Well, May is drawing to a close. Bud and I began the month in Louisiana, spent a week in Minneapolis, helped fellow missionaries pack up their house to begin their journey to New Orleans,  hit Appleton to be with family and friends there, now we are in Richmond,IN, spending a few days reconnecting with friends in this area, and tomorrow night we will sleep in our bed back in Mandeville, LA. Whew. Funny how tiring it can be.
    In ReachGlobal we call what we are doing Missionary Partner Development (MPD). Somehow that just sounds too ordinary and high-falutin for what it is in our minds and hearts. We prefer to call it Friendship Renewal Time. Many of the people we have been visiting are far more than just missionary partners and we aren't out to develop them. We have known them for years. They are people we have attended church with and served with and had fun times with. They have helped us in life and had a hand in molding us into the people/couple we are today. When John calls emails Bud weekly to let him know that John is praying for him, well, that isn't just a partner. When Paul and Carol invite us into their home it isn't about our being missionaries, it is about many years of time and caring. Going to church in Appleton is warm and familiar, and hugs are plentiful at First Baptist in Richmond even though we haven't been attending there since 2005. Talking and connecting with everyone we haven't seen in too long just lifts our spirits immensely. It is amazing how little time it takes to be right back into catching up on families, joys, sorrows, and old stories of shared events.
   We were sitting out at a lakeside restaurant last night enjoying the warm evening weather with Paul & Carol and Ron & Karen.  They weren't missionary partners last night, they were old friends. As we linked hands to pray a blessing it felt like we'd always been in that moment, doing life together.
    It has been a good month of friendship renewal, but now we are headed back south to renew our friendships in Louisiana. Seems like forever since we walked into the office at ReachGlobal Crisis Response, but we know that we will be welcomed back, and our lives will fall back into its regular pattern there...until we go home the next time. That is just the way it is in God's family.