Hertzler Outpost

Jerry and Cathy at Sea World

As returning overseas missionaries, we had the opportunity to spend this last week at a Campus Crusade for Christ conference for us and several other families in the same position. Each year CCC hosts a time where their returning ex-patriot staff members and families can begin the transition back to life in the U.S. with some helpful input from others who have done this before.

We stayed at a hotel on International Drive, Orlando’s tourist district. It was a flood of things purely American, and it washed out all memory of what life used to be like two weeks ago before we moved. Neon lights, thrill rides, upside down buildings, advertisements, and amusement parks fill this area. Ironically there were far more foreigners at our hotel than Americans, but their holiday landed them squarely in the middle of a place you can only find here.

The highlight of the time was probably seeing Andrew and Audrey connect with the other junior high and high school kids who were there. They had a separate program, and we hardly saw them all week. Our other highlight was when we all went to Sea World. It was fun riding Kraken again, seeing the Shamu show, and taking self portraits on my camera phone.

It was a good week for ignoring all the things we have waiting for us to do, but tomorrow we resume the hunt for a washer and dryer.