A Ton of Days in Dayton

I recently wrapped up my longest road trip: a full week bookended by Sunday morning presentations in Ohio. My friend Sarah, a fellow former CPHer, graciously hosted me in Dayton (Xenia) nearly the entire time; I radiated out from there to... 

Concordia Lutheran Church, Oakwood

Concordia was a congregation I hadn't previously visited, and I'm so glad I did! Pastor Sobocinski had me introduce myself to the congregation during worship and invite everyone to my presentation, which followed the service. I spoke as everyone enjoyed a luncheon spread of individually wrapped goodies because #COVID, down to the pickle spears. 

Immanuel Lutheran Church and School, Hamilton

Sunday night, I drove almost exactly an hour to Hamilton for dinner catered from a local Italian place and my 2nd presentation of the day. Immanuel helped send me into the field three years ago, so it was wonderful to be back among Pastor Jud and the saints there. The next morning, I retraced my steps to lead chapel for the students at Immanuel Lutheran school. How fun to think that some might have remembered me (yes, I switched up my message just in case)!

Bethlehem Lutheran School, Fairborn

I pulled out my new chapel message again Tuesday morning for another school that's been walking alongside me from the beginning. Pastor Witte had prepped me for giving the message 3x to three different groups so the kids could be appropriately socially distanced, but he informed me the night before of a newly instituted mask policy. Okay. When I arrived, though, I learned the middle schoolers had been quarantined and I'd only be presenting twice! 

Sarah & family call Bethlehem their church home. I pulled out all my best aunting skills with her two little boys in between pitching in around the house as much as I could; her husband is currently deployed with the USAF, and she had arthroscopic knee surgery while I was there! Our afternoon frozen custard outing with Sarah's sister-in-law Leah was a success, our attempt to get a 2.5 yr. old and a 1 yr. old to look at the camera at the same time, not so much. 

St. Paul's Lutheran School, Napoleon

Napoleon was another new connection. The story goes like this: students wrote cards & letters to missionaries during National Lutheran Schools Week in January > I got an envelope in the mail > I sent a thank-you note and mentioned I had plans to be in OH on home service > my note reached Principal Julie Bourgeois, who invited me to lead chapel! Napoleon was ~2.25 hours straight north of Dayton, so I drove up Tuesday evening and stayed the night with Julie, her husband, and their "people-loving" cat Phil. The unity between the school and the church was evident as I met Pastors Marcis and Schiewe and toured the building with Pastor Schiewe after chapel. PSA: the congregation is currently seeking a DCE and a 3rd pastor...

I enjoyed a relaxing couple days at the tail end of the week, then carefully calculated my Saturday afternoon departure time so as to arrive at my next stop, ~2.75 hours away, a comfortable 25 minutes before the 4 pm service. My GPS had me right on track until I saw brake lights ahead on US 71N...

Until next time, blessings!