Everything was normal until Swiss house guests made the mad rush from Thanksgiving to Advent even shorter;
Then we flew to St Louis to spend an early Christmas with Beth, friend of Carolyn's from Grinnell College days, who moved there recently.
The fresh snow transformed this tree lot into something magical, with church bells sounding and the distinct neighborhoods of a city still anchored by train stations and church cathedrals.
We met quite a few old L'abri friends who settled in the city, due to Covenant Seminary and a very large expat community of sorts. Jerram Barrs' Francis Schaeffer Institute and a number of English L'abri workers now teaching and ministering in the city's 22 or so PCA congregations. You could church shop for years and never leave the denomination! Felt like a home away from home.
Also visited Travis and Ariana & their 3 children at a dinner hosted by Beth, along with Ron Lutjens, the pastor of Old Orchard PCA and Chris Roberts, associate pastor of Covenant Presbyterian. Moores are doing well, busy raising a young brood. 
It was quite cold, even for locals, but we toughed it out and enjoyed the Arch,
enjoying the view from the very top: 
St Louis was the end of America in post-Civil War 1800s, so you get a sense of the West beginning there and a country dividing in two, led by Lewis & Clark. 
After Sunday worship, we went to the City Museum, a reclaimed shoe factory renovated into an unusual kid play zone of industrial themed chutes & ladder type of environment
, most extremely symbolized by a 10 story slide!
Jane Winters, formerly of the English L'abri, is a professional florist, whose wreath was on display at the Botanical Gardens, where we took in the colored light display in freezing temps.
Beth is settled in church and thriving, although we normally reunite in Kauai under different circumstances.
No comments:
Post a Comment