RANDY AND JOHNNIE

**Here is a precious couple who are also among the many friends we have made over the years. Randy and JohnnieLu appeared in our lives when the first Together For Togo event was conceived here in 1994. Mission teams and their individual sponsors arrived from all points of the compass to consider how to best cooperate in planting churches in Togo, West Africa. This pair came and announced their desire to be "special parents" to the entire team, and they did a wonderful job of it. With that simple offer they became friends to folk all over the USA.
**Many times they have provided housing to us or to one of our kids or friends in their mid-west home. Many times they have provided valuable information or contacts or encouragement to various church projects that come along. Many times they have provided financial support or personal manpower as various opportunities have arisen and more than once they have been the key players in providing massive and sometimes amazing special favors in helping move unusual goods to unusual places around the globe. Such friends are often known as angels elsewhere!
**Randy flies big-body aircraft around the world for a major "air package carrier" and is staring retirement in the face when the five year extension the FAA recently granted expires. Johnnie is and all-time champion encourager to her universe of friends. Their plans are pointed forward to settling in a major western state where there is plenty of sky and wide open spaces. To that end a little acreage has been purchased and their thinking now centers around what kind of home/garage/shop buildings to construct. They plan to dwell out where the deer and the antelope play, where never is heard a discouraging word... Well, you get the idea.
**Fun, loving, caring, involved, and widely connected, these are folk to cherish and enjoy at every opportunity. This weekend, they dropped by Vancouver in their motor home after having visited a parent in the Puget Sound area. We would have liked for them to stay a month, but are grateful for even the few days they were able to be here. We wish them safe travels back home and will look forward to our next visit wherever or whenever it will be. May it be soon!