In this age of email and Facebook, it is rare to receive handwritten letters. But we have two faithful letter writers. Both are elderly ladies who share their world of family, weather, gardens, medical visits and pets with us. For four years they have made us feel like members of their families. We have grown to love these ladies and their frequent letters. One even sent us a picture of her and her husband. We know they uplift us in prayer, and we appreciate that very much. But we had never met either one of them until this furlough.

One of the ladies, who lives in Maine, expressed her desire to meet us in person. We let her know that we would be attending the Southern New England Camp Meeting in Massachusetts. She wasn’t able to drive herself there, so she asked her relatives to pick her up and drive her there to see us. We were manning an AFM booth in the display tent when she walked up. We recognized her right away from her picture. We hugged like family. It was so much fun to talk with her face-to-face. Her cousin from Massachusetts told us that they had invited her many times to come and visit, but they said with a smile, “It took you missionaries to actually get her to come.”

We want to take this opportunity to send a shout out to the letter writers. You may not realize how much of an encouragement you are. We appreciate being remembered when we are lonely and going through hard times and stress. You are truly a part of our support team.

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