June 30^th, 2002 Larry & Margaret Allmon 5284 N. Puma Road Marana, AZ 85653 tel: (620) 682-9444

e-mail: allmon36@aol.com - Begun on Passover 5762 - or, Easter Week, 2002 (finished June 30)

Dear Family and Friends,

So many of you sent us lovely Christmas (!) cards and informative letters which we greatly appreciated, so now it’s our turn to communicate with y’all. The holiday rush of activities over (long ago), here is our "post-Christmas" letter. You will note a new address and phone number at the top of the page; I guess that’s the next-to-the-biggest news from here.

The Lord made it possible, with the help of our kids, for us to purchase a brand new manufactured home (double-wide) which we placed on one acre of fenced, flat desert. The main "selling point" of this property (miles away from anything but in a new development with similar properties) was the fence and a small, two-room "shop" building. There had been a manufactured home on the property, but it had burned down and the owners had moved out of the area; the emotional trauma being just too much for them. Anyway, that meant that all the utility hook ups were in place. Our new house arrived in two pieces, was put together on site, and we had a beautfiul three-bedroom, two bath house with all brand-new appliances (even a CD player over the kitchen counter!). Once we moved all our "stuff" from the storage unit into our new pad, we really felt "at home" out here in the desert. (We are about 20 miles from the nearest grocery store, Walgreens, and son Charlie and wife Lisa. We do have a couple of mini-marts, filling stations, and now an A&W a bit closer! (We even have our very own Saguaro cactus!).

I worked part time from April to December (2001) at the "Old Tucson Studios" – an old (1939) western movie set turned into a theme park. Many of the old Western films were filmed here, including most of John Wayne’s films, plus TV series such as Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, High Chapparal, a few Gunsmoke episodes, etc. I was a "Rides Attendant" helping little kids (also teenagers and adults) on and off the carousel, canoe ride, antique cars, mine ride, and in and out of the petting zoo (mostly goats!). I even was one of the Santas at Christmas time. After my experience at Old Tucson Studios, I was accepted as a substitute teacher for the Marana Unified School District (the area where we live.) I have had great fun teaching kids from

Kindergarten through the 6th Grade (my choice), even the sweet Special Education kids! I have already taught at 6 different schools in the District.

During the fall semester, we joined a volunteer group from Raytheon (where son Charlie and his wife Lisa worked) on Monday nights at the Sahuarita School WAY south of Tucson. This school is predominately Hispanic, and the Monday evening program included tutoring the kids with their homework and helping them with English. Since it was an evening program, the parents had to bring them and any younger siblings. Margaret was part of the program caring for the little ones, while I had a class of parents learning English. Our language, by the way, is not one of the easier ones! Want to explain why most words can be made plural by adding "s", while more than one child are children, more than one sheep are still sheep (as well as fish, deer), the plural of mouse is mice, house are houses, grouse are grouse, and two gooses are geese? And then there are the verbs! The adults were enthusiastic about learning, however, and we encouraged them to use as much English as possible in their homes.

We think we have finally found a church home, too. The Calvary Christian Fellowship is a bit far away from us (as is everything else), but the message is sound, even if the music is not all that to our liking! (Surprize, surprize!)

In October we returned to Felton for our church’s 40th Anniversary festivities weekend. My mother had been with us out here for about 10 days before that, so we flew back to California with her.

Most of our family were here for Thanksgiving (except the Birmingham and Burbank segments), so that was especially nice. Christmas time was a bit "quiet" here, but we did have lots of nice holiday celebration with Lisa’s mom, Norma (from Atlanta), and brother George (from Long Beach).

We made a brief trip to Los Angeles for the New Year’s holiday, staying with Laurie and family in Whittier, and visiting some old Gospel Recordings friends and son James and his little family in Burbank. It was most encouraging to meet his wife, Lisa, a fine Christian lady, and of course, our newest little grandson, Isaiah. James was planning to be baptized soon at their church, so the prayers of many, over many years, are being answered! We learned more recently, however, that he and his wife have since separated!

On February 15 I collapsed at the nearby mini-mart at the ATM machine! Cardiac arrest. The fire department (paramedics, etc.) are located right next door, so it was only minutes before the electric paddles and CPR were administered and the old heart started up again. I have no recollection of any of that nor the helicopter ride to the hospital, nor the first few days in the ICU, but when I "came to", I found all my children gathered (from Washington to Alabama!) They were a big help to Margaret during the next few weeks with paper work, medical forms, etc. I also had a nice little pacemaker implanted in my chest! I spent several weeks in a rehabilitation center and was finally released on March 15. Now the doctors have cleared me for driving and working again! I feel good, and VERY rested!

Charlie and Lisa are moving to The Hague (again), this time with a NATO assignment. Charlie is already there, Lisa is due to leave mid-July.

As to our future? The BIGGEST news is that, Lord willing, we will be leaving for China August 22 or 23 (from Seattle)! We will be teaching "conversational American English" at an American-owned-and-operated Business and Management University in Xinzheng. We have signed on for at least one year, but if all goes well, we may extend.

Lots of projects remain out here on the "ranch" which we lovingly have christened "el Nidito" ("The Little Nest"). We have a fine, Christian, young family who will be staying in and caring for our place and dog while we are gone. I would also like to get back to a couple of book writing projects. Thanks again for all your interest, prayers, cards and letters; they have been all greatly appreciated! AND, if you are anywhere near Xinzheng, China, next year, give us word - we will try to arrange for guest room facilities.

Love, Larry and Margaret