Summer is ending for me! On Tuesday I go back to work.

The last few weeks have been a great end to our families summer. I went to "Kid's Camp" with our church's children's group. It was fun to see 3rd through 6th graders worshiping God and learning how to stand firm in Him.

After that we left the following day to be a part of a mission trip in Chicagoland, USA. This was not my fist mission trip. I have spent spring break twice at Daytona Beach on a mission trip. I have also spent a summer at Daytona Beach. I have spent a couple of weeks in Russia three times. I have spent a couple of weeks in China. I spent a few weeks in East Germany (before it was rejoined with West Germany) and I have spent a summer in Czechoslovakia (before it was the Czech Republic) followed by a little over a year in Prague, CZ. So, I considered myself a mission trip veteran.

To be honest, our trip to Chicagoland was by far the toughest trip I have been on in regards to reception. In Eastern Europe and China, people enjoy visiting about spiritual things and don't seem to feel threatened by them at all even if the totally disagree with you. On the beach, college students who were much more interested partying would still take time to chat. In Chicago people seemed to have no interest at all in spiritual things. It was such a perfect illustration of what it says in 2 Corinthians 4:4:

"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

One response we received when we invited their children to a Bible Club or their families to a Block Party was, "We know what you are doing, and we are not interested."

We know what you are doing -- sounds like we were doing some illegal activity.

I am thankful that my two children - 9 and 10 - were able to see this attitude to the gospel. It opened up the conversation to talk about the fact that people need Jesus all over the world.

We are blessed to know people that God has called to serve Him all around the world. We are thankful for our friends who are serving Him in Batavia, IL!!!!!