That's Your Neighbor at the End of the Line

 

After 5 weeks on the road and 6500 miles on the odometer, we arrived back in Johnson City to get ready for Krista's graduation.

Heather and Krista have become quite proficient at a community dance style called contra dancing and couldn't wait until we got home to invite us to join them. The contra dance or Country Dance originated in England in the late 1700s. It was popular in the northeastern US until the mid-1850s. It has experienced a resurgence in, primarily, rural America since the 1950s. 

You and your partner start out as one of two couples in a foursome. Foursomes line up in long lines, at first facing their partners. Then the caller gives the command to face your "neighbor". As I turned from Alberta I now faced the other couple's female member. 

Here we realized how much of a community dance the contra dance is. The caller instructed us that the person opposite us in this position will be called our neighbor throughout the dance. Additionally, the caller asks if we could see that person way down at the end of the line facing us because that person is also our neighbor. 

In contra dancing you spend more time outside of your comfort zone than in it. It's a lot like someone heading into missions. You turn from the familiar to the new, diverse and sometimes uncomfortable. "Laugh a lot, have fun and always smile" were the caller's encouragements to us newbies - not bad advice for a new Christian worker headed into a cross cultural setting.   

Prayer Requests: 

1. Pray for a safe journey as we head out on our 2nd road trip to last about 2 months. We leave Johnson City May 14 and return July 11.
2. Pray for good connections with friends and churches as we minister and are ministered to. 
3. Pray for Heather as she continues to pursue employment. 

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta