I hope and pray your summer has been a good one. Like many of you, our staff members have been able to take some time for vacation in June and July.
I'm happy to report things have continued to go well for Mission Journeys during the summer months.

One of the things I remembered about my summers when I was working full-time with Mission Journeys (1995-2015) was how busy they were. Besides sponsoring multiple mission trips, we were often asked to be the mission for weeks of Christian service camp and Vacation Bible Schools.

Last week, I got to "relive" some of those crazy days of summer!
Mission Journeys worked with the Mt. Eden Christian Church in Lexington, KY, who asked if we would serve as their VBS mission this year. It was especially nice for me as I preached at Mt. Eden from the time I left Mission Journeys (2015) until last year (2022). It was good to see some dear friends again. Tricia Morris, who still works with the youth there, was the VBS director. As always, she did a great job! Grant Mathes, who followed me as the Preaching Minister, is doing a great job there as well.

A BIG THANKS to Mt. Eden Christian Church!

We did one night of packing meals and had an offering goal of $1,000 so we could buy Bibles for people in several of the places we minister in - Kenya, Pakistan and Tanzania. They blew away the goal by raising over $1,300. Here are the results:

1,080 meals packed for Lifeline Christian Mission.
$1,380.63 raised in offerings that were used to purchase:
...60 Bibles for Kenya
...50 Bibles for Pakistan
...25 Bibles for Tanzania.

Since 1986, Chuck Perry has faithfully donated a good amount of time helping Mission Journeys. For the past 37 years, he has developed and led many mission trips, working directly with missionaries all around the globe. Chuck is truly one of a kind!

This March, Chuck was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has been undergoing treatment for the past few months.
Some recent CT scans have shown that the tumor has not shrunk, but has not gotten any larger either.
Chuck's doctors are now mapping out a plan of action going forward with surgery being a possibility as well as a possible new chemo regimen.
In addition to all this, Chuck's father-in-law Bob Austin passed away on July 16. It has been a very tough time for Chuck and Sherlan, to say the least.