We made it to Texas!

Yes that's right.  We moved to Texas... in August... voluntarily. 

It was a long 1,996 miles but we are so thankful to be here!  Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement as we said goodbye to our family and friends and headed for training in Texas with To Every Tribe!  Also thank you for the prayers for Dan and Clara!  They got horrible food poisoning the night before we were to leave Montana from bad clam chowder.  So we had an extra day in Montana while they and the clean up crew recovered. I will now follow the advise I received from some friends....... never eat clam chowder in Montana.  After all it's almost 1,000 miles from the nearest ocean.  Valuable advice :)

Orientation starts tomorrow and with unpacking, finding out where to buy groceries, completing a very thorough checklist of school paperwork, support letters, (please let us know if you don't get our mailing and would like to.  We have new prayer magnets in the update we just sent out),meeting a lot of staff, second year students and first year students, and receiving our first assignment that is very daunting for someone who hasn't been in school for 11 years.  On the other hand we have heard samples of how incredible thew training is here in the classroom and in Mexico and that is very exciting for us!

The kids are transitioning great with 30+ kids to play with.  We will post more on that and the things they get to catch in another post!
 
So here  is a picture update of our road trip and a few shots of our new (and still unfamiliar) life in Los Fresnos.

Got the uhaul the day before we leave

Mr. Litle decorating our suburban while we slept. Loved it!

2 hours into the 2,000 mile trip (notice the naive smiles)

3 hours into the trip (First "are we there yet happened at mile 72)

7 hours into the trip

7.5 hours into the trip

 

Coveted Subway (Great job mom and dad giving Evie soda...scary!)

 

A one day stop a Water World! All the anticipation was worth it!

 

 Somewhere near Pueblo, Colorado-  ARE WE THERE YET?!

 Brothers.....

Sisters.....

Cool spider on our way.

Seriously, cotton.  That is cool!

We're not in Montana anymore

Our apartment.  We are upstairs on the left

Our living room

 Clara and Evie's room

Working on sending updates

Relaxing on the porch with mama

 View from our kitchen

A few hours at the beach!

 
We are so thankful for all of you! We feel like God has been so faithful and he is ready to fill us like psalm 81:10!

10 I am the Lord your God,

    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

This coming week is orientation week. Check back for a recap!

 

1 Month Whirlwind in Pictures

So the last month has been a crazy whirlwind of activity.  More downsizing, packing up our apartment, meeting friends and family for the last time in a long while, and yes preparing to move 2,000 miles away to Texas... in August.  One scripture has just been hitting me hard with the greatness of our God and what we are doing.   Luke 5:2,3,5,6,10, and 11 says:

² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

 

Wow! Simon had worked hard all night and came up empty. The tough job of cleaning the net was almost done. Then he heard Jesus speak. His words had power. So when Jesus told Simon Peter to put out into deep water it meant two things: more work and doing something that doesn't make sense. I can relate! And Simon said "But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

We do this because Jesus says Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. How will they hear unless someone preaches and how will they preach unless they are sent?

So here we are going into deep waters with Jesus, preparing for what lies ahead because He called and that is enough.  And the joy of being called and following Him is exceedingly great, for there is joy in His presence forever!

 



Taping out the uhaul trailer in our apartment

5'x8' or 6'x12'

 

Filling up the invisible uhaul

 

Some beloved shirts didn't make the cut

(not my decision)

 

Table gone and mess everywhere but the kids don't mind

 

Our bed is gone and the room is surprisingly spacious

 

Mama and Evie cleaning Grama and Grampa's garage for our stuff while we

are out of our apartment and before we leave.  

 

The invisible uhaul transitions to the garage

 

 

Our stuff in the center (we aren't kidding ourselves

with the possibility of a 5x8 trailer anymore)

My new office in the way back

Evie and Brianna at the A.M. Welles going

away party.  What a great company to work for!

 

Worshipping at New Hope for the last time, so bittersweet.

Evie with her great friend Samantha

 Too much partying for some

Enjoying camping in the back yard 

A rowdy game of broom ball with uncle Joe and cousins
 

Serious discussions with Brita
 

Craziness heading up to pick huckleberries

Evie hitting the jackpot

The cousins

Grampa and Grama enjoying a brat with the grandkids

Special swimming with Nana and Papa

And the cousins too

 

A special gift from our awesome New Hope church family!

 

 

On Tuesday August 13th at 5:00am we leave for Texas!  We love you all and ask for prayer as we go and prepare to cast our nets!

 

 

When all around my soul (and the road) gives way

Here is a recap of our great Fourth of July adventure.  At the end of this post we have prayer needs that we would love to share with you!

 

One of my favorite hymns is Solid Rock.  The third verses says "When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.  On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand".
We saw in a very real way this Fourth of July how bad sinking or sliding ground can be, and how He holds us in His mighty right hand.   

This is a part of the road we trying to get across.  It was dry and dusty when we turned onto the cut across to Black Butte in the Gravelly Range.

We had 9 miles on this road and the last three were like this!  The pictures don't show the steep vertical rise and fall or the steep cross slope.  Many spots there was a steep drop off which made us more than a little scared.  We kept fish tailing as we tried to climb the 3000' vertical feet to the camp site where we were to meet up with our friends.

Sometimes the things that hurt are a great help!  We fish tailed again between ruts and the suburban bounced off a tree.  Not excited about the dent, but so thankful for the tree that stopped us from going off the slope!



At one point it was so bad, I had the kids and Brita walk behind while I plowed through the worst spots.  There was a lot of praying going on!  The kids asked if we would die.  I told them that God was totally in control and that whatever happened would be the absolute best.  It was good for me to hear that too.  Never did we question the safety of the road or try to push anything we thought was risky as we went up the road. One minute it was dry, the next minute it was almost impossible to stay on the road.  There was no turning back once the road gave way.

 

The victory dance (of sorts)! We made it through the worst of the road!



There was no sign where we started going up the road, but as we made it to the other end we looked back and saw the truth put in the form of a yellow and black sign.

 

Yes it was!

 

The kids were so happy to be at the camp spot.  It was a beautiful sight to see.  It was also a beautiful picture of this life in Christ.  We can trust Him, no matter what the outcome is.  He has proven over and over that in all things God works together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His propose, even when those good things don't seem like what we would choose as the best thing to happen in our life.  The infinitely wise and all knowing God of the universe is far more capable of knowing what is best than I do.  We were able to praise God as a family that night for His provision and His mighty right hand holding us up. 

 

 

This is what we read in our tent that night:

 



 ¹ I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
before the “gods” I will sing your praise.
² I will bow down toward your holy temple
and will praise your name
for your unfailing love and your faithfulness,
for you have so exalted your solemn decree
that it surpasses your fame.
³ When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me.

⁴ May all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord,
when they hear what you have decreed.
⁵ May they sing of the ways of the Lord,
for the glory of the Lord is great.

⁶ Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly;
though lofty, he sees them from afar.
⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes;
with your right hand you save me.⁸ The Lord will vindicate me;
your love, Lord, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.

 

HERE ARE SOME PRAYER REQUESTS.  WE WOULD LOVE YOUR PRAYERS!

 

• Pray that we are able to organize and cut down on more stuff. We are now at the hardest of the hard things to let go of.
•  Pray that my work (Josh) will become a little less stressful as we prepare to leave.  It is hard to leave a job you love so much and I want to finish well and also be able to have time to help Brita with all the preparations.
• Pray that we would continue to see support come in.  We are at about 60% of our monthly budget (or $2,200/month) and have seen God provide so amazingly over the past 6 months!
• Pray that we would be wise in how we spend our last 30 days.  We want to see so many people but the time is just too short.
• Finally, please pray for our church, New Hope Bible Church.  Nearly eight years after it was planted  the church we have called home will be closing in early August.  Please pray that all of the members will be connected into other great churches around the valley.  This has been hard on Brita and I as we prepare to leave, and now we will be without a home church.

Thank you so much for your partnership and sacrifice for the gospel of Jesus!  We are so thankful for all of you!



Yet another downsizing!!

As I sit here looking at the paper chain getting smaller and smaller I realize that time does march on whether we are ready or not! 

Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to in the last few weeks!

paper chain getting smaller...

 



Loading up the burb from the storage shed.

 

 

 

"A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."
  Proverbs 11:25

We were privileged enough to experience this proverb first hand. As we are downsizing we had the opportunity along with our church to bless a wonderful family whose little son has a rare form of dwarfism. Benjamin has had numerous surgeries and will need more medical assistance in the future. So we were able to refresh them by donating a lot of the stuff we needed to get rid of. The yard sale was able to raise over $2,000 for Benjamin and we were truly refreshed by the Lord to see faith and love in action!

 

 

Not all of that is ours... just most of it :) 

 

 

Good-bye storage unit!

 

Getting smaller..... 

Fun 100' slip N slide at Mauritsens

 

 

Carnage from the 100' slip N slide. 

Never seen a kid so excited he got a broken finger!



Where we are now.  Aghh!

Tick.Tick.Tick. :)