the Ayars novel...

Rachel, your email the other day deeming our blog "a novel that never ends!" made me laugh out loud.  (ps--thank you for your email!)  

Life IS like a novel that never ends, huh!  And here I am tonight, not even finished sharing our trip to Baron last Sunday, and looking back on another huge adventure today...to a different mountain church, pastored by a different student, with several different students, and this time, as a family!

For four years, Brave has been telling us about his church in the mountains of Au Bois (pronounced Oh, Boy!).  Here he is, graduating in a few weeks, and while we have sent teams of students to help him there, we had never been.  

It always sounded really far away and really difficult to get to.

Guess what?

It was really far away and difficult to get to.

And it was WORTH IT.

As promised, we took all the students who wanted to go, which today was Aldy and Junior (two weekends in a row, these troopers!) and Thelo and Brave.

We drove for close to forever, forded this huge river in our truck, drove through mud and over mountains as far as we possibly could, then had to ditch the truck.

We then hiked about 90 minutes to arrive at Brave's tiny little mountain church in a community that you'd never think you'd find a person.  Every single weekend he has been doing this for the past 4 years.

 While going as a family definitely made a big day bigger, I was so thankful.

 One, Lily is her mama's daughter.  She was made for stuff like this.  She never quit, never complained, stopped and greeted everyone we passed, hiked on, and loved every minute of it.  Two, it was a blessing to worship and Sabbath as a family.  Three, in my family growing up, after church and lunch, we went HIKING.  Almost every Sunday.  It WAS Sunday if we were hiking, and that brought me back today.  And four?  How often do you get to take your kids and do THIS:

Look at these pictures!  Imagine being in the MIDDLE of them!  Today was like hiking through National Geographics with Jesus :)

Unlike the terrain of all the other mountain villages I have been to, because of the huge river cutting in and out all throughout the zone and the altitude, this areas was like the JUNGLE.  SUPER humid, tons of growth and green, and TONS of cool, clear water...usually the biggest problem for these remote mountain zones.

There were also TONS of people the whole hike...everywhere.  Huge ministry need, and Brave's church the only protestant church in the far-reaching area.

Lily loves these guys, and they love her.  So thankful today, yet again, for all the family God's surrounded us with.

This nut shell was SO cool!

 The house to the right here is the house Brave was born in, grew up in, and where his parents still live.  

After the guys led the service, Matt had the opportunity to preach a great pre-Easter message focused on issues Brave had shared with us as being pertinent in the church right now.  Today: the offer of salvation to EVERYone and what Jesus' death and resurrection means for us each.

My favorite part, always, is just getting to visit with, encourage and pray with people.  This little guy was really sick last time Junior was in Au Bois, and today he was GREAT and babbling up a storm.

After the service and while Brave had to do a few meetings, the girls swam in the huge river bordering the church and had a B-L-A-S-T.  

What a sweet Sabbath. 

Really thankful Matt joined me (driving for hours and then hiking in the blazing sun for three hour church services is not really his thing :), so thankful for days like today for our girls, so thankful for these guys and the many things they continue to teach us, thankful for the BEAUTY of the earth that God has given, and thankful for the brothers and sisters we held hands with today...

OUR family!

Yours, too.

Common'....I'll take you!