When we left you, it was March 2007 and we were on our way home! 

During the remainder of March and through April, Carolyn worked 12 hour shifts for the IRS.  The tax season hits suddenly and ends just as abruptly.  Pat continued her long hours as usual.  Since I was working nights and Pat was working days, we rarely saw each other for about six weeks!  But May first, we began preparing for the tour that was to begin in June!

We started our tour off with a stop at our home church, Christ Covenant MCC, for the ordination service of our good friend, Rev. Jane Acuff.  The service was incredible! 

Then we left home two days later, headed to Harvest MCC, Denton, TX!  We arrived a day early at the home of our friends, Rev Marty and Rev. Maria Luna-Wolfe.  We always have a wonderful time visiting and laughing with them and the many friends we have made in Denton.  Rev Marty had been ill for so long, it was great to see her up and functioning again!  Unfortunately, our joy was clouded by a church tragedy… the sudden death of an active church board member…  We did our best to minister to a grieving congregation.  The concert/service that Sunday went well and we were glad we could be there for Harvest MCC!  .

On the following day, we left Denton for Scottsdale, AZ and the UFMCC General Conference!  As we drove the final miles from Flagstaff to Phoenix, we noticed that the temperature in our RV was rising.  I even stopped at a rest area to check and see if the air conditioner and generator were functioning properly.  Everything looked good!  Hmmm...  After we checked into our RV Park, we quickly realized that the RV roof air conditioner was not powerful enough to combat the 117 plus degree heat of the July desert!  Ouch!  The temperature quickly climbed to 100 degrees inside our “air conditioned” RV!!  Not only were we hot, but our equipment, inventory and our CATS were being exposed to extreme heat!  Pat and I at least had the option of going to the conference center or a store to cool off!  We called the vet back home to ask if we needed to find a cool place to board our long-haired fur babies!  He told us that as long as they stayed hydrated and had fresh cool water; they should be OK at 100 degrees.  OK, how do you leave cool water for them during the long 100 degree hours we were to be at the conference center?  Well… we rented a car and headed to the local Wal-Mart and bought sun blockers to put in every window in the coach to cut the brutal sun.  Then we found an RV shop to get sun shades for the large dash windows.  The inside of our coach now looked like a cave!  Then after dark… we moved all our sound equipment and inventory inside the coach, which even at 100 degrees was cooler than the RV basement storage compartments.  We then put water in a Glad-Ware container and froze it so that we’d have ice to put in the cats’ water bowl.  We decided that one of us would need to come back to the RV every afternoon and replace the ice in their bowls and make sure they were drinking water.  That night and every night during our stay, the temperature INSIDE the RV didn’t cool down to 80 until midnight.  It was HOT!  Now… we are ready for Conference!

We had a great location for our booth…  just outside the main meeting room!  All our many friends and acquaintances were there, I can’t even begin to name them all!  It really feels good to have so many church groups claim us as their own!  Thank you all for making us feel so loved!  We sang in the Tuesday morning service and had a great time visiting with our friends from the road during the week!

After conference ended on Friday, we drove over to Community Church Of Hope, Phoenix, AZ.  We had great help for Saturday setup… it was also wonderful to see our long-time friend Rev Patrick Stout.  We were still hot but enjoyed our visit none-the-less!  The concert went very well!  Thank you Community Church Of Hope!   After the Sunday service, we went to dinner with Rev Stout and then on to the home of our friends Ray and Ruth.  They are a wonderful pair and we always enjoy seeing them.  But after our visit, we loaded up the RV and headed north!  We were overdue for cooler temperatures and we knew that altitude was the answer!  Ray and Ruth were kind enough to let us park in their mountain home driveway!  We arrived around midnight and it was a luscious 55 degrees!  The cats ran up and down the length of the RV!  They hadn’t moved that fast since our arrival in Phoenix!  Pat and I opened all the windows and reveled in the cool night air!  Thank you SO much Ray and Ruth!!!