The life and times of the Redding family.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Isaac goes to Iraq

As I discussed in a previous post (My heart sings) I was going to see Isaac. I went to see Isaac in 29 Palms, Ca. last weekend. We are talking desert here. There was nothing for the last 100 miles before we reached 29 Palms. There were Joshua Trees, chollas, saguaros, tumble weeds, and mountains in the distance. We got to the base around lunch time. Isaac met us at the gate and after we got cleared we went on base to Subway for lunch and then to see his shop. I climbed in a huge truck with tires as tall as I am. His Master Sargeant dismissed him for the afternoon. In the evening we all went to the movies on base which cost $1 each with a free Coke. Pride and Prejudice was the only movie showing at this time. This was the largest theater I have ever been in. I really enjoyed the movie but Isaac was a little bored. We had a good evening together. We took Saturday and drove to Palm Springs and stopped for lunch in Yucca City. After lunch we took a drive through Joshua Tree National Park on the way home. The park has many mountains to climb. We probably saw 100 people climbing rocks and more than that watching. This is out in no where land. When we returned we dropped Mawmaw and Pawpaw off at the room for a rest. Isaac took me to a 7 day store on base and a more detailed tour of the base.

Sunday morning we attended a little church in 29 Palms. There are 27,000 people in 29 Palms. There are a few churches in town. I do not believe any of them are very big. There were only 20+ people at the church we attended. What a mission field!
What a shock after growing up in the Bible belt. How sorrowful I felt for those people. How repentant I was for being so selfish! We went to lunch and then prayed with Isaac and hugged him bye. We headed back to Phoenix, AZ.

He left for Iraq early Wed. morning. He stopped in Miss., and then Bangor, Maine, then Germany, and then Kuwait. Our last call said he expected to be in Iraq in 2 hours. We haven't heard from him since. We look forward to his next call. We are working on our first package to send tomorrow.