everyone has arrived!

Matt finally arrived in Jackson, Mississippi last night around 8 o'clock, safe and tired. He had a whirlwind of a day today, but was thrilled to be back in class, in chapel, and in a "college" environment. After being a teacher for over a year now, it's a joy for him to be a student again and soak in everything the professors and other leaders are sharing. Our co-workers who are also in the program but had to stay due to visa issues were able to "be" in the classroom today with Matt through the internet for one of the three hour courses, and that was a big blessing for all of them, Matt included!

My dad also arrived here safely, his flight coming in around 2:30 today. He brought us all kinds of wonderful gifts from home, along with some GREAT maternity and baby clothes from Lisa and Eleanor (thank you SO MUCH!) ...so fun to get some new things!!! He hit the ground running, and will start work first thing tomorrow morning down at the new seminary site! (there go the 8 "vacation" days!) It is wonderful to have some time with him, and also to not be alone!

I'll have some pictures up soon. Thank you so much for all of your prayers...

Matt had a great birthday yesterday...Only one birthday present came in time, but it was his big gift from his parents and my dad, so he was thrilled! We ate special food and he played his new keyboard almost all day. I ordered in apples from Florida and made him an apple pie with homemade vanilla ice cream for his birthday "cake" (had to have been the most expensive apple pie ever :).

We'll just to have his birthday again whenever he gets back with all the rest of his gifts! (If they come in in the next two weeks, that is!)

It was a great day, and now he is off! He's supposed to arrive in Florida around 2, and then will go on to Mississippi Monday afternoon. Please be praying for him as he travels, and as he digests a lot of information these next weeks and does a lot of course work. We realized last night that we haven't been a part for 2 weeks since we got married, so neither of us are particularly looking forward to that!

On a good note, however, we have heard rumors of a "makeshift" road having been set up between here and Port. Not only does this mean that food will stop rising in price and that gas may become available again, it also means that our truck, paid for but stranded down south, might be able to make the trip in the coming week or two! Now THAT would be a good birthday present for Matt to come back to!

The other good news is that Jake, the 6 year-old who lives behind us, valiantly promised this morning to take good care of me while Matt is gone!

spiders, birthdays, and time apart

Thank goodness we found this last tarantula locked OUT of the house on the front porch. They are SO BIG, and crawl around so creepily! As you can see, our very brave cat was not at all interested, and neither of us were going out there, so the ugly thing lives on...It would have been difficult to sleep knowing this was outside the door if we weren't both so exhausted by the end of the day!



We had dinner last night with 2 fellow missionaries that are heading out for a few months of funding...our field continues to shrink, and next week we lose our nurse and good friend, Amy, and our doctor, Gavin! With them gone there will only be 9 of us! This is quite the drop from over 23 OMS-ers only 6 months ago!

Matt's not helping the shortage as he prepares to leave on Sunday! He turns 25 on Monday, but will be celebrating in Mississippi! He flies out first thing Sunday morning and gets into Mississippi on Monday. His big birthday plans include sitting in an air conditioned hotel room, ordering a pizza and a coke, and watching the Eagles game Sunday night (for the first time in over a year!) He cannot wait!

He will be gone until October 11th! Please be praying for him while he is traveling and while he is taking a very full load of courses from 9/30 until 10/10. His fellow classmates here were unable to get their visas granted, and so will all be staying here :( This has been a difficult thing, for them and for Matt, and we'd love your prayers for this situation as well. The next Wesley Biblical Residency is in March, and we are all hoping and praying that they will have their visas by then.

My dad is flying in on Tuesday and staying with me until the following Wednesday! I can't WAIT to see him, and will be very glad not to be here alone the next two weeks. (especially with spiders like this!)

Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement and love!

picture this...

It was supposed to be a professional presentation. I had minute-by-minute schedules in everyones hands, we had invited the visiting work team, set the time (7:00 pm), set the location (the chapel at the seminary), and I had spoken with everyone involved about their part. A first year and second year student were each asked to share a song, a fourth year student his testimony, our secretary said she'd share a devotional, our director about the program at Emmaus Biblical Seminary, our academic dean about the financial needs we have, Matt was to share about the importance of EBS's ministry here in Haiti, and I was to close in prayer.

But sometimes professional things are more personal here. By the time Matt and I made it there a few minutes before seven, we were tired from a long day, and huddling around our flashlight just to find the chapel. The power was completely out again, along with all of the security lights that sometimes shed some dull yellow light along the path. The team was exhausted after another long day of work at the new seminary campus, and also struggled to find the chapel without power. The power finally came on, only for us to realize that only one light in the entire chapel even works.

So, a good 10 minutes late with everyone tiredly huddling under the one light and the podium in the dark as giant bugs dropped from the lights onto our heads, we began the Emmaus Biblical Seminary Wednesday night presentation. Moments after, Luma, one of my students from last year, began signing a Haitian hymn about God's faithfulness in all difficulty. With such boldness and clarity, his voice cut through the darkness as He praised God at the top of his gifted lungs. Verse after verse he sang, completely unaccompanied, glorifying his God, MY God, testifying of His power and goodness for what felt like all the WORLD to hear.

Another student followed him, sharing through Matt's translation about how God had gotten a hold of his life as a rebellious boy. He dedicated his life to Jesus, and then shared a story about one day whenever he was on the streets. He says he saw a big group of people walking down the middle of the street, singing loudly. "They had all darkness," he said, "they were clearly following Satan were demon possessed. I decided then," he continued "that THOSE were the people I wanted to see transformed by Jesus. Not just my family, not just my brothers and sisters, but the darkest people...I wanted to give them the transformation of Jesus. That's what I'm doing here."

He finished and one of my new first year students, Civil, who was obviously nervous and dressed in a perfectly pressed long sleeve dress shirt and a tie, got up to sing. "I want to give God the glory" he told me quickly and motioned for me to translate. "It would make more sense in this culture that I worshiped Satan, but I know Jesus instead, and I want to give God the glory." As soon as this timid small man started to sing, the power went out again, giving him added confidence as his rich deep voice began to resonate throughout the pitch black chapel with increased boldness.

A visitor in the front row pointed a tiny flashlight at his chest, casting a huge shadow of Civil's outstretched hand and thrown back head across the chapel. "I give you my burdens, I give you my life, I give you my praise!" he began to sing. I felt the Lord's presence strongly, immediately thinking, "This is what heaven is like. Could it be any better than this? THANK YOU."

Watching his shadow visibly glorify God and hearing his humble voice sing whole-heartedly God's praise in that pitch black chapel just took my breath away. It was worship, and nothing else. The kind we're always trying to accomplish, always trying to create, always wanting to be a part of...

...the kind that's taking place in heaven right now, and I caught just a small glimpse of that tonight in a crumbling dark block building with bugs dropping on my head in the middle of a falling apart country after a long sweaty day.

I can't WAIT until all I do all day and night is stand in His awesome presence and sing His praises.

Until then, I'm not sure it gets any better than this.

www.ebshaiti.org

THAT is the web address of our new Emmaus Biblical Seminary website, just launched today! Check it out to see photos of our students and fellow staff, learn more about the school, see updated prayer requests and praises, and to know more of what life and ministry is like here for Matt and I!


We had a DIVINE weekend with our friends from Port-au-Prince...full of a lot of good conversations and laughter. We are SO thankful that they were able to come and that we were able to take a weekend OFF to play games, catch up, and eat good food! They lavishly spoiled us, bringing us foods we haven't had since returning to Haiti: sour cream, cream cheese, lunch meat, sliced cheese, yogurt, Cool Whip, bacon...AH! We feel rich, having such things in the fridge! No one is happier than Lily, who has been hungry for dairy and for the sour cream and onion chips they brought :)


We spent the weekend with them out at the new Seminary site with our mutual friends. This is a photo of the site taken this weekend. A team is here tiling right now, and we just cannot believe how the building project is coming along. It is a beautiful thing to stand in the middle of that campus, think of all of the future training and ministry that will take place there, and look at the beautiful classrooms and dorms...We're so thankful for this place that has been set apart for pastoral training in Haiti!

This is Matt's final week in Haiti before he leaves on Sunday for Mississippi to complete his two weeks of mandatory "in-classroom" time at Wesley Biblical Seminary. He is thrilled about the idea of catching some Autumn, something he really missed last year, but we're not sure how Autumn-y Mississippi will be this time of year! We'll see!

I am staying here to continue teaching and marketing, but my dad will be joining me to help out while Matt is gone, and to start working on the baby's room...can't WAIT to have him!

Thank you, Greg and Cathie!!!

richly blessed!

Our dear friends, Greg and Cathie, are flying up from Port-au-Prince tomorrow afternoon to spend the weekend in Cap-Haitien with us, and we are SO excited! We are so looking forward to the encouragement, good counsel and rest of being with family! We will mostly stay home, but hope to have enough fuel to take them "out on the town" Saturday afternoon.

This morning I was reading through Titus, and was really touched by the simple and beautiful way it states what God has been in my life. I shared the passage with my English class, and was touched again by how touched my students were (pictured below) by what God's been. "We have a lot of prayer requests," one pointed out, "but I have to remember to always be so thankful just for who God IS in my life."



Here's what it shares...Titus 3:3-8

"For we once were foolish ourselves,
disobedient, deceived, enslaved, obsessed with pleasures,
spending our lives in envy and malice,
hateful and hating one another.

But when the kindness of God our Savior
and His love for mankind appeared,
He saved us,
NOT because of things we had done in righteousness,
but just because of His mercy,
by the washing , regeneration and renewing of the Spirit,
whom He poured out upon us richly
through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that His grace would make us heirs
according to the Hope of eternal life."

updates

A story we shared with a lot of you this summer has just been published on the front page of OMS International's website...You can check it out by going to www.omsinternational.org. When you open the page, there is a slideshow of four different pictures and stories....the third has a picture of a man carrying a bundle on his head that I took last year (pictured above). If you click on that picture, you'll get the whole story, titled "And the Lame Shall Walk." The story and several photos are also being used in a promotional calendar a printing company is doing on several different missions organizations!

Several people have been asking about Lisa, my little sister who just started teaching 5th grade in inner city Chicago. Her first few weeks in the classroom have been difficult, but she is so patient and perseverant! Please keep praying for her as she ministers there, and as we continue to be a part in each other's lives at such a huge, undesirable distance. I MISS HER!

We have EXCELLENT (and a little bad) news about our truck! Due to the unavailability of the Mitsubishi Sportero, the truck our mission had intended for us to purchase, the leadership has made an exception and allowed us to move ahead on the purchase of a Ford Ranger instead. These are much more widely seen in Cap-Haitian, and we are really excited about finally having some reliable and available transportation! There are several available in Port-au-Prince right now, and so we were able to make the final purchase! Normally, this would mean that we would have the truck in a few days, but (this is the bad news:), due to the complete destruction of almost all the roads and bridges between here and Port-au-Prince from the hurricanes...let's just say it could be a while! However, we do, technically, HAVE a truck! THANK YOU ALL again for helping to make this possible. We'll let you know as soon as it's on the move!

We finished our first session at the Seminary today, and our director finally made it in! Can't believe we're on session two already. We're getting to know our students more and more, which is always such a joy. Today in my English class we were reading through a list of phrases to work on pronunciation. One phrase: "A fat man holds a bat with both hands." Whenever the annual, "What is fat?" question came up, I made sure THIS YEAR, having learned the hard way last year, to instruct everyone that it is NOT polite, in English, to tell someone they are fat.

While telling someone they are fat is quite the compliment in Haitian culture (fat = healthy and beautiful), I think I made it quite clear this year that it is not a compliment in most English speaking cultures, so hopefully there will be no angry visitors this year :)

We've also been blessed to observe several students already this year encouraging others to respect, accountability, being on time, staying awake, studying hard, being kind to each other...etc. It's such a joy to see these men and women take what they're learning and what the Bible's taught them and encourage each other in these things!

Final update...several people have been asking about my student Alfred. He has still heard nothing of or from his family, and has thus determined that they did all indeed lose their lives in the most recent hurricane. Please continue to pray for the many Haitians who lost loved ones in the hurricanes, and for the thousands of Haitians now living without food, shelter, water, medical care, etc...

Thank you for all of your prayers for Haiti, for us, and for the men and women we are living alongside. As my class sang at 8 am yesterday morning before taking their first test, "It is a beautiful day because of Jesus lives."

"thank you"

Today was one of the best Sundays we have had since moving to Haiti last August. The very end of July, two very humble, passionate and very called men asked us to come to their church this Sunday and asked Matt to preach. Rosnal and Rodrige (the man we spoke about this summer in many churches) have a church out in the country that is not only one of the few churches we've been to that is clearly growing, but also a church that is dynamic, very genuinely worshipful, and located in a remote and unchurched area. Church this morning was packed with men and women alike...women on one side, all heads covered, and men on the other with children in the front.



Due to the fuel shortage, Matt and I haven't gone further than our feet can carry us for almost 3 weeks now, and so we saved up our gas to pile into another missionary's truck with Amy and a seminary student this morning. The mud road was in AWFUL condition, but we arrived safely and on time. For over an hour we were able to participate in passionate Haitian worship. It was wonderful to be with Rodrigue and Rosnal again, men who graduated from Matt's fourth year class in May. We were warmly welcomed as "a brother who loves Jesus and the Bible and a sister whose heart is to serve every Haitian," words we desperately want to live up to.

When it was time for corporate prayer, the church lifted us up specifically, praying for the baby, for our ministry, for our encouragement, for our families, and for a personal vehicle so that we can take God's word "everywhere in Haiti, not just here" (something we NEVER told them we have been funding and praying for).



It came to Matt's time to preach, and we were both very moved by how the Holy Spirit "took over" for him and really used Matt to speak a clear, dynamic, powerful and timely message. I've never seen Matt so removed from himself and so transparently speaking what Jesus was putting on his heart...He spoke from Isaiah 6 about a time in Israel's history that was incredibly bleak, and about how THAT was when Jesus showed up, not in this instance with comfort, with healing, or with instruction, but with POWER. He shared stories throughout the Bible that we see this same thing, and shared about how Isaiah's life had to change because of it, and spoke of exactly HOW God's power changed Isaiah.

It was such a timely and practical message, not just obviously for all of the beautiful men and women around me, but for US.

WE have seen God's power in our lives...have SEEN his robe overflow the temple, have felt His purifying coals on our lips, in our lives...HOW has that changed us?

We had a very discouraging day this past week...the kind that envelopes you in questions of why we are here, what we are doing here...what God has for His dear children in Haiti. A group of people had come to us with a long list of requests...asking for many many things, none of which we have ever felt called to give. If we were in Haiti, it was implied, and not doing these things, not providing these things, our work was indeed in vain.

How discouraging, to believe with your whole hearts that what is needed here is that which CANNOT be taken away, that which is LASTING, that which is placing roots in the NEXT kingdom, and to be working with every ounce of our hearts and minds and finances and sweat to give just that... only to be told that what was needed instead were things God never asked us (personally) to give, things that are much more temporal.

We've felt so saddened since then, until this morning. This is why. Whenever the service was finally over, we all deserted the suffocating church building to get outside, and we were each swarmed with men and women, thanking us for coming, offering and asking for prayer, thanking Matt for his message.

In the corner of the yard was a very very old and obviously very poor man. He was tall and emaciated, with a worn but clean straw cowboy hat on top of his curly white hair. He was perched a top a rickety old bicycle, preparing to make the long journey home, but instead sat and waited. When the crowd died down, he approached me, not with downcast eyes but with clear wrinkled eyes brimming with tears and overflowing with joy. He wrapped my hand in both of his long leathery palms, grinned a "Jesus" grin and said, quite simply and empathetically, "THANK YOU."

"Thank you," he said again, "Thank you for sharing God's Word with me. THANK YOU." With another firm clasp and huge smile, he rolled slowly down the road.



The look in his eyes was a look that could have accompanied a "thank you" for a million dollar bill, the sincerity in his voice the sincerity that could have expressed the extreme value of a new vehicle, a new house, free medical care, or saving the life of a loved one.

But we had given him none of these things...not even one cent, not a grain of rice, not a promise for aid or shelter or help. We had given him no glory, no power, no reward. All we gave him was the ONE thing we have felt called to give, give, give...God's Word...and it was ENOUGH! We gave him Jesus as best as we could, and this old man...he KNEW the value. We gave him the one priceless thing, the one thing that no government, no hurricane, no sickness, no man could take away...and he KNEW it was PRECIOUS.

He reminded us that it is precious.

We may not be here to do everything everyone wants us to. We may not be called, or even able, to give everything that everyone wants or thinks is important. But God has spoken clearly to us of what is valuable...spoken clearly to us of HOW and WHAT He wants us to pour ourselves into here in Haiti, and used the "least of these", a poor old man, to remind us that we are here to be FAITHFUL to the LORD, and no one else.



The Lord met us through that old man today. Our prayer for you and ourselves alike this Sunday: that we would only be discouraged when we fail the Lord...that we would only be heartbroken whenever we do not do what God has called us to do...that we would RUN to fulfill every call He has on our lives...that we would NOT be distracted from serving the Lord by man or Satan or even a good thing...that our hearts would be set unwaveringly on His face.

We are so desperate to serve Him SO WELL. THANK You for being Jesus to us so that we can be Jesus in this land where SO MANY don't know Him.

He is, and always will be, the one thing that Haiti NEEDS...the one thing that I need.

not good pioneers

After a full 24 hours without an ounce of electricity, Matt and I decided we would not be good pioneers. Or Haitians. Or, like the 80% of the world that never has electricity!

Extreme fuel shortages have greatly reduced our use of the generator, but in another storm yesterday evening, a tree fell on our power lines, knocking everything out. It took 24 hours to get it fixed, so we had no power, no internet, no fans, no refrigeration, and very little water (which turned into no showers!) The first few hours, we thought "Hey, we're roughing it...no problem" but by the time the power came back on this evening, we were very ready! We're wimps!

Matt preached in chapel on Tuesday about calling...We are so encouraged by how well the school year has started! We have such an eager to evangelize and hungry for spiritual depth student body, making preaching and teaching such a joy and such a growing experience.


"I want to pray that my spiritual life goes from minimum to maximum," one of my students shared in class today, a request that was intensely agreed upon by the other students. We're excited to see what the Lord holds, not just for this school year, for Emmaus Biblical Seminary and for our students, but for Haiti. Despite all of the destruction and problems, we are confident that the Lord has a perfect plan for Haiti...

My first year student, Alfred, was back from Gonaive today. For three days he has been searching, asking, calling and praying for his sister, her husband and their five children. He retuned late last night with nothing: no sight of them, no news, no hope for them.

"I guess they are all dead," he told Matt and I before class this morning, clearly overwhelmed and broken. He is just one of many of our students who have family in Gonaive that have been unable to get ahold of them. Hundreds have died throughout Haiti this past week, and thousands are now found homeless with no food or clean water in sight. Everyone is obviously heavy, especially as we continue to experience golden days and dry streets.

Please continue to be praying for everyone involved, for aid, for these men and women students who are so dear to us, and for Haiti as she continues to struggle. May He continue to be the Hope of the Hopeless.

more prayers needed...

These are pictures of the flooding around Haiti from the past week of hurricanes, and this is a picture of our front yard I took this morning. Cap-Haitien is simply not getting any of the high winds and flooding that so much of the rest of the country is getting...our flowers are all just blooming! Many roads throughout Haiti have been completely destroyed, causing a cut off of transportation between southern and northern Haiti. Because of this, there are many concerns about what is quickly becoming a fuel shortage and about what may become a food shortage.

However, our students and friends who have family in southern Haiti have more urgent concerns. One of my new first year students was called by his family in Gonaive this past weekend because the water was up to their roof. He left Saturday to go and rescue them, only to arrive in Gonaive to find their house gone and his family vanished...he still cannot get ahold of them.

Please be praying for the families of the many people who have lost their lives and homes to these storms, and for all of the suffering that is taking place due to the destruction, high waters and complete absence of infrastructure and aid. We know God's heart is near to the homeless and orphaned and widowed and hungry...and right now that seems to be the large majority of Haiti.

First week of school...

Here's our first day of school photos! Pictured are Professor and Madame Matt, Lily and I and Matt and our insane cat Bundy.

We had a great first week! It is SO good to be back in the classroom, and we're having so much fun working with our students again. Two students we lost returned on Friday having found some "cob" (money), so Stacey's class is back up to 15! Matt spent a lot of time this summer putting all of his Hebrew lessons into power point, and is now using a projector to teach each class...his guys are loving this, as that it's the first class they've had with power point.

I have some great men and women in first year, several with obviously genuine and joyful spirits, and all of them anxious to get their hands on all of the knowledge and training they can. My little sister started teaching 5th grade this week in inner city Chicago, and so we know that having classes that are "hungry to learn" is a rare blessing!

While the school year is just beginning, I need to start looking for a substitute that might be willing to teach first year English from November 10-December 10th. If you've been looking for a missions opportunity and this sounds like something you might be interested, please send us an email! Taking a month off teaching to have Lily is going to be difficult, but we're trusting the Lord's going to line someone up to share in this awesome blessing of teaching at EBS!

We're spending the weekend getting ready for the next week, Matt's working on his masters, and cleaning house! We need to clear some space for the baby, and are going to put together some boxes for the long list of people who are in need of some extras right now.

Storms are supposed to be coming later on this weekend, but our biggest prayer request would be for southern Haiti. Not only have they seen a lot of devastation and even several deaths from the hurricane, but many roads, bridges and homes between here and Port-au-Prince have been wiped out. This is causing a fuel and supply shortage in Cap-Haitien, but causing those in the south many more issues. Please keep praying! Thank you!!!

We are so thankful for this opportunity we have to share our lives with these 50 men and women at Emmaus! I'll have a student body picture up next week!

back in business...

Thank you all for your prayers! The first flight in or out in over a week is planning on flying in tomorrow before more storms hit on Monday/Tuesday, and today we successfully (though down 2 States-stranded professors) began class!

Unfortunately, the storms have meant that our director/professor Dr. Cooper will be unable to come for another 2 weeks, and that three of our fellow professors who had appointments in Port-au-Prince yesterday to work on their visa's have never made it to Port-au-Prince. These men are supposed to travel with Matt in three weeks to Wesley Biblical Seminary for the two week "in class" part of their Master's this semester, but are still awaiting visa approval. They have also meant that our September newsletter is not going to make it to you before September 1st :)

However, we have been fine, and Cap-Haitien has gone through a lot less than many other cities in Haiti. Please keep praying for the Haitian people as they struggle to cope with high winds, high waters and all of the economic issues we are currently having.


We have seen the economic issues affecting our school year already. Six of the students that came for orientation left right after orientation because they not only don't have the entrance fees, but they didn't have any of the money for any of the classes. They came for orientation so that if they have funding available later, they can come for a class or two, but were unable to stay. It's hard to be losing students already, but many of them have shared heartfelt burdens for caring for their families, which right now, means not being able to do ANYTHING extra, like going to Seminary. Please keep praying for our students!

Matt's first day of Hebrew class went really well. Several of the dropped students were supposed to be in Matt's class, so he started today with 8 students, two of which are also professors here, but have never had the opportunity to learn Hebrew. They all had a great time, and Matt is thrilled to be back in the classroom. He's teaching all morning and then working on his masters all afternoon and part of the evening.

My first day of English was less eventful, as that my 15 students all had to take placement exams to ensure that they are indeed in English One. Tomorrow we will dig in!

It's a joy to be back with our students and to be back in the classroom. We have SO many opportunities every day to be a part of these student's lives and ministries, and we are SO thankful for that! Thank you for all of your support and prayers while we work on making disciples for His kingdom in Haiti!

snow day!

(Matt's new fourth year class)
(Stacey's old first year class...now second year students!)

Well...kind of! For the first day since we've moved to Haiti, the seminary (and everything else!) is closed! One of the hurricanes brought in so much wind and rain last night and all day today that all of our externs (50% of our students) couldn't possibly make it in for Day 2 of Orientation. Our furthest extern rides his bike in for the 2 HOUR trip every morning and afternoon! So, after getting all ready in the chilly, yes CHILLY air this morning, we were all asked not to leave our houses until the hurricane passed (all we have is rain now).

This was a huge blessing, not just for the unexpected change in schedule, but also because today was Matt's first day at Wesley Biblical Seminary, and it gave him a whole day to focus on the four classes he is taking, getting him ahead for the week. We lit a couple of remnant pumpkin candles from last fall and stayed in our pj's until 11, Matt starting in on his homework and me working on the fall Seminary newsletter and tweaking all of the student body's individual pictures from yesterday.

This was also a huge blessing, because 2 of our 4 professors that were to begin teaching tomorrow morning are stuck in Florida, unable to get in. Now orientation will carry over an extra day, giving them an extra day to get in. Day One of orientation went really well. I will have 14 new students in my first year class, 2 of which are women. Matt was able to spend part of the day working with his new fourth year class, and we are both feeling the excitement and the weight of the discipleship opportunities we are facing with 9 full months with these same guys. We could not have created from scratch a job we felt to be more important, meaningful and joyful for us personally...

Keep praying for all of the bad weather. It means a chilly day indoors for us, but for many it means flooded mud huts, floating garbage, malaria and sickness.