People Met = 6+
From the time we left Goreville with Ky for Marion to the time we returned we actually met more than 6 people, but many of those were tallied for Day 232. Marion, IL might turn out to be the most eventful stop of the journey in terms of both giving talks and receiving information.
Our first destination was the Zion United Church of Christ to meet up with Pastor John Holst. There have been a few long connection trains on this journey; how we came into contact with Pastor John may be the longest. It started when Andy Held gave us the dismal snow forecast for the mountains around Frisco, Colorado and encouraged us to accept his offer of putting us up at the Hotel Frisco that evening. That led us to be in the Frisco Visitor Center at the right time to meet up with Gretchen and Ardie Davis. They became enthused about our journey and arranged for several talks and places to stay near Kansas City. That hooked us up with host Lorene Miller, who brought us to the KristKindl Markt at the UCC Church she attended. There we met the Missouri conference minister, Jeff Whitman, who announced what we were doing in the conference newsletter. The secretary for the Illinois conference saw that and posted something in their newsletter. That’s how Pastor John found out about us and approached me via facebook. Got all that?
Pastor John Holst
Pastor John put us up at the Econolodge for two nights. We took a shower there and then came back to the church for two presentations. The first was for the Logos after school program hosted at Zion UCC. This program combines elements of worship skills, Bible study, family time and recreation time. Many of the kids are on the young side and I mainly focused on hiking during my talk. In the evening presentation to adults and confirmands I focused more on the mission to raise awareness for community involvement to address Housing, Health and Hunger.
We had the marvelous foresight to schedule a rest day for when a snowstorm finally arrived in the area. We put the day to good use by visiting two vibrant community initiatives in the area. Pastor John was like a kid eager to go fishing as he shepherded us to these Marion initiatives. I created a podcast of both that details what they are both about. A common thread for both that was particularly informative was their independence from government funding. This allowed the programs to run as local people thought best; it also may be partly responsible for the phenomenal local support these two programs generated. You can listen and judge for yourself.
As if the itinerary was not busy enough, we saw fit to get out the Missouri newsletter at this time as well.
The best time for us was sharing pizza with the Holst family: John, Sara, Damon and Torie (sorry, Torie, if I did not spell that correctly). John has led Scouts and other groups of young people on canoe trips up by the lakes region of Minnesota and Canada, which provided a lot of common ground for sharing.
Hi Kirk. I met you and your lovely wife briefly today at the Ozark General store. I’m sorry I didn’t have more time to talk. My buddy Vaughn and I were on our way to look at a milk cow for our small homestead. I wish I could have had more time to visit, I would have loved to had you guys to spend the night with my wife & I. If it works for you before you leave the area give me a call or email me if you have the opportunity, and maybe we could make it happen before you leave. My cel is (618)889-8439.
I really appreciate what you guys are doing.
Sincerely,
Dale R. Morris
Greetings Dale,
Thanks for your well wishes and support. We are currently in the public library at Harrisburg, our first opportunity at wifi since we saw you. Hiking wise we left off at Garden of the Gods and will resume there again today after all the thunderstorms pass through. We are reluctant to backtrack so I’m afraid (and sad) that we can’t take you up on your kind offer. Let’s stay in touch.
Kirk (and Cindy)