Mín Englisc Blog

This week is quite busy for me: I've gone with some members of Second Indianapolis RPC to the Midwest Presbytery winter conference at Westminster RP near Denver :-) After driving from Indianapolis to the Kansas City area today, we're staying overnight with members of the Shawnee congregation, and we're preparing to go the rest of the way tomorrow. Conference lasts until Saturday, and we'll be returning to this area for church before going back to Indianapolis. I've really been looking forward to this week :-) It was good that I was able to drive from the St. Louis area to Shawnee; it's nice to drive in the open countryside, and I'm glad to expand on my tiny experience of city driving.

Tonight is a milestone for me: I've submitted my grad school applications. Now we'll see how the acceptance process goes; we're praying for wisdom in the choosing process.

It's almost Christmas!

Finally got to go flying again; with Isaac away, it's been several months since last I was able to get into the air. What's bad is that today was the first time in several months that he was able to get into the air. We ended up seeing much of the county: flying nearly to the eastern edge of the county, up to the northern edge, and into the counties to the west and northwest. I just love seeing everything from above; it help me better to appreciate how far I've ridden the bicycle on some trips.

Not much going on these past couple of days: simply getting ready for Christmas and the days to come. We've finally had a congregational meeting relative to selling the church; the legal process for an unincorporated religious body to sell property is quite complicated, so even the people in the local courts appear to be rather confused.

This weekend has been enjoyable: Isaac has been back, and he brought a friend — Luke Dinkledine, my junior-year roommate — with him. I've had precious few chances to spend time with any friends here in Belle Center, so having one stay two nights is quite a welcome event.

This evening was tree-setup-time; we've not yet decorated it, but it's sitting in the traditional spot in front of the window.
Today was a milestone for me: late this morning was the first anniversary of my surgery. It's hard to believe that that day was now a full year ago — it's been a complete year since I last had any seizures! This year has gone so fast; sometimes it's been very hard, and sometimes it's gone so fast that I don't know what to think. My final semester at Geneva was weird: it seemed to end so quickly, but as I think back on it, I seemed to have been bicycling everywhere all the time, and I can't quite figure out how I got the time to go all those places. But I had the strength to go to them, and it was safe for me to ride even on major state highways, for I was healed — praise be to God for such a successful surgery!

It's Christmas time :-) Today was finally tree-hunting day; we searched futilely through a field of Christmas trees (all were too fat or too tall, except for the occasional scrawny and crooked one) before giving up and getting one at a lot where trees are always sold.
Isaac is to be home by the end of the week; it's hard to believe that he's already 1/8 done with college. I'm looking forward (as always) to being in Beaver County, even though it will only be for part of a day.
I truly love Beaver County — it would indeed be a long time before I grew weary of the parts of the county that I know. The only reason that I wouldn't want to spend plenty of time in the familiar northern and eastern pieces of the county is that I've seen almost nothing of the southern region: I only three times crossed the Ohio River by bicycle while in college, and one of those was going from Ohio to West Virginia. While I know the Ohio River shoreline well, my knowledge of the county essentially stops at the Ohio: I've only rarely been through Monaca, only once into the rural areas of Potter and Raccoon Townships, and never to Aliquippa, Hookstown, or Frankfort Springs.

Much of today was occupied with a trip: Dad and I went to visit Grandmother. Overall, a good visit, although she wasn't doing as well as we'd hoped. Still, it's good to be able to visit her and to see her face brighten as we arrive :-) I'm well aware that a large number of people my age don't have any grandparents yet living.

Not much happened today, although I did spend a couple of productive hours at the county historical society scanning images. I've been in there to do similar work in the past few weeks, but I've now gotten the process down enough that I was able to be much more efficient than I have been previously. As well, I've all but completed the last piece of my first graduate school application, and once the first is done, the other shouldn't take long: they're rather similar.

Sorry for the lack of posting; not much has been going on.
I've just returned from witnessing a significant event in the history of the RPCNA: for the first time in 132 years, a new Reformed Presbyterian congregation was organised in Ohio. Fourteen communicants were present for the Presbytery of the Alleghenies' organisation of the Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church at a special meeting in Streetsboro, Ohio.
Before tonight's service, the last time a church was organised where none had been before was 10 April 1877, when Belle Center was organised. The last time that ''any'' congregation was first organised in Ohio was 2 April 1879, when the North Salem branch of Londonderry RPC in Guernsey County was made a separate congregation; and the last time that a congregation was organised in any way was 16 November 1881, when Brush Creek RPC in Adams County was reorganised. It's been forty years since the last time there were two Reformed Presbyterian congregations in Ohio: Youngstown RPC closed in 1970. At one time, there were approximately thirty congregations in Ohio, divided between three presbyteries — including one that was exclusively Ohio congregations — and encompassing hundreds of members. Today, it's simply two congregations, divided between two presbyteries, and encompassing perhaps fifty communicants. It's clearly time to work toward rebuilding Ohio, especially in Great Lakes-Gulf Presbytery, which — until when I was a young child — was named Ohio-Illinois Presbytery.