June 8th Phil Wrote

Hi all

It's been an exciting summer. Imagine, Daniel graduating from High School. It seems like just a little while ago that he was a baby. So quickly time moves by.He has two jobs right now, one at Redner's and one at the TopStar at the end of the road, but both are very part-time and total about 20 hrs per week. We hope that that will increase now that school is over.

It is just 5 weeks until Karalee and Willy leave for Hawaii. We are all excited about it, but at the same time we are all a bit nervous about it too. It seems like such a long way to go and they seem so small yet.

I remember so clearly when I was 15 years old and mom and daddy put me on a plane bound for Washington DC for a leadership conference with the FFA. I think back to how little I knew then and to the wonderful time I had. I figured out how to get a cab to take me to the hotel, I met my roommates (One from Washington State, One from Wisconsin and one from Oklahoma) and we became great friends. I dove off of a diving board for the first time, I learned a lot about leadership and I gained a lot of self-confidence. I am so glad I could go. It was one of those formative times in my life. I hope Karalee and Willy get some of that too.

It is just 5 1/2 weeks until I leave for Peru. I am getting more and more excited about it all the time. Seminary has been a challenge, but I have really enjoyed it. I have made a lot of great friends, but at the same time I am so ready to be done with it again. The trip is our last class, so that make it all the more exciting.

I still don't know what I'll be doing this fall. I have been invited to "stay on" with Oldcastle. They have several plants in the PA, MD, NY area, and my new supervisor says he could make arrangements for me to work out of our home and visit job sites from Albany to Richmond. It sound like it would be interesting, and if nothing else comes up I will seriously consider it, but that's not where my heart is right now.

We have been accepted, in a general way, into MCC. They are looking for an assignment that would suit our skills, experiences and our family situation.

They have been telling us right from the start that it is difficult to place families with several children, so we're not holding our breath.

I also, as of yesterday, have had my name added to a list of available pastors within the Mennonite Church USA. It is a nation-wide database that is maintained by the denomination for churches that are looking for a pastor. I filled out a 12-page application with a lot of essay type questions that were aimed at making me think real hard about what I believed and why. It was a good exercise, now we will see what happens.

Well, I guess that book is long enough.

Love you all

Phil