Wednesday
We went over to Rich’s house around noon. We looked through a couple of reference books on missions. We learned a lot about the structure of all the mission sending agencies and statistics concerning money earned, raised and spent. It’s really unbelievable.
Rich made arrangements for Jim McDonald to come by and be taped. He served as Pastoral Counsel for the steering committee form the very beginning. Donna, Rich’s wife, and Rich bought us lunch at a great Greek restaurant called Louie’s. It was delicious!
We made it back in time to meet Jim at the Minooka Methodist Church where Rich is the Pastor. It made for a beautiful backdrop for an interview. We got some B roll of Rich at the pulpit and shots of the huge stain glass windows. We all went back to the house and Donna cooked a great dinner. Grilled chicken, frittatas, asparagus and fruit. The highlight was sweet corn on the cob picked from the field that morning. If you’ve ever been out to Illinois, you know corn is a local crop. It’s everywhere! Dinner was delicious and the conversation was great. It was a perfect wrap party for finishing the major leg of the film.
It’s official: we have taped all the family interviews. We realized, it was one year Tuesday that we had began taping with Ann & Howard and Howie Beardslee. We had coffee and cake and at 10:30, it was time to say good-bye and head back to the hotel.
This has been a truly amazing experience and we feel so privileged to have met and been invited into the lives of each of the families. They have all been so very open and honest as well as hospitable and kind. We’ve enjoyed every minute with everyone (even the emotionally difficult times). I just want to take a little time to say thank you to all of them. We can’t wait to see everyone again at screenings!