NEWLAND, NC (Day 6).  Today was an overcast, dark, windy, and rainy day.  As I write this after dark, I can hear a heavy rain and wind gusts outside.  Inside our home away from home, it is warm and dry.

It was nevertheless a good day in that we met the pastor of Grace Highlands Presbyterian Church (PCA) in a small town northwest of Boone named Vilas.  Most of its members are from the Boone area, but Vilas had storefront space at a good price.  A large portion of those who attend are sunbirds like us, so attendance fluctuates over the year.

The pastor's name is Graham Isaac Svendsen.  We marveled that a young man from the Los Angeles area originally was of Norwegian heritage.  Apparently his grandparents migrated to California from the upper Midwest.  Graham graduated from Westminster Seminary in Escondido a couple years before our pastor back home in St Augustine.  We had a wonderful time talking to him in early afternoon.  The photo below was taken in dark lighting indoors, so there is some blur.  Once again, this time due to the weather, I did not take my good camera, so I used my phone.

After this we got some lunch and visited a real estate office in Boone to leave our contact information for future properties in the area that might become available to us.

Graham Svendsen and Betty

Worship Area of Grace Highlands PCA

Tomorrow we leave for our home in St Augustine, stopping at two RV parks along the way, and arriving home Sunday afternoon.  We hope to have enough energy left to drive the car to Gainesville to join the Reformation Day celebration at Redemption OPC.