Mín Englisc Blog

Today was the celebration of the Lord's Supper here at Belle Center. I believe that it has been nearly a year since I last participated in this sacrament, as Eastvale's spring communion was not held until after the end of the schoolyear.

As usual, nothing significant today; I was able to go driving for the first time in well over a week, but only to do a couple of errands.

Tons of mowing yesterday and today; between this and Grandmother's health, we're quite busy.

Back from Cincinnati. Grandmother is now resting in the hospital, although there's a bit of a road ahead.

Great visit to Pennsylvania :-) The celebration ceremony went very well: the church was filled almost to overflowing with visitors, and the speaker — who also preached at the morning worship on the next day — was former pastor Bob McFarland, who baptised both Mom and me. We picked up Isaac on Friday, and thus we were in Beaver Falls for a short time, but not enough. However, Isaac was happy to drive me down to Beaver Falls in time for the evening Bible study at Eastvale. It was well over a month ago that last I was at Eastvale, so a surprise visit there was enjoyed by all. Combine that with a chance to pop in at the after-worship fellowship that College Hill members sponsor, and it was a wonderful evening.
Today has been more sober — my Pockras grandmother was injured in an accident today, so we've been gone to visit her since mid-afternoon. So thankful that we can trust in Christ to work what's right...

Leaving for Pennsylvania: Rose Point RPC celebrates its 175th anniversary this weekend (the anniversary was actually on 12 April), so we'll be there for the next few days. Not going to be in Beaver Falls for any significant period of time :-( but I'll be visiting the University of Pittsburgh, one of the places that I plan to apply for my master's program next year.

During the last week, I've been a bit more busy. Our visit to Portage County went well; it was good to meet many of the people involved at Aurora, as well as seeing others whom I've not seen in quite a while.
Monday was my birthday. Weird: not having classes on birthday for the first time in five years.
Most interesting to me on Monday was that Dad had time to go driving with me — some time ago, he said that he planned to be able to go driving longer distances with me at some point or points, and that he really didn't mind the destination. We had time to go west, nearly to the Indiana line, to get photos of some of the largest churches I've ever seen in rural areas.

Mercer County, near the Indiana line, was settled primarily by German Catholics who built dozens of large churches. Every time that we go to north-central Indiana, such as Kokomo or Lafayette, we travel through this region, including its core community of Maria Stein. These churches are so tall and so close to each other that there are spots from which one can see several at once. Although I'm familiar with the churches to an extent, I've never really had a chance to stop and look at these buildings. Pictured is St. Anthony's Church in the crossroads community of Padua: other than the church and its associated school, there are virtually no buildings in Padua, but this church — like most or all of the rest — appears to continue to flourish.

09-09-09: quite an unusual date.
Because of travelling and raining, today was our first mowing day of the week. Nothing spectacular with that, but it's good to get some work done.
This weekend will be something new: Dad's to preach at the Covenant Aurora RP mission church in Aurora, Ohio (just northeast of Akron). This, the first new RP work in Ohio since the 1880s, seems to be receiving many encouragements from all I hear, and it will be good to worship with them. It's been forty years since someone from Belle Center could worship at another RP congregation without leaving the state.

Finally back to the blog. Yesterday consisted prmiarily of a trip to Cincinnati — we met most of the rest of Dad's family (only Isaac and our oldest cousin were missing) for an extended lunch. Quite an enjoyable time. Returning, I drove somewhat more than half of the journey, although heavy rain made driving difficult enough that I asked to be a passenger for two counties.