eachus and Jim McGriff they got us off to a great start and all of their influence in our lives has made a great impact. We are thankful for precious people like these who invested in us.   We took a group picture first thing Monday morning before our day got too busy.

Mrs. Jane, Mr. Wendall, me, Cruz, David, and Ben 

Before breakfast Mrs. Jane gave Cruz a few pointers on playing the piano.  He was thrilled!

That morning Mrs. Jane had invited several guests over that live near them to join us for breakfast.  It was great to see them all again and visit in person.

In addition to a great meal we had a wonderful time of visiting around the table.  Do you notice anyone missing in the photo above (besides me and Mrs. Jane)???  My two little rowdy ones!  Ben decided to take a long morning nap just before everyone arrived (he actually slept the whole time they were there!) and Cruz spent the morning playing with Lynna's son John.  John brought over a backpack full of toys for the boys to play with during our visit.  He and Cruz had a fun time together.  It was the first time in a while that we actually got to sit down to a meal and enjoy it.  We loved the adult time and conversation.  It was very refreshing and just what we needed!

Our fun breakfast bunch- us, Ken and Brenda Duckett, Bro. David (the Parker's former interim pastor) and his wife, the Parker's, and Lynna Hardeman (a MK from Guatemala).  Lynna's parents are George and Helen Hardeman who are still serving full time in Guatemala.   We recently met Bro. David when he joined the Parker's on a trip to Guatemala back in October.  This is a sweet group of folks!

me with Mrs. Brenda

Please say a pray for her daughter who was having two surgeries this week to remove a brain tumor.  

Cruz and John

John, Ben, and Cruz

 

Later that afternoon we did a little driving around so the Parker's could show us more of their area.  We made a stop by their church.  Both of our home churches are named Harmony Baptist.  We have all always loved that.  We were happy to see "their Harmony".

Harmony Baptist Church  Baldwin, GA

me and Mrs. Jane by the church sign

They had just called a new pastor.  We laughed because his name is Tony  Byrd and "our Harmony" also has a Tony Byrd (but he's not the pastor).

That night after supper we sat by the piano and Mrs. Jane played Christmas songs while we sang.  It was a sweet time!  Of course, the boys had to help her, ha. 

 Cruz and Mrs. Jane playing the piano. 

I know these are long but I wouldn't trade having them for anything in this world.

 

Here they are playing "Go Tell It On The Mountain".  This one is special to me because I don't know anyone who has "gone" and "told" it on the mountains more than Wendall and Jane Parker.  These two are highly admired by all that know them mainly for doing just that.

We took this photo on Tuesday morning before we left.  I love that our boys get to know them and be loved on by them.  I am sure we will be telling them stories about the Parker's for many years to come. You'll notice that Cruz's top lip is very swollen.  That's from him jumping off the bed the night before and landing on his face!

 

 on the road again...

 

We left their house on Tuesday morning and drove all the way back to Mississippi.  We didn't intend to drive the whole way back home in one day but ended up doing it anyway.  It was a long day in the car, but we were done when we got back. 

 

our boys, mainly Cruz, being silly on the drive home
You'll hear Cruz at the end say "take a picture of us".  ha

We were glad to see this sign! It's fun to travel but it's also fun to get back home. We had been gone for 7 days and 6 nights.  We traveled 1242 miles.  It wasn't always easy, but it was fun.  We had a WONDERFUL trip to Georgia. We got to see many familiar faces and met lots of new ones also. We got to do some tourist things as well as sharing about our work and life in Guatemala. We came home very blessed by all that we got to experience there. Our family is loved!