November 2013 Newsletter

Greetings from Guatemala!  That is the last time we will be writing that for a while.  Our next update will say "Greetings from Mississippi!".  Our second term with the IMB will end this month and we will be flying to the States to begin our Stateside Assignment.  We are looking forward to a few months of reconnecting with family and friends, visiting and sharing in churches, and just enjoying some time off to relax and get refreshed.  Would you pray for our travel and transition time there?

 

October was a very busy month for us.  We started the month off by assisting with a two week agriculture and Bible story training in Honduras.  There were a total of eleven from villages in Honduras and Guatemala who graduated from the study.  Two of those are from Lagunetas and they have already started attending the Bible study we are doing in that village on Saturdays. 

 

The following week we traveled up north to Sayaxche to attend a retreat for the Kekchi national missionaries.  There were sixteen in attendance.  The retreat is an annual event put on by retired IMB missionaries and is assisted by a volunteer team from the States.  It normally takes place in Coban, but this year the nationals in Peten asked to host it there.  The retreat is a time of fellowship for the Kekchi men as well as a time of Bible study for them.  They each get to share about their work and then are prayed over by the group.  It is an encouraging time for each of them and we were glad to get to be a small part of it.

 

We were home for two days and then had a trip into Guatemala City.  Did I mention we had a busy travel month?  In between our travels we hosted several missionary friends in our home.  It was an encouraging time for us to have fellowship with other missionaries/ friends. 

 

We were still able to do our regular teaching in the villages on the weekends.  Both of those are going well and our hearts are sad to leave them.  We will have two more opportunities to teach in Nearar and one more time to teach in Lagunetas before we break.  Please  pray for us as we say our "see you laters" to the folks in the villages.  Pray also that the door would remain open for us to return and pick up where we left off after our time in the States.

 

We marked our seven year anniversary with the IMB during the month of October.  I cannot believe it has been seven years already!  It's been an amazing adventure and God has been so faithful to us each and every day.  Many of you have been alongside us from the start.  Your prayer support has been a vital part of our success on the field.  We cannot thank you enough for your faithful prayers, your giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and your encouraging words that you send to us from time to time.  We look forward to 7+ more years of getting to serve the Lord on the mission field.  We will continue to serve.  Will you continue to pray?