Family

Pelham: A Special Place

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Our first stop was David’s hometown: the metropolis of Pelham, GA. 4,100 people, 3 traffic lights. The town is not without distinction, however. Once upon a time, Pelham was home to the world’s largest rural department store: The Hand Trading Company. The store was built by David’s great grandfather in 1914. You could buy everything from groceries to tractors to coffins to ice cream sundaes! The store closed in 1982 but the building still remains. Check out more info on Pelham’s web site or this entry on wikipedia.

As the welcome sign below says, Pelham really is a special town. The people really look out for one another. Strangers don’t stay strangers for long. There’s definitely a slower, “I’ve got time for you” feel from the citizens. It is one of those places where the small town atmosphere is authentic and unique.

pelham

David’s parents still live there, and had a great time with their grandkids.

Hands w/ grandkids

Family

On the Road

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Drive Map

Well, we’re off. We left Orlando Monday on the first leg of our journey. Click map to see our planned stops. We should have taken a photo of the loaded minivan. It was a feat.

We really appreciate your prayers for us each step along the way to our training events!

Family

Financial Needs

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We have some special needs related to our travels to the training events this summer. See the details about these on our previous post. Would you pray that the Lord would provide?

If He directs you to help financially, you can give a gift in a variety of ways. See our donations page.

All of these travel and conference expenses are totally reimbursable IF we have extra donations come in to cover them. These are not regular budgeted expenses so therefore are not included as part of our monthly financial support.

Here’s the scoop on exactly what we need:

About $2,875 for gas, lodging, food, and training event costs.
Since this trip will cover about 4,000 miles round trip, that works out to about 72cents per mile. Any gift of any amount would be appreciated. If you want to give very specifically, then . . .
$72 will cover about 100 miles.
$360 will cover about 500 miles.
$720 will cover about 1,000 miles.
$1,440 will cover about 2,000 miles.
$2,875 covers the whole trip.

Thank you for praying about this. Our first hope is that the Lord would receive all the credit and glory regardless of how He responds. As always, we walk by faith with another great opportunity to trust Him with the details of our life!

Family

Road Trip to Training Events

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Bags packed? Check. Minivan loaded to the gills? Check. Got the map, kids’ music, drinks and snacks? Double check.

Sounds like a road trip for the Hand Clan, huh? That’s what it is. And it will be a fairly long one, too: July 9 – Aug 1 will take us on a 4,000 mile round trip, with our destination being a couple of conferences in Colorado.

Our driving route to Colorado is below, thanks to Google Maps.

After several stops including a couple of visits with friends and family, we’ll arrive at Snow Mountain Ranch – a YMCA retreat center in the Rocky Mountains. This is the site of our first conference – a mini conference for the 35 or so members of the Global Technology Office (our team members here in Orlando). This one will last July 15 – 19.

Next is Ft. Collins, Colorado for the National Staff Training Conference July 19 – 26. Campus Crusade for Christ hosts this conference once every two years. It is always held at Colorado State Universtiy in Ft. Collins. Approximately 5,000 staff based in the United States will attend.

Why are we attending? Because of four important “R’s”::

Recharge – To take some time out of the normal routine to enjoy spiritual refreshment
Renew – Renew our calling and confirm our desire to serve in ministry
Reconnect – Take time to see the big picture of the vision and direction of Campus Crusade for Christ. Also to reconnect relationships with other staff
Required – These are not optional conferences for us. 🙂 But even if they were, we’d glady choose to attend

We really appreciate your prayers for us each step along the way to our training events!

Drive Map