25th anniversary

My 25th wedding anniversary is next summer, so Laura and I have been giving some thought to how we should celebrate. She loves tropical places and I love the mountains. The big island of Hawaii comes to mind as a place that would fit both of those. ;-)

Image my dismay when Laura came to me and said she thought we should celebrate our anniversary by going to Africa on a mission trip. Somehow, that seemed less romantic than ... well less romantic than almost anything. She said she had been feeling a pull to go to Africa for a couple of years. She is in regular e-mail correspondence with a couple of pastors of rural churches in Tanzania and Kenya. And of course we have Bill Hybels and Bono to thank for reminding us of Africa's AIDS crisis at least once a year! Before I knew it, Laura was putting down a deposit, gathering our passports, and making appointments to get immunizations.

Cape Town here we come

Yes, we're going to Cape Town, South Africa in January to learn about apartheid, visit AIDS clinics and orphanages, and meet people on the front lines of mission work there. We will be going with a group of professors, students, and alumni of Laura's seminary, Saint Paul School of Theology. Oh yeah, I have to enroll in the associated "immersion course" and pay the tuition too (but all I'll have to show for it is a couple of CEUs).

My arm is still sore from the Hep. A immunization I got last week. This is fun already!