An Incredible Year on the Road

Laredo to Austin
       Our journey began in Laredo, Texas on June 7, 2010.  We hitched the travel trailer, which had already been serving as our home for the previous nine weeks, to the Suburban, and left Laredo early.  Saying goodbye to our friends was not easy, especially knowing that we would not see many of them for over a year.  Our first stop:  the local truck scales to weight our rig.  We weighed 12,012 lbs on that first leg of our journey to Austin, Texas, where were to spend the night.  We pulled up on to I 35 in Laredo and began accelerating.  When reaching 60 mph, we suddenly began weaving violently back and forth, taking up almost all three lanes!  I soon realized that it was going to be a long trip to Marion, Indiana, traveling only at 55 mph!  1,400 miles to go.  We arrived in Austin, Texas, in the evening of the first night.

Our church people in Laredo prayed over our traveling home and God protected us over the 24,000 miles across 34 states!  Read on to see the amazing blessings that God provided for us along the way.  At left, spending the night in an Austin travel park.

Austin to Wichita

     The second day of travel took us to Arlington, where we spent the next day at a water park run by a Christian organization.  It was a blast, and much cheaper than Sea World or Six Flags (we had planned to stop there in San Antonio on the way north).  Then we headed north to Wichita, Kansas, to visit my (John's) Grandpa John Kunkle and Uncle David and Aunt Rita and Cousin Ruth.  While in Wichita, the children were able to attend a basketball camp held by the First Wesleyan Church. Good memories and fellowship with family and friends.

We even found a gas station that sold milk right from the pump!... or so I thought until I realized it was just advertizing milk available in the station store! Too bad!  The price for milk was cheaper than gas!

Wichita to Greenville, Illinois

     We stopped to see good friends and supporters, John and Giannetta Wright and shared a little with the Gideon prayer breakfast they attend.

Greenville to Marion, Indiana

     A long, bumpy ride with countless potholes... we were glad to pull into the World Gospel Mission parking lot!  Our stay at the mission campgrounds was very enjoyable and relaxing.  We are always so thankful to have that place (Abbott Center at WGM in Marion) to make our second home too! 

John with Gabriel Martinez and Jim Newman. 
Gabriel and Jim worked with John as airplane mechanics
for Wings of Peace in Bolivia.

We made it a special point to be at the 100th Anniversary Celebration of WGM in June, 2010, since we are second and third generation missionaries.  It is like our extended family!  We saw hundreds of friends and fellow missionaries and fellow workers from Bolivia who had come as delegates too.  What an amazing work of God over the years!  We miss the work of Wings of Peace in Bolivia, but are glad that God has raised up strong Christian workers to carry on the work of evangelism in Bolivia.  The following weeks were filled with re-entry training and other seminars at WGM.


Marion to Camp Nipgen, Nipgen, Ohio
     Our next stop was to attend the Churches of Christ in Christian Union campmeeting in Nipgen, Ohio.  We met with various friends whom we had come to know through our work in Laredo, as the church we are serving is under that denomination, and has had a work on the Mexico border since 1946.