We had a really good time on holiday. We made several new friends and that was very special and meaningful for us. It is somewhat a strange experience to have people you have only known for a few days to pray over you and even weep over you and with you-a group of people completely open to the Holy Spirit’s direction. We felt such a kinship with these people even though we had only been in the field for a year and these couples had been in the field for 7 to 50 years. The combined years of service of these 6 couples and one single was well over a 100 years of service to the Lord in the mission field. You want to know what I liked so much. There was no fluff. These were straight up, straight shooting, no B. S. kind of people- they called it just like they see it, they did not over spiritualize anything. It just is what it is. Their insight and understanding of missions and the mission field and the culture was/is priceless. There are a lot of wonderful things happening in the mission field but there is also often a thing called “a miscarriage of vision” that is also happening and it is not as rare as one would like to think or hope. My philosophy of missions has changed by being a full time missionary and not a part timer. The picture is much clearer and fuller by living in the field. It is something a part timer can not see and must take the word of the full timer. I plan to try and articulate at a later time what I mean. There is a very clear theme among missionaries in the field about what does and does not work in very specific areas of mission philosophy. The Lord has given us a huge gift by being here this last year. He has opened our eyes to many things that could only be opened by being here. Our challenge is to process, remember, apply, and share what we have see and been taught