As I have already mentioned, our boss, Mr. Bryant, came to visit us to check up on our progress and to sharpen us more. This was the week that he visited us and it was really neat that he was able to experience most of this with us.
Sunday
Dale and I decided to attend the church of the school we were going to be at the next day for the morning service. When we arrived, we found that they had evangelist Ed Dunlop with them that week so we decided to attend both services at this church. Evangelist Dunlop is well known for his work with children ministries, but he brought forth some great truths that even as an adult, I needed to be reminded of. We also very much appreciated Evangelist Dunlop's reminder of how simply salvation is.
Monday
After we arrived at our school on Monday morning, we went out to the van to get our equipment to set up and there beside our van was our lovely boss, Mr. Bryant. For some reason, it was different to see him outside of Pensacola, but at the same time, it was neat to have him with us.
While we were setting up, a gentleman and his son walked through the doors of the church. Whenever the administrator asked them how he could help, they said that they were there for the presentation. This father and son drove over an hour from Cape May to Absecon, NJ to meet with Dale and I! Dale had contacted the son a couple weeks before since he was a homeschooler in New Jersey. We had never had a homeschooler show up at a presentation and it was a great encouragement and wonderful opportunity!
Tuesday
On Tuesday, we visited Gloucester County Christian School where Evangelist Rich Tozour graduated from. This was a very large school which sometimes can hinder us getting to meet the students on a personal level. After the presentation, we joined the students for a class which turned into a study hall. I had a blast playing Dale and I's new game, Bananagrams, with some of the girls in the class! After the study hall, we sat in on the handbell class as they prepared for a state competition in the spring.
After we left the school, we stopped by to visit a family whose children attend PCC. This family owns one of the largest garden nurseries on the east coast! We were given a personal tour (by golf cart) of the enclosed facilities by another PCC alumnus that is working for the company. We had never seen such a big facility before or realized the process that goes into growing flowers year-round. We even got to see the poinsettias that were being grown to be sent to decorate the White House for Christmas!
Tuesday night we drove over to Newark, Delaware to once again see the Wessburgs as I spoke about in my last post. It was wonderful to be reunited with them within such a short period of time!
Wednesday
At our school on Wednesday, we met a girl that had already decided that she wanted to attend PCC for the nursing program! We were also able to talk to her mom as she was a teacher at the school. I am always so excited to help students (and parents) prepare to come to college!
We relocated Wednesday to be closer to our next school and ended up in a dinky little town. Dale and Mr. Bryant looked through the phonebook and computer for a church to attend that night and found one where two people from the church had applied to come to PCC.
When we pulled up to the church, it looked like a store front, and then when we pulled into the parking lot, everyone came out to see us. We walked in the door and were treated like celebrities! The pastor sat us down right away, gave us some pie, then one by one called the teenagers from the church over to meet us! When he called a young lady named Erika over while explaining that she was a recent PCC Alumnus, I turned around to look and saw Erika Rugenus, a friend I had met at college!! As Mr. Bryant put it, there was squeeling across the room. :-) It was such a surprise to see a familiar face at this small church!
The students that had already applied to PCC were not there at the time, so the Assistant Pastor's wife drove to pick them up since they usually came on the bus. We had a wonderful time after the service getting to chat with them and help them get ready to come to college in January!
Thursday
We visited a school and had a great lunch with Dr. Riddell afterwards. As we left the diner, we bid our farewell to Mr. Bryant and departed ways. Later in the afternoon, we returned back to the school so Dale could attend the boys basketball practice.
Friday
Since our school for Friday was not until later in the day, we had some time to stop by a few ministries in the morning. We noticed that there was a Christian school just a few miles from our hotel, so we decided to do a quick stop-by to give them some information. When we arrived, the guidance counselor informed us that they had a senior young lady that was very interested in applying to PCC and that she had recently returned from visiting the campus! She even went and got the young lady out of class so she could ask us any questions that she had!
After our school presentation, we drove from New Jersey to Reading, PA. As we were checking in at the Inn at Reading, the desk worker informed us that they were out of King bed rooms so we had been upgraded to a Executive Suite!! We said that would be fine and had relaxing weekend in a large, cozy room. :-)
Sunday
Throughout the last week, a young lady at a school in Collegeville, PA had been texting back and forth with me. She told me that the play they were practicing for when we were there was going to be performed this Sunday. It "just so happened" that we were staying only 40 minutes away from Collegeville! We were able to attend the play which was entitled "Cutting the Ties" and was about our need to not let anything stop us from the work the Lord has called us to do. They did a wonderful job and the play had a deep impact and needed message. The students couldn't believe that we came back to watch them perform! It was very neat to encourage them by attending but we were even more encouraged through the message.
While we were there, we were able to visit Isreal and Shalee again and remembered to take a picture this time!
What a fine work the Lord is doing through you and Dale as he crosses your paths with the folks you are "supposed" to impact and influence along the way. How neat to read of the contacts you are making and how you and Dale are providentially in the right places at the right time. It is exciting and HARD work that you do on these day in and day out adventures. Keep on and know that we love you and are praying for you and are SO VERY PROUD of you, in a humble way.
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