% 0 Mac and Wilma Coffey Mediterranean Christian Mission Casella Postale 29 6 TOlOOar^ ITALY June 1985 c : have thought of you often over the past few months, but have just not gotten to the typewriter to formulate our thoughts. Many things have happened during these months, many o f which th e space that we have allotted t o this note will not permit us to mention. Just a few salient facts and an oppor tunity t greet you and thank you for the particular way in which YOU have ministered t our lives. / There were four major reasons for our taking recently what turned out to be slightly over a s i x month leave o f absence from th e field. Reason niir ab er one: a check-up f o r Mac i n a diagnostic clinic in th e USA. They found nothing dramatically wrong, but conf ir med what we already had begun to suspect— we're not as young as we used to be Reason number 2 was b natural outgrowth of the first t ree — visiting as many churches as possible accompanied by the painful decision as to which ones we would not be able to visit. We apologize to you wh o were left out due to the physical impossibility f getting around to all. Reasons number three and four: one of our children (Scott) was married in L.A., Calif. September 8, I984, and anot her (Val eri) was married i n Cincinnati, Ohio January 12, I985. To make two trips would have been foolish and financially impossible. So we sandwich ed the clinic visit between the two weddings and stayed f o r both. We returned to the field March 21 and have been as busy as health would permit ever since. Our daughter, Patricia, and her husband, Mi kal, came over f o r a visit just two weeks after u r return, an d we did take a week o u t t o ac company them a s far north as Florence before leaving them t o the fortunes and misfortunes o f European train travel a s they moved on through Switzerland and t o Paris, from whence they flew back t o t h e States. One of the highlights of ou r visit t o th e States took place March 3 , I985. First Christian Chur ch (Wilma's home church and a living link supporter) i n i Springfield, Ohio, surprised us with a M LCOLM ND WILM COPFEY - THIS IS YOUR_ y LIFE program at th e evening service o f t h e concluding day o f their fabulous / Faith Promis e program. To name the ones who attended would take several pages. But there were dear friends present from as f a r away a s Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia a s well a s Canton, Ohio, and Cincinnati, Ohio. The church ha d s e t up phone calls with Evelyn Jones i n Italy and o u r son, Scott, i n California. Son Mark and others sent tapes which were played during t h e program a n d there was a multitude o f letters an d cards. BlUss Peggy Hileman. I l l b e t sh e ha s no idea herself how many hours she put into planning and executing th e program, ^ along with t h e help of many valid co-vrorkers. And there we s a t on th e stage, listening t o a l l those complimentary comments, a n d feeling like stand-ins f o r what must be a terrific couple At th e e n d we were given a check with t h e stipulation that we u s e i t f o r vacation time. In addition to t h e trip with Mikal a n d Tricia we still have some t o go yet. Because o f th e work we couldn t do i t a l l at once right away. THANK YOU FIRST CHRISTIAN AT SPRINGFIELD To s a y that there are n o problems would b e t o s a y that t h e work is static. B u t problems that exist n o t t o b e compared to the power Go d working through His sei^nts. However, please continue t o pray f o r th e progress o f HIS work here KNOW Different ones have asked us i n person o r b y mail wh y they were no longer o n t h e mailing list o f o ur publication KNOW which we sent o u t f o r