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Avant Retirees Visit NortheastAvant Retirees Visit Northeast
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We’re taking a 33 day trip to visit the Avant retirees that live in AL, NC, VA, PA, NJ, ME, Canada, MI and IN. We’ll take them out for a meal, give them a gift bag and listen to their stories. We want to encourage, bless and listen to their stories. Read more
  • JudyfromMoody
  • Glenn Stewart

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  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 11 Walk thru the Trails

    July 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 95 °F

    Miles 0
    Total miles 2196

    Today is going to be a hot one. Suppose to be 95 and lots of humidity.

    I was sick during the night - and surely the Bolivian saltena didn’t make me sick?

    Today, we took a nice walk through the trails around the house especially before it gets really really hot.

    I’m using this day to get caught up on some different accounts such as Avant, Constant contact, Allianz insurance, zoom and NCL -all are needing a fone call or emails to construct.

    Saturday, we drive to Pennsylvania via Mount Vernon with lunch with Wayne and Laura.

    The Stites home has been such a blessing to recharge, rest and reconnect with dear friends in the area. Amazing that we haven’t met yet they opened their heart and home to us while they were away. God is good.    Read more

  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 12 Reston, VA - Denver, Pa

    July 6, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 81 °F

    Miles: 193
    Total 2389

    We had a lovely visit with Wayne and Laura in their home in Alexandria, Virginia. Then we drove to Mount Vernon, the homestead for George Washington. They live only 1 mile from this national landmark. We took the tour of the plantation, saw different rooms and even walked on the grounds. It over looks the Potomac River.

    Wayne and Laura treated us to the tour and the lunch in the restaurant. I had soup and salad. Glenn had an omelette. Delicious. Oh, it was very hot today. I mean very hot.

    We left after lunch and headed towards Denver, Pennsylvania, just outside of Lancaster. We are staying with Jonathan and Susan, friends of Phil and Bobbie Burks from Tyler. We stopped at the road side park in Maryland, then continued on our way.

    We had dinner with the Yoders and talked a bout everyone under the sun. Very good conversation and we found common friends we knew of. We reviewed our week’s activities and they did the same.    Read more

  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 13 Lancaster, Pa Calvary Church

    July 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    37 miles
    Total miles 2426

    Today we attended the famous Calvary Church. Nice worship service.

    We drove over to see Dr Eric Crichton, He is 103 years old. Sharp and together. He did fall recently and is in assisted living. His daughter, Heather was with him.

    Dr Crichton was Moody alumni of the year back in 1991. We made some connections with Heather. She served as a missionary nurse with SEND back in the 70’s and worked with my dear friend, Carol Boerckel. Small world - Big family.

    Glenn and I ate lunch at a local Friendly restaurant. Then we drove thru Amish farm land. Saw some horse and buggy. We drive to Lititz to get the famous pretzels. Yum.

    We took a good afternoon nap then a late evening walk thru the neighborhood.    Read more

  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 14 Dever,PA - New Holland,PA

    July 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 93 °F

    Miles 50
    Total miles 2476

    Today, we had a delicious lunch with Irv and Janet Wenger along with Maryanne Sharp. We picked up MaryAnne and drove to Lapp Valley Farm Creamery and Cafe.

    I ordered Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich which Glenn and I shared. We also enjoyed a creamy ice cream cone. Afterwards we dropped by their home at a retirement center. Nice place.

    The Wengers served 40 years in Guatemala while Maryann and her late husband served for 30+ years in Ecuador then she served 10 years in Malaga, Spain. We loved sharing our lives and learning from each other. They appreciated the gift bag we gave them and spoke of how they enjoyed our visit.

    We returned to a 1 hour zoom call, then joined the Yoders for their grandson’s 4th birthday party.

    Glenn and I then went walking as the sun was setting. The temperature was cooling down. As we walked back, a gal, named Lynn, was driving into her garage in a red convertible Miata. I yelled out “I sure would love a ride in your convertible”. Next thing I knew, Glenn was holding my fone and off we drove. Interesting conversation with Lynn. Learned she’s a special Ed teacher and her husband is a retired school psychologist who is a cyclist. Matter of fact, he was hit while riding, broke his neck and other bones and should have died.

    I shared with Lynn about Glenn’s 1976 bike ride to South America and our 2019 Coast to Coast with Neil Tomba. I gave her our card, and mentioned “the Listening Road”.

    An end to a wonderful day - convertible ride.    Read more

  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 15 Denver, PA - Pemberton, NJ

    July 9, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F

    Miles 115
    Total miles 2581

    Early sunrise. We left to head towards New Holland to meet up with Verna and Earl Martin, friends we’ve known for 30 years from Intermissions. The Martins would bring a volunteer team down to Guatemala each year in February for the annual conference. What a fun time. Our conversations was even better as we discussed family, friends, travel, challenges, the Word and God.

    While driving towards Philadelphia in the Amish farming community, we pulled off the road at a local fruit and vegetable stand to buy some fresh local peaches. Delicious.

    We then drove to the O’Briens house for another visit. We were heading towards Texas Road house when we realized they didn’t open till 4:30, so we chose Golden Coral next door. Wow, it was neat to catch up with them also. Their daughter-in-law was in candidate class 30 years ago with us. She’s also a friend of Ellen’s from Bolivia. Again it was fun to talk around the table and hear how God has been faithful in Jack and Julie O’Brien’s lives.

    After lunch, we stopped at Ross for me to purchase some tennis shoes. Also at Dollar Tree to get some more gift bags.

    We arrived at Bob and Fritzie Strong in time for Bible study followed by the soccer game Spain vs Canada.

    I fell asleep during the game.    Read more

  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 16 Pemberton, NJ - Malaga, NJ

    July 10, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 86 °F

    Miles 170
    Total miles 2762

    We spent the night with Bob and Fritzie Strong, who served many years in Argentina and Uruguay. Wow, what heros of the faith!

    We arrived just as they were beginning a Spanish Bible study. I went to our room and took a much needed name from 7:30-10:30 when Glenn came into our room. Glenn also watched the Copa America game with Argentina and Canada.

    We slept in til 7:30am when Fritzie knocked on our door. Guess we were tired. We had a lovely breakfast out on the patio. Then a devotional time and small discussion. Then we drove down to Malaga and met with Ralph Harvey. Ralph was a hoot. He and his late wife served many many years in Austria. He could tell a story. We talked about his journey and education at Bob Jones University.

    Glenn had problems with his iPhone, so we called apple support. That took an extra hour of our time.

    We drove back via Valley Forge and enjoyed the historical stuff we learned. Back to the Yoders by 8:30pm. Good day.    Read more

  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 17 Reading, PA round trip

    July 11, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F

    27 miles
    Total miles 2788

    We visited with Jane and Dennis M today for lunch in Reading at the Longhorns Restaurant. Good friends. We first met them on a cruise several years ago and have stayed in touch. He is a birder.

    As we were driving back to the Yoder’s home we stopped by a small roadside picnic area/restaurant for homemade ice-cream. We watched children play in the water of a stream.

    Then stopping by a local family owned grocery store to purchase ingredients to make my cheesecake dessert. And there was a pretzel truck selling homemade pretzel.

    We had a fun and easy day today. Nice to be with friends we don’t see too often.

    We had a delicious dinner that Susan prepared.    Read more

  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 18 Trout Run, PA round trip

    July 12, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    352 Miles
    Miles total 3140

    Today, we drove over 300 miles to go up to visit Katherine and Kevin Stabler, YWAM missionaries that served with us in Bolivia. Our lives didn’t cross much back in the day, but we sure enjoyed their friendship over the years.

    We sat around the breakfast bar and enjoyed our conversation reliving sweet memories of the past. We remembered how we drove out to San Ignacio back with the kids were little. We saw where they were building a school for the folks in their church. We used a bucket to take C.O.L.D. Showers and learned how to milk a cow. Fun times.

    We made 2 quick FaceTime calls so Katherine could see Ellen’s 2 youngest and visit with Ellen over the phone. We also talked to dad. They showed us around their farm house, built up on the hill overlooking the small valley. Kevin is a hunter and this is a perfect location for him. I’m so happy for their ministry through the years and their impact on global workers.

    We had tried to get tickets for Sight and Sound and they were not available, so we asked Jonathan and Susan to join us for dinner at Shady Maple, a traditional Swedish/Amish Smorgasbord Restaurant. We drove the 2.5 hours back towards the Yoder’s home and met them at the restaurant.

    Yes, I am stuffed. It was a fun experience. Then we showed Jonathan and Susan how the letter box thing works. We found one right on the back parking lot of Shady Maple.    Read more

  • Avant Retirees Visit Northeast

    Day 19 Denver, PA - Concord, NH

    July 13, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    490 miles
    Total miles 3630

    We were able to leave around 7am to head towards Maine. I intentionally planned a “hotel” stay so we could just relax and “decompress” from all the visiting we have been doing for the past 19 days. I really “waffled” between which route to take, either by skirting the large cities of New York and Boston or by taking a simply longer route and head north before heading east.

    We decided to head north and drive through the Pocono mountains. Beautiful drive. The day started off a little rainy, but it cleared up within 1 hour. Just as we were leaving the Yoder’s place, I emailed Jim and Amelia Lantz and mentioned we were driving through their area. I didn’t know exactly where they had settled in, but I knew it was New Hampshire and I know New Hampshire is not a large state.

    We stopped along the Interstate in a town called Cobleskill, NY for a roadside picnic. This was just a little picnic table and nice manicured lawn. We tried to find a “letterbox” in this town, but was unsuccessful.

    Just after we had lunch, I got a text from Amelia welcoming us to their home and the address. I looked on the map, and we were going to be driving within 45minutes of their house. We rerouted ourselves and head to their home.

    We met Jim and Amelia plus their growing family back in the 90’s in Santa Cruz, Bolivia while Jim worked for the oil company and we were missionaries. Then in 1999 they moved and we moved the following year. We have not seen each other since 1999.

    What a sweet time to reconnect and remember the fun times we had as families together. One example was when we took the Lantz family out to Ricon de Tigre, a missionary compound serving the Ayore Indians. We took the 15 hour primitive train ride from Santa Cruz to Robore or maybe the stop beyond that. The train came to a rolling stop, and we jumped off the train with hopes that Samuel was there to pick us up in his small private plane and fly us to Ricon. What an experience to then spend the next several days with Sam and Pamfi and learn about their ministry of local church and education for the Ayore Indians. Our accommodations were simple. The water was cold for the showers and the food was simple. Rincon has their own clinic, schools, church and farm. They shoot and kill their meat, raise their own chickens and milk the cows. It was quite the educational experience for us.

    All this to say, we are thankful for the long weekend experience of learning about the challenges and rewards of serving the Ayore Indians. And it was a good experience to share with Jim and Amalia.

    After a great sandwich dinner out on their back porch, we headed on down the road to Concord, NH. We got a linguistic lesson, as you pronounce this town as “Conquered”. We arrived at the hotel tired and bushed. We only have 4-5 hours for our Sunday drive to Maine.    Read more

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