Submitted by Sunset Alumni on Thu, 10/09/2008 - 15:37
Dear brethren,
This note is being sent to 15 people. I have been offered a job working with George Washington Academy (http://www.gwa.ac.ma/), an international school (grades 1-12), in Casablanca, Morocco. It is a large, well-established school with around 1,000 students, excellent facilities, etc. They need somebody to oversee and manage the housing units for faculty and others (mostly expatriates). That is partly administrative, partly maintenance. It involves helping people get settled in, getting phone/Internet connected, etc., which necessitates communicating a large number of people in a variety of tasks.
Submitted by Sunset Alumni on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 18:06
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Fès, Morocco
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the third time I have flown across the Mediterranean Sea from France to Morocco. Today it felt like a homecoming. When I arrived at the house of the Rhambou family in the Old Medina, Mustafa met me at the door and took me straight to the same room I stayed in for four months, early October, 2007, through late February, 2008. It’s the best guest room in this 200-year-old house, located on the middle of three floors, with windows that open onto the central atrium.
I am glad to have again the almost irreplaceable language materials I left behind in Fès during my visit to the States. The books, cassette tapes, CDs, and DVDs would cost several hundred dollars to replace. I am most happy, though, that hundreds of flash cards I wrote by hand are here. That took weeks, as I wrote words, phrases, sentences, verb conjugations, etc., over a period of months. They include every vocabulary word from three Arabic language textbooks.
Submitted by Sunset Alumni on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 14:50
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
On the TGV from Paris to Marseille
The only problem with this train is that the trip just doesn’t last long enough. We’re traveling across the incomparable French country-side, from Paris, in the far North of the country, to Marseille, in the extreme south, on the Mediterranean coast. Even with two stops along the way, at Avignon and Aix-en-Provence, the 410-mile trip (as the crow flies) will take only three hours and eighteen minutes, which means we will average about 125 miles per hour. Top speed will be close to 200.
I’ve ridden trains before, but never one as smooth and comfortable as this one. Excuse me for a minute. I’m going to the car ahead for a snack. Be right back.
Submitted by Sunset Alumni on Wed, 08/13/2008 - 17:02
Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings to all of you from France. This is my eighth day back on the field. I am lodging at L’Institut Biblique de Nogent, an interdenominational Bible school in a suburb of Paris. It is the perfect location for a brief stay as I transition back into the work. My room is in the men’s dorm, which is empty of students now. The room is mine until August 19, and then I’ll move on to the next step.
This three-story building is old and comfortable. My room has a wash basin and mirror behind double doors in the corner and a matching clothes closet. The entrance door is between those. The ceiling is eight feet high. There is a radiator for heat in the winter, connected to the boiler in the basement. The bunk bed is comfortable. There are a five-shelf bookshelf next to the bed, a small wooden table, and a large desk, where I sit as I type. It is well-lit by several lamps. Seven-foot-tall double windows open up on the garden below.
Breakfast is included in the price of the room (12 € a day, or about $19.20). I have wireless Internet for my laptop computer.
Submitted by Sunset Alumni on Wed, 06/04/2008 - 14:19
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Dear brothers and sisters,
The train trip from Austin, Texas, to Clifton Forge, Virginia, will take more than 50 hours, including a 3-hour break between trains in Chicago. My youngest child, Tyler, will pick me up at the Amtrak station in Clifton Forge. It’s just 20 miles from where he lives. The train leaves Austin at 9:31 am on June 11 and arrives at Clifton Forge at 12:14 pm on the 13th.
It wasn’t difficult to see that the fare of $210.80 (with a 15% senior discount), is the least expensive way to go. The cost of gasoline alone would be at least that if I drove my own car. I’d have to spend a night in a motel en route. If I experienced even a flat tire along the way, expenses would go up. Flying from Austin to Charlotte, North Carolina, would have cost slightly less than train fare, but Charlotte is more than 100 miles from Tyler, so I would have had to rent a car and pay for gas. So, I’m ridin’ the rails.
Submitted by Sunset Alumni on Fri, 05/23/2008 - 16:35
Brothers and sisters,
Plans are coming together well for my return on July 30 to the Mediterranean Sea and environs. I am also planning to visit Newcastle, in northeast England, in August. Bruce and Fiona Smith are there and involved in reaching out to the same kind of people we have been with in our travels. Bruce is going to help me arrange time to be with some brethren in Sorrento, Itlay, where there is a large population of immigrants and refugees in the area of the Bay of Naples. I also want to make contact again with brethren in Marseille, France, and Geneva, Switzerland, to pray and plan, and to visit for the first time southern Spain, just across the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa. Hopefully, you already know of the purpose and preparation for these travels and contacts.
God bless you all. Please give my greeting to all the saints.
Submitted by Sunset Alumni on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 20:43
Dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings to all of you in the name of the Lord. I thank God for you continually.
I had a complete physical exam here in Bastrop, Texas, where I live in a RV park thirty miles from Austin. Good news: I am fit for active duty. God has blessed me with a good constitution, evidently, and there seem to be no lingering effects from the serious illness I suffered the last time I went to the interior of Papua, Indonesia, to the Sehudate tribe, almost three years ago. Repeated malaria, dengue fever, and exhaustion did not ravage my body permanently, then. Kidneys and liver are fine; blood pressure is 118/72; cholesterol, no problem.
Submitted by Sunset Alumni on Mon, 03/31/2008 - 21:27
Dear brothers and sisters,
It's approaching 1 pm on Saturday. I just arrived in Houston from Austin and checked into a motel near where I'll be speaking tomorrow morning. The Candlelight Church of Christ has helped me for many years. Being with them will be the same kind of privilege I have had over the past three weeks of personal visits to the wonderful Christians in Winnie, Kirbyville, Austin, and Lockney.
I had some trouble finding a room on this beautiful, balmy Saturday, maybe because of the NCAA regional tournament is here in Houston. (My 'Horns beat Stanford yesterday!). This place had only one room left, and that worked out to my benefit. It's a $200-a-night suite, but they let me have it for $50. So this is how the other half lives, eh?
This is just a note to express again my appreciation for the love you have always shown to me and still do. I am blessed.
