Shady Maple Visit Pat Hamrick and Dr. Crichton

---

Geo: 40.038, -76.3013

Editor's NOTE: Normally Glenn proof-read's my blog and does some major editing, however I am not asking him to do this for me, since he needs a break. So bear with me if there are misspelled words and the grammar is incorrect. Thanks for reading.

Also, I've changed the format for the most recent entries to be on top.

Monday morning, we went to Shady Maple Smorgasbord just about 2 miles from Verna and Earl's house. We got there just after 7:30am. Perfect timing. The food was delicious. I had the strawberry French toast. As we were sitting there enjoying the food, I noticed a "boat load of Amish or Mennonite folks - like 60-80 people come marching in to the special banquet room. This Smorgasbord is the biggest in the country. Besides feeding tons and tons of people, there is a huge huge store in the basement below. Glenn purchased a Pennsylvania souvenir spoon for me there. I really enjoyed out visit with Verna. She treated us. Thank you! But we also enjoyed some great talks about our challenges and joys in the ministry.

After the delicious breakfast, we showed Verna how to do this thing called "letter-boxing". There was one right at the entrance to the parking lot. Great location. Verna really seemed to like LB.

After our nice breakfast, we returned back home to "regroup". Then we made contact with Pat Hamric and visited her along with Dr. Eric Crichton at the Calvary Fellowship Home. We had a great visit with Pat. She use to work with Don and Shirley in Mexico helping with the Bible Translation. Her mind is still pretty sharp. She remembered us. We even FaceTimed with Sarah and Pat especially loved that. She doesn't have an email address, but she said "I have a typewriter" and pointed to the old machine on her dresser in her small 1 room accommodation. After about a 45 minute visit with Pat, we connected with Dr. Crichton who we also visited with in 2010. He is 95 years old and his mind is VERY VERY sharp and he is very active. Dr. Crichton was Alumnus of the Year back in 1992 and he graduated from Moody Bible Institute back in 1955, the same year Paul Philippi graduated.

---