Our visit to this area of the Northwest coincided – for both better and worse – with the Puget Sound Pastors Conference. On the down side, it meant that a lot of the pastors were preoccupied with preparing to gather together, and wouldn’t be available for us to meet with. On the plus side, one of the pastors invited me to actually come to the conference,where I could introduce myself and leave information for all of the pastors in one shot!
We were invited tonight – the night before the start of the conference – to join a few of the pastors for dinner. Three of them were staying together at an Airbnb about 20 minutes away from the conference location. A great way to save money! The other benefit is they had a full kitchen available!
Rev. Tim Bayer hosted, and prepared an amazing dinner of grilled salmon (local, of course) green beans, Caesar salad, bread, baked potatoes and cheese and crackers as appetizers. We enjoyed fellowship and had the opportunity to learn about ministry in their various areas of coastal Washington. In turn, they were able to grill us a little on our work overseas and we even explored the possibility of some of their pastors and parishioners coming to visit Asia to learn more about the work there.
Of course, no pictures. I really gotta get better at that, but it’s just not my instinct at all!
And as an aside, if you’re ever looking for an amazing place that combines the ocean, pine trees, and mountains, I can’t recommend the tiny Whidbey Island enough. I do this, dear partners, with no little apprehension, as I’d much prefer to have this entire island to myself until I die. But since that isn’t likely, and this is only the second time I’ve ever been able to enjoy this paradise in my life, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to share the secret with y’all.
The Nelson Family Indonesia 