I’m getting adjusted to this time zone. I once heard that we can allow one day for every hour of time zone difference to adjust, which gave me a bit more grace with myself. I made it through the day with only a short nap and a late afternoon walk. Fortunately, there was a good amount of sun today to walk in shorts and let the UV rays do their circadian rhythm therapy.
I’m also getting adjusted to being 53. This is my birthday today. It was mellow, which is fine after almost 2 weeks of being on the go. In one way, it will take me more time to adjust to a new year. In another way, one day more doesn’t feel much different.
Here are highlights of travel to Minnesota. (Wisconsin travels will come later.)
We arrived, picked up our rental car (Anya chose the light mint green, though I suggested the larger trunk, but in honor of Elenn and Steve who live near Detroit, we went with the mint green Ford Fiesta), and then we drove to the Mall of America! Did you know that there is no sales tax on clothes in Minnesota! That’s quite a difference from the 25% on everything in Sweden (except food, which is 12%).
After two nights at the World Mission Prayer League guest house–and Anya’s strategic planning to find her favorite American foods–it was off to Alexandria, Minn.
Several mornings, I was able to get out for a walk, which went by the lake and into the woods. I saw a pelican, a rabbit, and a deer quite close up.
Family camp includes outdoor worship and campfires!
During the week, I facilitated 9 Bible study sessions on the Spirituality of the Psalms and had 4 hour-long discussions in the afternoon. On Thursday, the thanksgiving psalm day, we dug into Psalm 136, an antiphonal psalm with 26 statements of thanks to God with the refrain “for his steadfast love endures forever.” We ended by writing reasons of our own for giving thanks on paper chain slips, and then many were spoken out and added to the chain. We all replied, “”for his steadfast love endures forever” at the end of each contribution. I didn’t read them all, but one statement of thanks I saw was priceless: “Poop IN the potty.”
We had a family picture taken with everyone.
Faith shared a nice photo of Mom and Dad.
On the way out of Alexandria to Wisconsin, we went through Upsala, Minn. Yes, only 1 “p” in the spelling of this American town of about 400 people.
The Bible study facilitation was well received. I’ve been invited back next year, perhaps July 7-13. I’ll keep you posted.
With blessings,
Beth